Don't Buy One Of These

[Chef Munky]

Munky I think at bare minimum they should fix the cord for you. I'm pretty sure your heater will work fine once the cord is fixed. I wish I were your neighbor, I'd be happy to fix it for you (cut off a few inches and install a new plug, if you went with me to Home Depot to buy a new plug).

Of course you can't use it until it's fixed. I'm pretty sure you'd never have another problem if you plugged it directly into a wall outlet. But I understand how you must feel very uncomfortable about it all.

I've had a few similar appliance problems myself, but I knew that an electronic engineer I should have realized that what I was doing wasn't safe. Consumers should expect better than that. Unfortunately they load up their consumer warnings with so much lawyer crap that most people don't even bother reading it.

Thank you very much for the offer Greg. But seriously I'm the last person that you need to take to Home Depot. I can't behave! It's not my first Rodeo.. I could spend all day in the garden section alone. It annoys my husband. He has to drag me out of there. Yeah, I'm complaining all the way out. But...But!!! Were not done here yet!

When we bought that heater we knew it was heavy duty. Very sturdy. We read and took all the precautions seriously. It has to have a 3ft radius free and clear of anything for it to work properly. And that's just what we gave it. Treated it as though it was an actual wood burning stove. Your not supposed to use this heater over carpeting. Period. Most people don't even bother reading the basic rules part of the manual. It's usually tossed out. They probably don't know how to change the bulbs on it. The manual is well laid out.

I'll feel a lot better once everything is checked out. Right now it's the trust nothing attitude.

Munky.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

Ah Munky, I'm a guy. I used to sometimes just wander over to Home Depot and look around, for fun. I'd spend an hour in the tool department alone, admiring table saws and power this 'n that. I'd buy more Dremel bits that I didn't even need. (I already have a lifetime supply.)

My need to take you along to Home Depot was as a wallet donor. You'd buy the plug ($2-$5) and it would take me (or any handy person) about 5-10 minutes to replace it. It's just a matter of cutting off a few inches, splitting and stripping the old wire, then screwing on the new plug. (Actually if I did it I'd probably tin the stranded wire with solder and a soldering iron, but probably unnecessary.) Five dollars, about three hand tools, five-ten minutes of labor. I can understand though how you feel that the manufacturer should do this, or even better just ship you a replacement product.

They should have told you to not use an extension cord or plug strip at all. IMO you would have been fine without it. I can understand why they said it was okay to use "15A 1875W" plug strip. They didn't want to scare people or tell customers to not use a plug strip, and lose customers who didn't have a handy place to plug it in.

Just between you and me, don't ever use a plug strip with any space heater over 750 watts. Not that the manufacturers will ever tell you that.


Here's another bit of electrical advice for everybody. Get one of those outlet checkers they sell at the big box hardware stores, usually comes with perhaps 3-4 LEDs on the top and looks like a common three prong plug. Once a year take it around your entire house and plug it in every electrical outlet (unplug stuff if necessary, and check both outlets in duplex plugs). Replace every outlet that doesn't check safe, or get an electrician if it's not the outlet or if you're not okay with replacing your own worn out outlets. And of course turn off the power when you replace an outlet. Or get an electrician!

You should get an outlet checker and verify that your heater problem didn't fry the outlet. Then you can check every other outlet in your house just for good measure, probably take an hour not including time spent resetting clocks.

 

[Chef Munky]

Update:

My husband will be eating crow tonight. We had a discussion about my heater last night. I talked him into letting me contact Dimplex. All I had to say was " Remember Kabuki"? I do recall you had a very pleasant stay.

Well he went online and re read the reviews. Some weren't favorable towards Dimplex's customer service. He told me " You won't get anywhere with them, don't bother trying"
When is he going to learn not to say things like that to me? So I thought about it for a while, told him I'd try anyways. That maybe the reviewers didn't say the right words when they contacted Dimplex.

I just called, asked right off the bat " Who am I speaking to?
I knew if I asked and got a truthful answer they would know I'm taking notes on this conversation.

The service rep asked me for the general info. Why I was calling. What happened? When I told her in my matter of fact tone, that the unit IS defective.She got real quiet, her tone changed just a bit.

She asked if I had pictures, First question. How bad was the damage?
Was the unit solely plugged into the strip? Please explain the strip. What's it's purpose? I did tell her that we had tried plugging it into the wall outlet, but the plug and prongs were hot to the touch. So we bought a heavy duty strip. How long did I have the stove turned on when we discovered we had a problem? Can you send us the strip? I told her absolutely. But it's messy. She told me that the strip was a good move.

Where did I purchase the stove from? When I said Amazon and gave her the date of purchase and what I actually spent $163.32 sent Fed Ex. I had it by Dec 1st.
I even knew when it was made. Said so on the back of the heater. Told her that to, just for kicks.

The " Stove as she called it" Model #, they already knew that a few of them were defective. She admitted it.
Explained to me that the cord was the problem. Apologized for scaring me like that. I let that be known to her. And for what I paid for the time I've had it. I expected a little more.

Dimplex is sending me out today a new cord. I should have it within a week. It will be the same one. She told me that we didn't need to take it to an electrician to be installed. It can be done at home. Any other plug installed would not work with this heater, because of it's design.They now have my stoves # on file that it was deemed defective by them. The year warranty is still in effect. If I have any more problems they will take care of it.

Here I was ready to have a showdown. I had my ducks ready and in a row to pick off. Didn't even have to resort to any other actions.. How cool is that?

Munky.

 

[taxlady]

Way to go Munky!

 

[Dawgluver]

You go, woman! Yay!

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

There's nothing like a story with a happy ending!

 

[Chef Munky]

Thankies

I knew when I said yes to the pics. Would you like them sent to you right now? Willing to send them the strip and cord, it was a done deal. Called in my favor.. I wanted them to admit it wasn't me. Rectify the problem is all that was asked for.

Glad that it's being taken care of, and that I didn't have to bring this up with Amazon. Their GIANTS. So was Hilton, I did that to. They were too easy. That was wild. Can't believe I took them on the way I did. Gutsy? Or just stupid after the fact?

But you know, it does raise another question. If they already know the cords a problem, why are they still selling them to the public? Have they sent other customers free replacement cords? Or are they just going to keep filing individual complaints?

You know she didn't ask when she could expect the pics and parts. Maybe I'll just keep my mouth shut. Tuck them away.

Thank you everyone for all the helpful advice. It's been appreciated.

Munky.

 

[blissful]

But you know, it does raise another question. If they already know the cords a problem, why are they still selling them to the public? Have they sent other customers free replacement cords? Or are they just going to keep filing individual complaints?

You know she didn't ask when she could expect the pics and parts. Maybe I'll just keep my mouth shut. Tuck them away.

I don't know what model you have, but, you can google 'electralog recall plug' and there are some issues out there.
http://www.saferproducts.gov/ViewIncident/1171499

Also, if you registered the product with the manufacturer, they might be able to alert you to recalls. (I never do this.)

About pics and parts, they may send you a box/shipping label to send those things when you receive the new plug.

You did a great job of being proactive and trying to get the issue fixed. Good for you!

 

[PrincessFiona60]

yay Munky!!!