Buyer Beware Suburban|Direct-Spark Ignition Gas/Electric Water Heater|SW10DE|10 Gallon|5243A|
I ordered a Suburban|Direct-Spark Ignition Gas/Electric Water Heater|SW10DE|10 Gallon|5243A| On January 25, 2024, Order #2961 in the amount of $577.77 from United RV.
This purchase price included shipping protection against damage incurred during the shipping transit process. I thought it would be helpful to include this additional amount because FedEx and UPS and the USPS sometimes are not always careful with box handling and wanted to be safe rather than sorry.
What I did not realize about ordering this product is, United RV does not accept returns on items that have been installed. Nor do they issue refunds on defective units once installed. This apparently is in fine print somewhere on their website and certainly was not listed in the ad on their website. So you have to dig for this policy.
In good faith I ordered this hot water heater for my RV from United RV. When the box arrived via FedEx on 1/29/2024, the box did not look physically damaged in anyway. What was odd, upon opening the generic brown cardboard box, there were no instillation instructions, and the unit looked as if it were packed with re-used foam taken from some other cushioning packing material from some other merchandise not a factory Suburban box.
The unit itself looked fine but upon instillation and pressurizing the tank with water, prior to turning it on with propane/electricity to test for plumbing leaks, it was at that moment, water began to spray up from the inside the burner chamber of the unit. This leak appeared to be a manufacturer defect in the tank weld from the factory. I immediately took video of the water jet spray and photos of the same showing the water running out of the burner chamber.
I then contacted United RV Customer Service department (after hours as they were closed by that juncture), and I sent an after-hours message and text with the video and photos of this water spray leak.
The next business day I spoke with United RV and the representative in customer service I spoke with clearly stated, that because the unit had been installed it could not be returned and they offered no help with an even exchange and or refund due to their ridiculous return policy that manufacture defects must be address directly to Suburban Warranty department, that there was nothing United RV could do to address this matter. I mentioned on the phone call that I paid the additional $27 for shipping insurance to protect against damage, but the representative told me this did not apply to my situation, because the box used to ship the hot water to me was without any damage, thus that protection did not apply.
So, I contacted Suburban warranty department, and they sent me a shipping label to me to have the unit returned to Suburban for inspection to determine the cause of this leak. I was informed by Suburban that if the unit was found to be defective in manufacture, they would replace the unit with an identical one, and or offer a partial refund. Suburban also told me this process could take anywhere from one to two weeks and would involve shipping time returning the defective unit and shipping time of a replacement unit if found defective. Because of the delay in getting a unit replaced, I decided to purchase yet another identical unit from another vendor on Amazon, who offered not only free shipping, but a 30-day no questions asked return if for any reason I was dissatisfied with their unit. I figured this was a better return policy than what United RV was offering so I figured if the 2nd unit I ordered had the same issue of any leaks non plumbing related or if it did not work, I would not be out another $500 plus. The reason I ordered a 2nd unit was who would want to wait two weeks without hot water????
Here is the shocking discovery I made upon receiving the 2nd unit from the Amazon vender: The Suburban hot water heater was in a Factory Suburban Box with an inspection sticker of the individual that tested the unit at the time of build and a tamper resistant tape to the box showing the Suburban box had never been opened and in addition to the sticker inspection label and the tamper resistant tape, the serial number and model number where on the exterior of the Suburban factory box that was well packed and had instillation instructions inside.
THIS WAS NOT THE CASE FOR THE BOX United RV sent me. As stated earlier the box they sent me was a generic brown box with re-purposed packaging foam totally different from the Factory box that the Amazon vendor sent me. And the generic brown box United RV sent me had no instillation instructions inside the box. I immediately surmised at that moment, “Why did United RV send me a box that was not a factory Suburban box”? I began to deduce that the unit was previously purchased and returned to United RV and then they passed the defective unit onto me.
30 janvier 2024
Avis spontané