Who's waiting and for how long?

[HVACrTech]

A Shaver Dealer to Ben

Hello Ben.

It is good to see you once again amongst the living.

Just thought I'd make my presence known here and just for the record.... I'm reading and remembering all you're stating. :smile:

Perhaps you'll respond to me here?

What say you?

Thanks Ben.

www.tristatetechhvac.com

PS: We are expecting lows in the 20's and snow this weekend here in Wisconsin..... My stoves were supposed to be manufactured on Oct. 10th to the 17th.... just wondering what I should tell my customers who ordered them when the manufacture time was 12-13 weeks? We are now at almost 17 weeks and still nothing.... The natives are getting restless and I'm afraid they will start pulling out the pitchforks and torches......
:jawdrop:

 

[ShaverFurnace]

I responded!

Hi Tammy,

I don't know why you posted that, saying that I don't respond to you.

I replied last night to your e-mail from yesterday!

Your promise date (13 weeks) was actually yesterday - so we sure aren't behing in gettig your furnaces to you!

Best regards,

Ben

 

[HVACrTech]

Your promise date (13 weeks) was actually yesterday -

I'm confused Ben. Could you please clarify? I've got to get the correct info to our customers who are impatiently waiting for their OWB.

Order placed 7/18

Week 1 = 7/25
Week 2 = 8/01
Week 3 = 8/08
Week 4 = 8/15
Week 5 = 8/22
Week 6 = 8/29
Week 7 = 9/05
Week 8 = 9/12
Week 9 = 9/19
Week 10 = 9/26
Week 11 = 10/03
Week 12 = 10/10 Should have been completed either this week OR
Week 13 = 10/17 this week and ready for pick up by freight the following Monday.

Week 14 = 10/24
Week 15 = 10/31
Week 16 = 11/07 Here we are at week 16

Perhaps I am missing something?

By the way...... I must mention that J. Holter in upper Wisconsin is absolutely tickled with his Shaver! I've asked him to write me up something on it so I can pass it onto my other customers who are waiting..... he sounds like a little boy with a brand new toy.

Bravo.

HVACrTech's sidekick - Tammy

 

[hypothesis]

Ordered and the deposit was placed on 5/19/08 for a 290. At the beginning of October I was given a delivery date of 10/16/08. As of 11/4/08 it is still at the factory pending shipment. I am still patiently waiting and trying to not become a squeaky wheel.

 

[urhstry]

Got CDL?

As far as the Shaver's go, I think a lot of the stoves are built and ready to go. It's just too much to have them shipped all over the country in a short period of time. And there was too much damage from un-named trucking companies to continue using them for delivery. Any truck drivers out there that want to bring a load of stoves up to the Northeast?

 

[hypothesis]

delivery

I received a phone call yesterday from the driver. I'm supposed to receive the 290 this morning. Just in time...it's starting to get a little cold around here.

 

[StayathomeShel]

Since July

Still waiting it is now November 18th. Was told it would be done the 19th. Willing to drive 8 hours and get it. Called this morning to check on it. Oh we meant that it was going to be started Nov 19th. Boy how could you mess that up. Told them I would be there Nov 21st to get it. Now being told if I come it won't be ready and they are already full of trucks coming the 21st and the 22nd. They work from 8 am to 5 or 6 pm. I understand this is a small time business and would expect some delay. But not 5 months worth. Give you men a little over time and get these really really really late orders done. How can you put on the web that if you order now you can have it in 7-8 weeks when I have waited 5 months. I believe here that the squeaky wheel is get the wood stoves. I'm not squeaking enough. I live in Iowa and it is cold here already and I need the stove now. What can you do though they aren't giving any satisfaction when you call. I read some of Ben's posts and it just frustrates me. Excuses, Excuses, Excuses. A little organization goes a long ways. And if they sent out emails to all the people that had them what did they do for the people that didn't. I did place my order through Ben. And then come to find out that I have two dealers in my area. One has gotten so frustrated with them and being delivered damaged and the truck breaking down that he goes after them himself now. Should of ordered through him. The other just doesn't take orders for them anymore. He recommends another brand.

Whew. Just a little frustrated here.

 

[ngzcaz]

Whats truly amazing is the 1,848 ( and counting ) views this thread has gotten and still no acceptable answers for the ones left out in the cold ( bad pun, sorry ) Ben seems to be in and out among these threads, mostly out. Word of mouth advertising is indeed a strong indicator of a product. I have mine, its hooked up, and its doing its job so far. But... there's no way I would have waited 5 months for a stove when so many are available, especially if I could wait a little longer for the payback period.
Ben seems to think the market will be steady and grow in the future. The economic picture right now seems to indicate a relatively stable price for oil for a while anyway and if solar, wind, and geo thermal take off I'm afraid the future market for OWB's isnt as rosy as he seems to think. And if they dont get their collective heads together and figure out a way to increase burn times with less wood consumption as well as cleaner air the OWB may be a CB radio... around but no real demand.

these thoughts and a buck will not quite get me a large cup of coffee...

 

[oneoldbanjo]

I installed an OWB before the heating season last year and this is my second burning season. I really like it....but it could be better. It is obvious that it is not real efficient, however my house and garage are very well insulated and my wood consumption is not horrible as a result. If I lived in a cold part if the country and had a poorly insulated house....I could sure see how these things could eat a lot of wood.

I do have two concerns:

1) I live in Northern Kentucky and although the demand for the OWB is not great in this area, there is always the possibility that they could become illegal. Although the area I live in is rural and there are working farms around here - we are very close to Cincinnati. The EPA views us as a rural part of Cincinnati even though we are in a different state and imposes laws on us as a result. When Cincinnati had poor air quality the cars in Hamilton County, Ohio got reformulated fuel....and so did those of us in Campbell, Kenton and Boone Counties in Kentucky. We also had to get vehicle "Emmission Inspections" in those three counties when all the counties south of us were not required to do so. We had regulated and inspected clean burning cars while the cars from the southern counties would pass through our counties on the way to their jobs in Cincinnati without any inspections and burning the normal gas that they could buy in their county. I could drive 5 miles from my office across the river into Clermont County, Ohio and get normal fuel while the gas station next to where I work was selling reformulated fuel. The same thing may occur with the OWB - the EPA may not consider us a rural farming area and lump us in with the City of Cincinnati.

2) I feel like my primitive OWB is lacking much sophistication. It has a computer that can determine the lower and upper set points and run the damper and fan accordingly, it can shut the burner down if the water level is too low. The rest of the furnace is basically a fire in a metal can. It reminds me of the early water beds that had the big plastic bags and made huge waves whenever you rolled over - then later on they started making cells and baffles and tamed the waves. Those of us that currently own an OWB have the first generation of OWB's and they are not very clean or efficient. I hope that my OWB will last 15-20 years and then the newer OWB's will be far more advanced and efficient. I can't wait for the self loading hopper!

I do agree that the current rush on OWB's may be the same as the waterbed, rental movie and tanning bed stores. I can remember having those stores on almost every block for a while.....and now the market has died down for those stores and only a few remain (I don't have any idea where you could buy a waterbed these days). If the economy improves and the energy prices stay reasonably low.....most people will not cut wood to stay warm. There will however always be those of us who will enjoy cutting wood and heating our homes with wood......however in the big picture that market is pretty small. I am sure that there will be a lot of people that buy OWB's and find out they can't keep up with the demand. Some will buy wood for a while and others will just let them sit in the yard unused.

 

[barnyardman]

I have been waiting since mid september for my Heatmor 200css. Dealer has a good stock of OWB's, just not enough time to do all the installs. Finally he is doing mine today. Just in time was mid 20s last night.

 

[CowboyAndy]

When we looked into buying out combo furnace, we looked at a few factory direct places and they were looking at 6-8 weeks backordered. Then we decided to go to a local Newmac dealer. At first we were going to spend an extra $500 to go with the wood/coal/oil because they had 1 on stock, and only 1. they had no wood/oil units, and were 10 weeks out. we ended up lucking out, and they DID have another wood/oil on hand, and not a wood/coal/oil, as someone messed up the inventory.

had it delivered the following week. I must say they were great with the whole thing. Anyone in the Plattsburg, NY area, we got it from Aird Dorrance, and Mike G there was great. Kudos to them all.

 

[Windwalker7]

Still waiting it is now November 18th. Was told it would be done the 19th. Willing to drive 8 hours and get it. Called this morning to check on it. Oh we meant that it was going to be started Nov 19th. Boy how could you mess that up. Told them I would be there Nov 21st to get it. Now being told if I come it won't be ready and they are already full of trucks coming the 21st and the 22nd. They work from 8 am to 5 or 6 pm. I understand this is a small time business and would expect some delay. But not 5 months worth. Give you men a little over time and get these really really really late orders done. How can you put on the web that if you order now you can have it in 7-8 weeks when I have waited 5 months. I believe here that the squeaky wheel is get the wood stoves. I'm not squeaking enough. I live in Iowa and it is cold here already and I need the stove now. What can you do though they aren't giving any satisfaction when you call. I read some of Ben's posts and it just frustrates me. Excuses, Excuses, Excuses. A little organization goes a long ways. And if they sent out emails to all the people that had them what did they do for the people that didn't. I did place my order through Ben. And then come to find out that I have two dealers in my area. One has gotten so frustrated with them and being delivered damaged and the truck breaking down that he goes after them himself now. Should of ordered through him. The other just doesn't take orders for them anymore. He recommends another brand.

Whew. Just a little frustrated here.

I feel your pain! I ordered on July 7th and got mine in the middle of October. The only reason I got it was because the dealer, I went through, went down and picked them up himself.

We got several delivery dates and finally the dealer just decided to go down himself.

The one day he called down right before he was ready to leave and they told him that two of the four furnaces weren't done yet. He had to wait another week.

The odd thing was, he was told a few weeks earlier that they were all done but the reason for the delay was that two of their trucks had broke down.

He decides to go himself and all of a sudden two of them aren't done.

I dread the day I have a major problem and dealing with them to honor the warranty.

So far, the furnace has been great and I like it. Its just that the customer service sucks.

Ben comes on here trying to sugar coat the problems, but I'm sorry, you don't run a company that way without word getting around. I have read on other forums about the same issues with Shaver.

Being busy is no excuse to outright lie to customers. If you can't honor a delivery date don't give one. If the furnaces aren't done, don't say they are and you are waiting for truck repairs. If you tell someone their furnace will be done on a certain date, don't tell them " Oh, I meant tosay we will start it that date"

It's a bunch of BS.


Sorry guys, I had to rant!

 

[November Wolf]

My Central Boiler 6048 will be here in december. My underground lines are in and I will be installing my heat exchanger to my inside boiler this week. My only problem right now is I have a foot of snow on the ground and I still need to pour my concrete pad. I have it all formed up and covered right now but the weather does not look promising.

 

[November Wolf]

I forgot to mention I will be cutting my wood this weekend. I have around 30 cord of wood in 8ft logs sitting in my field that my loggers left me. I sure hope the snow stops.

 

[woodfurnace]

No longer a dealer for Shaver THANK GOD !!!!!

After MONTHS of holding off the customers that got taken by Shaver I can sleep at night knowing I never have to pass on the lies from the Shaver factory. The Shavers WILL NOT burn coal and that was admitted by Shaver themselves, the furnaces need more cfm from the blower and grate is worthless. The quality control is completely absent, pictures taken by the truck drivers that pick the Shavers up SHOW that the dents and scratches are in the furnaces BEFORE they are loaded on thier trucks.
I have 80 furnaces out there, some working and some not. Has Shaver even returned the calls from our company OR our customers, let me answer that NO NOT ONCE....
Ben is very good at smoothing things over with BS, but NO action, UNLESS the BBB calls or our customers lawyers.

Ben should be ashamed of the way he treats the dealers, and the customers.

Ben if your reading this I am sure you are having a hard time figuring out who it is with as many customers and dealers that have cancelled orders or quit selling for you, so let me narrow it down, Dan. You know the guy that now sells a superior furnace with a better design that you can get in a couple of days. You bash Nature's Comfort constantly, but if you put those boilers you make next to a NCB and ask anyone to chose which they would rather have, 99% will pick the NCB.

 

[urhstry]

Just thought I would let anyone know that still has their Shaver on order, I am getting mine next week and I ordered it in the 1st week of August. I was told that all of the July orders should be done by the end of this month.

 

[LTREES]

Just thought I would let anyone know that still has their Shaver on order, I am getting mine next week and I ordered it in the 1st week of August. I was told that all of the July orders should be done by the end of this month.

GOOD LUCK opcorn:

 

[RodneyG]

Just thought I would let anyone know that still has their Shaver on order, I am getting mine next week and I ordered it in the 1st week of August. I was told that all of the July orders should be done by the end of this month.

Sounds Great! Urhstry

Still waiting My cozeburn 250 should be 2nd week in DEC If not i'm going to get my down payment back. If i didn't already have all my plumbing installed I would have had it back a month ago.

God luck!

RodneyG

 

[Windwalker7]

Just thought I would let anyone know that still has their Shaver on order, I am getting mine next week and I ordered it in the 1st week of August. I was told that all of the July orders should be done by the end of this month.

Don't get your hopes up. You do realize that they usually promise about 6 different delivery dates, don't you?

I hope I'm wrong and you actually get your furnace.

I'm going to predict their excuse, when it doesn't show up. They will tell you that the truck broke down and it will take another week or two.

 

[ngzcaz]

If there is anyone out there with a positive tone for Shaver, let these guys know about it. One doesn't need a scorecard to tally the numbers so far.

Woodfurnace.. exactly what is Shaver telling the people that ordered the coal grate ? Not that I'd want to, but I was under the impression that you could burn coal as they are if you'd want to put up with the hassle of raking the coals and emptying ...

I hesitate to make a statement so early ( approx 2 weeks ownership ) but the draft motor seems to be plenty, at least for wood. I've got my damper down to 1/4 open and it still gets a bit hotter that the thermostat setting. This is not to sing praises of Shavers technology since I think any draft fan set up will fare better than a damper setup as far as keeping the fires burning.

AND... did anyone else let the fire burn from the back toward the front ? Didn't want to but it just sorta got this way on its own since I started it and haven't turned it around yet. I may have to let the fire go out and try it again. Or at least wait for a warm day and let it almost got out and rake the fire front..