England’s Stove Works review: Poor quality, poor customer service! 133

I agree as my dealings with them has been even worse. I bought a corn burner on 12/13/05 from day one I had trouble with it. I asked to return it and was told my corn was too wet. Next my pellets were too wet. They don't return Emails. The phone number listed on the return address on the UPS package was invalid. They are not listed in the phone directory in the city they had for their address either.

By next heating season I was on hold waiting for customer service and couldn't get thru for 5 weeks. Guess what my warranty was past. I did get a new chip which didn't make any changes when I finally got thru to them.

Long story short I am stuck with a $2500 white elephant. I am now getting an appointment with a lawyer Monday.

We purchased an Englander 25 PDV ( wood pellet) in 10/94 .
We have had good service from it, we've replaced cumbustion blowers twice and convection blowers once in 13 years of service. We can not complain about the services we have received from Englander. I am sorry to read that you have these issues and I hope Englander will rectify the situation for you soon.

I agree Englander Pellet Stoves Blow donkey balls my stove is terrible! Broke down first year had electrician replace auger, unreal! My stove has a hard time lighting, makes noises and is just a big hunk of crap! Customer service was good to me but they should their selling lemon crap box pellet stoves for $1600 to $2900 ! JUNK ! CRAP!

STAY AWAY FROM ENGLANDER STOVES SOLD AT HOME DEPOT OR LOWES!

PAY THE EXTRA FEW HUNDRED AND BUY FROM LOCAL DEALER!

DO NOT BUY ONE OF ENGLANDER STOVES THEY SUCK! SUCK REALLY BAD, TRUST ME I OWN ONE!

We bought our englander pellett stove 12/04 at Lowes. in the last years we have replace 2 sets of auger bearings, the electronic ignition, auger motor, 3 vacuum switches. We now have to order another motor and a convection fan. I try to tell everyone I know not to but englander. The customer service is a joke, when you can get through to them. The average wait time I have experienced on hold trying to talk to someone is 37 minutes. I would really like to get rid of the stove and get another one but we have so much money invested in this one that this is not an option right now. I think that lowes should back what they sell but complaints fall on deaf ears.

Well I got two of there stove in my new home 55-TRP10 and 55-TRP22. On ebay for $1200 for both stove free shipping rebuilt. One was repair on PCB board other was all new blower which was nice. For price I can't ###, seeing they work right out of the box and part easy find if you know were to look.

Fox

This kind of surprises me. In general I've found that Englander has been very responsive. Their service and support has been exceptional, especially for such a reasonably priced product. Another benefit is that I discovered their tech support regularly monitors and answers issues on the hearth.com hearth forum.

plain and simple the pellet stove I purchased in 2004 is a piece of crap. Right from the beginning I had loose bolts and binding augers. To add to the mulitple problems that occurd it sounds like a cat in heat from the grinding noise that comes from deep within the stoves.

i also bought a stove from home depot wich i should have learned years ago never buy anything expensive because all they sell is crap but i was a fool and did it anyway. my 25 PDVE england stove was no different. the first year i had it it broke 5 times could not get them on the phone i have waited on hold for over a half hour and got nobody. my second year same thing broke down so far 3 times. i have emailed them with my home number cell number work number never a call from them. i refuse to invest anymore money in this piece of crap stove and one day soon it will be in the junk yard were everything england stove works builds belongs. the biggest waste of money i have ever spent. i also called home depot and got no where with them also. one thing time has taught me never buy anything of value from home depot because all they sell is junk and never buy a newengland stove again.

I bought an Englander stove from Home Depot in 2004. Nothing but problems .The 2 vac. switches have been replaced 4 times! I also replaced the ignitor unit. Replaced door,window and hopper gaskets. Screws snap off when you try to remove/replace a parts. Shuts down for no apparent reason. Squeals usually in the middle of night as auger scrapes side of tube. Stops feeding pellets and shuts down. I tried to talk to someone above the tech. and he refused to give me a name or ext. #. of someone I could complain to. They admitted at one point it might be the board and refused to send me one under warranty. The worse purchase I've EVER made. Its going to the junk yard for scrap this spring. I've been dealing with this crap for 3 heating seasons. I tell anyone that will listen to NEVER buy Englander Stoves.

We bought our first stove August '07. Difficulties with the lower auger, it was scraping - it was warped. Englander was good and sent a new auger after sending us a new motor (having originally thought it was the motor). Regarding listening on the phone to the sound - how else are they to attempt to help you? One thing about these stoves, you have to be willing to learn how they work, what can break down and what to do to avoid some of the common pitfalls. The auger tube needs to be scraped at least once a week clear of all build up, need to clean entire system of soot weekly - even more often - the motors are nothing to change (simple even for a woman) auger was even easier - - we took the whole thing apart just to see how it worked petty neat actually - although have seen better designs - namely the soot build up could be avoided if you were to run the lower auger above the fire - trying to understand and rid us of fear of burning the house down - ingenuity alone will get you through - common sense. We love the thing - as finicky as it can get and it does - it has kept us warm this winter and we have accepted its nuances. It is mechanical. Mechanical is mechanical.

I have an Summers Heat 55-SHP10. Same stove as the Englander 25-PDV. Englander has been great on the phone with my questions and my stove works great! No problems so far. These stoves are really easy to work on if needed. Like all pellet stoves, if you don't maintain them you will have problems.

I for one am glad I didn't pay the big bucks for the so called better stoves on the market. They seem to have just as many problems if not more than the Englander stoves and parts cost up to twice as much to replace.

I searched online for stoves before picking this one. I found that big expensive names like Harman and Bixby seem to have a lot of problems and cost 3 to 4 times more. What do you want for your money? If your not into tinkering with things I would say not to get any pellet stove. A wood stove would be easier to take care of and is a good choice for many people. There are many nice ones for the price of a low cost pellet stove like the 25-PDV.

I am suprised, I bought this stove in 11-07 and I have saved a bundle already in oil bills. I did have an auger jam which was my own rookie mistake, the local hardware store sold me a ripped bag with a lot of sawdust.

Perhaps the best thing I read on here in a previous post is that:

"you have to be willing to learn how they work, what can break down and what to do to avoid some of the common pitfalls. "

If you read the manual and accept this you can work through some of these issues easily.

I'm on my third season with an Englander pellet stove 25-PDV! The second season I had trouble with the feed auger! Englander was great they sent a new auger, bearings and hardware over night!

It's like anythng else, if you do not maintain it - it'll give you trouble. I have found the stove is very easy to maintain and repair! If you need someone to install this stove, it's not for you.

Not to mention it's the second most efficient stove on the market, for the $ I can't complain!

I don't know if it makes a differance but I did not buy from Home Depot...

I have friends who bought big $ stoves and have lots of big $ problems...

Here is a novel idea... CLEAN THE THING! any item with as many moving parts as a pellet stove has is going to require maintenance. For the money they go for and the support I have personally seen and heard about, how can anyone complain about these stoves? Many people, including myself have bought these for 1/2 off at lowes or HD. 800 dollars for a pellet stove? Are you kidding me? 1 yr parts warantee and 5 year burnpot is what you are going to get even from the 4000 dollar harmans... and guess Harman went under this year... I give England 100% and 5 stars!

This is my third winter with my 25 PDV & I had a few minor problems . I read the manual inside & out when I installed the stove so I had a general knowledge about it's parts & inner workings. Every time I called with any questions or problems England customer service & tech support were terrific & THEY HELPED ME EVERY TIME. To those customers who complain about Home Depot & Lowes I'm wondering why the two largest home improvement retailers in the country would knowlingly sell a defective product. There are a few lemons in anything man made.

I have had all good experiences with englander and they do monitor hearth.com and have helped us tremendously with our decisions. More good than bad. Sometimes its not the car, but the "nut behind the wheel".

My house came with the stove. It seemed to work ok but then the Motor went after a 1 1/2 years of pretty heavy use. Have tried to get tech support on phone for 3 days only busy signals, no one at the custermer service center will help, one dumped me in sales and another hung up on me while I was explaining my problem.

Product ehh ok, service terrible!11111

I'm just starting to get involved in a complaint.
bought mine Dec 07.
Had numerous occaisions of back drafting (smoke out of hopper).
The last one was so bad the pellets in hopper caught fire.
called C.S. they wanted model number date etc. so where is the tag with this info? You guessed it in the hopper (melted).
Under warranty (month old) I have to tear it apart and replace the parts they're sending.
Tearing it apart I found the four bolts that hold the upper augur to the mount were less than finger tight (air gap here will cause a back draft) same for the lower augur.
The fire was hot enough to melt grease out of bearings.
They agreed to to send new parts second day air. That meant saturday delivery. UPS does not deliver on Saturday, Unless package is marked as such. well they didn't mark it.
I called them to get another one coming and I would return first.
They said no, they said they caught delivery driver and he would mark it. Well it is NOW SUNDAY and no parts.
so they WASTED their money on 2nd day air.
will be calling them tomorrow and try to talk with management. Will update this and let you know outcome.
But why am I doing the repairs under warranty and not them or their techs? I'm not certified by them or anyone in this type of repair!

I must agree with the complaint. I've owned my pellet stove now for 3+ years. It arrived with loose parts which luckily I noticed. The sales team sold me a vent kit, telling me it had everything I needed, but was very inadequate for the job. As a result, I had to spend a lot more money and shipping time to get the parts I actually needed and couldn't return the extra parts. When I spoke to another parts person there and told him about the installation issues, he spoke with anger about the other employee, saying he was lazy and would say just about anything to end the call quickly.

When I finally got it all installed, the stove didn't work well. More calls to tech support resulted in a more appropriate high altitude part sent to me.

An auger motor went out about 1 month after the warranty expired. When I asked if this was common, they said no, but said I probably got a bad unit. I am not so sure it isn't an on-going quality issue. The motor bearings on the new motor started screeching about a month later. I ordered a new motor and before I got the chance to install it , the noise quit. (I did attempt to oil the bearings). The motor still works, but screeches for about 20 minutes about once a month.

My window gasket needs replacing. I blame this on the rather shoddy installation, as it was not even close to centered around the glass.
I now have an igniter out. I would have though this item would have lasted longer, as I really haven't used the stove for that many hours.

As an engineer, it seems to me that this company could do much better, in terms of their quality of their parts and of their personnel. I don't like the design of the igniter. The hole is the same size as a pellet and can be block by chance during normal operations. The secret I've found is to start the fire every time is to place a pile of small 1/8" or so pellet pieces in front of the igniter hole. This prevents a larger pellet from blocking the hole and the smaller pieces ignite easier. (Of course, it may be that my original igniter was faulty and no reaching the correct high temperature.

I have to admit I find it almost laughable with the comments of Jay Kirk. Obviously these stoves are not to the cost of a car or any other large purchase, but wouldn't you first research an appliance that will be used in your home as a heating source with a fire?! How can one not know that any item purchased at your local Lowes/Home depot DIY big box would not come with tech support. The reason Lowes and HD can sell stoves for 1100 rather than 3000 is due to the self install and non tech that is inherint with any purchase! Sounds like the tech support worked at getting you parts as fast if not faster a local stove shop would have sent out a tech. Have you ever tried to get someone out on a Sat? Didn't think so! If you did not want, or felt uncomfortable working on this stove, you SHOULD NOT HAVE PURCHASED it! Get your hands dirty, fix it up and stay warm!

As for not pleased...you are complaining about a gasket that is 3 yrs old? Did you not read the manual that came with the stove stating replacing of gaskets is recommended every year? My father has a 4000 dollar harman accentra and even he has to do that!

I have had my stove for 5 years now and it has not ran the entire season yet. I have been through 4 lower auger motors already and it looks like I will be on my 5th. I have called and e-mailed and everything else to try to talk to someone about this, asking them is this normal, I feel it is something else and they don't want to tell me, I just can not believe the stove eats motors like that. Those little motors are not cheap ($130.98) it is getting to the point where I can not afford to run the stove and buy the pellets then have it break down 2 to 3 times a winter. I DON'T RECOMMEND ENGLAND STOVES AT ALL! Has anybody else had this problem and if you have how did you fix it.

I bought a 25pdv 12/31/07.
From day one I kept getting smoke blow back. Manual says not
to worry? WHAT?
It filled my whole house up with smoke so bad couldn't breath until aired out. If this had happened while we were asleep, could have been asphyxiated!
Well next the pellets in hopper started smouldering.
They sent me new augur bearings and 1 motor.
This stove was ONE MONTH OLD! They wanted me to fix it myself or hire someone. The DAMN THING HAS A 5 YEAR WARRANTY. And I HAVE to do the repairs?
Well about 10 days later it blew back again, shut it down and unplugged it. Aired house out. G/F came home 4 hr later house was again filled with smoke. I came home about midnight from work. Again filled with smoke. Opened hopper and pellets were burning in the hopper!
Took Lots of pictures and then poured water on it.
They blamed installation of intake and exhaust on me.
They quoted me wrong info on phone (Chris Terrell-mgr ext 152 at the number listed in the manual).
I told him READ YOUR DAMN MANUAL. I installed it EXACTLY
per instructions.
Finally they sent me a new stove, refused to upgrade my model, I again had to install it myself . They decided I needed more exhaust pipe and a different vent.
Well the winds have died down and it's warmed up so don't know how it will perform.
Supposed to heat 1500 sq ft. This one can't even adequately heat 400 sq ft.
They refuse to respond to requests for assistance in offsetting the costs of smoke damage in the house. approximately $300 in cleaning supplies and etc.
Will I buy another NEVER. Will I recommend NEVER.
I carry my pictures with me and show them to prospective buyers at Home Depot, Sutherlands and Lowes in our city.
cost of lawyer is more than what I would get back.

My friend and I bought our stoves in Oct 06 and the only problem we have had with both stoves, is lower auger motor failure. England stove sent the new motors promtly with no problems. It seems by most of the post here that the England stove co needs to work on their quality control. Besides that one problem the stove is great, I've burned 3+ tons this year alone. An England Stove is like an English car, it needs you as much as you need it. If your not handy or mechanicly inclined buy gas or oil.

I can not believe that I am reading grown men whining and complaining about working on a stove that was bought a DO IT YOURSELF STORE. come on get over yourself I am a woman that owns one and can fix mine myself the money it saves every year on oil and electricity is worth a 130. motor every now and then. Grow up and be real men not crybaby mommas boys all your life or go by a gas or oil stove or an electric heater.

Listen people, would you drive your car hard and not rotate tires, change oil, or replace your brakes! I have owned my 25PDV since 2001, and run it constantly from November through April each year. I have not replace any parts on my system EVER. I bought mine from C&T for $900.00, and installed it myself. They issue you a manual for a reason, any piece of equipment you buy, read it, I checked all connections, bolts, augers, and fans prior to installing. The only problem I had was it was feeding to many pellets to burn, contacted support, and individual helped me right away. Yes I have some noise, and I even had some back draft smoke, but it only happened once, reconfigured exhaust, and it fixed problem. If this problem should continue, get the battery back-up, normally this problem happens because of power outage. This is not the first one I have owned, I have not purchased fuel oil since 1998.

i think im in love with kim

Burned five tons for under $1, 000 last winter 24-7. Electrical bill only went up $50.00 monthly. Ran like a gem through the end of May. Sole heat. Thank you. Just bought another 6 tons for under $1, 250.00 and ready to go Home Depot. We will have saved over $3, 250.00 by winter's end 2009. Buying all replacement parts ahead of time saves us worry about breakdowns. Tore off the vinyl siding on the house and replaced with cedar shakes for better insulation bundle by bundle.

After a lot of research and the reality that I may not be able to get a pellet stove from those expensive Hearth stores I just purchased a 25 PDV from Lowes. I am a do-it-yourself 'r through and through...I have to be with a 140 year old house, 4 kids, tractors, dirtbikes, snowmobiles, boats, trucks, etc. I live in NH. My family and I are staring in the face of $4.50 gallon or more for heating oil this heating season. I burn 1000 gallons per year. I needed to suppliment my home heating and a pellet stove seemed the best way to go...this from a guy who grew up in northern NH burning 8 cord of wood per winter.

I was mortified to see some of these posts because I really had to dig deap to find anything negative about Englander stoves. I tend to agree with the general concensus that if you love your stove it will love you back. Kim definitely said it best...I will gladly take a stove I can work on, get parts for and fix myself rather than wait for overpriced parts and service from my local Hearth store.

Fortunately, I have plenty of time to get to know my stove, I actually like reading owners manuals (I know, twisted) and I look forward to taking it apart to check everything over. I realize I may face some adversity and inconvenience every now and then but I know I will be saving hundreds of dollars this heating season and with any luck and plenty of preventative maintenance, I won't be back to report a bunch of problems.

im buying a multi fuel englander # 49 and have not seen any complaints on this one yet. I can make and fix anything so im not scared but it gets cold here in nh and dont want to repair during a cold snap who knows about this stove

England makes a good product and the price can't be beat...With some peeps you could hand them a suitcase containing $1, 000, 000.00...They would moan, groan and complain all the way to the bank because it wasn't a $1, 000, 000.00 BILL... My favorite passtime is to log on and search a product, any product, then google complaints on that product...Every now and then I even find a valid complaint...The others only make for amusing reading, and some down right funny...LOL

Thanks England for producing the Englander 25-PDV

Has anyone else expierenced problems with the thermostat on the unit 28-3500 add on furnace. I have replaced the thermstat twice and still doesnt work. Also when operating the blower in the manual mode does it rob needed/surrounding air for the draft.Please let me know.

i have a englander from lowes, should i be a little nosie?

I have the 25 pdv. Listen to me folks. You HAVE to clean the opening of the auger weekly. Carbon builds up and can and will stop your auger from rotating. I replaced my augers only 1 time. Now I clean the end of the auger tube and havent had a problem with it binding the auger bit. Vaccuming is not the only thing u should do to clean it. You have to chisel the carbon off of the tube. ALSO, once a year, grease the 2 bearing fittings for the augers from the back of the unit. I cant complain about my stove other than it's not as quite as the more expensive ones. It heats my house and in the last 3 years, i have gotten my money back in oil savings.

It sounds like a lot of us are having trouble with our 25 PDV stoves. This thing has been a total piece of junk ever since I bought it. I've had nothing but problems from day one with everything from E codes, shut downs for no reason and its failure to auger pellets into the hopper consistently. While the guys at Englander's support line seem to do their best with your problems and are pleasant, my issues have never been solved.

I especially liked the time when I e-mailed them for tech support and I got and e-mail three days later saying "give us a call". If I wanted to give them a call I would have done that in the first place, right?

I wish Englaner would simply have trained local techs that you could have come to your house and service/fix their products. This whole stance of them saying they designed the stoves so the consumer can service and fix them as needed seems like just a way to not take resonsibility for bad products.

I can honestly say that this stove has been the worst item I've ever bought in my entire life. I'm starting to shop for a Harman stove now, a few of my friends have them and love them.

We installed our New Englander stove about 10 days ago, so far so good! It does require some maintanace and is a bit noisy, but compared to wood it is a breeze. We expect to save quite a bit when compared to what we would spend for fuel oil. We are still figuring out when to add pellets. We clean it every am and do the twice weekly maintanance. I can see that keeping it clean is very important. I will try to comment more after a couple months of use.

I bought a 25-PDVC3 from Lowes for $1299.00 a couple of weeks ago and installed it last weekend. Thankfully I paid for it with a credit card because I am going to dispute the charge and go buy a real pellet stove. My complaints are numerous...

#1 - By the time the pellets ignite, the burn pot is loaded with pellets so after they do catch, the burn pot is filled with ashes.

#2 - I realize that the upper auger is supposed to run intermittenly but I think it is running continuosly. If I sit and watch the lower auger it is always feeding pellets into the burn pot. No matter what the heat setting is on. It feeds so much that after igniting the pellets are catching fire while in the lower auger tube.

#3 - The hopper does not hold #40 of pellets. Even if it did that would just mean that there were more pellets in the hopper when the fire goes out... which it does everynight while I am at work.

#4 - Ashes build up and cover the airholes in the side of the burn pot so the fire gets no air.

#5 - My house is either 100 degrees or 50 degrees. There is no happy medium. On the lowest setting (1) the stove is putting out so much heat I can't sleep. (if I do fall asleep, the fire goes out and then the house is 50 degrees).

#6 - At 8:30 A.M. when I came home from work the stove was out (of course). I put almost a whole bag in the hopper and started it. By noon I was able to add the balance to the already depleted hopper. When I was leaving for work around 9 P.M. I added almost another full bag of pellets and removed a pound of ashes from the burn pot. I set the heat range temp at 1 (the lowest) and went to work. I figured when I got home all would be cool. Yeah right... I walk in the door, the blower is running, there is no fire, augers are turning and the burn pot is overflowing with pellets.

#7 - Thinking that I had solved all my heating problems when I bought this stove, I gave away 3 cords of wood to a family that needed it. The reason I bought the stove is because I have a disabled hand and its really hard for me to cut wood and deal with all the work involved now that my son is gone and on his own. Now I am thinking about meeting someone and breeding so I can have a new helper. How sick is that? All because of this pile of crap that I purchased at Lowes...

#8 - The way I figure it is like this. I am going to use 2 bags of pellets a day, again thats at the lowest setting... thats 50 bags or 1 ton in 25 days so both tons I purchased will be gone right when the really cold weather hits. Lets do the math... $250.00 a ton (multiply by 16, divide by 7, the square root of Upstate New York is ambient 9 degrees) Its going to cost me TONS of money to use this stove at this rate.

#9 - (this is starting to sound like Lettermans top 10 list) The number one reason I am going to use this stove as a boat anchor is because I have been calling Englands Stove Company since Tuesday morning and all I get is a busy signal. I am calling Lowes and then after that I am calling my credit card company and telling them what a piece of crapola I bought.

#10 - Screw it, I am moving to Hawaii where I will probably get ripped off on an air condtioner !

Mike D needs help with this thing, any ideas?

I bought a stove from Englad 3 years ago. I cannot find a repair person in my area who repairs them. Lowes' sells tham but even they do not have people who will fix them. I called for a week and got an instant busy signal. I emailed them and they did not respond. It is the worst customer service i have had with any company. I would not recommend their product to anyone.

i have an add-on furnace 28-3500. The unit has worked well for several years with two exceptions. cracks from the corner of the door needed to be plated (plate too thin?). second, the blower motor went bad. the owners handbook said the motor requires no lubrication. nothing could be farther from the truth. the warning on the motor(not visible unless you really look) states the motor requires 20 wt oil every six months. i hope england stove works reads these complaints and changes their book to the truth. all of the customer remarks on their page are positive. have they never had an unhappy customer? they should add a few comments to their page from the less than happy customers. if for no other reason than to seem honest.

A question for James (2 days ago reply). Has your blower on the 28-3500, when running, take away any surrounding air from the draft? I ask this again because in my air tight house the blower takes away the combustion air and actually starts "killing" the wood fire. I have since modified the blower by butting a 10 inch duct pipe up against the suction side of the blower (left side facing) and force the blower to take air from an upstairs grate. This seems to be the key as the burning has improved greatly. I actually had the pilot light on my gas water heater 'sucked" out by the operation of the 28-3500 blower.