Am I being scammed? Wolf range hood, defective delivery

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renter
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Am I being scammed? Wolf range hood, defective delivery

Post by renter »

In a rare splerge as part of a kitchen remodel, we bought a high end stainless steal Wolf range hood from a local authorized dealer at around $4k. It arrived today. The box was enormous and in immaculate condition, and was delivered on top of a wood crate to which it was strapped. It looked very cool. The box had no obvious signs of damage or signs it that it had been opened before. When we opened the box, though, we discovered two deep scratches on the face of the hood in a very conspicuous place in front of where you’d be standing after installation. We looked inside the box for an installation manual and user guide (to see if we at least received all the pieces that were supposed to come with the unit) and product registration or other paper inserts but found none in the box, which seemed odd. Also, there was no protective plastic covering the main unit. (But the chimney piece which was separately boxed was carefully wrapped in thick protective plastic, and it seemed odd that only the chimney, and not the main unit, would have the protective covering). It’s hard for me to imagine it left a factory controlled setting in North America with such obvious visible defect. This is not supposed to happen with this brand and the high quality was what we were paying for. I know mistakes can happen, but my gut is telling me that this is a scam of some sort that this was a return from another job or a floor sample or something like that. The store wanted us to take it back to the store for them to inspect, which seemed unprofessional. They then seemed ok to come out and inspect and give us a replacement unit. But they haven’t come yet and I’m getting nervous. The store is a family business that's been around for a long time. Wolf customer service is closed so I haven't reached out to them yet. Anyone have experience being in this type of situation with appliance delivery or care to share ideas?
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sdsailing
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Re: Am I being scammed? Wolf range hood, defective delivery

Post by sdsailing »

How long has it been? You need to give them a chance to come out and replace the unit. Unless that fails to happen, I wouldn't worry about who boxed the damaged unit. It could have been done by the distributer.
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renter
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Re: Am I being scammed? Wolf range hood, defective delivery

Post by renter »

It arrived yesterday and we opened it today.
dolphinsaremammals
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Re: Am I being scammed? Wolf range hood, defective delivery

Post by dolphinsaremammals »

renter wrote:The store is a family business that's been around for a long time.
That doesn't mean anything. The local family longtime appliance business where I live is a disaster to deal with. Never again.
Cigarman
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Re: Am I being scammed? Wolf range hood, defective delivery

Post by Cigarman »

If you paid for it with a credit card than dispute the charge immediately. That really get's people's attention. Take lots of pictures too.
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BTDT
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Re: Am I being scammed? Wolf range hood, defective delivery

Post by BTDT »

The missing plastic covering on the stainless front suggests this may have been a factory return. In my experience with high end stainless it always comes with protective plastic that is not removed until actual installation.

Take pictures and set up an appointment date and time with the dealer. If a no show- notify Wolf customer service, and if applicable your credit card company to dispute the charge.

John
If past history was all that is needed to play the game of money, the richest people would be librarians.
astrohip
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Re: Am I being scammed? Wolf range hood, defective delivery

Post by astrohip »

As someone who owned an appliance business for a long time, my advice...

Take pictures, lots of pictures. You've already notified them, and they said they would come out to inspect it. As long as that's in writing (not verbal or phone), you are ok. If it's verbal, send an email now, confirming the verbal. Document every step, who you talk to, each phone call, etc. Also, make sure you are talking to a manager, and not just a salesperson or CSR. With the dollars involved, you want management in on the conversation.

They should come out quickly, as in Monday. If for any reason you are not happy with their reaction, whether it be how fast they come out, or what they do for you, contact the distributor. Wolf belongs to Sub-Zero, and use a master distributor for each region (region being huge chunks of the country). That distributor has enormous power over the dealer (the store you bought from).

Let us know how it goes. What city are you in?
"Happiness is not about doing, it’s about being." - R Branson
astrohip
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Re: Am I being scammed? Wolf range hood, defective delivery

Post by astrohip »

Cigarman wrote:If you paid for it with a credit card than dispute the charge immediately. That really get's people's attention. Take lots of pictures too.
Please don't. Give the store a chance. For all we know, they may come out, agree with the damage, order a new one, and keep you completely satisfied.

Almost nothing is more irritating to a store owner than having a customer dispute a credit card charge before we were given a chance to solve the problem. When a charge is disputed before we have a chance to fix it, as store owners we ask the same question you are now asking: Are WE being scammed? I've had people order $20,000 worth of appliances, dispute the charge before they even call us, and then it turns out to be almost nothing. It takes months to get the charge put back on, and dozens of expensive (high-level) man-hours.

Please give the store a chance. Then if you are not completely satisfied with their response, take whatever steps you feel you need to.
"Happiness is not about doing, it’s about being." - R Branson
cherijoh
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Re: Am I being scammed? Wolf range hood, defective delivery

Post by cherijoh »

jvclark02 wrote:The missing plastic covering on the stainless front suggests this may have been a factory return. In my experience with high end stainless it always comes with protective plastic that is not removed until actual installation.

Take pictures and set up an appointment date and time with the dealer. If a no show- notify Wolf customer service, and if applicable your credit card company to dispute the charge.

John
+1 Although I would suggest contacting Wolf customer service NOW rather than later.

My company gave me an allowance to set up a home office to spend at their authorized suppliers. I ordered a Herman Miller Aeron chair with my allowance. It was delivered through a local authorized dealer. It arrived with a totally mangled box that looked like it had been crushed by being clamped in a forklift. The delivery guy told me this happened all the time. I took pictures of the box and then let them unpack it. The chair was wrapped up in heavy plastic and there was no visible damage, so I accepted the order. But then I contacted Herman Miller's national customer service. They were very interested in the details of the delivery and requested copies of the photos I took. They promised to contact the authorized dealer to discuss the delivery guy's claim that "this happened all the time".
DFrank
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Re: Am I being scammed? Wolf range hood, defective delivery

Post by DFrank »

We have a Wolf oven. Unfortunately, we had some problems with it during the first year. Fortunately, we found that Wolf's customer service was outstanding. If you don't get satisfaction from the dealer I would contact Wolf and I'm sure they will rectify the situation. You may consider contacting Wolf directly now as a precautionary measure.

In doing our pre-purchase research for this oven our conclusion was that all the high end ovens seem to have at least some reliability issues, but that Wolf stood apart from the pack with respect to their customer service.

Dave
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Re: Am I being scammed? Wolf range hood, defective delivery

Post by WHL »

Cigarman wrote:If you paid for it with a credit card than dispute the charge immediately. That really get's people's attention. Take lots of pictures too.
Absolutely do not do this, TS. A dispute is a serious matter and if you want to have any chance of resolving this amicably with the store, you need to stay somewhat friendly as well.

You can initiate the dispute / charge back for up to 30 days, usually, so save that as a last case option.
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BolderBoy
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Re: Am I being scammed? Wolf range hood, defective delivery

Post by BolderBoy »

astrohip wrote:
Cigarman wrote:If you paid for it with a credit card than dispute the charge immediately. That really get's people's attention. Take lots of pictures too.
Please don't. Give the store a chance. For all we know, they may come out, agree with the damage, order a new one, and keep you completely satisfied.
I agree. There is PLENTY of time to dispute the charge and as a show of good faith you should let this ride unless it becomes obvious down the line that you won't get satisfaction.

Most businesses rely heavily on word-of-mouth recommendations and want to satisfy reasonable customers.
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sdsailing
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Re: Am I being scammed? Wolf range hood, defective delivery

Post by sdsailing »

renter wrote:It arrived yesterday and we opened it today.
But that means you have not given the store the opportunity to rectify the problem. Why not assume the best while waiting for them to come and look at it, as it sounds like they agreed to?
Topic Author
renter
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Re: Am I being scammed? Wolf range hood, defective delivery

Post by renter »

The store says tomorrow they'll drop off a new unit and collect the old unit. So we'll see how it goes.
McCharley
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Re: Am I being scammed? Wolf range hood, defective delivery

Post by McCharley »

I am sure I'm not the only one who expected them to be this responsive! Often these family businesses live by their reputation. :sharebeer

(Now they better pull through! :annoyed )
Topic Author
renter
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Re: Am I being scammed? Wolf range hood, defective delivery

Post by renter »

They came back today but delivered the wrong model #. We'll try one more time tomorrow.
Topic Author
renter
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Re: Am I being scammed? Wolf range hood, defective delivery

Post by renter »

Here's an update. It took the store 3 deliveries to get the order right. Right before the third delivery, the salesman from the store called, with an angry tone, and asserted there was nothing wrong with the first shipment that we had sent back. The scratch didn't exist! he said. He was acting like a lunatic. He told us he was going to resend the first shipment, along with what he claimed was a brand new unit, and then let us "pick whichever one we wanted". A few minutes later his delivery guy showed up, but with just one unit (finally, a brand new unit in model we purchased which was all we wanted). It's all installed and so far works great.

The store was very sloppy and unprofessional but in the end we got what we wanted. All the salesman really had to do was show up at our house with the unit after two botched deliveries, reassure us that he's taking care of his store's mistake, and be friendly and professional, and apologize. My house is about a 10 minute drive from his store. I won't do business with that place again.
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