I just recently purchased a brand new England Stove model: 25-EPI and had it installed by a professional, certified installer who also happens to be a firefighter! After installation he could not get the fire to ignite. He suggested I call the manufacture and here is where the story begins. I am a young individual however the individual on the customer service side did not realize I suffered a stroke. I was instructed I needed to PULL the insert out from the fireplace. I said you have to be kidding me, and he insisted that I try to move the stove so he could assist me. I was finally able to do this and I was on the phone for a good 1 1/2 hrs with the customer service tech. It was on this call and this is very important to know, this company DOES NOT SUPPORT TECHNICAL ONSITE SUPPORT. These stoves are manufactured for the end user, yes that is right you to do all of the mechanical fixes via a telephone call with the customer service tech on the other phone. I was told if they need to mail me a part it would be my responsibility to install it, of course with their help. Had I know this I would have never EVER purchased this manufacturing brand. To me that is not a warranty. So now it has been 2 weeks and the stove will still not light and it is the first week in November in New England, yes it is down to the 30's at night now.

It was also on this call I was told I can simply just light the stove manually, of which I replied again you have to be kidding me this is a brand new stove of which is still covered under warranty. No reply to that one.

I should also mention that the small town supply store that I purchased this stove from tried to stand behind the product even if the manufacture would not, however after the store sent their service tech to the house for 2 hours of non billable labor, they have pretty much told me at this point I have to go through the manufacture technical support center for further assistance.

I tried calling again technical support to get a manager on the phone, where I was put on hold for 30 min without a tech picking up and therefore hung up. What triggered this call today was the manufacturers tech told the store I purchased the stove from now I need to have a fresh air intake installed in my chimney. Upon hearing this I called the professional installed where he commented he highly disagreed and would be completely surprised if this in fact resolves the fact that the igniter is not close enough to the collection pan for the pellets. I can't even see the red glow when the collection pot is installed and the unit is running. Installing this new air vent will run another 150.00 approximately in the chimney and the installer does not believe this will resolve the issue. Therefore I will call back England Stoves tech tom and request to speak to a manager to find out the next step after I have this vent installed and it STILL will not light. In the mean time I am continuing to spread the word that this company has EXTREMELY POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE and beware when you purchase one of their stoves. If you are not a handy do it yourself individual, this stove is NOT for you. I will post again after I get the managers reply to my comments. Wish me luck!

Re: woodstoves including Summers Heat, Englander, and timberidge. these are sold by Lowes as well as other distributors. We purchased our woodstove through Lowes in 8/05. It was back ordered and came in 9/05. Well right out of the box it was DOA ! An electrician did the wiring, including its own GFI. We contacted the company. their idea of customer service is to have you hold the phone to the stove so they can listen to it! Well after several such phone calls they sent us a new blower and thermostat. keep in mind this is under warranty yet we had to either install the parts ourselves or hire an electrician to do so! Well aprox every 3 months since the thermostat dies. At first they replaced it. They started telling us to do things like open it and BEND pieces to try and make them work. We average 1 1/2 HOURS per call, most of it being passed around and put on hold. finally being told someone else will call us back. the last phone call they actually told us to just DUCT tape the thermostat in the On POSITION! No one will call us back, answer emails etc. since they have dragged this problem out past the warranty they don't want to replace the thermostat. No one will answer if duct taping is SAFE or if they will cover the motor if using duct tape causes the motor to burn out. they were supposed to have a tech check the last thermostat that we SHIPPED back to them but they admit they never did. As I said they were notified of this problem while under warranty and have yet to properly correct it. This stove does not work properly, the company will no longer return our DAILY phone calls or emails. I plan on notifying everyone possible both online and off until they either correct the problem or have a RECALL due to FAULTY Thermostat. I want it repaired properly or removed from my home with a full refund given. I can and will hold them responsible for damages.