Complaint Review: No Utility Bills Inc. - Athabasca Alberta

I just wanted to warn everyone on Kijiji of the horrible experience I am having with No Utility Bills Inc. I bought a Harman TLC 2000 from them back in October 2013, by January 2014 the metal on the inside of the stove had warped considerably and several welds had broken. I read the entire user manual and have operated the stove accordingly. I have not done anything like over fire the stove (the vent’s usually at around 15-20%) to cause the warping. My best guess is that Harman used inferior metal in the manufacture of this stove. Apart from the warping other issues include paint flaking off the top of the stove, interior finish chipping off in large chunks, the cheap wooden door handle which sits in front of the glass when closed got cracked and singed from the heat, and the burn time is nowhere near the 60 hours that No Utility Bills Inc. advertises it is (I’m getting about 2-4 hours using coal from Bienfait Mine, SK).

I sent pictures to No Utility Bills Inc. who forwarded them to Harman. Two months later I hadn’t heard anything back so I contacted No Utility Bills Inc. Apparently they had received a brand new replacement stove from Harman a month before. They sent me an email, which for some reason went to my junk mail folder, and when they hadn’t received a response to that email for a month they couldn’t be bothered to pick up the phone and call me, but rather let me wait indefinitely. I was a little disappointed to hear that they got a replacement stove since I specifically asked them to exchange my TLC 2000 for a heavier duty model as it appears that it was not built tough enough for daily use and I didn’t want to simply exchange it for the same model which might have the same defects.

No Utility Bills Inc. informed me that if I wish to exchange my TLC 2000 for the new one that I would need to ship mine back to them and pay for them to ship the new one to me. The freight would be $333 not including the $80 in fuel it would cost me each trip I’d have to make to the city. The entire exchange would end up costing me about 25% of the purchase price of the stove, which is crazy and it’s simply more than I can afford right now.

Rather than throwing all that money out the window on shipping to replace a nearly new stove that I shouldn’t need to replace for the exact same model which could have the exact same problems I thought it best to simply return my stove and get my money back. I kindly requested from No Utility Bills Inc. that they allow to me return my stove for a full refund. Since they already had a new stove in hand they would be able to sell it for full price and it would be as if this entire mishap never happened. Their complete response to my request: “I don’t think so.”

They offered no explanation as to why they wouldn’t entertain my more than reasonable request for a refund or even suggest a compromise that may be acceptable to both parties. All they said was “I don’t think so.” Does that sound like the kind of company that you’d want to deal with? I don’t think so. I told them that I would be contacting the BBB to file a complaint as well as post ads on the internet warning other potential customers of their horrid customer service. They told me to go ahead and they’ll sue me for slander if I give them a negative review.

Well No Utilities Inc. if I didn’t have the $333 to pay for the shipping to exchange the faulty stove you sold me then how much money do you think you’ll get out of me when you sue me for speaking the truth?

The verdict:

Can I recommend the Harman TLC 2000 wood/coal stove?

No

Can I recommend doing business with No Utilities Inc. (aka Wild Rose Hydronics, Wild Rose Solar, Architectural Drafting & Design, Wild Rose Business Services, Wild Rose Drafting, Wild Rose Hosting, Holt Construction, Holt Group of Companies?)

“I don’t think so.”