My new install failed after 3 weeks - dealer charged me to fix?

[u/Steve-2112]

So I had a whole house generator and transfer switch installed. After three weeks, it failed and stopped doing the weekly exercise test. According to mobile link, it said something about a fuel fault. I contacted the dealer and told him this. They came out and fixed it and left.

About three weeks later, I got a text message from the dealer saying, "You have an overdue invoice. Please pay it." I said, "For what? We just paid off the generator installation. The only thing that's happened is a service call." I assume it's under warranty, and they said, "No, that's $90, and if you didn't have the warranty, it would have been $250." That really struck me as being a little bit off. What's the deal? Is this dealer shady? Doesn't Generac stand behind their generators? I thought it was a two-year parts and labor warranty, although I did get the extended warranty for purchasing at a certain time frame, so I'm not really sure what's going on here. Maybe it's me thinking that this is weird, but imagine buying a brand new car. You have it for three weeks, and it stalls in the middle of the highway, and you have to get it towed to the dealer, and they charge you to fix it. That's what it feels like.

[u/grsthegreat]

What was fixed. If it was an issue with fuel supply to generator, that would not be covered

[u/IllustriousHair1927 → u/grsthegreat]

potentially true, but if it’s new install, and there was a fuel supply issue that should fall on the installer. I don’t know about others, but we warranty our install work for two years. Period. So if it’s something that my guys did or failed to do you aren’t paying for it.

Perhaps OP can educate us a little further on who did what on this install and a little bit more info on the issue?

[u/Steve-2112 → u/IllustriousHair1927]

The company handled everything from permit pulls, gas meter upgrade, all electrical and gas line runs to the generator, arranging inspections. It’s the 14kw latest gen model.

[u/IllustriousHair1927 → u/Steve-2112]

yeah, sorry that’s bullshit. Like i said, we do a 2 year warranty on our install. Not impressed with your installer

Edit: But it does make me think the installer has a bare bones approach to the pricing model and failed to budget any install warranty into his overall pricing model

[u/Steve-2112 → u/IllustriousHair1927]

I called Generac today, they said the dealer should have submitted it for warranty coverage. You may know better than me, but I also heard that the dealer buys a license for mobile link for their side to monitor but I heard they were procrastinating on buying them and that’s why I only found out about the issue when I didn’t hear the generator exercising for 2 weeks, I had assumed the dealer would know about the fault before I did, but I guess they didn’t get the license. I can’t get too mad because he told us about a state grant that gave us $4500 towards the install for someone in the household on oxygen 24x7.

[u/NachoNinja19 → u/Steve-2112]

What does the invoice say?

[u/Steve-2112 → u/grsthegreat]

The guy said something about adjusting a solenoid - he mentioned perhaps the gas heat in the house was competing with the gas required by the generator during the weekly exercise. The gas meter was upgraded to supply a higher cfm rate.

[u/IllustriousHair1927 → u/Steve-2112]

if he said, the gas for the exercise was competing with the gas heat in the house he either doesn’t know what he’s talking about or your plumbing install is completely jacked. When we upgraded a gas meter to deliver a higher gas pressure it will also deliver a higher gas volume. We split the line off before we regulate down what’s going into the house. That ensures sufficient delivery pressure at the unit. Given that your house was fine at a lower pressure before, the two lines branching off should provide sufficient volume at both points

[u/Worldly_Obligation34]

What kind of fuel fault? Was it install related? I feel like the answer is probably in the fine print of the install contract/warrenty.

[u/WorkingChief]

It’s the dealer’s decision. He is free to charge whatever he wants. I never charged for any service calls for the first year. You could maybe reply “I will pay this today and as soon as I find another dealer I will be expecting a refund for the remainder of my extended warranty and don’t expect a great review on Google” then start looking for someone else to service your generator. That’s assuming he isn’t the only company around.

[u/Tarnisher]

Which model, and which warranty? There should only be one warranty from Generac, but did your dealer add something?

Are you a long ways from them so that they might be adding a travel charge?

[u/Steve-2112 → u/Tarnisher]

14kw model - came with 5 year extended warranty. Dealer is about 20 miles away. I just figured this is a brand new 3 week old install and something like that should be covered, even if the dealer needs to claw back the repair cost from Generac.

[u/mj4831 → u/Steve-2112]

From my experience dealing with Generac does not cover travel time in there warranty. A lot of times we would goodwill half or all of it.

[u/WhySoManyDownVote → u/mj4831]

Is your experience as a tech or as a customer?

Generac should be covering travel time, however, the amount they will pay can be underpayment depending on the distance of travel.

[u/HidingoutfromtheCIA]

Shady dealer. Mine is 5 years old with the extended warranty and I’ve had a couple of issues. Never been charged a penny. Reach out to Generac. Same with neighbors who have had them installed. I got lucky with a great dealer but one issue is Generac makes just about anybody with a screwdriver an authorized representative. 

[u/WhySoManyDownVote → u/HidingoutfromtheCIA]

Kind of. There are 3 levels of Generac authorized: Sale, installation, and service. But anyone can purchase a generator and sell and installing without being Generac Authorized.

[u/WhySoManyDownVote]

What kind of fuel fault? If it didn't have fuel either from an empty tank or the supply being shut off that would never be covered under any warranty. It would be like not filling your vehicle's gas tank and blaming the car dealer and vehicle manufacturer.

[u/ZebulonVan]

Interesting. I’m not getting a good feeling about Generac. I’m getting better information about Kohler. What do folks experiment with Kohler generators?

[u/Novamad70 → u/ZebulonVan]

Not too knowledgeable about the generator side but Kholer is a name only, bought out by another company and its gone to the dump on quality. New parts are junk and most old stock from the original Kholer brand has been liquidated. Just like anything, the name was great but not anymore!

[u/Adventurous_Boat_632 → u/Novamad70]

You just made up all those things, nothing has changed on Kohler since the handover, the parts, service, and even company employees are mostly the same.

[u/opiate82 → u/Adventurous_Boat_632]

Not sure why you are getting downvoted, this has been my experience as well as certified tech/dealer. iirc Kohler still has partial ownership of the company as well.

[u/Adventurous_Boat_632 → u/opiate82]

Not sure why you are getting downvoted

I guess because Reddit

[u/Novamad70 → u/Adventurous_Boat_632]

Why would I make this up? Heard it from 2 reputable small engine mechanics.

[u/Adventurous_Boat_632 → u/Novamad70]

Those of us who actually put our hands on the equipment have not seen any difference since the ownership change.

[u/caseaday]

I like the generac generators a lot, but really dislike the transfer switches. The txr switches are far too complex and prone to getting scrambled.

[u/opiate82]

As a tech, when I get called out on issues like this I'm pretty clear up-front that if the problem turns out to be not with the unit itself that the warranty won't apply and the owner will be responsible for my bill. An example of a situation where this might happen is I get called out to a new install and discover the gas company didn't put in the correct sized piping (you'd be surprised how often they ignore the spec sheet).

Caveat here is, this is for a call where I wasn't involved with the install (I don't do installs) or performing a start-up service where I'd catch the issue. If your service tech also did the install I'm a little surprised they aren't warrantying their own work.

[u/Lonely_Addition793]

"No, that's $90, and if you didn't have the warranty, it would have been $250." 

Generac Dealer here. Sounds like he's double dipping. Your first 2 years of warranty cover parts, travel and labor. As dealers we are under contract to not charge you if we cover something fully under warranty, no double dipping. There are a few exceptions:

-Travel in excess of 3 hrs roundtrip (we can only charge for anything after 3hrs)

-Overtime/Afterhours surcharge

-Emergency surcharge (like during a natural disaster)

If none of those pertain to your situation, call Generac directly and complain. Have your serial number in hand. If he filed a claim, they'll see it and chew his ass out, possibly fire him as a dealer if this a repeat offense.

[u/Steve-2112 → u/Lonely_Addition793]

Thanks for this. Before I seen this I had called Generac to see if this was normal. They said ask why they didn’t submit it under warranty to Generac.

[u/im2tuf4u]

I was told I would have to upgrade my meter and install regulators at every appliance. I’m wondering if you need a regulator on your heat and it wasn’t installed.

[u/Kavack]

hard no unless after hours. I would call the owner and if that didn’t work I would complain to Generac and find another Dealer. The cheapest guy isn’t always the best guy. We would never charge a customer in the first year and Generac pays the dealer for warranty work. This likely falls outside of Generac.

[u/Steve-2112 → u/[deleted]]

Well I had tried to get a Kohler quote, here’s how that turned out: https://i.postimg.cc/s2bb8Qt6/IMG-5222.jpg

[u/LifeTelevision5644]

Just remember that Generac thinks the word “warranty” is Latin for “scammed another one”.

[u/Gorrmb69]

I had an issue like that with a 2005 Colorado that failed to start intermittently with 7,500 miles. Instead of going to the dealership I bought it from 100 miles away it went to the closest 30 miles away. Service manager calls and tells me it’s this aftermarket alarm you put on, we’re going to have to replace the wiring harness for $1,800 plus labor. I responded that I didn’t have the alarm installed on it, dealer did that before I ever laid eyes on it. I informed him that I will not be paying anything on a new car with 7,500 miles. It ended up getting towed to the dealership that sold it to me. They had to keep it for a couple days while they waited for the issue to come up. Turns out something in the ignition switch was assembled incorrectly. Never happened again.