3000W Chinese Gensets Info.

jpkiljan wrote:
A REASON NOT TO BUY A PORTABLE GENERATOR FROM PEPBOYS? I'm pretty happy with my 3000 watt Wen Power generator (PowerPro Model 3500D 6.5 HP) from PepBoys. It has already seen me through one short power outage. I paid a pretty reasonable $250 plus tax on it after the $50 mail-in rebate, which put it just under the cost of their competition. I think the price has gone up a bit since then with the rebate still set at $50. However, for those considering the purchase of a generator from PepBoys, consider this: a $50 rebate is not worth $50 if you never get it.

Mine never came. Instead, I got a postcard from "Pep Boys Auto Resubmit" saying that the "The receipt(s) submitted did not show the purchase of any qualifying items." Fortunately, I made copies of everything and, yes, the receipt exactly matches the item on the multi-page fill-in form plus all the times and eligible dates check out. I couldn't figure out why the sales clerk was insistent that he help me fill out their long rebate form, but he did it exactly right from what I can see. Nor, can I figure out why a quality retailer would want to hurt their reputation with this kind of thing. I'll invite PepBoys to reconsider their rejection, of course, but who wants that kind of hassle over just $50?

If the check ever does show up, I'll post a quick note here.

--John

Here's the promised follow-up: I resubmitted a copy of my receipt and copies of everything else and waited another month. There was no response at all from "Pep Boys Auto Resubmit"--nada. Before filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and AG's office--something I had promised to do in my re-submittal request--I dropped by the Pep Boys retailer and said I had a complaint and asked to speak with the manager. I showed the assistant manager the paperwork and he simply said, "If they haven't reimbursed you by now, they never will." Without another word, he spent a couple of minutes punching numbers into his cash register's keyboard, handed me $50 in bills, and asked me to sign a form saying I'd received the cash.

I spent some of the money at the same store buying a nice new blind-spot mirror. The store will certainly get my business again, but I'll never fully value Pep Boy's advertised mail-in rebates.

BTW, I've noticed that they've increased the list price of the same generator by $50 to $350, but they occasionally have a $50 off sale without the need for a mail-in rebate.

On a completely different subject: Don't forget your first oil change. I changed the oil on my generator for the first time after 10 hours running time over two months. Wow! The waste oil looked almost iridescent from all the fine suspended metal particles when I set the drain pan out in sunlight. The manufacturer recommends the first change be at 50 hours. I don't think you should wait that long.

--John