The SCS/NLP Blog

This blog is not about eating too many beans…. Some gas pains are worse than others.

This is the story of my experience attempting to replace a $2 plastic knob on a Napoleon gas log fireplace. You may have had a similar experience with one product or another, or you may encounter something similar in the future. In the days before social media, sharing similar stories with a sufficient number of people to influence corporate behavior would have been extremely difficult if not impossible. The sharing part is relatively easy now. What remains not so easy is influencing corporate behavior.

As is often the case, corporations are typically slow to adjust to new technologies. As an older adult being dragged into the social media fray by those younger and more techno-savvy than I, I can understand that. If you’re a regular reader, you have seen my previous blogs on adjusting to social media (See “Old Dogs and New Tricks,” http://www.scs-matters.com/blog/?p=1390), and this is another adventure on this learning curve.

My adventure with my Napoleon gas log fireplace began shortly after its installation, when the insert came lose and fell out of the fireplace, pulling a number of tiles with it. Examination by a contractor (not the one who had installed it), revealed that it had been installed incorrectly. It was reset, the tile was replaced, and after that work, the insert worked correctly for four or five years, giving both my cats and me much enjoyment during Michigan winters. And then, this spring, the unthinkable happened….

The plastic knob used to turn the gas to the fireplace cracked, breaking into a number of pieces. It had evidently been weakened by the heat of fireplace use. I assumed that replacing it would be easy. I could still turn the gas flow on and off by turning the metal shaft to which the knob had been affixed, but I didn’t much like the “look and feel” of that as much as I had appreciated the knob that made turning the shaft easier.

So, I went to my local dealer, the branch of Hearth & Home (http://www.hearthandhome-sb.com) and requested a replacement. The representative at the dealership said that they didn’t have a replacement in stock and that he would have to order one from the home office. And this is where things got interesting….

A few days later, I received the following email message. [I will delete names to protect the innocent and the guilty, as my sense is that none of those communicating with me were responsible for the decisions of their corporations.]:

We checked and even discussed your situation with a tech and this is what he stated. “You cannot replace that Knob—it’s a complete valve change out.” Sorry. Let me know what you want to do.

As you can imagine, I was more than a little surprised that a knob that simply pulls off and can be pushed back on a steel shaft couldn’t be replaced. I asked again, and this time I was told:

My boss and I discussed your situation and suggest a couple options based upon our conversation.
1. We order the part and when it gets here you can come by, pick it up, remove the knobs off the new one and put them on the existing one. The cost for that is $158.40.
2. If you want us to replace the existing part with the new one the cost including the labor would be $283.40.
We suggest the first one but it is up to you.

You actually don’t need anything. The plastic knob handle is broke[n] but as I understood you the valve is okay. You can do without the plastic piece and turn the pilot on and off with what is there. We looked around our warehouse and we couldn’t find a “stray” knob. You have to purchase the whole valve.

At that point, it occurred to me that the requirement for purchasing a complete valve assembly was not being made at the local level, so I emailed customer support at Napoleon, the manufacturer of the stove. I should not have been surprised by the response, but I was.

It is illegal to replace components of a gas valve, other than what has been explicitly made available by the valve manufacturer (ie. Fuel conversion kits for the gas regulator assembly).

Gas valve knobs are not replaceable. While they may be physically removable, this is considered tampering with the valve and will void the manufacturers warranty.

If a knob needs to be replaced, the entire gas valve must be replaced – not just that one component.

I missed my chance to point out that the insert was already out of warranty, but given the direction the conversation went after that, I’m not sure that it would have made a difference. I posted my complaint on Napoleon’s Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/NapoleonFireplaces). You may have to look to find the complete conversation, but it is still there at this point—it is an April posting by “others.”

After a long comment by the Napoleon representative in which he said that if I replaced just the knob, I would blow my house up, we had the following exchange:

Me: If that really is the case, why is it safe for me to buy a whole gas valve assembly, remove the knob, and put the nob on my current gas valve assembly? I am not attempting to replace the gas valve assembly but only the plastic knob. I can still light the pilot light and turn it off using a phillips head screwdriver, and that works. A new plastic knob would be easier, however.

Napoleon’s rep: To cut straight to it: Are you a qualified gas fitter, or service technician? If not, then IT IS NOT SAFE for you to do so. It is also not safe to operate the valve in the manner you’ve described. We say in your installation manual that attempts to use force like this can damage the valve. We would never promote such an action. We have already advised against it. Similarly, we have already advised that you have this replaced by a qualified fitter. Wherein has this been unclear?

My response was that the Napoleon representative was not making good sense and that the valve itself was just fine. I did not intend to take it apart and felt that having to buy a new valve assembly to get a new knob was like having to buy a new headlight on a car when the bulb burns out or having to buy a new wheel for a bicycle when one gets a flat tire. At that point, Napoleon decided to soften the “you’re going to kill yourself and blow up your neighborhood” rhetoric:

I am sorry I have failed to explain this correctly. Please permit me to start over. The gas valves used in gas appliances such as our gas fireplaces are tested and certified to safety test standards relative to gas valves. Those standards dictate that the gas valve is not field serviceable (this statement is on the label of each gas valve). As such, replacement components such as knobs are not made available to us by our supplier. I can assure you that we have been using the same gas valves for almost 20 years and I am pleased to tell you it is not normal for a gas control knob to require replacing. I appreciate your frustraton over the need to replace the entire gas valve control because of a damaged control knob, but I am afraid we have no alternative since this is a mandated safety requirement that is beyond our control.

At that point, I did some more online searching and discovered that the part I need (W380-0002) is available online from a number of sources. Also, Napoleon makes it available to dealers (of which Hearth & Home would be one) for $2.

I have learned a lot from this experience. I learned that the reach of social media is every bit as extensive as has been portrayed in the news. After I posted on Facebook and Twitter, I heard from people in both Australia and Europe as well as in the States. One of my NLP friends, Lindy Asimus, (http://www.lindyasimus.com) helped me locate sources for the knob based on her skills at Internet search. Perhaps one of the most important lessons, however, has more to do with the nature of online communication and the corporate decision-making process.

I am reasonably certain that if my local dealer had been able to find a knob lying around someplace, I would have paid the fee, gone home with the knob, installed it, and felt good about the fireplace, Napoleon, and Hearth & Home. I would, however, have missed the opportunity to observe the lengths to which a corporation will go to support a bad decision. I also would have missed out on the opportunity to learn more about social media and Internet search strategies.

Ironically, I have a friend, Linda Comerford (http://www.comerfordconsulting.com/), who has been training corporations in how to handle customer complaints and other communication in the age of social media. She will be able to make good use of this case in her upcoming trainings.

All things considered it has been a good exchange—at least for me. I am not sure the degree to which Napoleon Fireplaces will be influenced by the negative publicity, and we may never know the answer to that question.