Customer Reviews

Factory Reconditioned DeLonghi HM25E Dragon Ultimate Oil Filled Radiator Heater

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

OK, I figured that Amazon (being Amazon and not a fly-by-night etailer) wasn't going to be selling a misrepresented product. After all, THEY say these are FACTORY reconditioned.

So I order one. Got here very quickly. Box was clearly opened and resealed, but that's not a problem. Cosmetically, the unit was OK--mostly in excellent shape but with one sizable dent in one upper corner. Again, I'll accept that in a "refurbished" product. I also found a repair slip of paper tucked into the unit indicating that the electronics were defective, although no indication whether those problems were fixed...

Anyway, I plug it in, set the heating element to medium (900W), set the temperature to a sufficiently high value and wait to heat up my room. And wait. And wait. And...you guessed it: No heat. Then I turned the heating element up to high (600+900W) and...it produced a bit of heat. Hmmm...I turn the heating element back to medium and no heat again. Then I turn the heating element to low (600W) and...some heat. So the 900W heating element doesn't work.

Given the other complaints in these reviews, either the factory that is refurbishing these is run by incompetents, or these aren't really being refurbished.

In either case, this was a huge waste of time. Thumbs WAY down.

And shame on you, Amazon, for selling these misrepresented "refurbished" items.

Too bad I didn't see the warnings of the other folks before ordering this! The heater was completely broken (dented, broken LCD, paint scratched off, box with oil leak marks). But the box looked OK, so could it be that the "factory reconditioning" consisted of reboxing? I'm very disappointed. Don't know if it's Amazon's fault or Delonghi's...

I was a bit nervous ordering a "factory reconditioned" model, but was reassured by Amazon's liberal return policy that I had nothing to lose for trying. I ordered the item and it arrived 2 days later. Upon opening the box I noticed that the little protective plastic cover that fits over the thermostatic display was detached and broken. I thought that I could "live" with this, but upon further examination I discovered that the bottom of the unit was bent so much that the paint was coming off and that it would be impossible to attach the wheels. This damage DID NOT occur at the hands of UPS (The styrofoam protecting the unit was intact). Delonghi has a very dissapointing quality control over the outbound "Factory Serviced" units. Not recommended. Just buy the cheaper model and figure out what dial setting works for you. They all work the same way.

Was worried after reading the reviews about ordering this in a reconditioned model, but after 13 years of using deLonghi radiator space heat (which still works perfectly) I wanted a timer and electronic control and trusted that Amazon would "make it right"if there were problems. This arrived yesterday, in an outer box and factory deLonghi packaging and in excellent condition. Only one small scuff mark and operates very well. DeLonghi has improved the convection heating ability by adding hollow tubes at the edges of the fins and it creates an impressive flow of hot air out of the top and also heats up much more quickly than the older models.

This one is made in Italy; I noticed at Lowe's that the less expensive models are now made in China. This is a great deal!

Amazon is taking the return, which is the good news. The bad news is that in spite of the bad reviews some have given here, I was optimistic in believing that usually only the motivated and disatisfied write most reviews.

For what it's worth, my recommendation is that you shop for a different unit. The quality control at DeLonghi doesn't seem all that great. Every computer I've ever purchased has been factory refurbished, and most stereo equipment too. In short, I'm not someone shy of chancing it w/ refurbished/reconditioned electronics. Unfortunately, this is the first time I've been disappointed.

Thanks to Amazon for having such a great return policy (by the way, the unit comes w/ a big sticker that says "Factory Reconditioned: no returns". So, perhaps DeLonghi unloads these things and legitimate distributors get played for suckers.)

Heater is good, no questions here; original model costs $125 for a reason. But this reconditioned unit has not been factory-serviced well:

1. Back side of the heater was dent (did not occur during shipping);

2. LCD screen plastic cap was broken and taped over;

3. Unit's digital thermostat is unusable since it gains 3 hours for each 24-hour period; you'll have to reprogram it each day to achieve any knd of climate control.

Also, Amazon.com does not accept returns on this item, since it is oil-filled, and falls under hazmat category for shipping; t least, that's what a representative said. Prior to ordering this unit, I called to check if Amazon's return policy covered factory-reconditioned items as well as this item in particular, was assured that it does. Make sure you can return it; I chose not to since even if I could it would take another 2 weeks to get a replacement or a refund, and I can't afford this kind of luxury in late October:). I did get a small certificate toward next purchase from Amazon, though, and that's good enough.

All in all, it's a good heater; does the job if you do not use its advanced climate-control energy-saving features. But I am really amazed that this unit passed factory certification for reselling.

Ordering "reconditioned" items from Amazon or any other online outfit is always a crapshoot. Sometimes you luck out and get a perfectly reconditioned product and save a chunk of dough on something virtually identical to NIB. Sometimes you get something that may very well have been picked out of a garbage dump, shoved into a box and dropped on your doorstep. In this case, mine came with a few slight dents with chipped paint (which I may have caused myself when I dropped it after carrying it up a flight of stairs) but otherwise works as intended. By this I mean it heats up when I press certain buttons and cools down when I push others. The timer display, as another reviewer pointed out, is not backlit but once you get the hang of how many times to push the middle button and where the temperature up and down controls are by feel, it shouldn't be a problem.

I detected no smell when it heated up, which I did when I turned on my DeLonghi Magnum , another oil filled radiator heater I got from Amazon. This represents another advantage of buying reconditioned; the previous owner breaks it in for you! By the way, that Magnum was ordered new but came banged up and paint chipped, too.

All in all, I am happy with this purchase. It's a scratch and dent that retains 100% functionality. If you get something that "slipped through Quality Control", Amazon is very good about sending a replacment or issuing a refund without making you pay for return shipping.

A couple things I'd like to point out is that the description states they're shipped in the original box so the content can't be concealed (I guess you can't send it as a surprise gift) but mine was double-boxed. The outer box is a generic brown Amazon box with the plastic air bags as padding. One minor complaint: the little plastic air bags only padded 3 sides of the DeLonghi box, so Amazon's packing department could have taken more care. Another is when I ordered this, the price was $49.99. By the time it shipped, the price had gone up $10, so be aware of price fluctuations.

As another review pointed out, DeLonghi apparently sells this model under the Kenwood brand. I saw it at Home Depot for about the present refurbished price here.

I was sooo worried to buy a reconditioned unit after all negative reviews on amazon, but with $25 off offer i decised to get it as the 2nd heater and it actually cost me $25. I can't believe it - the condition is almost perfect!( there were 2 little painted scratches and that's how i know it's reconditioned). The packaging was very good, it works perfect. I've ordered the same heater from another website, brand new and it happened to be deffective, so i've sent it back and this one is great, especially considering the price i've paid for it. Though the brand new item i've ordered together with this one happend to be a little bit dffective. So, I guess it's just luck and nothing else.

I ordered this reconditioned heater in early December, received it about two weeks later, and was disappointed to discover that the "-" button (which lowers the temperature) didn't work. This is a defect that any minimal amount of quality control would have detected. Based on my experience, and the reviews on this site, I'm assuming that the refurbishment process yields units with lots of remaining defects. The good news is that Amazon shipped me another unit (which works fine) and accepted the return of my defective one without any additional charges.

The functional unit is a decent heater, has a nice timer function, and generally works ok. My biggest complaint is the digital readout, which is small and does not have a particularly user friendly interface. The readout is not backlit, so it is impossible to see if you are in a dark room or if there is no direct light shining on it. So rolling out of bed in the middle of the night to make an adjustment can require turning on an overhead light and moving the unit to make the readout visible.

Other than that, the product works as advertised. So long as the unit isn't broken.

The deal looks to be very good on the face of it, $50 for one of these, but scratch beneath the surface and a different story emerges. My first unit arrived with minor dents but worked very well, so I ordered two more of these. In doing so, unwittingly, I was working towards the law of averages. The two that arrived were faulty. One had a timer that will only go upto 4 hours, making it useless for a bedroom, the other had the same problem plus had the electronic control buttons that were barely hanging on the box, waiting to be plucked.

So I returned both of these units last week and being the brave soul that I am, ordered two more of the same, thinking how bad can my luck be. Well, the two that arrived have the same set of problems as the two that I returned last week, so now I'm left to ponder - do I keep these sons of ...... or do I still send them back in to deep ravines of amazon. In the meantime, the cost of 4 of these units is on my credit card which may take weeks to get settled. My advice to prospective buyers - there are better things to buy out there, don't waste your hard earned money here.