# American Range Review 36"



## andies2 (Nov 14, 2014)

I bought this range 5 years ago and the oven it has never worked. In the first two years under warranty the igniters were replaced twice. The next year they went out again. The next year the igniters and valves went out. And now the valves and igniters are out once more. In summary the igniters last about 10 months before they burn out.  The infa red broiler, one of the reasons I picked this range has never worked as the igniters burn out after a couple uses. Their customer service has never addressed my lemon range issues. I have been sent some igniters but have paid for the labor for them to be replaced.  Upon the second igniter burn out the repair man reported on his work order that he believed there was something internal that was not working.  I told customer service about this, before my warranty was up but they did not respond with any answer or solution. I am very disappointed.

I would not want anyone to go through what I have hence, my story.


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## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

andies2 said:


> I bought this range 5 years ago and the oven it has never worked.


I'm sorry to hear. FWIW if I had bought something that never worked, I would have

1) Called the reseller to ask for a repair or refund.

2) If the reseller failed to provide a repair or refund, I would have called my credit card company and disputed the charge.

I bought a 30" American Range classic about 5 years ago and it's worked great for me. I never had to service anything on it, all igniters work great, I use the broiler all the time, and I keep opening the door when using it, which means it's constantly turning itself off and on again (a safety measure), and it never broke. It feels like a workhorse to me.

More info in the following threads: 
[thread="71194"]Darn All The New Stoves [/thread]
http://www.cheftalk.com/t/71194/darn-all-the-new-stoves#post_392806


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## k miyao (Nov 20, 2014)

We did kitchen remodel this year n had bought American Range, 36" step up, n had delivered n hooked up May 2014. Problems w all burners but eventually all got fixed until a few months ago where small middle burner in back does not lite up. In meantime Capital Electric sold business to a other company who will not honor warranty. I called prior owner n he has to check w owner father in law. He said they did hold up their end re repairs but I told them it's been less than six months. I have emails wherein I initially asked if they sold me a product knowing that it was defective. They were willing to make good, but I wanted to work it through bc I do luv the range n great size of oven. Just very unhappy that the middle burner in back not working now n it was hardly ever used after repaired. American Range paperwork indicates 90 days warranty on parts but I rarely ever used. I pray that former owners of Capital Electric maintain their integrity n pray American Range stands behind a reputation that I hope they want to have as being a company of integrity! American Range needs to stand behind their name n products n make good. The range is less than six months old in r home. I do not want this to go to litigation n don't want to make negative comments on Yelp or Consumer Reports--which I now know doesn't rate American Range well n deservedly so after having replaced all six burners before it was even used!


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## witsend (Dec 29, 2014)

Andies2, I'm so sorry to hear of your problems. I have a similar story, with several serious problems with my range. It can't seem to be fixed (after four service calls from American's recommended/American-trained service company in my area. The company has a good reputation, so I attribute it to the subpar quality of the parts. Parts were replaced for ignition, regulator, and valves, and I STILL have the same gas-leak and burners that light only sometimes.) I've had to waste hours upon hours of my time, not only in regard to a range that won't light half the time, but with all the research and documentation in pursuing this. The distributor was great at first (paid for the $600 service, even though the unit was a few months outside of the express warranty. Which was sort of above and beyond, but it can also be argued that it was well within the implied warranty. And a consumer product attorney and an advocacy group informed me that a gas since a gas leak is such a serious issue, it transcends warranty limitations.)

Anyway, the distributor is your only hope of customer service, as American (per my distributor rep) has no customer service department. But my distributor - Mode Distributing, which handles American for much of the Western part of the US - stopped responding to me in May. Their proposed next step, which was acceptable to me back then, was to send a tech up from the American Range factory to fix it once and for all. Except, two emails to the rep and two emails to the CEO (very polite, measured emails, by the way - not any kind of rant that would give them an excuse not to respond) went completely unanswered. I still can't fathom the blatant disregard there. I've researched and contacted attorneys and a consumer advocacy program with my regional ABC news affiliate. I haven't had to resort to the former yet, but the latter finally got some responses from the distributor (who ultimately just wasted more of my time), and a VP with American Range (and in all fairness, I don't think he knew anything about this until very recently. And he's been extremely helpful and responsive. But it shouldn't take a contact from the media/consumer advocacy group to get this kind of response.) American offered a replacement, not a buyback as I preferred. At this point an American Range represents so much frustration (mostly due to the horrible service and lack of follow-through on the distributor's part) that I hate the sight of it. But, everyone is somehow confident that this replacement will be magically flawless, so I'm going to accept it and because I've reached my limit as far as service call and the range not working when I need it (not to mention the gas leak), upon the first problem I've informed them that I'll expect immediate buyback at full retail price so I can buy something else. I figure that's fair, because they say "We’re sure your replacement will give you many years of trouble free cooking." So, no risk to them. (And of course, if they're not sure, they shouldn't be sending the replacement. Because I've wasted more than enough of my time.)

You'll find that there are some very happy owners (I understand; I was very pleased with my range the first 18 months or so), and some I'm sure will have no problems, but there are a LOT of people whose experiences are consistent with yours and mine. Check out my website (american-range dot come), with which I'm hoping to compile these experiences (I'd love to share yours), and document the outcome (good or bad) with my forthcoming replacement.


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

It is a piece of junk. If you are going to spend this much buy a range that is made for restaurant use like southbend or blogett  or even garland


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## alex weinstein (Jan 8, 2015)

DO NOT BUY a product made by American Range. They have no commitment to quality or customer service.

I have purchased a high-end American Range, ARROB-436GR, for 6 thousand dollars. The range, upon its arrival, had significant rusting and other manufacturing defects. I have been in touch with American Range, talking to various managers - including a plant manager, VP of Sales, and finally reached out to the CEO, requesting the range to be replaced in the face of these defects - but they refused.

It is especially unfortunate since their "commitment to quality and perfection" is stated on the website. It is simply not the case.

Just look at the attached photos - and judge for yourself whether a new high-end range should look like this when unpacked.





  








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alex weinstein


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alex weinstein


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## kolob (Feb 9, 2015)

I have had similar service problems with my American Range electric wall oven.  The gas range has been great and I use it hard at home.  My oven has now broken 4 times in 3 1/2 years. Top infrared burner broke twice and the bottom now for a second time.  Dealing with them is a nightmare.  They just do not care that they sold me a lemon.


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## biensur (Oct 15, 2015)

I totally agree with this.  I purchased the double oven with French doors in 2013.  Initially it arrived poorly constructed so that it was uneven in the built to order cabinet.  That was fixed, then the upper oven worked only intermittently.  First the repair person came out with his new wife . They clearly couldn't move it from the wall. Then the next guy came out and replaced some electronic  items.  Then it continued to work only intermittently .  Repair person came out and said he would call.  He didn't.  Regional director said that warranty would only start when oven was working.  The reginal director left company, and no one had heard of me when I called.

I realized that oven had trained me never to count on it so wasn't using it. Called American again with my store encouraging them to take action. They referred me to a repair person in San Francisco who made an appointment. I waited for repair person to show, he didn't   . When called he said that he had farmed the referral out to Oakland because his "Insurance didn't cover Oakland". His contact did show up. 

They have no service personnel, and farm all service in northern california out to whomever.  No factory trained personnel.  No commitment to service.  This was a huge expensive mistake!! Don't buy an American Oven.


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## american range (Nov 2, 2015)

American Range prides itself on quality products.  In the unlikely event there is a problem with any of our products, American Range seeks to understand the nature of the problem, and provide a resolution as quickly as possible.  

Mr. Weinstein’s range, regretfully, did have minor defects. American Range provided new parts and repaired Mr Weinstein's range within days of his initial contact in January 2015.  We apologize there was a problem, but we are happy to say the issue has been resolved.


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## amireles (Dec 4, 2015)

I just met with the board and discussed the purchase of a new range for the school. I considered the American Range for its price but, after all the negative reviews I will have to reconsider and may go with Vulcan or Southbend.

The pictures shared show poor craftsmanship, they must be ashamed to call this American made.


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## pbrady-rudin (Dec 23, 2015)

Dear Mr. American Range representative:

I am in complete alignment with Mr. Weinstein and all of his comments posted above. I have purchased a similiar double wall oven with french doors (AROFFE-230) a hefty 6,900.00 price tag. From Day ONE this oven has never worked properly. It had uneven cooking temperatures (the calibration was way off). I reported all these problems to American range repeatedly since just after my purchase. _*While it was under warranty you had the obligation to fix it. BUT you never fixed it and it never EVER functioned properly.*_ After warrantee was up, your company did a good job of completely disregarding my calls and emails. I have never been so poorly treated as a customer. Obviously customer service is NOT American Ranges priority.

I have paid repeatedly out of my pocket to have this oven serviced, only to have it break down again and again. The first few services came with a hefty price tag of over 600.00!! Then after paying for new sail switches (which by the way was supposed to be a safety feature) but kept burning out and causing the bottom oven to shut off and never come back on again. Yet again putting us in a situation where we have to get it serviced again with another hefty expense. I have been writing to your company repeatedly including your CEO who _*never responded at all *_and I can not get resolution with my oven. After receiving no support from American Range i then reached out to gain assistance from the NBC news advocacy who had received many reports of American Range customers who reported their

faulty ovens and the fact that American Range has been ignoring the customers cry for help.

I paid over 7,000.00 for lemon and I can't even get American range to help me.

I will warn everyone DO NOT BUY AMERICAN RANGE PRODUCTS! NOt unless you are ready to deal with this horrible experience that so many of us have endured. I will continue to share my experience through all social media avenues. Anyone can contact me and I will provide you with documented evidence of these communications with American Range who just ignored all customer requests for help......


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## pbrady-rudin (Dec 23, 2015)

Good move not to consider the American Range. You just saved yourself a great deal of headaches.


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## pbrady-rudin (Dec 23, 2015)

Dear Mr. Weinstein:

I support your posting. I have had a very similar experience with American Range. I too want to warn potential buyers of my terrible experience. This company feels they owe their customers nothing. After they get your money, you are left with a non functioning oven, and they could care less. They take no ownership to the faulty product they sold you. Something should be done to stop this company from getting away with such horrible fraudulent behaviors. Maybe NBC news can shine the light on what they have been doing to their customers.


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## halb (May 25, 2015)

@Amireles, I have to ask- a school is a commercial installation. Are you considering a consumer product that costs many times what you need to spend? If you are indeed looking at commercial ranges they are a different animal. None of what has been talked about here applies to them regardless of manufacturer.


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## mojak (Dec 17, 2015)

chefedb said:


> It is a piece of junk. If you are going to spend this much buy a range that is made for restaurant use like southbend or blogett or even garland


Chefedb,

While I admire Restaurant, Hotel and large Catering operations Professional equipment, this equipment is generally unsuitable for home use. This is why all of the commercial range and oven companies in recent years created designs for the home. The designs for home feature far better insulative qualities and venting which renders these units suitable for this purpose. A great many kitchen fires emanated from commercial ranges and ovens when the residential craze for commercial installations hit. These professional units have very different spacing and venting requirements. As such, purchasing a true proffesional range and or ovens is a high risk proposition, unless the home kitchen is designed with this in mind, most however are not. It's unfortunate that many manufacturers completely redesigned their commercial lines cheapening the product for residential use instead of adding proper venting and insulation to their existing designs which made them successful in the pro kitchen.

Mike


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## pbrady-rudin (Dec 23, 2015)

Dear Mr. American Range representative:

I am in complete alignment with Mr. Weinstein and all of his comments posted above. I have purchased a similiar double wall oven with french doors (AROFFE-230) a hefty 6,900.00 price tag. From Day ONE this oven has never worked properly. It had uneven cooking temperatures (the calibration was way off). I reported all these problems to American range repeatedly since just after my purchase. _*While it was under warranty you had the obligation to fix it. BUT you never fixed it and it never EVER functioned properly.*_ After warrantee was up, your company did a good job of completely disregarding my calls and emails. I have never been so poorly treated as a customer. Obviously customer service is NOT American Ranges priority.

I have paid repeatedly out of my pocket to have this oven serviced, only to have it break down again and again. The first few services came with a hefty price tag of over 600.00!! Then after paying for new sail switches (which by the way was supposed to be a safety feature) but kept burning out and causing the bottom oven to shut off and never come back on again. Yet again putting us in a situation where we have to get it serviced again with another hefty expense. I have been writing to your company repeatedly including your CEO who _*never responded at all*_ and I can not get resolution with my oven. After receiving no support from American Range i then reached out to gain assistance from the NBC news advocacy who had received many reports of American Range customers who reported their

faulty ovens and the fact that American Range has been ignoring the customers cry for help.

I paid over 7,000.00 for lemon and I can't even get American range to help me.

I will warn everyone DO NOT BUY AMERICAN RANGE PRODUCTS! NOt unless you are ready to deal with this horrible experience that so many of us have endured. I will continue to share my experience through all social media avenues. Anyone can contact me and I will provide you with documented evidence of these communications with American Range who just ignored all customer requests for help......

I have been lead to believe since DEC of last year that American Range was going to make good on this. I was scheduled to have an install tomorrow and GUESS WHAT?

I got a phone call today (after I took time off work) and NOW no one is coming to help me. Nothing like leaving your customers HIGH and DRY. This is the kind of service that American RANGE PROVIDES? NOW YOU CAN TALK TO MY ATTORNEY!!!

IM DONE BEING PLAYED FOR A FOOL


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## pbrady-rudin (Dec 23, 2015)

American Range said:


> American Range prides itself on quality products. In the unlikely event there is a problem with any of our products, American Range seeks to understand the nature of the problem, and provide a resolution as quickly as possible.
> 
> Mr. Weinstein's range, regretfully, did have minor defects. American Range provided new parts and repaired Mr Weinstein's range within days of his initial contact in January 2015. We apologize there was a problem, but we are happy to say the issue has been resolved.


Dear Mr. American Range. I would like to discuss this pride American Range has on it's products with you. I'd like to share my unlikely event/problem that has been going on for over two years and is still unresolved with you. My phone number is 908-500-2172, please call me and lets see how American Range prides itself on making their customers happy.

with Kind Regards,

Patricia Rudin


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## pbrady-rudin (Dec 23, 2015)

PBrady-Rudin said:


> Dear Mr. American Range. I would like to discuss this pride American Range has on it's products with you. I'd like to share my unlikely event/problem that has been going on for over two years and is still unresolved with you. My phone number is 908-500-2172, please call me and lets see how American Range prides itself on making their customers happy.
> 
> with Kind Regards,
> 
> Patricia Rudin


_*Have you ever hear of this: Manguson Moss Warranty Act???????*_


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## halb (May 25, 2015)

After reading all kinds of horror stories here and elsewhere as well as my own experience shopping for one of these ranges, I have come to the conclusion that all "prosumer" ranges and ovens are marketed as nothing more than status symbols. I seriously doubt if the kind of people who purchase them actually use them to cook or know much about cooking. It's simply that no high end kitchen would be complete without one. IMO they are a complete ripoff in both price and quality for anyone who wants to use them for their implied purpose.


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## american range (Nov 2, 2015)

Hi Patricia,

We will call you right away!

Thank you for letting us know you are having a problem and giving us the opportunity to solve it.

American Range


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## pbrady-rudin (Dec 23, 2015)

American Range said:


> Hi Patricia,
> 
> We will call you right away!
> 
> ...


American Range: I am still waiting for this call you said you would return right away! Im quoting you from this statement above.

Well you never called me.

I still have a problem after waiting for your company to replace my "lemon oven" I waited for over 5 months ….the day of the appointment for the replacement at the 12th hour your company called to cancel appointment. That was it..The straw that broke this customers back. Instead of accepting your new updated oven which it seems you were never actually going to bring to us, we requested our money back. It was agreed that I could get my money back by your plant manager Jo Jo. Now two weeks later your still dragging your feet telling me that you can't get someone to come pick up the previous broken oven. You ship ovens out everyday to your distributors no???

Now I can't even get someone to return my call. American Range should be ashamed of themselves for the way you treat your customers!!!!


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## pbrady-rudin (Dec 23, 2015)

Sure you will call us right away!!! We are still waiting


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## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

My American Range oven stopped working yesterday. It's making a funny noise when you turn on the oven (like a slow soft and deep blowing sound) and it heats a tiny bit (the bottom back of the oven gets kinda hot to the touch) but stays below 200F, even after an hour of heating set to 500F. 

Looks like I will finally have to call their customer service. I'll report my experience to this thread.


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## american range (Nov 2, 2015)

Hi French Fries,

Call us at your earliest convenience and lets get you up and running again!

Toll Free 888-753-9898

Thanks,

American Range


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## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

American Range said:


> Hi French Fries,
> 
> Call us at your earliest convenience and lets get you up and running again!
> 
> ...


Thanks!

Well I did get an email, then a call from American Range, so thank you for that. They recommended a technician and I went with him. The tech came and said the oven burner, the oven igniter and the broiler igniter were busted and needed to be replaced, he replaced them on the spot, took a little over 2 hours (which seems long???) and the cost was... $680 !!!! Price of a new oven. Ouch. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/eek.gif


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## evan hart (Aug 3, 2016)

Don't buy American Range.  Terrible.  Terrible.  Terrible.  

We have three units.  36" residential and two commercial in our restaurants. 

Two of the three of these are absolute lemons.  Less than six years old - all were purchased around the same time.  The residential unit is at best a waste.  The cost to repair has been close to $2,000 with another 625+ service and parts needed.  The service and repair on the commercial unit has been close to $3,000.  Nearly have the cost of each oven.  

But what's most remarkable is the lack of help I have received from American Range in Pacoima, CA.  I have called and emailed and made trips to the store/warehouse.  It's the same "oh we're happy to help,... it's gonna cost money"

It's too long to go into, but in short we have served thousands of people in our restaurants and will continue to do so, only I'll be swapping the ovens and I'll be letting my chef and manager friends know to STAY AWAY FROM AMERICAN RANGE.  

Go with Viking or Vulcan on the gas / commercial end.  LG or Samsung on the electronic. 

Trust me when I say - American Range will ultimately make you American Deranged if you purchase.


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