Who did you give your money to? That's who you should talk to. I know several people who own this range,and love it. and my neighbor has the 'Heritage" model and it's a work horse, but finally needed a new oven igniter.

Thanks alexr. I contacted the seller right away and they immediately passed me to the distributor. I'm working with the distributor and will re-contact the seller to see if there is anything they can do. I just want one of those great American Range products that I keep hearing are out there.

I would contact your retailer / seller today and advise them to fix it or remove it, further you will be putting in a claim to your credit card company to refund all monies paid immediately.

You need to set time lines and options at this point.

American Range called an emailed me today committing to replace the range. Hmm, was it because the seller called them, my Internet postings, or both? Regardless, I have a question:

Does anyone have an American Range LIQUID PROPANE model that they are happy with, in other words, that you think is working properly?

And if so, is it a Performer or Cuisine?

I ask because American Range said their Performer models (open burners and higher btus) sometimes do not work well with certain local mixes of propane, and that I might have better luck with a Cuisine (sealed burners and lower btus) because the burners are designed differently.

While this may be possible, I didn't really buy it and said I'd call my local propane company and get back to them tomorrow. My propane company said most companies in California get propane from essentially the same supplier, and that noone changes the mixture locally. In other words, propane is propane in California. American Ranges are built in California, and I presume they get Performers and Cuisines alike to work well in the factory. With propane being the same across California, and the elevations of the AR factory and my home being very similar (1,000 ft vs 1,200 ft), as long as they send me a Performer that is setup properly for propane and that works well in the factory, then it should also work well in my home - right? Or am I missing something?

However, my friends across town have a liquid propane Cuisine that they're somewhat happy with, but they did expect the performance to be better/stronger.

Therefore, I wonder if what AR is really saying is that their models are designed in a way that perform strongly with natural gas, but that struggle with liquid propane. When I really think about it though, this doesn't seem possible unless they use a particular regulator that is not designed well to work with liquid propane.

You made noise and now you've got a choice. It looks like AR is stepping up to make it right. You can trade for another of the same. Or, you can accept a lower level of performance with the sealed burner. I would point out that you said wanted open burners.

The second option is to return the unit and select a competitor. If you want open burners that means Bluestar or Capitol.

Let us know what you decide.

I decided that I for sure still wanted the Performer with open burners and they accepted. Will report back with an update when there has been progress.

That's unfortunate but it sounds like AR is going to fix your problem. I've had the 30" NG Performer for a year now and I absolutely love it, what a beast. I had a very minor hiccup in that the back left burner wasn't igniting easily. I went to the seller who told me to first call AR directly at HQ. I spoke to someone at AR, we went over the issue I had, they then emailed me a form to fill out (serial #, issue, etc.. etc...). When they received the info they contacted the local servicing company that takes care of repairs who in turn called me for an appointment. Tech came over and we went over the issue, it was just a question of adjusting the igniter as it was too low so that's why it wasn't igniting, seems to be an issue often with that back burner. The tech couldn't stop raving about the Performer says it's built so ridiculously well and should last a lifetime.

New Update: We're still getting duped by American Range!

After committing to replacing our defective Performer range with a new one, and nearly 2 weeks of supposedly building it and tweaking the burners, American Range wrote me today saying: "We have finished our investigation/problem solving. We have a much better solution than replacing the entire range. The fix is new burner caps and removal of a diverter plate in the burner bases...By just changing the caps, it eliminates the risk of property damage to cabinets, flooring, doorways, etc. from moving an entire range in and out of house."

Gee. Thanks for suggesting to improve the burners by unnecessarily replacing perfectly fine burner tops and by removing parts the range was designed to work with with, and for continuing to not address the defective controls/igniter on one of the burners and the oven that is unacceptably off temperature unless you use the optional convection fan, all in the name of eliminating risk to property damage!

C'mon American Range. Start acting like a professional company by stopping this bait and switch and timely honoring your part of our contract - to provide us with a fully operational range that we purchased 2.5 months ago!

Did you purchase with a credit card? If so, you may want to reach out to them for a refund and ask the dealer to pick up the range . This sounds so frustrating!

Good luck!

I am so sorry foodiefrog. My performer range is great, but my AR wall oven has been a nightmare so I know what you are going through. It has broken 4 times in 3 1/2 years and they think just paying for the most recent part with no assurance that it will not break again is more than generous. I still pay labor and will expect to pay hundreds annually to keep this thing working. I have never heard of an oven breaking at all much less more than once per year. Sadly I have owned it too long to just return it. Maybe it is worth something as scrap.

I did purchase with a credit card. I can get a refund, but I really want a working Performer. If I can't get one, I'm considering switching to a Capital Culinarian. Has anyone bought one of the recently updated models and are you happy?

The guy I bought through is battling American Range for me so hopefully I won't have to go to legal means next. My working Performer does what it is supposed to do and for me the very high heat burners are fabulous. I had an oven igniter go out under warranty, they fixed it, and no further trouble after that. Contact whoever you bought it through.

Call American Range & ask to speak to Shane M. Demirjian I used to have his number but i guess it didn't transfer over to my new phone. Sorry you are having problems & I hope they get addressed. The number I have for AR is 818-897-0808

Best of luck,

John

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Thanks, I am writing that down. Josh from Dvorsons is on it and someone else at American talked to me today and may jump over the head of the culprit. He was the first person at American to be honest with me, but I don't want to put his name down in case it gets him in trouble, he should be encouraged. I really don't want to have to get consumer groups or lawyers involved if we can settle things more peaceably. If others who have posted around about problems with American are right, then Shane was not much help, Josh at Dvorsons has more clout because he sells so many of their products. I will try Shane if things are not resolved without the call and before I look outside for help.

I was just at Home Depot and I can remember about 20 years ago their customer service was terrible and now it is excellent so companies can change. At first I thought it was a fluke, but then I went to HD in other cities and it was universally good.

very true about home depot. I bought my stove from Josh, great guy. I sent a bunch of people to him. At the time he couldn't do much for me but I got things squared away. There was a guy who was there (AR) Chris Thompson, he was a gem. He did things on a case by case situation and if he felt your unit was built on friday afternoon at 4:30 when maybe the workers were in a rush to go home, he made sure you were taken care of. It didn't happen over nite but he took care of it. I'm hoping that they get their head back in the game. they had a quality product.

John

My range is wonderful, it is the wall oven giving me trouble. Considering what I spent and that I have been directing contractors to them, it would make sense to make me happy. If they won't I will have to draw in outside parties which i really do not want to do. I have already spent $700 on past repairs, to say this is unreasonable is an understatement, I will not throw good money after bad. If I paid for even the labor on this one (their current offer) I would nearly have the price of a regular oven which would just work. Considering one repair was warranty covered, this is very hard to take. Also I had to really fight to get part of the part price covered for the last repair and I still have had that much out of pocket. Last time they were unresponsive until Josh got involved. Part of the take away from this is to be careful who you buy through because you may need an advocate. I am not super picky either, I can light a range with a match. I just want my product to be operational. I also cooked professionally so I won't get upset over a lack of a really low flame, that is what crock pots and double boilers are for. Some of the dissatisfaction is from people who do not have the proper cooking techniques for a professional range and buy it for looks. My kids can hardly function with residential ranges because they learned to cook using very high heat.

Any update on this?

We have negotiated an agreement where they will pay 25% of my total costs and take the oven back. Right now they are having trouble finding someone to pick up the oven and ship it. They were willing to send a new oven, but the problem is that the new one has a different amperage, plus the original specs were too low for the breaker we put in, so I was looking at rewiring and putting yet more money in. The repair they did with upgrade went, literally, up in smoke as the wires could not support the amperage and burned out with a lovely electrical smell. I am happy with the agreement as it will save me litigation and I will get rid of the oven. I am debating whether to replace it or just live with one oven as I really don't have the budget right now. Also the repair guy told me all electric ovens built since the cycling required by Energy Star Standards tend to break more frequently and they just are not as sturdy as they used to be. Thank you federal government. Now I wish I had plumbed for a gas wall oven as well as apparently they are more reliable. I am considering looking for an old scrapped electric wall oven from before the new standards to install.

Update, they just found someone to come get the oven, I am very happy. It has taken months, but the ordeal is about over. I still love my range by them, I think they made a mistake going beyond their area of expertise to make electric appliances instead of gas.

Final update: American Range refused to replace the defective range, so my purchase was refunded and the distributor worked with a nearby retailer to pick up the range about 1.5 weeks ago. I am glad to be through with American Range.

I replaced it at the same time with a new Capital Culinarian 30" manual clean open burner range (MCOR304LP) that I bought through Eurostoves. We're still getting to know it but so far it's great. The burners are incredible! They worked like a charm with essentially no adjustments needed after installation. The three 25K burners are super strong on hi, yet they turn down to an incredibly small flame on low. It's quite the range of temperature.

We only used the oven a few times thus far, but it cooked those items well (trays of bacon, a batch of muffins). The thermostat seems to be set for using convection, and when we don't want to use convection we need to turn the setting to ~25 degrees higher than the temp we want. For example, if a recipe calls for 350 degrees no convection, we generally need to set it to 375. When first turning on the oven, the initial heatup seems to turn off well before the oven reaches the temp setting. We found that turning on convection during heatup helps the oven get to the temp setting more quickly. The American Range oven behaved similarly, so perhaps pro style LP ovens work this way in general.

The fit and finish is great. No scratches and everything is put together well. We haven't used the broiler or the wok ring yet but look forward to using them. My best moment thus far is when the CC brought ~6 quarts of water to boil (for cooking pasta) in like 5-7 minutes. I was surprised and elated! We are way, way happier with this CC than the similar-model American Range that did not work out for us at all.

Cheers!

Hello foodiefrog:

So happy for you that your experiences with AR is over and you seem to be happy with your MCOR304LP. Do you've any updates to share with the wok grate or ring and broiler usage? Is cleaning the broiler a problem for you? Not sure how one would clean it as it does not have a glass encasement.

Did your unit comes with a 6" back guard? Would love to see a photo of your wonderful gas range, if you care to share.

Thank you very much in advance.

WokCooker

Congratulations foodiefrog. Even though I love my Performer because I did not get a lemon, with what I went through with the wall oven I would never buy any product from them again. I paid $3,000 for an oven that never worked very well, spent $1,000 in repairs, got $1,000 dollars and they took the oven, then they were upset that they got bad reviews from me. This was the offer I gave them to make them go away, not an offer that would make me respect them. Your experience indicates to me that they did not learn their lesson. They patronized me and acted like I was an idiot. John Cleese in Fawlty Towers has nothing on these people. I believe the bottom line is that if you get a working product they are great, if you get a lemon they hang you out to dry and expect gratitude. It is just not worth the risk. The point at which they took me up on my offer was the point at which I started to contact lawyers, it is as if they have radar. This was the worst customer service experience of my life and I still hope someone has the energy for a class action lawsuit. They deserve it. They also hurt the reputation of the people who sold me the oven, but they don't care about that. There are stories like yours going back years.

For the record I used to be a chef and I am not an idiot. I gave them second, third and fourth chances.

I have owned an American range model ARR 304 for 8 years. It has been nothing but a headache. The door panels leaked with condensation when it was brand new. It has been through 5 Overpriced oven igniter’s as well as most recently developing a large gaping hole in the burner making this LP propane unit very dangerous. The knobs on the oven become extremely hot when using the oven. The temperature of the oven fluctuates greatly anywhere from 50 to 75°. Initially we did have a new thermostat placed just did not solve the problem. I Purchased this from Davorsan’s after many discussions with the sales representative who assured me this was a high-quality performer. Customer Service is difficult to deal with and always take the approach that the problem has something to do with your home and not their product. Buyer beware and stay away from this high priced heavy stainless steel anchor.
I am in the process of replacing this with a more reliable brand because of my concerns of the safety of this unit.

buyer beware

Their products are cheap and far from quality. after 4 years the burner and igniters go out yearly on the gas oven and the electric oven burns anything on bottom or middle rack even, with a baking stone. takes 35 minutes to get to 350!

so much for quality, american made!!

they dont care!!

I returned my American Range like a hot potato and replaced it with a Capital Culinarian, which has been great. We've had it for about 7 years now and still going strong.

american Range is the worst company ever. they manufacture as cheap as possible and offer no support or solutions