Return the hood and get your money back. It sounds odd that they would offer a return but not a replacement. Broan, modernaire etc all have option. Baffles are great but mesh filters from Modernaire are very good too.

Good luck!

Buying an appliance from an unauthorized reseller means no warranty service. Thus the low price.

hollysprings - how do you know the OP bought the hood from an unauthorized reseller?!?

foodiefrog - be glad they're offering you a refund - take the money and run and buy something else.

I was curious so I decided to check. In fact, the Natural Home is an authorized seller for Kobe hoods, per the Kobe website.

hollysprings - you really ought to check your facts before writing your negative posts.

Here's the link to the Kobe resellers

Here is a link that might be useful: Kobe authorized resellers

I feel your pain! Modernaire, who are local to me, lost my first order (5-6 years ago), took forever to provide promised custom color matching--which wasn't custom, but just a sample of a very not matching standard color from the powder coaters--then made my custom hood wrong (ducting out the top instead of back). (I gave up the color match and ordered metal.) They were very resistant to fixing it until I found a paper that they had sent to me, to sign off on the design, that showed that they had the correct information as to how it was to be made. Then they redelivered it patched (wrong duct hole is still there, with a steel plate under it) and ducted properly, but with a honkin' big scratch. Back it went and I wouldn't allow delivery until I saw that they'd buffed it out to the point it was unnoticeable, and neither were the buff marks. Then when it came to installation, we found that they hadn't adjusted the positioning of the wires, so my electrician had to redo something inside to make it possible to install. EVERY issue with them was like pulling teeth and it was a horribly frustrating, horrible experience, and they didn't even have a nice customer service agent to sooth ruffled feathers and coo. They were downright surly!

However, mine is not the typical experience, and I wouldn't warn people away from them over it. I've been in business dealing with the public, and sometimes it just happens that one customer's entire transaction goes fubar.

Your situation with Kobe sounds madding in the most Joseph Heller-like way.

Did you pay for it with a credit card? Does it have any warranty coverage? Perhaps you can get the credit card company to intercede?

The vendor's attitude is the worst. At least in my case, my appliance agent from the store advocated for me.

The reaction of the local Kobe people sounds fishy. Are they going into bankruptcy or something? It seems that that's when companies drop the customer service.

Given your choices, and given that you really want the hood, I see two ways to handle it:

(A) Send back the hood for a refund and buy a new one from a different store with better customer service--perhaps the one in your area that has its own repair department. You could even ask them for a best price based on what you originally paid. In fact, I'd talk to them today or in the morning, and see if I could set up the new purchase before even sending back the old one.

(B) Keep the bird in the hand and hire an electrician and forget the warranty, or pay for the service tech from either place to do the work, then submit the bill to Kobe for a refund. If they don't respond, and it's worth it to you, you can file in small claims court.

It might be as simple as a loose wire or connector. Like a one minute fix. But that's what warranties are for! Things shake loose when they travel, or start out with a bad control board or something that doesn't turn up in standard assembly diagnostics. An appliance has to work right in place as installed, so they give a year's warranty to make sure it does.

If the appliance store that refused because you didn't buy from them were better at business relations, they would have sent a tech to see what the matter was and fix it if it's just a loose wire that needs a twist, or a bad bulb, or something. Charge it to advertising and goodwill. It would be worth the tech's time to have you telling all and sundry, including here, about how great they were to send someone on their own dime. And if it needed parts and a thorough repair, they could just fix it and file the warranty claim and make you into a customer in the future. They're not obliged to do any of this, and maybe they're just overbooked as people use their kitchens for the first time in a year, but we can dream of a world where people are nice. ;)

I also had to deal with Kobe's service (ADCO) when the mechanical rotary switches on my Kobe hood fell apart. It took a while (they claimed that the part was on backorder, how can that be?), but eventually they fixed them with an upgraded component.

If the switches fail again, I will replace them myself, as the hood is really a simple piece of hardware.

If you don't want the aggravation of returning this hood and have something else delivered in time for the holidays, my advice is to go ahead and install it with the defective lighting and have someone look at the wiring. The time and energy wasted in making them honor the warranty will likely outweigh the eventual extra cost of the repair. The LED circuit, although not as simple as the old halogen light, should be easy to fix; a friend handy with a multimeter would do it quickly.

On the other hand, shame on Kobe for not standing behind their product. I wouldn't buy from them anything more complex than a fan in a metal box.

If you choose the path of local electrically-savvy technical help (which would be my choice given that your kitchen design depends on that particular configuration), it might be best to have the work done before installing the hood. Hood guts are a bit uncomfortable to work on overhead while conforming one's back to a counter or stove shape and the process tends to make one impatient.

Does the unit have an obvious internal sheet metal cover that can be removed for access to the wiring? (One might consider this to be mandatory, but the devil is in the details of how accessible was defined.)

The risk here is not the lamps, which presumably can be replaced, but some switch or circuit component that for design or fitment reasons was tailor-made for Kobe or only available from some Japanese electronics company such that the usual sources in the US (Digikey, Allied, and Newark, inter alia) don't have suitable replacements.

kas

Thanks to all who replied! I love Gardenweb.

I have an important update! It's revealed near the end of the post, but first I'll provide additional details.

As weissman said, TheNaturalHome is an authorized seller of Kobe Range Hoods. I bought the hood from them because they offered it at 11% below retail and shipping included, vs every other vendor I could find, which all had the same full retail price. While a lower price, at $789 the price was not "low" as hollysprings suggested - for a relatively simple piece of hardware.

TheNaturalHome has a nice website with comprehensive info on Kobe hoods, a toll-free phone number, picked up the phone when I called and answered all of my questions for 30-45 minutes. I decided to purchase the hood from them, and they processed the order and sent a shipping confirmation the same day. And the hood was drop-shipped directly to me from Kobe the same or next day via FedEx ground and I got the unit in 2-3 days. That was all very positive!

While deflating when the lights did not work during testing, I realized, as pillog said, that things can happen during assembly or transportation that render items to malfunction. That's exactly why I spent a premium for a range hood - to get a nice looking and nicely featured unit from a company reputed to have good quality control, a good warranty (2 years) and good customer service if one of these rare malfunctions occurred.

Since the fans seemed to work and just the lights appeared faulty, I figured it could be a simple fix, but of course exactly what was wrong needed to be determined. I am capable of tinkering, but the instruction manual and warranty is littered with standard language like the final install must be performed by a licensed electrician, and repairs may only be performed by approved technicians, or the warranty will be voided. So I couldn't take a chance on disassembling, trying to find what was wrong and hope it was a simple fix. I instead called for warranty service.

That's when the positive experience turned into the negative one I mostly described in the original post. What I didn't say is that on Thursday night after 4 full days of essentially getting nowhere, and Kobe starting to not call me back when they said the would, I decided to go to social media. I addressed an email to Kobe (and the warranty division and vendor) describing 1) how unacceptable and shocking Kobe's behavior was when compared to their warranty and company profile language, 2) told them my wife had posted a negative tweet and put the tweet language in the email, 3) cc:d a consumer columnist and highlighted I was doing that at the top of the email, and 4) finished by saying that I fully expected to get a call Friday morning to resolve the matter, but if the matter was not resolved by close of business Friday, then I was going to post reviews on Facebook, Amazon, Gardenweb, and potentially other sites.

No call Friday morning. I called Kobe midday and had to have 3 calls of back-and-forth conversations until at ~4PM the manager essentially hung up saying all he could do was email their Japan headquarters. So I followed through and on Friday night posted to Facebook, Amazon and Gardenweb.

Lo and behold on Saturday morning I get an email from the vendor saying that Kobe had decided to not require the hood to be returned, canceled the shipping tag, issued me a full refund, voided the warranty on the hood, and said happy holidays.

Great. Got my money back after a bunch of grief, and if I can repair the malfunction, which is hopefully likely, I get a free hood, but with the baggage of this experience. It's also weird because I didn't ask for a free hood; I just wanted it fixed. And it's sad that I had to get extreme before Kobe would do the right thing.

I guess this should remind us all that if we feel we are getting mistreated as customers, then turning to social media may help.

P.S. For those with Electrolux refrigerator experience, I have a separate post (link below) asking for info on an Icon vs. IQ-Touch model. Thanks!

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/appl/msg1206183918199.html

Good for you! Kobe has generally gotten good reviews on this web site so I'm really surprised about how they acted in your case. All you asked for was a simple warranty repair - most other vendors would have handled it or shipped you a replacement hood. Another option would have been to file a complaint with your state's attorney generals office - companies are not allowed to simply walk away from warranty obligations.

It's weird that they unilaterally issued the refund and had you keep the hood. That's a lot of oil for a squeaky wheel! Still, I guess it isn't as weird as the manager refusing the warranty work. I wonder if they're having trouble with ADCO?

I hope you'll report back when you get the lights working and the hood installed.

Seems like more bungling on their part.
The usual legal obligation for them to completely shut things down in a case like this would involve providing you with a completely new no warranty unit and Kobe keeping your cash. Or if they were feeling flush, your money back, you return the item.

Since you are getting a brand new item and a suspect item both free with no warranty, it might be a good idea to now check out both very carefully before applying any power. Make sure to inspect the control board on the old unit for loose connections or component heat damage involving the board or wires leaving it going to the led lights. If possible, verify that the (3w?) led lights on both units all have the same correct part number.

Hopefully, the problem should be fairly obvious and a simple fix.

Feet of clay theory? It occurs to me, since you got the only price below standard, that this might have been a little scam run by the Kobe manager and the place you bought it from to dispose of a unit they knew to be defective. Their reluctance to have a warranty call on it might be because the serial number would show in ADCO's database. The hands are tied response would be because the company wouldn't have been in on it. They would have expected you to just give up and pay for your own repair, and when their harassment didn't work to shut you up, they finally folded, gave you your money back, and washed their hands of it.

That's the only scenario I can think of, in the light of day, that makes sense of them giving you the unit.

Since it's the housing you wanted so much, if the lights, etc., aren't easily reparable, maybe you can get it retro fitted with a Tradewinds liner or something? And have a proper warranty that way?

That theory doesn't make sense, they still show they discount Kobe on their website, they all can't be defective units they're trying to dump.

laat2 - I did not get a new additional unit on top of the malfunctioning unit. They just let me keep the malfunctioning unit for free (by giving me a full refund) and voided the warranty. Hopefully I'll be able to fix it with the help of a local technician.

And I agree with saeyedoc - I don't think Kobe is dumping defective units through this vendor at a discounted price. An 11% discount is not that much. I think they're just trying to sell more units by giving a modest discount.

I dunno. They could have three defective units....

I have absolutely no proof. It's just such bizarre behavior I was looking for story that made all the bits hold together...

Good luck with it, Foodiefrog!

That vendor always had a price a little lower than their online competition on the Kobe hoods. It looked like a decent outfit when I was shopping around for mine.

Some weird breakdown in communication must have happened here.

I too would hope the OP will come back and report on the fix, we're really curious about it.

Before leaving it at a shop to be worked on, you might want to have them price and order some spares for you first to minimize costs and speed up the work (if they don't keep any Kobe spare items on hand in their shop).
These four items could be the most likely ones to give trouble over time so even if they turn out not to be the cause of your present problem, they could come in handy in the future.

For Baffle Filter models only.
MODEL NO.: CH2230SQB-1 (30”)
MODEL /SIZE
......................................Kobe PART NO.

LED Light (2 @ 3W)......L1-0403-0301

Control Unit...................L1-0501-6001

Processor Board...........L1-0404-6001

This post was edited by laat2 on Mon, Dec 8, 14 at 23:52

I was about to order the identical model from the identical (authorized) seller. Not sure now that I should. Not even sure I should get Kobe at all, though this model is ideal for my design.

This has been a very helpful thread both in identifying the issues and the several replies, especially laat2.

Foodiefrog, please add some follow up on the ultimate fix and also on the sound level which is supposed to be exceptional.

I would probably order it and hope for the best. I'm willing to bet that my malfunctioning model was a rare event - perhaps occurring 5 out of 100 or even less. Up to that point, the sale was great. Helpful sales staff, quick order processing, quick shipping straight from Kobe to me, and the unit was built in September 2014 so it wasn't sitting in a warehouse for a long time or shipped to multiple locations before it got to me. The unit is beautiful. The SS shell looks impeccably crafted. If you live in or near a city, a warranty issue would hopefully be dealt with well. I think Kobe's resistance to service my unit was because I'm somewhat rural, and thus the service call would have been higher. Still doesn't justify their resistance; I'm just saying you may get an adequate response to a warranty issue if you are in/near a city. Haven't been able to get to trying to fix mine yet. I hope I can and get to use it. Will report back when I can.

Bump to help keep things on the front burner.
Also background for another more recent problem.

What more recent problem? (I haven't ordered yet.)
Edit: I think I found the more recent problem here:

Here is a link that might be useful: Recent Kobe problem report

This post was edited by jtsnj on Mon, Dec 29, 14 at 21:25

Foodiefrog-- I'm curious what your situation is, now that it's been a few months. Is yours quiet? I actually just got a Kobe hood (CHX9130SQB-1) and it was SUPER loud upon installation. Discovered air gaps where the left fan housing is attached to the top of the hood; air was blowing around in the hood. We had ordered from build.com (not sure if they're authorized or not) but they've had great customer service and sent me a replacement immediately. The replacement doesn't have the gaps, but it is also super loud, even on quiet mode. I'm really sad and disappointed. Spoke to Kobe a couple times today, they did not seem super excited to help me at all. The guy I spoke to suggested taking off the front of the fan housing to check for loose components (I really don't think that's the problem). He said I could email him my address, etc and they could send a service tech out. We'll see.