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scamming the Amish

4.8K views 14 replies 13 participants last post by  weber  
#1 ·
I've seen full page ads (very expensive to run) in newpapers and magazines lately claiming an Amish man came up with a miraculous idea for a flameless fireplace. There are many sites now available revealing this as a complete scam. Here is the scammer's website; www.heatsurge.com

The people in the photos are not Amish. Amish do not allow photographs of themselves to be taken as adults. The "solid" wood mantle is plywood that is supplied by the company selling these things to Amish furniture makers who do make the mantles to fill in between furniture jobs.

What this is is a crappy Chinese electric heater that produces less heat then most hair driers. I for one will be warning my friends, family and anyone who will listen about buying into this scam.
 
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#3 ·
Yeah I was handed that news paper article from a Pissed off home owner
saying that his newer unit has been nothing but trouble and he was going to
look into that contraption.:eek:
 
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#5 ·
About a month ago, my Dad showed me the same ad and asked what i thought...He was wanting to heat his 2 car garage...I read it and said that it wont work, Then to my surprise he said "I hope you are wrong because I ordered one".:eek:..So 2 weeks and $350 later he gets the thing, tries it for 2 days and of course it doesnt work, It barely got warm and made his power meter spin like a top...Luckily (or amazingly ) he called the 1-800# and they offered a full refund if he shipped it back...Cost him $20 shipping, but they refunded his credit card.

Its not often we get to say "I told you so" to our parents... It was fun :D
 
#6 ·
LOL well it is just proof that marketing works even when the product doesnt.

I LOVE this part "It uses less energy than it takes to run a coffee maker. Yet, it produces an amazing 5,119 BTU’s. An on-board Powerful hi-tech heat turbine silently forces hot air out into the room so you feel the bone soothing heat instantly"'

I guess most folks don't know that a small furnace has over 100,000 btus.

Robo's comparison to a hair dryer is perfect, puts it in perspective. I have used a heat gun before to heat a work tent when it was below 0 outside and I was able to keep the tent about 30 over ambient. It was like 12 below and it was anywhere from 20 to 30 in the tent depending upon the wind blowing etc. Made for a great hand warmer and boot warmer too.

I think it is a BS product but I am not sure I would call it scamming. It is an overpriced POS but they offer a product, tell you what they want for it and you hand em your dollars by free will and they deliver said product.

It is no different than flat rate hvac companies, they offer a service, the customer either does or does not do the work. One companies rate for a job might be 200 another 300 and a third 600 all for the same job. None of them is right or wrong.
 
#10 ·
What a joke!



Here is what they have to say about the pic:

"Real Amish Craftmanship- Without a doubt this is the real thing. Above, is an Amish women applying the hand-rubbed finish. Amish rules can vary but as long as a photo is not taken of an individual exalting themselves it is allowed.":D
 
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#12 ·
Soooooo:eek:

The scam part is that while Amish woodworkers are crafting the plywood that this company supplies them into the finished mantle, no Amish had anything to do with that heater. There are quite a few ticked off Amish over this issue, but since Amish do not allow themselves to get into such battles, they will not protect their image against these Charlitins who are simply lying about the people in that ad being Amish.
 
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