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Review of Esse 125 Podium stove

Esse Podium 125 or not

Ron NowGrumpy 9 years ago

This is a nice looking stove in the brochure. Unfortunately the manufacturer does not live up to it's description of it's quality standards. This stove does not have a specific manual. The manual is of the MF125 model which is totally different. The flat base of the podium is a sandwich of welded plates. Unfortunately in the manufacturing process they did not bother to clean off the weld slag and clinker before welding each plate on top of each other. The end effect being that the base is not flat and teeters from corner to corner. On a unit of this price not really acceptable and of course where is the quality control? I sent it back and requested another. Two weeks wait for the first and 3 further weeks wait for the second. The second one arrived. Having complained about the quality control you would expect them to check the next unit going out. Sadly, the second one turned up worse than the first. The base was badly bowed from the welding and had the same slag problem so the plates underneath were stepped. Looking at the edge of the base you could see the slag and clinker trapped between the plates. The slotted channels which hold the sliding controls had screws missing. The lower channel was obviously bent downwards. So much so that the slider would not work as it was jammed solid.

I abandoned this company and have purchased an alternative manufacturers product.

Stove expert replied: Esse have contacted this customer direct and have requested a meeting to discuss this in greater depth. Changes have been made to prevent similar occurrences in the future following internal investigations at the factory. Customer feedback is important to the Esse company to insure future developments and improvements are made to their products.

Overall rating:

2 flames

Build Quality 1 flames (avg 1)
Quality of finish 1 flames (avg 1)
Value for money 1 flames (avg 1)
Ease of use 3 flames (avg 3)
Ease of lighting 3 flames (avg 3)
Firebox size 4 flames (avg 4)
How well does the airwash work 3 flames (avg 3)
Controllability 3 flames (avg 3)
Handle operation 3 flames (avg 3)
How likely are you to buy it again? 1 flames (avg 1)
What is your overall satisfaction? 1 flames (avg 1)