INSANITY Anyone bought a Coleman Camp stove recently? CRAZY but true story alert

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WanderLore

Veteran Member
I gave up on the colemans and got a little butane stove. It uses the little butane canisters that are cheap. I haven't had any problem and they cook super fast.
Not trying to be a stickler here, but those of you with stoves you've had so many years in storage, I urge you to get them out and do dry runs. You want them to work when you need them.
 
TKO

TKO

Veteran Member
foreverkeeps said:
I have just had a really bad experience with Coleman stoves.

I received reward points at work and I used it to buy a new camping stove from their catalog. When it arrived, I kept it in the box until we needed it last weekend; only to find out it didn't work!
The gas wasn't getting to the burner, so it would never light.
It's too expensive to ship it to return, because I'd have to pay return shipping to Utah.

So I started looking at other solutions, including picking up another stove locally and exchanging them out. I bought a second Coleman stove at Target. ... same problem. ,,, gas wouldn't get from the regulator to the burner.

Now, we're not idiots, we've had propane stoves for decades. including Coleman.

I was just trying to upgrade to get a stove that was wide enough for two frying pans.

I reached out to Coleman via their online form, and still haven't heard back from them.

I decided to buy a third one through walmart.com. Got it yesterday. guess what? same problem! regulator does not get gas to the burners!

Reviews everywhere say many people are having the same problem! Coleman has replied to some reviews saying "they are so sorry, thanks for letting us know, we will look into the problem." some of these reviews were 2 years ago, and the problem is still there!

Yesterday, I decided I was gonna get everything right. I returned the stove I got with my reward points With the receipt from walmart.com. No problem.

I returned the stove from target, no problem.

The stove that initially came from walmart.com I took to a second Walmart to return with no receipt.

They told me they couldn't give me a gift card for more than $50; to come back up to customer service with about $30 in product.

I went back up after picking out some things, and she ran everything through again. But this time, when she put my drivers license in, it spit out a decline saying I had already returned too many items without a receipt in 90 days, and I couldn't return anything else! what? we know this wasn't true because the last transaction was voided. A manager came over and tried to help, but now the stove wasn't even recognized!

I called the number on the decline receipt. She told me to hold on and she would see what she could do... then she hung up on me. I called back, was put on hold for a long time again, and she came back on and said I couldn't return anything without a receipt for $80 something dollars. what? Really?

Finally, an hour plus into this ordeal, someone else came to work customer service. She put my drivers license in a different way, turned the key on the register to get it accepted, and THEN gave me a gift card for the entire $86! Wow! I definitely needed a drink after all this!

I then went to Dunham Sports and bought a more expensive Coleman combo stove/grill... stood out in the breezeway, hooked up a propane bottle I brought with me... AND HEARD THE GLORIOUS SOUND OF GAS! WAHOO, I'm ready to go camping again! (In 3 weeks!)
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I always buy at Costco and always put receipts in my receipt box for EVERYTHING...including junk LED light bulbs and mag flashlights. If a battery explodes in one, which is a common occurrence, Duracall sends me a check and new batteries. Rinse and repeat. Costco has about the best return policy there is. Mini mag flashlights are junk, though. They don't twist quite right but I still like them enough. I just got two new free ones from Mag for the twistees.
 
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This too shall pass.
WalknTrot said:
Why it pays to check reviews on Amazon or the like before buying stuff like this.
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Things like this are why I often ask for suggestions here, too (even though a while back Dennis was complaining about some of us doing that so often). There are enough people on this forum that most times, someone has experience and can suggest a good brand of whatever it is we are looking for.

Kathleen
 
J

Jeep

Veteran Member
Thanks for the reminder, I got both my Coleman stoves out today and checked them out and both are working and are in good shape. I have one that is still gas that I have had about 20 years and another one that I bought in 1972 that in 1980 I converted to propane, it's almost 50 years old and still working. The one I converted to propane uses an adapter that is similar to what Smoke has and I use 20lb propane tanks with that stove. I do keep an extra generator for my gas stove and for my gas Coleman lanterns and also extra wicks for the lanterns, which I will clean and check out tomorrow.
 
cliff dweller

cliff dweller

Contributing Member
Were these stoves returned to be put back on the shelf for another to try? If complaints do not match defective returns then companies have no real stats to go by for corrections.

If they were then Coleman should be eyes wide open on the difficulties.
 
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