Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I received a defective product from Rheem. I purchased the unit from Amazon.com and received it on June 25, 2014. I installed the plumbing but could not get a qualified professional electrician to install the electrical until Sept. 11th. He used #6 wiring and a double pole 260v breaker. When we turned the water heater on, it worked perfectly fine and delivered hot water as far away as 40 ft. The next morning when I turned it on I received no hot water. My electrician returned, checked everything out, including doing a diagnostic of the water heater we found on the Rheem web site, but he was unable to find the problem. I uninstalled the water heater and boxed it up, planning to send it to Rheem for warranty replacement since my Amazon return policy had expired. I called Rheem customer service to make sure I followed proper warranty procedure. They referred me to the Technical Assistance unit. The first technician ask me if I was near the unit and I told him I had it in a box ready to send it back. He said he needed to run me through a diagnostic procedure and I told him a qualified electrician had already done it and declared it defective, probably in the small mother board of the unit. The technician told me I would need to reinstall it and call back to be guided through their diagnostics even though I told him we had done so using their recommended diagnostic procedure for the unit posted on their website. So, I reinstalled the unit and called him back. He asked me to do one check which I did and it did not test out. He stated he would need to elevate my problem and I assumed he was elevating me to customer service to return the water heater. Instead, I received a higher level technician who guided me through the same process my electrician had gone through via the Rheem web directions. The Rheem water heater checked out defective via his instructions. He asked where I purchased the unit and I told him on Amazon.com, but my return policy had expired and since the unit was defective I was returning it to Rheem via their warranty. He took additional information and told me his supervisor would need to approve the return and replacement. Hence i assumed a replacement would be sent. About 2 hours later this technician called and told my that while my unit had been purchased through Amazon.com it had been sold via a third party distributor who was not supposed to be selling them on Amazon.com. I told him that was Rheem's problem not mine; Rheem made the unit with a warranty and I was exercising my warranty. He gave me the distributors name and phone number and told me I would need to work through them. Lesson learned "Rheem does not back up its warranty without putting one through a hassle." But the review does not end here. I called the distributor. They asked for the Amazon.com order number, checked it and said they had only shipped the unit, but it had been purchased through a third party seller. Hence they were not responsible for replacing it. Enough is enough. I called Amazon.com's customer service and explained my situation. The Amazon rep asked me to give her a couple of minutes. After about a 3-minute wait, she came on and said a replacement would be sent asap, but it may not be delivered for over 4 weeks because she had to place on back-order. I wasn't happy with it, but at least I was getting a replacement without the hassle Rheem put me through. She immediately emailed me a postage paid return mailing label to send the defective unit back to them. A few hours later I received another Amazon.com email stating they had found an alternate distributor and my replacement would arrive in two days. It arrived in less than two days and I installed it. The new Rheem RTE-13 unit works fine so far (2 days), but only time will tell. If it malfunctions, I assume I will have to start a replacement hassle with Rheem again. I most likely will not replace it with a Rheem due to their initial "poor customer service" even though I have two large Rheem units in my home that have performed well for over six years. I give Amazon.com 5 stars for how they handled this situation and Rheem no stars for their customer service.