Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I ordered the Westinghouse iGen4500 Super Quiet Invertor Generator on 6 September 2020. The generator arrived on 11 September in great shape. The generator was packed well and the box looked like I pulled it off the shelf myself. I proceeded to break in the unit. Followed all the instructions included and felt I went above and beyond. After running it for one hour with no load, I changed the oil. Ran it again for an hour with no load and changed the oil again. The next time I ran it, I put on a 800 watt load for an hour, then a 1500 watt load for an hour, and then a 3000 watt load for an hour. Many of the reviews I read stated the included spark plug wasn’t that great so I replaced it with the recommended Champion equivalent. Let me state that I did a lot of research on this generator. For the price and the capabilities it offered – it is the one to get. There are many reviews which agree with this statement. Among the many outstanding reviews there are a few bad ones discussing a choke issue and the Westinghouse customer service. The choke issue has a tech bulletin out which describes how to fix. I felt the customer service complaints were few enough that I went ahead and made the purchase. It is on this point I will base the rest of the review on. Bottom line – Westinghouse customer service leaves a lot to be desired. A lot. After the spark plug change, I went to use the generator, it started fine and ran smoother than with the original spark plug. I plugged in a couple of items and no electricity was produced. I double checked the breakers and they had not been tripped. I shut everything down and tried it again with the same result. At this point, the generator only less than five hours of run time on it. I called customer service and was assigned a Case number. The customer service website states that due to the COVID crisis and other natural disasters going on, it may take a business day to get in touch with me. I was impressed – I figured it would be two or three days minimum before they got in contact with me. Needless to say, my good impression didn’t last long. After five business days, I contacted them again. Every time you contact customer service – either by email or phone – you will get a new case number. Even if you just want a status update – a new case number gets generated. With nothing heard, I contacted them the next business day – same routine. A new case number, some lip service, and then nothing. I contacted them a week after that, talked to someone who told me that the previous case number had been closed and they asked me if I wanted to reopen it. I told them yes. And I was assigned a new case number. All I want to the authorization to get this thing fixed before winter hits. I don’t work in customer service but I can’t help but think when I call this in, all someone has to do is say, “This guy’s generator only has five hours on it, something screwy happen during production, let’s get it fixed for him.” Long story short – Roll the dice. I still think it’s a great generator and feel it will perform well once repaired but getting the customer service to approve the repair has been an ordeal. I’ll keep at it, I’m a stubborn guy. I just don’t feel I need to pay for any repairs with only five hours on the clock. I’d like to think this was built better than that. 27 Oct 2020 Update - Couldn't deal with Customer Service anymore. They are polite while on the phone but once a new case number gets assigned - nothing happens. Returned the unit about three weeks ago and now I'm dealing with the same BS trying to get a refund. I even got a comment on this review from Customer Service. Again, very polite but nothing gets done - even though they say they will contact you soon - don't hold your breath waiting for that call.