Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Hello! You'd think that a fan is SO simple, that there should NEVER be anything wrong with it right out the box. That's what any normal person would think, but that isn't correct. I purchased 2 new Holmes HABF20 20-Inch Box Fans. I took out the first new fan, plugged it in, and turned it on. It made the most horrible noise, which went away after a bit. I went to change the speed, and the speed control FELL OFF, right inside of the fan! The blades immediately started to smack into it and the wiring with a horrible noise (probably the same horrible noise as before.) Since I could no longer get to the control to turn it off, my wife and I had to scramble, to unplug the thing. I took out the second new fan, plugged it in, and turned it on. I went to change the speed, and the speed control FELL OFF, right inside of the fan, on the SECOND fan, too! I couldn't believe it! After careful examination, I determined that the fans are manufactured wrong. The snap-in mount, that was SUPPOSED to hold the speed control to the grill, was designed wrong. It did NOT hold the speed control to the grill properly, and the slightest, smallest force (such as operating the speed control in a completely normal fashion), would cause the knob to fall off, and the speed control to fall into the fan case. No matter HOW many times I would carefully and correctly snap the speed control back into the hole on the grill, it would simply fall out again with the slightest pressure. Returning the fan for a replacement wouldn't do any good, as ALL of at least this batch of fans (how many hundreds of thousands, would this be?) are manufactured WRONG. Replacing the part would do no good, as ALL the replacements would have the same manufacturing defect. Secondly, one of the screws that was supposed to hold the grill on was missing, causing the plastic grill to flap open. (In opening up the case to check out the other problems, I found the screw in a blob of plastic goo designed to hold the wires in place.) Thirdly, when I went to screw in the missing screw, I was able to screw in the screw again, ONLY with loosening ALL the screws that held that grill in place, as the matching holes in the metal case had been drilled slightly OFF. However, I was finally able to get them all in. Fourthly, the top of one of the fans was bashed in. (Remember, this fan was taken out of a new, still sealed and undamaged box, so I can only conclude that this damage happened in the factory.) Fifthly, while the outside of the box proudly proclaims: "Made In America", in reality, the motor is manufactured in China. I suppose it should say "Assembled In America By Incompetent, Bungling Clowns". It makes me ashamed for America. My solution? It took me FAR LESS time to just re-engineer the fans (less than 10 minutes), than it would have to return them. I re-engineered the speed control mount so that it worked properly, and held the speed control firmly to the grill (something that their incompetent engineer apparently could not do, presumably with the most sophisticated computer design aids currently available). All I had to do, was to use thin plastic shims between the "snaps" and the main body of the mount, so that the snaps on the mount "snapped" into the mounting hole properly, and held in the speed control firmly in place. (They have been making mounts like this since at LEAST the 1930's, so this is NOT new, untried technology.) Holmes management should be DEEPLY ASHAMED of themselves for this debacle. Unless you are willing to re-engineer these fans yourself, as I did, STAY FAR AWAY from them, they are VERY DANGEROUS! If the speed control fell into the case when you were away from the fan (which easily could happen), leaving the fan blades to smash into the wires and speed control thousands of times, it could leave broken and/or exposed "LIVE" 120 volt wires touching the metal case or hanging out of the case, or maybe blow your breaker, or even possibly set your house on FIRE by throwing off sparks! Holmes should recall these defective units, and refund everyone's money. (Not the first time Holmes has had to recall dangerous, defectively designed items.) My 2 cents worth. Hope this helped. Karl