Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

We bought this product last year. It was delivered in good shape (no noticeable chips or dings), assembled fairly easily and looks good in our living room; especially for it's relatively low cost. The amount of heat it puts out won't blow you away (it's fan heat, not radiant) but it does help heat up a room a bit. I'm giving it 3 stars only because the fireplace short circuited or burnt out this week. It started smelling funny (not quite smoke, but something burning) about a week ago and finally broke last night after a bright flash by the heating element. Fortunately it was 8 days before the 1 year warranty expired. About the warranty. Keep your manuals (I'll say this one more time: keep your manuals!!!) and be ready to print the Amazon.com invoice from the original purchase because they may ask you to verify some info. I called the company today via the 1-800 warranty number in the manual. It took me a couple times to reach someone, but did get in touch with someone and he was helpful. We did a little Q & A about which part broke and he didn't act surprised that it was the fireplace. He said they fortunately had that part in stock (according to his records showing on the computer) and it should be able to be replaced soon. He gave me a confirmation code and said I would receive an email first with an 'order number' and then with a shipping tracking number a couple days later. I received the order confirmation email like he said. Hopefully the shipping confirmation will follow as he said. Overall, if the replacement fireplace comes I will still rate this product a 3. It's decent and looks decent which may even warrant a four, but the hassle of replacing a part makes it a 3. If the replacement part doesn't come I'm switching to a 1! **update 1/17/2018. I ordered the replacement part under warranty which they honored. The process on the phone was fairly easy, but unfortunately they didn't really confirm any of the parts info with me. So about two weeks later I received the replacement and it was the wrong fireplace insert; the one they sent was a neon blue and pretty much the exact opposite of the original. I called them up to inform them of the mistake. They sent me a shipping label to return the wrong product and then provided another order number for the correct part. It has been 6 weeks since then and still no correct replacement. I have called them three times during this process. The first two times they said the part was out of stock, but should be filled in the next two weeks (never happened). Today I called them for the third time. She informed me that the part will be received in their warehouse March 1st (about 3 months after my order) and I should receive it some time in mid March. Apparently they needed some revisions done to the product by the manufacturer in China (one would hope the revisions are to improve reliability) and that has caused the significant delay. They are about to ship it from China but the timeline is about a month. I am changing my review to a 1. I do not recommend this product if you're purchasing for the reason of having a functioning electric heater fireplace. I think the reliability of that component is poor and getting it replaced has been a hassle. I will say the staff in the support center have been relatively easy to reach and informative when I have called. It's really the lack of follow through of the company and the poor product performance that brings my rating down.**