Guardian 13 000 Watt Standby Generator 5242
User Ratings and Reviews
2 Stars This would be a really great generator if it were working
I picked this particular generator, in spite of the high price, because it is big enough to power pretty a whole house (1st star) and is designed to start automatically (2nd star). The local authorized installer could not come for over a month but others in this area did not want to install because we did not buy from them. It was very frustrating to have a power failure during freezing weather and the generator was sitting in the backyard not hooked up. It has stopped working a couple of times already since it was installed and this time we have been trying to get someone to come and fix it for over a month.
4 Stars great product
This is a great product had it professionally installed and everything works great,recommend this item to anyone considering buying a standby generator.
1 Star Very disappointed
My one star rating is for Amazon, not the generator. I can’t rate the generator itself because I was sent one that was so damaged that the electrician would not install it. Adding to the hassle is/was the fact that I live outside the delivery area of the shipper that Amazon uses so they have another, smaller shipper make their deliveries and pickups to this area. This delays the delivery by several days at a minimum (the second shipper delivers at their cost-effective convenience, not at the customer’s convenience.
When we tried to report the damaged generator and also get some information regarding the installation (since the electrician was here) we had a terrible time getting past the first line of customer support operators. They know nothing other than to take information and say they will e-mail Tools and Hardware who will get in touch at some time (could be a couple of days). This was totally unacceptable to us and after lots of pursuasion someone finally gave us the phone number of the Tools and Hardware support (1-800-884-9132). It was that helpful person who initiated the process to order us a new/replacement generator and to have the damaged one picked up. I called the regular support line a few times to check on this process because the shipper said they had not received notice from Amazon to come back. Expect different answers from different operators. Only the Tools & Hardware people have a clue what to do. It took about a week before the shipper contacted me about the pick up. However it was another week before the smaller shipper picked up the damaged item — the same day they delivered the replacement generator. The smaller shipper had the new generator in their possession for nearly a week before they delivered it.
The most outrageous part of this transaction is that the second generator was also damaged. It appeared to be someone else’s reject. The box was open, no shrink wrap, no packing material and items inside the carton were open. The generator itself looked ok (especially compared to the previous one) but the conduit that holds all the wires was torn open. I couldn’t assess if there was damage to the wires and hoped that maybe the electrician could fix it, so I accepted the delivery (my big mistake). This one has to be returned as well. Tools and Hardware support was already closed for the day [and weekend] so I could not report the damaged item to them and start this process all over. It has been a month since I ordered the first generator. It will probably be another two weeks before the damaged replacement gets picked up and I was told not to expect my refund until 4 weeks after the generator is returned and processed by Amazon. This has been an awful process. The serial numbers of these two generators are 4504112 and 4504009. If you receive one of them ask for a discount because you’re getting a refurbished item or don’t accept it.
