This article is written to tell the public my company's personal experience of my purchase of a Harden Styrofoam Compactor Machine.

I inquired to purchase a foam compactor machine from a Harden distributor located in the far NE area of the United States.

I explained to them what my use was for. I sent them samples of the foam to be compacted.

They tested the samples and made two Youtube (r) videos for me to view.
One machine was much slower and one was faster and would meet my needs.

You can see the video at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OT-V9tWgUY
"I am sure this will be removed as soon as they see this website"

Please note:
In the video you will see the machine reverse at the start. The machine I received never would and the starting buzzer did not work.
I DID NOT GET THE MACHINE IN THE VIDEO. I THINK BELIEVE RECEIVED A USED ONE.

They assured me that the 250 machine was the best for me, so I purchased the machine.
I received the machine about a week later. When I opened the crate I found all of the surprise defects.
I emailed and called there distributor and told them I would like to make the machine work. I told them
I should have sent it back right then and there. I told them that I had an extensive electrical back ground
and I would be willing to make the needed repairs. The distributor agreed and told me to keep a tab of
the repairs and I would be reimbursed. I made the repair's and started operating the machine.

This is were the fun starts!  The machine ran about 8 minutes and the hydraulic motor threw out sparks
and then smoke and then locked up. I called the distributor and explained what happened.
They were going to send me a new motor.

While waiting for the arrival of the new motor I checked out the compressing auger to see
how the machine was compressing the Styrofoam.
Well after removing the compressing chute I found that the auger had not moved the foam out at a good rate.
I found that the Styrofoam had melted into a solid plastic block.
I spent the next 4 hours drilling, chiseling and pounding out he melted plasticized Styrofoam form the machine.

A few days later I received the new motor off of another machine. They did not have a spare motor.
They would have to order on from China. ( NO SPARE PARTS)
When I received the motor the motor mounting flanges they did not match. I had to swap them out.
I remounted the motor and did a voltage check. All was good.
I thought I was in business. I started compressing Styrofoam.
Again I about 6-8 minutes the hydraulic motor let out a cloud of smoke!
It burned up and melted the cooling fin to the motor.
I called the distributor and told them that I was threw trying to get the machine running
and I wanted to return it. There was just to much wrong with it.

NOW THIS IS WHERE IT GETS GOOD!!
They wanted me to pay the original shipping charges.
They wanted me to pay the return shipping.
The 2 defective motors.
Pay a 15% restock fee!
I told them this was not agreeable.
They came back with this!

Quote:
"After much discussion, we have decided to make this our final offer:
You pay all shipping and handling costs, which are $ 754.02 + $833.23 = $1,587."

They did not offer me 1 red cent for all of my shipping of samples, for testing
or repairs that I made to the machine.    This was all forgotten!

There excuse for charging me for the shipping was:

We have received the CP 250 EPS Compactor machine that you returned
and our technicians have completed their inspection of the machine.
After much review regarding the problems and complaints you had regarding the performance
and malfunctions of the machine. Our technicians, determined that the electrical problem (burning out
the hydraulic pump motor) was evidently caused by your phase converter and was
not the fault of the original wiring in the machine.

( Are this the same tech's that inspected the wiring, stripped bolts and grease fittings etc...)
If this is true why did the other 2 motors not burn up? See red tab # 2

What this all boils down to is the distributor sent me a used machine full of defects
and would not stand behind it . Excuses were made to cover there looses.
These charges should have been back charged to the Chinese company Harden
that they imported it from.
Moral of my story take care of your customers. Do whats is right!