Absolutely Furious - Lava Fires Wasted My R28,000!

I am absolutely livid and need to warn everyone about the complete disaster that is Lava Fires. I have just thrown R28,000 down the drain on what turned out to be the worst purchase of my life.

After doing extensive research on what size fireplace I needed for my 35-40m² lounge and dining room area, I determined that a 10kW unit would be perfect. Bonnie helped me with quotes, their installers came out to assess the space, and on 26 June they installed what I thought would be the end of a very cold room. That's when my nightmare began.

The moment I fired up this piece of junk, following Lava Fires' precious instructions to the letter, absolutely nothing happened. I'm not talking about it being a bit slow to warm up - I'm talking about complete and utter failure. After burning wood for TWO SOLID HOURS, the fireplace was still stone cold. I could literally grab the handle with my bare hands without any discomfort. Having owned combustion fireplaces before, including one at my house in Stellenbosch, I know exactly how these things should perform when they're working properly.

Yesterday their technician wasted four hours of my valuable time, burned through an entire bag of my wood, and achieved absolutely nothing. The room stayed as cold as when they started. I was so frustrated that I fired off an email to one of their directors, Amit Netter, who turned out to be completely clueless about his own business - the man didn't even know what Sekelbos wood is! Furthermore he thought that as I am a women it would be appropriate to send me an email in a condescending tone which made me even more irritated.

Today their consultant dragged himself back to my house for another two hours of complete time-wasting. He replaced all the internal blocks, burned through yet another bag of wood, and guess what? Still nothing! I'm sitting on my couch just 1.5 meters away from this expensive piece of s**** metal and I can't feel a single degree of warmth. The handle is barely lukewarm, and I can still open and close the door with my bare hands.

When I called their director Amit Netter yet again to express my absolute rage, he didn't have the backbone to deal with me properly and acted like he couldn't understand why someone who spent R28,000 on a non-functioning fireplace would be furious. Any reasonable person who has invested that kind of money expecting a working fireplace and instead got a glorified wall ornament would be absolutely livid.

Their "solutions" are a complete joke. First, they suggested I add a fan to the unit - what absolute nonsense! Then they had the audacity to suggest I should buy a bigger unit. Are you kidding me? I'm trying to heat 35-40 square meters, not a aircraft hangar! If their director can't handle an angry customer who has every right to be furious, then he should stay away from customer service entirely.

I'm warning everyone who might be considering Lava Fires - don't make the same expensive mistake I did. You'll end up with an overpriced piece of decorative steel that couldn't heat a dog kennel, let alone your living space. Save your money and go somewhere else where they actually know what they're doing and stand behind their products.

This has been the most frustrating and expensive lesson of my life, and I'm determined to make sure others don't fall into the same trap. My next step will be the Consumer Protection Board, as this is daylight *******.

I refuse to let Lava Fires get away with selling defective products and providing shocking customer service. They need to be held accountable for this completely unacceptable business practice.