I live in British Columbia, Canada, just across the border. I discovered PROLINE RANGE HOODS on the Internet in an ad specifically targeting Canadian customers. I looked at their website and ordered a 1200 CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute) range hood for my kitchen reno. Shipping to the US across the border was $79.95 USD while shipping directly to Canada was $379.95 USD. I had them ship to Montana and paid the $79.95 USD shipping. I read their return policy and knew before ordering that I had to pay to return the hood if it had to be returned.

The hood came in. I drove across the border to retrieve it, drove it back to Canada and paid the $399 CDN taxes at the border.

When I got home, I discovered a lot of new information about range hoods that I didn't know: for one 1200 cfm is HUGE - for it's size, my house requires 198 cfm. That wasn't PROLINE's fault. I should have researched better but at any rate, to install their range hood and comply with the building code, I would have had to add a make-up air system which would have cost me more than $11,000 CDN for the size of the hood I had ordered so, I had to return the hood I purchased to them.

I contacted the company within the allowable 14 days for a full refund and they told me to ship the hood back to them using the same shipper and they would issue me a refund (to return it between 14 days and 30 days, the company charges an additional 20% restocking fee).

I contacted FedEx Ground and they estimated the shipping costs at $631.00 USD - I was blown away. I expected the costs to be $79.95 USD. I later found out that PROLINE has a very discounted rate for using FedEx Ground and I didn't. I called PROLINE and asked for their account number so I could ship the range hood back. After all, they were issuing me a refund and could deduct the cost incurred on their account directly from the refund. In essence they told me "Tough luck, customers are on their own to return the product at their expense". I pleaded with them but they would not budge.

My wife and I though about keeping the range hood and trying to sell it privately. The cost of the range hood was $2,378.00 USD (plus what the exchange rate and exchange fee from the credit card company cost me). We felt we would lose less money if we returned it.

We returned the hood FedEx Ground. When I called FedEx a few days later, I was told that my invoice was $1,063 USD - I nearly flipped out. After negotiating with them, they reduced the invoice by 60% (a 60% discount for people who don't have an account? Don't ask me why they didn't tell me that in the first place when I called them for an estimate). At any rate, better than $631 USD better than $1,063 USD. Final cost for shipping was $425.35 USD.

PROLINE did refund me and we are done. In total I'm out $1,383.19 CDN in exchange rates, transactions fees and shipping charges, plus my gas to go pick up the range in Montana and return it there to be shipped back - I'll never get that money back.

In my opinion, PROLINE's return policies are unethical and deceptive. I think they gamble on customers not returning products because of the high cost of shipping and they certainly have no interest in working with their customers to make this better.

I would absolutely never recommend their company to anyone who doesn't live within driving distance from their offices/warehouse and even then, I don't know if they would accept products being driven to their offices and not require their customers to ship them back. If you're in Canada and thinking of dealing with this company, beware...

As far as the quality of their product, while the hood looked esthetically good, I can't attest to the quality and reliability of the mechanism, its working components or PROLINE's support after purchase because the hood was never installed.

Louis SAULE
Cranbrook, B.C. Canada