Harvest Right 5-Tray Medium White Freeze Dryer with Premier Pump & Mylar Starter Kit

We bought our Harvest Right in June 2021. We have done over 300 loads. We have a large garden and needed another way to preserve our food. One of the features that we really like was freeze drying preserves more of the nutrition than other methods. It expands our food storage options so much. We have done herbs, vegetables, fruit, cooked chicken and various cuts of beef. and a variety of whole meals. Our Harvest Right has done everything and MORE than we originally expected.

Sept 2022: Ordered Large, Grade B blemished (some dings & scratches) freeze dryer. Oct 2022: Received. Started freeze drying large quantities the following summer. June 2023: Right at the beginning of the harvest season, my unit began having problems, 109 hours drying time for asparagus & buttons were not working. From the beginning, customer service (CS) was lacking. It took 1 week to get a tech support call to address my problem. Anyone who has a garden or buys produce in bulk knows that the harvest does not wait, especially not 1 week. After multiple tech calls & instructions for me to disassemble my freeze dryer, HR sent out a replacement Electronics Modular Sub Assembly EMSA, but only after they had me remove my EMSA, send it back & receive it. (Removing & replacing an EMSA involves removing & replacing multiple electrical wires.) HR tech support did not "realize" that our machine was an older model & the instructions they were talking us through over the phone were inaccurate. Late July 2023: I did not have a working freeze dryer for over 1 month of the harvest season. Tech support includes phone calls, sending your log files for them to review & more phone calls of them talking you through the repairs or tests that they want you to perform. August 2023: I was able to run a test batch, but my screen kept getting stuck on "Dry Time Complete" with no buttons working after that. I was advised to update my software, which I did (after watching a short HR video on how to do that). I ran a few batches after that, but was still getting the same issue with the screen getting stuck on Dry Time. My quick fix was to turn the machine off, test the food for done-ness &, if it needed more time, run the cycle again. Late Aug 2023: I contacted HR tech support again. I again spent countless minutes/hours on the phone or at my computer sending log files, videos of the screen, pictures of the screen. Mid-Sep 2023: Ran a batch which resulted in 4 of the 5 trays with burnt food & the door on the freeze dryer crackled! There was a lot of product lost & a LOT of labor & money that went into preparing that product for freeze drying. I finally raised the issue to the saleman who sold me the unit & the supervisor of tech support in the company, asking for help & a replacement unit. It was agreed that my unit would be sent back to Utah for repair & then returned to me fixed & operational. Sep 29, 2023: My unit was sent back to Utah for repair. Oct.19, 2023: My unit was returned to me. Pump was leaking oil all over the box it was delivered in. Got unit in the house & after talking to tech support, ran some tests. Door needed adjusted & the wrong door gasket was put on my machine when it was shipped back to me. Tech support shipped out a new door gasket. Ran test batch. Sent more log files. Set up tech calls which were not always kept by tech support for the appointed day or time. Prior to tech calls, I also had to remove panels from my freeze dryer. Oct 19-Nov 22, 2023: numerous phone calls & emails were exchanged with HR running tests, sending log files... Still no working machine. Nov 22, 2023: HR finally agrees to replace my unit. I have to wait for return packing kit (find your own pallet each time you return a machine to HR) & wait for Fed Ex to pick up my machine before HR will release a "new" replacement machine to me. Dec 14, 2023: Expected replacement machine arriving 6 MONTHS without a working freeze dryer for which I paid almost $4000! Completely missed my harvest time, burnt up multiple trays of hard-earned, expensive (time & money), organic produce. I am just sick! I hope this refurbished (not new) machine arriving tomorrow will be problem-free & I can get on with the happy task of freeze drying. This has been a terrible experience.