Broan 273003 30" Stainless Steel 500 CFM Downdraft with Stainless Steel Cover

This is a nightmare issue for our family and we continue to fight this for over a month. The item was received with obvious damage as seen in the attached picture. We could not believe the way it was packaged - no Styrofoam or any bracing during shipment. Since it was badly needed, we thought we will install and if it works, we will keep and use it. During installation, we realized that there is also damage to the actuator that rises and lowers the hood and motor is not getting activated/started. Wasted $150 installation charge.Started processing replacement request and we were told by Amazon to contact the seller - Virventures.Called for four straight days and was on hold for hours and no response. Even tried alternate number from their website and same result. Lodged a A-Z complaint with Amazon and finally someone from Virventures called with first request to withdraw A-Z complaint (which we refused). Damage pics was requested and was told to ship back. Went to UPS and the quote was $184. Sent msg to both Amazon and Virventures that it was too much for me to pay and requested prepaid shipping ticket. Virventures offered 10% discount to keep the item and we asked them for suggestion/advise on what to do with a piece of metal junk for over $700. Meanwhile one more follow up with Amazon revealed that A-Z complaint has been withdrawn and the operator was not sure why. We were also told by her that the withdrawal decision was final and there is nothing she could do about it. Finally was able to escalate to higher manager at Amazon and they reopened the A-Z complaint. After the reopening of the case, the latest response from Virventures is that they have lodged a complaint with the carrier and they will come to inspect the damaged item and it can take about 2 weeks. We sent a msg to both Amazon and Virventures that we are ordering a new same item from some other source and we expect a full refund.So, the nightmare saga continues.... Shame on both Amazon and Virventures.

This unit arrived on time and it is a rather heavy item so as expected there was some minimal damage to the unit, bent sheet metal from the fan motor bouncing around in the box. After seeing the damage I hooked up some temp. power and made sure fan and lift motor worked properly and they did. If I wouldnt have been in such a hurry to install this unit I probably would have sent it back and requested one that wasnt damaged, but it needed to be installed a couple days after it showed up, which happened to be the day before thanksgiving! I also puchased a new induction cook top and we got both of them installed no problems at all, we had 20 or so people over for Thanksgiving, did lots of cooking on the new induction top, and the Fan worked great. It looks nice, is fairly quite and sucks the air outside just as promised.

Fit perfectly, installed easily and works fine, though it's not as powerful as the 20 year old one it replaced.

Where to start. This showed up in a snow globe of packing dented and didn’t work. Looked like it was a return that someone made. I set up the return and the 3rd party seller wanted me to pay the shipping to return it. I refused! I had to get Amazon involved. They finally sent a call tag and took almost 3 weeks to return my money. Absolutely horrible!!! The unit was dented and didn’t go up or down. And the blower was LOUD!!! Don’t recommend this at all.

Received the package with the box staples opened. When the carton cover was removed, found the styrofoam protectors were torn and there was a dent on the bottom edge of the unit. Fortunately, this portion did not affect the function of the unit. The motor and the lifter works fine. Please modify your packaging procedure for this kind of heavy unit, taking into consideration the mode of shipment.

I have vaulted ceilings and did not want a hanging vent hood over the island cook top. This was perfect fit, and helped with the sale of my home.

It's a good downdraft. So why 3 stars?1. Don't be surprised if this unit arrives with damage. This is because the packing is poor and the unit is very heavy (>70 lbs). Inevitably gets damage in transit as a result. For me the ends of the top (the shiny, fancy part that sticks out above the countertop was badly bent on one end). The bottom aluminum where it connects to the external vent pipe was also badly bent out of the box.2. The vacuum fan is enclosed in a heavy steel cube making it very hard for existing gas countertops with existing piping to be routed underneath. Much easier to route around round edges (which is the case inside the cube). So not sure why that extra steel cube? Adds to the weight too.3. Comes with 2 extra filters but no mention of where to fit them, no instructions whatsoever.4. Not sure why the cost is $756! I understand heavy duty steel and fan has some sunk cost but this is wildly expensive. Also not sure why they didn't just use lightweight Aluminum and make the installation much easier. Fair price for a commodity unit like this should be in the $300-$400 max in my humble opinion. It's basically a vacuum fan housed in a steel box with a lifting mechanism. Not sure why it's $756. Probably because it's a "kitchen" item. All in all, product works good but it looses out on damage in transit owing to poor packing, poor ergonomics, inexplicably high weight and inexplicably high cost.

The seller is not responding to me. I’ll gladly change my review if someone gets back to me and corrects this. We just installed this and the vent just goes up and down continuously. It won’t stay up: it won’t work. We’ve never been able to use it. I’m out a ton of money ($700 with the warranty). This is junk and I’m starting to believe it’s a scam.