Currently on our 2nd BioLite campstove in 3 years.

Nomadic cyclists, so it gets used 1-3x per day almost 365 days/year. So our experience/use of the stove may be outside its purpose (like maybe it's for "weekend warrior" car campers and not nomads).

Problem is: power/fan speed button is only sporadically responsive. Seems to be related to colder weather but misbehaves in warm weather too. Cold weather explanation makes some sense as all electronics are goofy in the cold.

Started in spring 2019, reached out to BioLite to get the usual customer service runaround. The agent you get hooked up with has limited power, it's just a job for them, so when I said I was hoping to get in touch with one of the engineers to discuss the stove's odd behavior (turning on for 7 seconds and off for 2 continuously until the battery was drained), I was met with, "we'd be happy to troubleshoot with you" and took me down the info readily available in their FAQ. They offered to replace the stove, which I knew (from experience) would happen. We received this particular stove as a complimentary replacement for our original campstove (even though we were not eligible, having purchased it thru an unqualified 3rd party (forget what they call that specifically)). The original campstove was suffering the same issue with the motor not responding to the pushes of the power/fan speed button. So since our current stove was their replacement freebie, they gave me a coupon code for 30% off that will never expire. So that's something.

My questions: anyone with a Bio Lite experienced and solved this issue? Also: any tips in general on getting through to someone at the company who might be able to offer constructive assistance? I know a guy who claims to have written directly to presidents of companies when he had a problem, never going through customer service because of their limited capacities (not a crack at cust serv agents, just a statement that they are paid to only do certain things, which are in some cases not at all helpful).

Side note/rhetorical question: Bio Lite donates a stove (a bigger one for a house) to a family in Africa or Asia for every purchase made--are they giving these impoverished people with no water or elec these crummy stoves that last only 18 months? Hopefully they are using better parts/tech in the stoves they donate. Boyfriend suggests that may be the case: give the rich consumers the poopier parts because they can afford to replace them when they break (and let's face it, they probably won't use them enough to the point where they break down)...so you cut costs by putting less-good parts in the stoves for rich people so you can afford to give the poor people something that will last?

On a bit of a rant now, I guess, sorry.

Anyone else overcome this obstacle yet?