Greetings all!

My Hunter fan pull-chain ceiling switch went bad (it would go
"off-medium-medium-low" on successive pulls rather than
"off-high-medium-low") and Hunter's customer service was kind enough
to send an replacement switch unit which exactly matches the original.
The name on the switch unit is Well Tec.

This switch does not appear to be openable -- there are no screws
holding the unit together, and although there are three plastic prongs
which attach the top and bottom halves of the unit together, these
prongs do not seem like they are intended to be pulled open to
dissamble the unit. Am I correct in assuming that this unit is indeed
unopenable, and that I must snip the wires where they go into the dead
unit, and then stab the wires into the appropriate notches on the new
unit?

Personally, I don't like this "unopenable" electrical unit paradigm
for two reasons:

(1) The snipped wires may not stab into the new slots very elegantly.
I read a post elsewhere where someone said that they had a great deal
of difficulty getting the wires to go into the slots, and a respondent
to that post suggested it may be necessary to solder the wire ends to
make them stiffer.

(2) I fortunately seem to have a pretty good chance of putting the
right colored wire in the right slots since the switch units are
identical, but I do know that many people seem to wire things up
incorrectly the first time, and they then have to redo it. With an
unopenable system, one can snip off the wire and try again if
necessary, but they would have to purchase another replacement switch.

Any advice is much appreciated!

Chuck

that post suggested it may be necessary to solder the wire ends to make them
stiffe

A common technique for getting braided wire into insert holes.

With an unopenable system, one can snip off the wire and try again

Simple. If you make a mistake, leave the installed wires as pigtails and wire
nut new connections as necessary for your permanent installation. Good luck,

Joe