When I look outside at the vent, it blows steam for a minute or two and then nothing but cold air for 10 to 12 minutes. Then steam for a minute or two again and back to the same thing. Is there any way to change the heat on/off cycle?

Try taking it apart and see what the problem is. Maybe it has something stuck inside or it wasn't built right. It happens more than you think and in that case you should try and call the company that sold it to you and what happens is either they come to your home and take a look at it and these people are trained to fix them but if they don't know what the problem is then they'll send it back get all the information on the machine such as serial number and whatnot then they'll tell you they will fix it and send it back ASAP or they will give you a new one.

It's either that or there's something wrong with your homes' parts.

I want to meet the people who send a dryer back to anyone - ?

OP, have you vaccuumed out the duct hose? Sounds like it might be blocked, affecting the thermostat, then it clears -

Any restriction will cause the safeties to turn off the heat. If a sock got in the filter hole that would be enough to cause the problem. It's very, very rare for a safety to be bad, but it's still possible. Call for a technician.

If this is a new dryer, first make sure the vent is fully open all the time and if so, call the company who installed. It is under warranty if new.

I would personally just call whomever you bought it from. Yes, you can send a dryer back - they come pick it up. We replaced all of the appliances in our home two years ago - several arrived damaged - so many that we cancelled the whole order from the department store we bought them from and ordered from another store. In total, I think we returned about 4 major appliances. Not sure what was going on with the store, but they all looked like they had fallen off a freight train on arrival.

The difficulty in repairing it yourself is that if you screw it up, it can void your warrranty.

Joy, I was addressing that the store/manufacturer will take the non-working dryer, fix it and return it to the purchaser. I've also had defective appliances replaced.

"and send it back ASAP "