I would've expected the switch to operate the fan/light the same way, meaning instead of chains, you would control the fan/light functions with the remote but if you turned the wall switch off the fan/light would turn off completely until the switch was turned back on. Even if the wall switch is off you can still control the fan/light. The only thing that controls the fan/light is the remote. The new fan/light does not respond to the switch at all. If you turned the switch off, it cut power to the unit altogether. Once the switch was on, you could pull the chains for the light and the fan to adjust speed. The previous unit used a wall switch to power the unit.

The new fan has a remote unit that connects to the fan first with only a white and black wire exiting the unit. But what you really have to be careful of is to make sure the electrical box. There are 4 wires inside the box (Red, Bare, Black, and White) It was wired as such: Box Fan There’s really no problem in replacing an existing light fixture with a ceiling fan in terms of the electrical needs. There was an existing fan/light in place. I've installed several fans and never had a problem.

Depending how the house was wired you could. I installed a Harbor Breeze ceiling fan/light with a remote control unit earlier this evening. If theres two switches you connect the fan black to black and the blue to the (usually) red in the ceiling.

Wiring a ceiling fan with light harbor