My new 22 1/2" WSM

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fatboy

Newbie
Original poster
Jul 12, 2008
5
10
I bought brand new 22 1/2"WSM 3 weeks ago while I was in KC. I got it home, put it together and discovered that the barrel was out of round and did not mate up correctly.

I called and was assured that a new one would be shipped out the next day.about a week and a half later when it hadn't shown up, I called again and was told that there was no order placed to replace it. the lady said that she would see to it that one would go out the next day. About a week later, still no new barrel, so I called again. this time I was told that there was a back order because they weren't stocking any parts being stocked yet, and that they had no idea when they might begin stocking them. In other words, I bought a defective one and for quite a while to come, I was stuck with a $400 purchase that was of no use.

I asked to speak with a supervisor and was told by her that there was nothing they could do. At that, I suggested that they should not be shipping out new units for folks that hadn't bought one yet if they couldn't stand behind the ones that folks had already bought, and suggested also that they should take one from a new unit and send me one of them.

She said she would check and see the next day if they could do that and then promised to call me at my office the next day. It is now the next day and guess what, no call.

If I had any idea that customer service would be so poor, or that the company would not do any better job of standing behind their product than this, I would never have bought the unit, and as it stands right now, I will not buy another Weber product.

I would also encourage anyone that is considering buying the new WSM, that they should wait until at least they start carrying replacement parts for warranty, or for that matter, with their cust. service quality falling off like it has, perhaps consider not buying Weber products at all.

I suppose this is just what happens when a company gets too big. They just decide that they don't care about a customer of 35 years because they can always get more.
 
Here is a review of the WSM by the Virtual Weber Bullet site where the reviewer mentions that his "pre-production" unit was also out of round.

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/22wsm.html#comparison

It would seem that Weber is having quality issues that haven't been resolved yet.

It's possible that all parts in the "China to US" pipeline, be they found in completed smokers, or in spare parts bins, will bear an out of round condition.

I appreciate your post, for the WSM WAS high on my wish list.

When you pay this kind of money for a bit of rolled mild steel, one would hope for a product that has no issues and more responsive customer service.
 
[quote I was stuck with a $400 purchase that was of no use[/quote]

Am I to understand that the Weber Bullet smoker is $400?........Yikes!

I have never had a problem with Weber's Customer Service in the past.....I am sorry to hear that the company's CS has deteriorated to such a degree that they are instructed to lie to customers just to get them off their backs.

Good Luck
 
yes BC the "new" larger 22.5 wsm is $400, they are far superior however to the normal ecb, I would have thought they would send a whole new unit with return postage included. I like offsets so I would personally never buy one but since my ecb died I will spend a little on a craigslist wsm if one ever comes along.
One of the main reasons people buy weber is because they know they can get parts to fix them, normally at a local retailer. Did they move there corporate office out of the country or something, market research shows it takes 8 times more money to attrack a new customer than it does to retain a current one, especially when dealing with there higher end products, a product that I might add has built a reputation of its own, many people in the smoking community love the WSM, their own reputation and millions in advertising don't really mean alot if they can't provide basic customer service.
 
That blows.We recieved ours 3 weeks ago and have had no problems--Well the door was bent a little at top ,but that was easy fix.Hope it works out.
 
Sorry to hear about your ordeal, Fatboy. Nothing irritates me worse than spending good money and getting poor service as a reward. Points for patience. I'd probably be demanding my money back by now.
 
That really bites. IMO, $400 is WAY TOO MUCH for that unit. I got my regular WSM (NEW) for $190 SHIPPED. I added a Pro-Q insert and now have just as much inches^2 as the 22 incher.

Don't forget the deals on Craig's list. There's sure to be some used 18 inch WSM's coming up.

-rob
 
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