A Lot of U have praised Masterbuilt's customer service, BUT...

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jdsmith

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Sep 1, 2009
108
12
Southeast Iowa
I've called over 50 times since Monday, and got a busy signal each and every time. I called the 800 # and the local #. This afternoon, I finally got through. I chose from their automatic selections. After I went thru all that, it told me that my choice wasn't recognized, and started me all over. I went thru that 3 times until I just hit zero. I finally got a real human being who transferred me. As I type, I'm on hold. 39 minutes and 47 seconds (but who's counting?)

At least the robot voice comes on every minute and apologizes for wasting my time.

40 minutes and 57 seconds.

I think it's time to hang up.
 
Wow , usually everyone usually complements the MES peoples complaint dept. I hope this is not a trend. When I need help I need it in the English language.


Maybe ronp will see this, He has always talked highly of them and seems to know more about what goes on over there than most of us do.
 
I just got through to a contact that I have and was told they have had a major break down with their phone system through no fault of theirs and they are working feverously to get it resolved. It may be a day or so before it is fixed. Just keep trying to get the front desk, as they are taking names and numbers for a call back. They are even working overtime to do the call backs.


He said to apologise for any inconvenience this is causing and it will be fixed ASAP, as they do care about their customers.

Maybe just wait a day or so, until is is back and running.

Hope this helps.
 
I knew Ron would be all over this....sounds like you will have to wait a little bit but at least it's not a normal thing...Ron I'm pretty sure you are one of those guys that has friends every where he goes !!!
 
Well, I don't go many places, but yes I do. Sam's Krogers, and the casino.
 
Ron, I truly do appreciate your response. You are a valuable resource here. I'm glad that I was able to find out what was going on.

But I have to say, I'm still pretty disappointed over this whole deal. If it wasn't for Ron, as well as the other wealth of knowledge on this forum, I woulda done all this calling and waiting with Masterbuilt, had the results I had, and walked away DISGUSTED, never knowing why the circumstances unfolded the way they did, and forever badmouthing Masterbuilt to anyone I spoke to about smokers.

1) There is nothing in all their voice commands in their automated system that says anything about issues they are having (granted, if they are having problems, I can see where they may not be able to do that. But it has been this way for at least 3 days, you'd think maybe somehow they could have that put in there by now) But I'll give them a pass on this one.

2) When I finally did get to speak to a human being briefly, I said I had a question about my electric smoker. She did not inform me of any issues they were having. Nor did she offer to take my name & # in case I wasn't able to get thru due to their telephone problems they are experiencing.

3) If your phones are screwed up, how about putting something SOMEWHERE on your website acknowledging that little nugget of info??

4) After 50+ phone calls (all being busy signals except for the last one) and waiting on hold for over 40 minutes, I'm no further with them now than when I started. And even if they do eventually get them fixed, I'm not sure I even want to bother calling at this point.
 
I see posts & thread about the MES being a good smoker, and then I see about an equal ammount of posts & threads saying a user has problems with the MES, moreso than any other type of smoker on this site.

are they really that hit and miss?
 
I think that is a fair question Jim.... I am a owner of one, almost 2 years now. Love it, BUT it has left me stranded twice.... Due to the great "Repair" posts on this website it was repaired the first time in about 1 hour & the second time in about 10 minutes. It appears they use less than adequate wiring & connections. I would hope that someone over their reads these & will address this problem. Mine is working fine & if it were to break with a more severe problem, I would purchase another one again.
 
thanks for the reply, I am just curious, since I have no firsthand knowledge of the MES other than what I read here.

I guess it stands to reason that when circuit boards, and things like that are involved it increases the likelyhood of issues vs, a stick,or charcoal burner, or even the basing propane unit.
 
Well in case you are wondering, they are well aware of us here, and are aware of the problems some of us have. I have been told that they are making drastic improvements and changes as we speak. I don't know what they are but I hope they will be very good.

As far as their phone system goes I was told they have technicians working around the clock on the problem. It also sounds like they really can't do anything until the techs fix it. It sounds like more of a computer issue or something to me.

Just to make it clear, I have no stake in the company just a satisfied customer. I have always given them the benifit of doub't and they have always come through as promised. At least they are smart enough to have CS located in the USA, and they speak English.

I just got off the phone with my cell provider whose CS is in the OTHER country, talk about frustration.

Jd What problem are you having? Maybe someone here can help.
 
There are a TON of MES owners here so just because of those large numbers of folks you're going to hear more issues too. So far my 40" is about a year old now and no problems yet except having to adjust for the difference in "real" temps vs. what shows on the MES which is no big deal. I just set it for 200 and get 213 or so to 230 or so with the average in the low-mid 220's.

I think they really DO need to put Ronp on payroll!
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Sounds good to me. Call them and tell them.
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I just wanted to see if I could buy a vent from them, and a latch, since my older model has neither. The large F clamp that I use to hold the door shut works but is kind of a pain. And I'm still up in the air as far as what I want to cut in for a top vent, so I thought I would see if they'd sell me one and I could install it myself.
 
I might have an extra one here someplace, I'll look.
 
It's statements like these two that kept me from buying one a guy was selling on Craigslist (used very little) here in Medford. He only wanted $125 for it. I thought about it and then started to read about some of the issues the MES had and that told me to move on.
 
Right now, Masterbuilt is having problems with their Electronic Smokehouse that was on sale at Bass Pro for $130. The unit works great, but when it is cold outside, like below 40F, the control unit is giving an error code EAAF and it wont turn on the element. To get around this, the thermocouple sticking out of the back wall, INSIDE the unit needs to be warmed up with a rag soaked in hot water. Once the probe reads a temp somewhere in the 40F range, the element kicks on and gets the smoker warmed right up.

Edited to say: I think that's why their customer service line is tied up for at least a 40 minute wait right now. Bass Pro had such a great deal, and had tons of them to sell at that price, and now with the cold snap....I'm just saying. I called them and let the customer service rep know what I had found out, so they could stop shipping out replacement parts that wouldn't fix the problem. It would have been nice the other day when I called them if she could have just told me how to get it started when I had my brisket waiting to go. My dinner was ready at 1:30 in the morning instead of 7pm, but it sure tasted good and I'm glad I didn't just throw it into the oven.
 
Jim, how dare you leave out me and my Traeger (pellet pooper)!!!! LMAO
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I gotta say I've never had 1 problem with my Traeger and it always turns out fantastic food. In extremely cold weather I do put an old moving blanket over it to conserve heat and then have no problem getting it up to 450 degrees if I want too.....
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