REC TEC BULL owner here and Its the best out of all of the ones I looked at and the one thing not being mentioned yet is the customer service.
Rec Tec is unequaled in that dept. They will do WHATEVER it takes to make you happy and if that means sending you a new grill...THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT THEY DO!
No running around...no excuses...no BS. Your happy or they are not!
When you order it you get the OWNERS...yes the owners personal cell phone numbers so you can call them directly if needed. Never needed to because any question I had their CS dept always bent over backwards to help.
The customer service is what sold me on
Rec Tec and I love it and the food it delivers. It has absolutely upped me to a better chef!
You know, when I read some of your posts NU2SMOKE, they're not much unlike my own.
I own a Stampede. Liked it so much that I bought another one about 5 months into my personal ownership of my Stampede, and gifted the new one that I bought.
So that's two $900.00 grills. Plus accessories. And I feel like I got a tremendous deal. I could have bought one MAK 1 Star for that same money, and been satisfied. But it would have meant not giving someone else the chance to experience a
Rec Tec. Best pellet grill out there for the money, IMO.
I gifted the new one, because I didn't want the recipient of the gifted new one, to go out on their own to buy a pellet grill, and end up with a lesser product from out of one of these big box stores, or chain hardware stores, only to later discover that
"this isn't what pellet grilling/smoking is supposed to be all about. I thought these things were automated and set it and forget it, and problem free. What's the point if I'm going to have to babysit it, and deal with issues that I either don't know how to or don't want to fix?"
Anyway, what you say about Rec Tec's customer service, is spot on.
I like for my stuff to look like new. And so in that endeavor, I "accidentally" used an abrasive pad on the enameled black lid of my Stampede and crazed it. I thought the pad that I was using, was not abrasive enough to leave scratches and swirls. I was wrong.
I called them up, explained who I was, that had bought two grills from them, plus a few accessories, and that now I was in need of a new lid as long as I was spending money. They looked up my account. "How much would the new lid cost me?"; I asked.
They're response: "Do you need a new set of horns too?"
I told them; "No, just the lid." How much was it going to cost me since it's not pictured and priced on their site.
They're response; "Is it to be shipped to where the first Stampede went, or to the address of that we shipped the second one that we see that you just purchased a few days ago?"
I told them that the new lid was for the first one. Not the one that I was gifting.
They're response; "OK, a new lid is on the way to your house. I'm going to read the address to you. You should have it in a couple of days. Is there anything else that we can help you with today?"
Never quoted me a price. Never gave me any crap about "You know that's not in warranty, right?".
Now, granted, I was the one who screwed up by taking what I thought was a slightly abrasive pad to the lid in the first place and crazing it, such that the crazing could only be seen in the right sunlight and at the right angle.
It was my own fault.
And it bugged me. I was fully prepared to pay for my mistake. It was my mistake alone. I should have paid for it. They sent me a new lid. Free of charge. Because I had already purchased two Stampedes from them, covers for both, accessory shelves, vents, pellets, etc.
They recognized customer loyalty and rewarded it.
Had they wanted to, they could have named their price for that lid, and I would have paid it. And had they wanted to, they could have never even considered that I had already spent a lot of money with them, and would have been perfectly within their right to have done so and charged me full retail for that lid.
But they gave me a new lid for my Stampede.
They didn't have to do that. But the good will that they generated from that act, they know will pay for itself.
Indeed, my telling this story, instead of story going the other way, will do them more good than what that lid must have cost them. They'll get their money back for it. And they know it.
This act, was months after they voluntarily upped the warranty on mine and other
prior Stampedes from 2 years to 4 years, and did so on their own.
Again, they didn't have to do this. I bought my Stampede with the understanding and agreement that when I was buying it, that I was buying it with a 2 year warranty.
A few months later, they came back and said; "No, that's not good enough. Effectively immediately, you know that grill that you bought from us with a 2 year warranty? Yeah, that one that you bought months ago. Well now that item has a 4 year warranty and that now includes yours that you bought from us months ago. So we're extending your warranty by another 2 years."
You simply cannot beat Rec Tec's service. They're giving you a sense of belonging to what they refer to as the "Rec Tec Family". When they say that, they mean it. They won't leave you hanging. This is why I don't mind paying a little extra for their products.
I look at some of these people having all sorts of problems with their grills. Telling tales in here of customer service woes. Calling and being put on hold for an hour. And then getting no resolution to their problems. Tales of wild temperature swings that would be considered wild and unacceptable even in a stick burner, let along a supposed modern "set it and forget it" pellet grill. All sorts or problematic issues.
I feel for them. Many of these grills are bought from the big box stores, the chain hardware stores. At a price lower than the Stampede or the Bull. They may have gotten "good reviews" etc. The buyer is unsuspecting. Especially those who consider "size" only, and figure that they can feed a family of 12, for less money than they can feed a family of 6 on a Rec Tec.
And so the buy the $500.00 grill which can feed a family of 12, thinking that it's "just as good as" the other one.
There is no one to tell him otherwise. Then the reality sets in. You may have a "big grill" with a square mile of grilling space. But the product itself, leaves a lot to be desired. I myself, got lucky choosing Rec Tec.
But when the time comes to put these grills through their paces, when issues arise, when temps are all over the place, when things start rusting 6 months into ownership, when one discovers after the fact that not only do insane temp swings not have to be tolerated, but WiFi is a feature of today's more advanced grills, well, that's the difference.
