Just got off the phone with Masterbuilt

[beck4425]

beernuts,

my guess is that the 'instructions' are printed in chinese and no one can read them!

 

[old sarge]

There is always Smokin-it and SmokinTex (and Cookshack if  you have to have digital).

 

[beernuts]

I think we need to all take a deep breath and make a rack ribs, or maybe a big ol' butt.  Just sayin' ya know.....  

 

[old sarge]

Agree!

 

[beernuts]

beernuts,

my guess is that the 'instructions' are printed in chinese and no one can read them!

More like "Engrish"

 

[scootermagoo]

WOW, there is no way in HELL I would even consider buying Masterbuilt after this whole debacle. 

What's in a name?  Masterbuilt.  MASTERBUILT!?    I don't think so.  Seems a bit grandiose, doesn't it?

 

[smoke happens]

Are you judging me? If you are, you're way out of line. I didn't want a completely new body. I had a bad meat thermometer and that's all I wanted replaced. I could have waited for the new Cabelas to open in my neighborhood area in 2weeks and just exchanged it for a new one. I thought it would do the manufacturer a solid by just getting the replacement part from them. Well, they refuse to send just that part and insist on shipping a complete new body. When the body came (with a new controller), the remote I have doesn't work with the new controller. When I set it to 275 to season it, it went up to 310 degrees. So, I am forced to not only move the hardware from one body to another but to move the controller, as well. I didn't sign up for any of this when I made my $500 purchase. Now I also have a tall hunk of unusable, non-biodegradable scrap in my garage. I find that extremely wasteful. I also don't have a serial plate on either body, so I can't even return the damn thing to Cabelas where I had a 90 day return policy. Now, I am locked into dealing with them for the remainder of my ownership of this thing. I didn't ask if I should try to get a free door. I didn't ask if there was some way to cheat them out of one, either. I asked if there was a way to purchase one. How is that "taking advantage of their liberal customer service policy"? Be happy they treated me fairly? Are you serious? I paid for a product and I should expect them to treat me fairly by providing me with a working product. I didn't design a product that doesn't have easily replaceable parts and put it on the market, they did. I happen to work for myself and deal with people every day and if I didn't treat them fairly, I would expect they wouldn't want to do business with me anymore. I will not call it a day. I will ask my reasonable questions here. The last I knew, this was a forum where the community asks and answers questions to help each other out. If you're not helping, what is the purpose of your answer? If I wanted to get berated by someone with misguided sense of morality, I could have emailed the westboro baptist church.

I'm not sure. If it's reasonable price, it might be. I'd hate to just waste and scrap this heap and add it to some landfill if it could be put to some use.

I'm sorry you had such an ordeal. Would you happen to have a door I could buy, from those parts you mentioned?

I hear you. I was seriously considering returning everything before and buying a Smokin-It #3. They look like a much more solid piece of equipment, made in USA (instead of this China junk), and don't cost much more than I paid for this one.

The Smokin-It units are a terrific alternative to the MB units IMO, however this is based on the quality of the unit and customer service and not where the unit is manufactured. I understood that the Smokin-It smokers are made in China as well. Goes back to the earlier discussion on design quality and quality control during the manufacturing process. The Smokin-It smokers are also clones of the Cook Shack and Smokin Tex smokers I believe, which I think are US made. Just don't want folks who are considering the Smokin-It to be surprised to find out they are not made in the USA.

 

[buggerritt]

OK, to be fair, I swapped the controller from the old unit to the new one. Everything seems to be working now. I smoked a bunch of tandoori chicken yesterday and temps held where I wanted. The meat probe was a little off from my dedicated ones but, oh well. I didn't buy it for the probe. I guess I'll hang onto it and maybe buy the Smokin-It later.
 

 

[smokingrk]

OK, to be fair, I swapped the controller from the old unit to the new one. Everything seems to be working now. I smoked a bunch of tandoori chicken yesterday and temps held where I wanted. The meat probe was a little off from my dedicated ones but, oh well. I didn't buy it for the probe. I guess I'll hang onto it and maybe buy the Smokin-It later.
 

Happy Smoking!! 

  Great to hear you can focus on smoking and not on tinkering with the smoker. 

 

[old sarge]

For the record, the Cookshack is manufactured in the USofA, is digital and the price of the unit reflects that.  The SmokinTex units are manufactured in China.

 

[dandiele]

That would be a great option. of course youd be going from 229 to 499$....a bit more of a jump then id like to take. Im referring to the 229 30" masterbuilt

 

[geerock]

Smokin it model 1. $279
Model 2. $399
Model 3. $499

And I think they actually work!

 

[old sarge]

They work quite well.

 

[smoke happens]

 

[fuzzyfishin]

Originally Posted by buggerritt  

 

Are you judging me? If you are, you're way out of line. I didn't want a completely new body. I had a bad meat thermometer and that's all I wanted replaced. I could have waited for the new Cabelas to open in my neighborhood area in 2weeks and just exchanged it for a new one. I thought it would do the manufacturer a solid by just getting the replacement part from them. Well, they refuse to send just that part and insist on shipping a complete new body. When the body came (with a new controller), the remote I have doesn't work with the new controller. When I set it to 275 to season it, it went up to 310 degrees. So, I am forced to not only move the hardware from one body to another but to move the controller, as well. I didn't sign up for any of this when I made my $500 purchase. Now I also have a tall hunk of unusable, non-biodegradable scrap in my garage. I find that extremely wasteful. I also don't have a serial plate on either body, so I can't even return the damn thing to Cabelas where I had a 90 day return policy. Now, I am locked into dealing with them for the remainder of my ownership of this thing. I didn't ask if I should try to get a free door. I didn't ask if there was some way to cheat them out of one, either. I asked if there was a way to purchase one. How is that "taking advantage of their liberal customer service policy"? Be happy they treated me fairly? Are you serious? I paid for a product and I should expect them to treat me fairly by providing me with a working product. I didn't design a product that doesn't have easily replaceable parts and put it on the market, they did. I happen to work for myself and deal with people every day and if I didn't treat them fairly, I would expect they wouldn't want to do business with me anymore. I will not call it a day. I will ask my reasonable questions here

 I am in the same boat. HAVE TWO UNITS NOT USABLE. Have dealt with this since Christmas. Last I spoke to my rep at mb I was going to get a call from a tech to solve this issue. After about two weeks no call. I sent an e-mail requesting my money back. Finally am told to send the plate and cord for a full refund. They can have both units. I have all packaging to send them.

  If I were to conduct business by repairing the same problem over and over and over I would be out of business. Yes, I have two boxes for free.(maybe not free if one looks at the time and meat that has been waisted) Just can't heat them. I can rework them and make them operational at a cost and time. I will go back to my old smoker that I know produces a good product. Plus that will make the wife happy.

  Good Luck to all with their MB's. Hope MB makes some changes.

 

[goliath]

i just had the same experience on friday. the fella in customer service told me about cutting the power cord etc, THEN SAYS THAT I HAD A MODEL BUILT FOR CANADA ONLY ... and gave me another canadian number. they thought i was smoking too much instead of smoking ...  LOL. sent me back to the original phone number. so i called the retailer and they also sent me back to Masterbuilt. i then had a nice pleasant female on the line and she said that the probe and instructions will be in the mail same day ... WTF is actually going on. i like the smoker alot and actually ordered a maverick digital remote double bbq probe set and will just put it down thru the vent. smoking some moose garlic sausage right now and it sucks the big blue veiner having to pop outside and check my temp every 15 minutes as i get close to my cut of temp

JUST A RANT  :)

 

[firebert]

Just received my replacement MES 30 body after waiting 3 months. Took it out of the box, went to start transferring the parts, and the parts from the old don't fit in the new one. The plate that goes above the chip tray is 1/4 inch short and the holes for the brackets that hold the racks don't align with the screws in the body. I haven't even tried to move the door over. If the racks aren't right, I can't imagine the door is either.

I'm starting to think I also have 2 piles of junk now.

 

[timberjet]

UDS!

even works in a power outage. could heat you in an emergency too

 

[goliath]

sad to hear

the female rep i actually got ahold of after the big swing thru all the open and closing doors sent me out a new meat probe on warranty. 10 minutes and it was installed, working and checked it against the maverick. took about a week to show up. EXCELLENT SERVICE FOR ME  after i bled thru my eyes and ear trying not to go rabid on anyone. she was awesome. should have got her name and posted it here so everyone could just ask for her. the fella was a total wash out !!!

 

[geerock]

Just received my replacement MES 30 body after waiting 3 months. Took it out of the box, went to start transferring the parts, and the parts from the old don't fit in the new one. The plate that goes above the chip tray is 1/4 inch short and the holes for the brackets that hold the racks don't align with the screws in the body. I haven't even tried to move the door over. If the racks aren't right, I can't imagine the door is either.

I'm starting to think I also have 2 piles of junk now.

Cut your losses while you can. I had 4 sent to me. The last one lasted the longest...3 weeks. When I called on the last one to complain they told me the original sale was too long ago and they weren't going to cover under warranty.This after waiting 3 months one time for a controller and another 7 weeks for a body. Only got my money back after threatening lawsuit. I made one box into a cold smoker using a plywood door and another works by ripping out the wiring and using an Auber PID. It shocks me that masterbuilt just expects customers to take their own time fixing new smokers that they paid good money for.