Weber Customer Service - My Story

[thunderdome]

A month or so ago, I was on a thread talking about thermometer recommendations, and I had to put in my 2 cents about my first thermo which was the Weber Style Digital Wireless Thermometer (Grey one in picture below)

This thing reads temp great, and has a braided metal cord. However, if the unit gets further than 6 feet from the base, it loses its signal. Which defeats the purpose of having a wireless thermo. Might as well have spent less, and just got one where the probe goes straight into the digital display. I've been upset about it since I bought it, wishing I bought the Maverick

After reading my gripe in the thermo thread, ChefRob mentioned something unheard of to me:

ChefRob: “Have you contacted their customer service?”

I hadn’t contacted Weber because nowadays customer service doesn’t get you very far. Especially for an item I bought on Amazon. So I think it would never have even crossed my mind.

Anyhow, ChefRobs comment stuck with me. So I went to Weber’s homepage, clicked on Contact Us, and wrote an extremely brief email about my issue with the thermo..here is the correspondence:

MY EMAIL:  Weber Style Digital Thermometer Problem - I bought the Weber Style Digital Thermo, but It cannot go more than 6 feet from the source before losing the signal. Any suggestions? Do I have a lemon? Thanks

THEIR REPLY

Dear Bill,

Thanks for choosing Weber.  How old is the thermometer?  Did you get it from us or at a store? If you have additional questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact us. 

Sincerely,

Weber/Ducane Customer Service

MY REPLY

The thermometer is about 9 months old. I got it  new off of Amazon.com, not a store. Is there anything trouble shooting wise I can do to get the signal to transmit correctly?

THEIR REPLY

Dear Bill,

Thanks for choosing Weber.  That would be under warranty so I'll send out a new thermometer.  I would need your full name, billing and shipping address and a contact phone number.  

Sincerely,

Weber/Ducane Customer Service

MY REPLY

*Sent over all address info

THEIR REPLY

Dear Bill,

I confirmed an order for a new thermometer to ship out at no charge.  Confirmation # XXXXXXX will ship out of Illinois and we ask to allow 7-10 days for delivery.

Sincerely,

Weber/Ducane Customer Service

7 Days Later:

AWESOME COMPANY!

 

[pineywoods]

Congrats its nice to hear some companies still take customer service seriously. Great advice Rob

 

[chefrob]

billl, i'm glad they took care of you! the only weber products i have are the same thermo (which i don't use) and the lil' smokie grill, but both work fine and i have heard nothing but good coments from others about weber's customer service.

 

[placebo]

Great CS story, nice to know it still exists. So does the new therm work past 6 feet from the base?

 

[thunderdome]

billl, i'm glad they took care of you! the only weber products i have are the same thermo (which i don't use) and the lil' smokie grill, but both work fine and i have heard nothing but good coments from others about weber's customer service.

Do you not use it for any particular reason? Or you have a thermapen or something?

 

Great CS story, nice to know it still exists. So does the new therm work past 6 feet from the base?

I hope I didnt speak too soon...I won't know how well it works till I run it this weekend (maybe I'll just test it tongiht anyhow and get back to you)
 

 

[coronaca92879]

Good to hear. I bought that thermometer before I bought my maverick. What I don't like about it is u can't set a temp and well who wants to listen to thermometer go off at 180* when you're going for 205*. That's my complaint about it. Guess its good for chicken and fattys.

 

[chefrob]

Do you not use it for any particular reason? Or you have a thermapen or something?
 

i have a themal coupler that i use for work. to be honest i have gotten away from sticking butts and chucks cuz i pretty much know what i'm looking for when i feel the meat. i do use if for some poultry and bacon and i never have stuck my ribs.

http://www.foodservicewarehouse.com/pelouze/tmp2000/p5579.aspx

 

[sqwib]

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Ok I got a story for ya.

My first grill was a chargriller, charbroiler or something like that, anyhow I was cooking a turkey in a roasting pan, I decided to remove the lid the last hour to brown the turkey, well the glass window exploded and yep…right into the turkey.

I tried calling customer service… and this is no lie… every weekday for 2 weeks, I would be on hold the whole time. I never did get through.

My experiences with Weber.

My first Weber was I believe an 1100 series, I had it for a week and noticed a tiny chip on the back of the lid, I called and asked them if I needed to worry about it rusting and if there was a paint I should use to touch it up.

Their reply was, “we will send you out another lid”, although I wasn't calling for a new lid as I told her, she said, “we will send one out right away”, 1 week later the new lid arrived.

Fast forward 5+ years the same grill had a rusted out burner, I called and said I needed to replace the burners, what was the cost, the rep asked me how old the unit was and I replied its over the warranty period I think its almost 6 years old, they sent me out 3 burners no charge.

Fast Forward 5 years, my Weber is dying, so I was in the market for a new grill, since Weber has been so good to me, I went with another one the summit s-670, well the grill is incredible, anyhow I read on line that the lids will leak water in a heavy rain, so I contacted customer service about this apparent design flaw and was told its because of the vented design, and they asked me, “have you registered your grill yet” I said no, then they had me register my grill and said, “we will be sending you a cover for your grill out next week”.

Just got my cover and its definitely Weber Quality.

Way to go Weber

 

[meateater]

Glad to hear they took care of you. I have the same therm.  I have a ET-7 but still grab this one 3-1. Glad to hear customer service still exists. Kudos out to Weber! 

 Funny thing is mine is model #44025, I got mine at bass pro. must be a tracking thing.

 

[ozziemarty]

I had a problem with the probe.  I emailed Weber here in Australia and the next day I had a new probe....FREE!  I couldn't believe it because the word "free" doesn't exist here...everything has a price.  I'm from Florida and Pennsylvania, living Downunder now, and customer service is hard to find. 

 

[sqwib]

Keep us posted on the thermo

 

[cheezeerider]

Good to hear. I bought that thermometer before I bought my maverick. What I don't like about it is u can't set a temp and well who wants to listen to thermometer go off at 180* when you're going for 205*. That's my complaint about it. Guess its good for chicken and fattys.

Great customer service story. I agree with the above. I still use it for baking in the oven, but it never sees the smoker or the grille.

 

[jrod]

Awesome thread here! I know its old but since my Weber thermo just decided to no longer sync with the base and when it does reads 140F when in an ice bath I will be emailing weber.

Thank you ThunderDome

 

[djreaction]

I worked for a hardware store in college that carried Weber grills. By far the best Customer Service company. They have awesome coverage on all of their products. I have a Weber Q that I also bought in college, it will be time to upgrade soon as I have a family now. I cannot recommend Webers enough to all of my friends based on the quality of the product, how they cook, and the support you get if anything happens to your grill.

Their prices have gone up some but I still won't hesitate to pay this for them.

 

[Bearcarver]

I'm real glad to hear about Weber's Customer Service, because I got my first Weber (Q) this year.

As for the thermo thing:

When I got my Maverick, after I checked it out (boil tested), but before I actually used it on a smoke, I went to turn it off, and the little "on/off" toggle snapped off of the receiver unit. I thought, "Oh great, now I gotta play the shipping game, and call them to get permission to send it back & all that crap". I called them, and a very nice young lady took my name & address, and sent me a brand new receiver----Didn't even want the old one back.

Also we can't forget about the MES 30 of mine. The warranty was up on it, and my digital control was acting up. One of the digits wasn't lit most of the time. I posted on this forum to see if anyone knew how to fix that. Next thing I knew, there was a "Masterbuilt" Tech Guy answering my post, and basically telling me to send it to him, and he would send me a brand new digital control unit for FREE.

I did just that, and I was back in action in a week.

Bear

 

[littleg]

Well, you've inspired me to inquire about my weber thermo. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[teebob2000]

They ARE the absolute best.  True American company making the best quality American products, with 100% American customer service.  Their stuff usually is a little more expensive but not for what the quality you're getting.

I bought a Roadtrip grill for camping several years ago, and like mentioned above, there was a tiny chip on the lid's enamel.  I called them to find out if they had matching touch-up paint or sealer of some kind, and the sent out a whole new lid which I didn't expect.

Now, if only they made everything else in the world, we'd be all set!

 

[werdwolf]

Got a new Weber Genesis (I will eventually get that review done) from the family for father's day.  The one handle was damaged, it took them a couple days to get back to me, but then they shipped one out no fuss.

And so far a great grill!

 

[timleo]

Just wondering...if you use the old transmitter with the new receiver, do you get more than 6 feet of transmission?