Buyer Beware

[RemE]

My paint blistered and peeled shorthly after my purchase a couple months ago. Seems to be a strange place but it's small and in back and not noticeable. My fires have been on the grease trap side of the grill. View attachment 1908View attachment 1909Ace Hardware is looking into it but it's not getting any bigger and I'm hesitant to ask for a replacement grill.

That rear area on both sides is where the most heat circulates right off of the fire pot. There isn't double metal in that area so the outside must exceed the paint's temp limit.

 

[B24ert]

I've upgraded several Traeger grills over the last 10 years and have always been pleased with the product but the latest upgrade has come with a major disappointment. While the Ironwood grill has tons of features compared to previous models there seems to be a design flaw in the Ironwood that is not covered. After roughly 1 month (using the grill on weekends only) the protective paint has begun to peel off at an excessive rate. This according to Traeger customer service is not covered under the warranty because apparently there is an undisclosed clause in the warranty that states "if you use the grill more than 2 or 3 times" then the warranty is void for for this. But don't worry, according to them you can just spray paint your brand new $1200 grill. Disappointed to say the least. Although I am still a fan of Traeger I can say I am no longer a loyal customer and will be looking to at other manufactures for future purchases.

I bought a Traeger Ranger a few weeks ago and probe did not work. Went back to store and got another one. It doesn’t work either. They will not warranty the grill and want to charge to fix it and for a service run. Next they said get the part from Traeger and they’ll only charge labor and for the service run. What kind of products sell for such high prices and offer NO WARRANTY? What’s mistake buying this piece of junk!

 

[B24ert]

I would never recommend Traeger products to anyone with the lack of service I gotten from the dealer and Traeger. These are poorly made and warranty is useless.

 

[Cherbare]

Wish I had found this forum BEFORE we purchased our new Ironwood 650 June 13! I WOULDN'T have purchased it. We've heard only good things about Traeger in general and reviews didn't detail the issues I've seen on this forum. Ours blistered and peeled on the front, left below the lid, during its initial seasoning process. I called Traeger customer service right away and they took a photo or two, said they would "bump it to higher ups" and I never heard back from them. Called again and spoke to someone else on July 8th, they took more pictures and by then it had been used a couple times. No decision was made but they called back the next day to say WE had caused the problem due to excessive heat from the drip pan and our warranty was void because we had not purchased it through Traegergrills.com. We were advised to try getting it replaced from True Value Hardware where we had purchased it. The owners of True Value spoke to Traeger who told them they had our file and had voided the warranty so wouldn't send the store a replacement. The store wouldn't take the loss either. Feel like we got completely screwed!!! But hope has been revived after seeing the number of people here on this forum voicing the same problem with blistering paint so I am going to pursue filing complaints up the chain of command at Traeger and go to small claims court if necessary. For a brand new expensive smoker/grill, this is unacceptable customer service and Traeger deserves to be blamed and shamed in public forums all over the place.

 

[dunawayfamily]

Wish I had found this forum BEFORE we purchased our new Ironwood 650 June 13! I WOULDN'T have purchased it. We've heard only good things about Traeger in general and reviews didn't detail the issues I've seen on this forum. Ours blistered and peeled on the front, left below the lid, during its initial seasoning process. I called Traeger customer service right away and they took a photo or two, said they would "bump it to higher ups" and I never heard back from them. Called again and spoke to someone else on July 8th, they took more pictures and by then it had been used a couple times. No decision was made but they called back the next day to say WE had caused the problem due to excessive heat from the drip pan and our warranty was void because we had not purchased it through Traegergrills.com. We were advised to try getting it replaced from True Value Hardware where we had purchased it. The owners of True Value spoke to Traeger who told them they had our file and had voided the warranty so wouldn't send the store a replacement. The store wouldn't take the loss either. Feel like we got completely screwed!!! But hope has been revived after seeing the number of people here on this forum voicing the same problem with blistering paint so I am going to pursue filing complaints up the chain of command at Traeger and go to small claims court if necessary. For a brand new expensive smoker/grill, this is unacceptable customer service and Traeger deserves to be blamed and shamed in public forums all over the place.

Filing a Consumer Complaint with your State Attorney General is advised when you want to get the other parties attention ...

 

[PaulyPaul]

True Value Hardware where we had purchased it. The owners of True Value spoke to Traeger who told them they had our file and had voided the warranty so wouldn't send the store a replacement. The store wouldn't take the loss either. Feel like we got completely screwed!!!

Sounds like a compelling reason to not make large ticket purchases from True Value as well. Pretty sure if you bought from the "big box" stores that everyone seems to always put down, they would have either replaced or refunded.

Wonder why you didn't take your issue up with True Value first? Did you and they flip you to Traeger? If so that is a really dirty move and a great example of bad customer service. "Yeah we will take your money, but you got to go to the manufacture for any problems".

Always wondered about True Value and what draws folks to them. I know some claim customer service. The states and cities we have lived in True Value certainly didn't have great CS but certainly had higher prices. With a shady sketchy website to boot.

Either way, I hope you get your grill issue taken care of. That is complete BS to be frozen out like that.

 

[RemE]

What a mess! Looks like Traeger clearly has a paint QC issue across many models, made recently. I'm shocked that a Traeger dealer does nothing for their customers, I bought my Timberline from my local ACE to support them, but went directly to Traeger for my warranty issues for no particular reason, which they handled very promptly.

These initial flaming burn-in's seem to be a new issue. I would push for a new one, and I would avoid high temps for a few weeks of use. I seldom sear and my paint has no bubbles after 1 year now.

 

[PaulyPaul]

OP, have you seen this thread?

Paint peeling/bubbling

Sounds like Traeger replacing grills for paint issues. I would be real curious why they are not replacing yours.

 

[drmcstford]

Wish I had found this forum BEFORE we purchased our new Ironwood 650 June 13! I WOULDN'T have purchased it. We've heard only good things about Traeger in general and reviews didn't detail the issues I've seen on this forum. Ours blistered and peeled on the front, left below the lid, during its initial seasoning process. I called Traeger customer service right away and they took a photo or two, said they would "bump it to higher ups" and I never heard back from them. Called again and spoke to someone else on July 8th, they took more pictures and by then it had been used a couple times. No decision was made but they called back the next day to say WE had caused the problem due to excessive heat from the drip pan and our warranty was void because we had not purchased it through Traegergrills.com. We were advised to try getting it replaced from True Value Hardware where we had purchased it. The owners of True Value spoke to Traeger who told them they had our file and had voided the warranty so wouldn't send the store a replacement. The store wouldn't take the loss either. Feel like we got completely screwed!!! But hope has been revived after seeing the number of people here on this forum voicing the same problem with blistering paint so I am going to pursue filing complaints up the chain of command at Traeger and go to small claims court if necessary. For a brand new expensive smoker/grill, this is unacceptable customer service and Traeger deserves to be blamed and shamed in public forums all over the place.

That's really odd, I was able to get my Timberline 1300 replaced when the paint started peeling off. I'm really sorry to hear that man, I would file a complaint as well. Did you try asking for a supervisor when you called Traeger?

 

[Cherbare]

That's really odd, I was able to get my Timberline 1300 replaced when the paint started peeling off. I'm really sorry to hear that man, I would file a complaint as well. Did you try asking for a supervisor when you called Traeger?

No, I got passed to a couple different people in Warranty only. I will be making the call for a supervisor. Thanks for the encouragement~!

 

[vza]

Echoing many other sentiments, I really wish I would have found this forum thread prior to my Traeger investment. One minor flare-up from a small piece of salmon just torched the paint on my Pro 575.

Despite this being a known and documented issue on other threads as noted above, my warranty call to customer service was casually dismissed by management.

This brand quality no longer matches the brand reputation. The outstanding customer service and lifetime warranty Traeger touts so highly are false claims.

 

[Cherbare]

My advice to anyone dealing with the paint bubbling problem, don't bother with Customer Service. Ask for management and report your issue with them. Traeger Customer Service is useless. I am very pleased with my replacement 650 but getting it replaced was a lot of work. I was advised on this forum to go to management and that worked.

 

[vza]

UNBELIEVABLE. A Traeger rep just called me (presumably based on my poor customer service survey review) and said they didn't agree w/ the last assessment and were having it re-evaluated. For a brief moment, I was pleasantly surprised and wondered if I had prematurely misjudged the brand's customer service.

5 minutes later he called back to tell me he was actually incorrect and "management" has stood by their review. But he was going to send me some free pellets because of my unpleasant experience.

So Traeger made an unnecessary phone call to raise my hopes of warranty replacement only to say "oh nevermind" a few minutes later. And to soften the blow of this cruel head fake, the initial 'make good' offer of a drip tray was reduced to a bag of pellets.

How on earth this company had a good reputation in the first place is truly beyond me.

 

[RemE]

UNBELIEVABLE. A Traeger rep just called me (presumably based on my poor customer service survey review) and said they didn't agree w/ the last assessment and were having it re-evaluated. For a brief moment, I was pleasantly surprised and wondered if I had prematurely misjudged the brand's customer service.

5 minutes later he called back to tell me he was actually incorrect and "management" has stood by their review. But he was going to send me some free pellets because of my unpleasant experience.

So Traeger made an unnecessary phone call to raise my hopes of warranty replacement only to say "oh nevermind" a few minutes later. And to soften the blow of this cruel head fake, the initial 'make good' offer of a drip tray was reduced to a bag of pellets.

How on earth this company had a good reputation in the first place is truly beyond me.

Bummer, but I will say that few if any grill makers warranty paint I believe.

 

[vza]

Bummer, but I will say that few if any grill makers warranty paint I believe.

Fair enough point, but imagine most if not all (including my crappy 8 year old dyna-glo) can withstand minor flare ups without such dramatic results. These forums are littered with paint related problems that would seem to suggest a manufacturing defect or a lesser quality product.

That aside, to have a rep make an unsolicited call selling false hope to an already extremely disappointed (former) customer is the poorest of customer service form. Truly beyond me that someone thought this was an appropriate attempt as resolution.