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Andyw
New member
Post Number: 1
Registered: 9-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 5:23 am:
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I've
been looking into ceramics grills for quite a while now and am very
interested in Kamados. My big turnoff was when I e-mailed Kamado and
found out shipping would add about 50% to the cost of the grill. That
coupled with a wait of 2-3 months makes me ask the question: Does
anyone have a used K they are looking to unload? I would be interested
in a K5 but would also consider a K3 or K7. We live in the Milwaukee
area, so Chicago or Madison is only a short drive from here. We also
get up to Minneapolis on a regular basis.
Thanks in advance for the help!
Andy |
Brianw
Member
Post Number: 1351
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 2:24 pm:
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Andy:
I'd
encourage you to revisit your thinking about the shipping cost.
Remember, shipping cost is somehow in the price of everything you buy
at any store, so just think of the total Kamado price as being the base
price plus shipping, at which it is still an incredible bargain. With a
Kamado, you are buying something that will probably last the rest of
your lifetime. Add the shipping cost to the base cost, divide by 30 or
40 years, and the cost/year for ownership is still small versus the
quality of what you are buying and the pleasure you will get from it.
You are NOT buying a BBQ you will throw away after two to three
seasons. You are buying the best piece of equipment of its type.
Same
argument on the wait. Yes, you'll wait for your Kamado. Like all of us
who've done it, you will chafe and wiggle and gripe. Then you'll GET
your Kamado, and the wait will be forgotten, and will even become
something you can tell friends about. Remember, you had to wait 2-3
months because your Kamado is a handmade item, not something stamped
out of metal.
You will get a really wonderful return on your investment of time AND money if you purchase a K. |
Bobh
Member
Post Number: 162
Registered: 3-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 2:43 pm:
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Andy,
I got my Kamado earlier this year and I really had to talk to myself
about the wait. I am sure happy now that I went through the wait as I
know this cooking machine will be with us for my life and for my kids.
So, good luck in finding a used one that is exactly what you want, but
if it were me I would bite the bullet and order from the factory. I
agree with everything Brian has already said. |
Lcubed
Member
Post Number: 51
Registered: 6-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 5:52 pm:
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there looks to be a pretty nice one in connecticut, but that's a serious drive from chi-town.
http://www.kamado.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?tpc=1&post=45134#POST45134
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Cosmo
New member
Post Number: 1
Registered: 9-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, September 28, 2006 - 2:59 pm:
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I
just bought a #7 on E-bay so I am new to this but I am not impressed
and may sell it. Not with the K, but w/the company. I was lucky to find
it and spent three months trying to get a return phone call to obtain a
price, and perhaps order for a #9. I still don’t know what a new K
cost.
I have to get this off by chest. As a business owner, I
have very little tolerance for failure to service the customers a
company has while focusing assets to obtain more customers. From what I
see on this site, my failure to get a return phone call of have
questions answered is not only common, it appears to be accepted. Yet,
should anyone, out of frustration, mention service or lack of on this
site, someone, often the owner, takes the time to scold them about the
proper use of this forum. Am I missing something here? I understand the
wait for a new K, but don’t understand how/why people can’t get
pricing, items ordered, Charcoal delivered (in some parts of the
country), nor get the opportunity to speak to someone at the
company/plant. Interestingly enough, the company presence at shows and
selling opportunities appear to continue, uninterrupted.
A
good quality product is one thing. But being responsive to your current
customers is equality important! Controlled growth in any company is
desired. If I treated my customers the way some K customers are being
treated, I couldn’t afford to pay the light bill, let alone an
expensive K or a $10.00 box of charcoal.
Just my 2 cents.
Now, I stand ready for my punishment.
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Tania
Member
Post Number: 27
Registered: 9-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, September 28, 2006 - 3:17 pm:
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Cosmo
-- you got a pretty decent deal on your K on Ebay -- and I love the
color! And, of course, the best is that it's already thoroughly broken
in... |
Cosmo
New member
Post Number: 2
Registered: 9-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, September 28, 2006 - 3:34 pm:
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Thank
you, I think I did and ditto on the color. It wasn’t my first choice,
but it is great. It's likely, due to the reasons already mentioned;
this is the only way I would have purchased one. |
Jiarby
Member
Post Number: 1151
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, September 28, 2006 - 3:36 pm:
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cosmo...
That
is a nice looking #7, I hope you will keep it and get many years of
use. I have no affiliation with the company, and speak here just as an
owner of two #7's and a #1. I spent this weekend with the Johnson's at
one of the home shows you mentioned and I can assure you that they 100%
believe in the need to improve customer service and are taking steps to
see that it happens.
No "punishment" from me, but keep the Kooker! If you ever get to AZ then come by and have dinner! |
Cosmo
New member
Post Number: 3
Registered: 9-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, September 28, 2006 - 4:11 pm:
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And
I for one hope they get things worked out. It is a shame that a quality
product is not backed (at least now) by quality customer service.
Thanks
for the invitation. I hope to have the comfort level with the K to
invite you over as well. You may want to give me a few months to get
this learning curve flattened a little. ;-)
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Brianw
Member
Post Number: 1354
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, September 28, 2006 - 11:09 pm:
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Perhaps
many of us accept customer service with its warts in exchange for
knowing, based on our experience, that the company does what few other
companies do -- which is make things right. Some of the companies that
answer their e-mail promptly would deny a warranty claim if it was one
day past the limit. Some will promise a refund that never happens. You
won't get that kind of crap from Kamado.
At some point, you
look at a company and say, "Are these good people, or not?" The answer
of all of us here is that they are good people. It's not a big
mega-enterprise, it's a small family business with a product so good
that people line up for two or three months to get it. The phone calls
don't sometimes go unanswered because nobody cares; the e-mails don't
lack a response because they're saying "The hell with the customers."
They are few and we are many. What I believe is that if they COULD do
what they want to do, if finances and other realities were no limit,
the customer service would always have matched the product. And I
believe it will.
I can think of some very happy campers on
this forum who started out as vehement critics. They stayed around,
found out what the Johnsons are about, and are now advocates. Maybe
you'll do the same. |
Cosmo
New member
Post Number: 4
Registered: 9-2006
| | Posted on Friday, September 29, 2006 - 7:49 am:
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Maybe
you’re right Brian but I don’t think so. Clearly, K owners are some of
the most patient people I have ever come across. I wish my customers
were so forgiving. Perhaps I have done to them as I have to my children
and they are a little spoiled. I have also been told before that I
expect too much. I don’t think a return phone call is too much to
expect, but I guess it is. Also, it should be mentioned here I am
neither in the retail business nor a competitor. Although I was at one
time, I sold that end of my business and am no longer manufacturing
anything. Having said that, I strive to give my customers no less than
I expect myself.
Imagine setting at your desk w/telephone in
hand for the tenth time, listening to the thing ring in an effort to
make a purchase from a company. Don’t you wonder how and why? How can
they stay in business, why don't they answer the phone, what if I buy
something and have a problem? You say they make things right. I ask
how? How do you make something right if you don’t/can’t hear of a
problem? The bigger question is, how can a company stand behind a
product when they are no longer in business due to customer service
failures? Now, before you go questioning the stability of this company,
I have no knowledge of the stability of this company and am speaking
generally here, about any company. Failure to satisfy current customers
and increase sells of accessories, options and add on items can kill a
company. And the resell opportunities for this product are phenomenal.
How many people on this site have 2, 3 or four K’s or are trying to
purchase their second or third one. I stress to my people that every
contact, phone, letter, E-mail, face to face, is an opportunity. An
opportunity for pleasing a customer, making a sell, or planting a seed
for a sell at a later date. If you would agree w/that, then you would
have to agree every missed contact is a missed opportunity.
I
have done the “home show thing” for over seven years and I can tell you
they are expensive and a lot of work. In fact, they are down right
draining. I learned, at least on high end items, home shows are about
95% talking and exposure, 4% obtaining leads for future sales, and one
percent actual selling. They also come a great cost, especially to a
smaller company that has to empty the business location of personal to
man the booth. While 70% or greater of your office work force are at
the show, working the booth, no one is answering the phone. What’s the
point in spend thousands of dollars, and countless of hours passing out
flyers and business cards to a phone that is rarely if ever answered?
Since my post last night I have received seven personal E-mails of
people w/similar experiences. Four have purchased from competitors.
I
have no doubt that this is a fine family that works hard to make and
sell a fine product. I mean really, how else can this company stay in
business. And there are not many people more aware than I how difficult
it is to run a small business. My children can tell you I spent the
best part of the 80’s wondering if I could make payroll nearly every
Friday. I never missed one, but came close a couple of times. I do not
buy into the “this is the way it is because of (fill in the blank). The
customer service is this way due to the choices made. When you own a
business you only have so much in your budget, so you make decisions as
to where you apply it. So far, it appears little resources have been
applied to customer service. Will it change? I hope so, for everyone’s
sake. But I have to tell you I saw a thread similar to this one from
2002 with similar comments. This should concern everyone that owns one
of these fine products.
I hope I never have a problem now
wish to purchase any accessories for my K. I don't think I will be able
to handle the situation like others have. I like the idea of waiting 20
hours to cook a fine cut of meat. Its the 20 days or 15 messages w/o a
return phone call that I won't tolerate and I am surprised that others
do.
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Pmachen
New member
Post Number: 5
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Friday, September 29, 2006 - 8:47 am:
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Just
part of the Kult thing, Cosmos. I have been in private business for 25
years and understand every word you're saying, but some things are
simply what they are. |
Cosmo
New member
Post Number: 5
Registered: 9-2006
| | Posted on Friday, September 29, 2006 - 9:45 am:
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Not
to "beat a dead horse" and my last comment on the subject, If it "is
what it is" and change is hopeless, then everyone will have to make
decisions on when they have had enough. It has had little effect on me
yet and will not allow it. Continuing to comment on this matter appears
to be a waste of time and Life is too short.
It is a shame,
and your business experience (I would guess) tells you it does not have
to be this way. Its all about the choices made and paths taken.
Companies make their choices and consumers will make some also.
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George_l
Member
Post Number: 50
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Friday, September 29, 2006 - 10:16 am:
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Unfortunately
I also experienced some of the same things stated above when I ordered
and was waiting for my K. I also became impatient, complained on the
forum and considered cancelling my order on at least 2 occasions. I'm
glad I didn't!
I consider my K one of my best purchases ever.
Compared to a high quality gas BBQ, the K is flat out inexpensive
(including shipping). I also like the results and flexibility of
cooking on the K much better, and it looks great in my back yard. It's
also less work to maintain than a gas grill. I've had my K about 1 1/2
years and use it more now than when I first bought it.
My guess
regarding the customer service situation is the K company has a great
product, demand is continuing to grow, and customer service has not yet
caught up to the quality the product itself represents. From the posts
it appears this is being addressed as shown by hiring a customer
service person.
Although I would not have said this while I was impatiently waiting for my K...it was worth the wait.
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Jprefect
New member
Post Number: 1
Registered: 9-2006
| | Posted on Friday, September 29, 2006 - 12:11 pm:
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They're right, Cosmo,
You have to read everything you can and then make an informed decision. You might want to start here: http://tinyurl.com/ph7n7
Jason |
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