| Author |
Message |
    
Thenakedwhiz
Member
Post
Number: 87
Registered: 7-2001
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| Posted on Wednesday, August 07, 2002 - 7:43 am:
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Trishc,
To paraphrase an old saying, "When it
comes to BBQs Galore salespeople, never ascribe to malice what can
be more easily explained by stupidity." :-)
TNW |
Waderobin
Member
Post
Number: 108
Registered: 11-2001
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| Posted on Wednesday, August 07, 2002 - 8:42 am:
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Was Ducky a sincere potential K customer? I don't know.
Although Ducky obviously should have been more sensitive as a guest
on our forum, I think he had some valid questions. His concern about
if the K arrives damaged hits home with me.
I received my #7 in
December, damaged. Five months plus later I receive my replacement
lid. Here we are in August, I still don't have it all put together
correctly, and no one from the company has returned any of my
previous emails, posts, calls, or private messages.
I understand
they are swamped, but please!
I'm a customer. This was a lot of
money (to me) that I paid for this product. And I have received NO
help from the company at all. If they would just call and say we are
swamped and can't get to you now, but we promise to have your
problem resolved within a year of your purchase, I'd be reasonably
happy.
If you wonder why I'd be happy. It's because I absolutely
love my K. I'm cooking without the springs. Smoke leaking between
the bands. Can't close her down, wasting a good bit of lump, and was
out an additional $87 freight collect fee for the replacement lid.
But, it's gotten to be a joke around here. Every time we do another
cook, Linda's in K bliss, saying I think this is the best one yet. I
don't think there could be two more loyal fans of the K. But I also
don't think there could be two more dissappointed customers either.
Also, let me say that a good bit of our K cooking success must
be attributed to this forum. Whenever I'm cooking something new, I
go straight to this awesome forum, either do a search or go to the
"how do you cook a . . ." section and in one two twenty hours later,
another amazingly succesful cook.
I really don't like to whine
and look forward to evangelizing, without hesitation, the virtues of
the K, and the K company.
Wade |
Trishc
Member
Post
Number: 60
Registered: 7-2001
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| Posted on Wednesday, August 07, 2002 - 9:22 am:
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Ducky...if it looks like a Duck, walks like a Duck, and
sounds like a Duck, its probably a Ducky.
For your
information, I was not the one lied to by a salesman. That has been
previously reported on this site by others. When I decided to
purchase a new BBQ I went to the local shop and was treated well by
someone I knew. I went home to look up the product from their store
that I was interested in eventually found the Kamado site. I
monitored the forum for months (I was in no hurry) and familiarized
myself with the posters and discussions. There was no doubt the best
salespeople were the participants of this forum. The ones who owned
the units and shared their enthusiasm and recipes. The occasional
gripe was weighed against the number of enthusiastic owners. I
watched the forum long enough to witness the occasional exchanges
that occurred from some of the BGE owners. I also observed their
forum which had mostly nice posters, but quickly noticed their
intolerance for the potential buyers asking product comparison
questions (I did not bother to write any). The helpful and
enthusiastic Kamado forum swayed my purchase of a product I could
not see before purchase. When I purchased a unit that I wanted
customized a bit, the process was good. I was happy to get a unique
product that was being finished to my choices and realized that
would require extra effort on their part and mine. I am a happy
customer and recommend the product.
I have not liked the
customer service issues being part of the forum and have previously
given my two cents worth to the moderator, and realized I am only
entitled to my two cents worth and nothing more. I am one
participant of many. I personally resent your on going effort at
trying to bait Richard into corresponding with you on this medium.
If you had truly familiarized yourself with this forum the way you
want to study the product you buy most of the usual pre-sale
questions are warmly addressed by the owners who provide many
pictures, suggestions, and information. Since you have started your
annoying and obnoxious bantering, the usual posters have sat quietly
and politely on the sidelines and refrained from participating on
the forum.
Most of the posters on this forum are truly
genuine and sharing and will probably welcome your "cousin" if the
"cousin" is interested in cooking and doesn't have a chip on his/her
shoulder. Not everyone posting here has a Kamado or is expected to
have a kamado. But just about everyone has an attitude that is warm,
supportive, respectful and genuine especially about food and their
cookers.
I apologize to the forum if my posts on this
subject have fallen below the usual standard. I hate to see this
site so preoccupied with customer service issues and would love to
see the subject ended and let the forum get back to cooking and
cookers. |
Porkchop
Member
Post
Number: 37
Registered: 5-2002
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| Posted on Wednesday, August 07, 2002 - 9:40 am:
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wade-
gotta reply to your post. been following your
trials and i think that there are points you make here that need to
be underlined and specially emphasized because they are legitimate
concerns.
1) you already bought the K
2) you are happy
with it
3) you have had serious problems occur
4) NO ONE
affiliated with the company has answered numerous requests for help
this isn't the first time people have made this kind of
post. i was in the same boat as ducky, and have no doubt he is/was
being genuine. i wrestled and wrestled with which to buy, and wanted
the best for my money. i knew the K was the best equipment, but i
was scared of problems with CS. now i HAVE a #7 and it rocks! it
works as advertised and i'm glad i didn't have to settle for a large
BGE. but i would have, had the #7 not been given to me as a gift,
preempting my own plans. BGE has it's own problems, like any other
company, and i've seen "problems with CS" threads on their page too,
to be fair. but not near to the extent as this forum. is that a
reliable guage of problems? perhaps not, BUT the problems i've seen
at BGE forum have been "they won't honor my warrantee" and not "i
can't get anyone to talk to me". true, there are no comparisons
allowed on their site, but they will gladly trade e-mails. many have
both BGE and K, and others.
bottom line, if BGE starts to
make an extra-large, y'all are in trouble, because size is the major
advantage you have going over BGE. we all know there's no flaw in
the design, right?
someone shouldn't be blasted on this
forum for pointing out a legitimate concern for those comparison
shopping.
waderobin, i feel for you, and i would be insane
with anger right now if i had to go thru what you are going thru.
there is no GOOD reason for it. |
Deborah
Moderator
Post
Number: 28
Registered: 6-2001
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| Posted on Wednesday, August 07, 2002 - 10:22 am:
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Bravo Trish, You go girl!!!!! |
Sidncid
Member
Post
Number: 53
Registered: 9-2001
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| Posted on Wednesday, August 07, 2002 - 10:27 am:
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Ducky, Porkchop, Wade,...
If you people just want
to sit and bitch then e-mail each other. I like to come to this
forum to exchange positive information with K owners as well as
people like TNWiz. Yes bad things do happen but thats life, deal
with it and go on.
If price and customer service are your
main concerns then buy a Weber, your local gas station probably
carries them.
If you've convinced yourself that you'll have
problems then you for sure will. If you're that scared then you
probably should not even leave your house.
Just my 2 cents
worth.
Sid |
Thenakedwhiz
Member
Post
Number: 88
Registered: 7-2001
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| Posted on Wednesday, August 07, 2002 - 10:35 am:
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Porkchop,
To be accurate, the problems in the BGE
forum don't center around BGE not honoring the warrantee. The
problem is that the warrantee covers the part, not the shipping, so
people are little dismayed when they find out that their "free"
replacement part is going to cost $25 shipping. BGE to my knowledge
has always honored their warrantee, but some people want the
warrantee to cover the shipping. But I know we don't want to discuss
THAT issue here....
Sid,
What do you mean "people
like TNWiz"? You mean there are others like me? Crikey!!!!!! :-)
TNW |
Porkchop
Member
Post
Number: 38
Registered: 5-2002
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| Posted on Wednesday, August 07, 2002 - 11:30 am:
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y'know, i'll just point out that, even tho you may
consider me a "bad guy", etc., that i'm not the one calling names or
tossing insults. there are other parts of this forum to contribute
to. you find a thread that you enjoy and then you contribute to it,
or start one. sid, if you really dislike this so much, go post your
favorite recipe, you don't have to read this.
i could
understand a little if i was "bad mouthing" but i'm not. i'm not
even talking about "the problem", but the way you've treated those
who bring it up.
there are those who receive criticism
personally and react out of hurt, and there are those who receive it
constructively and grow. |
Tim
New
member
Post Number:
2
Registered: 8-2002
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| Posted on Wednesday, August 07, 2002 - 11:32 am:
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Trishc, I for one as a potential customer find this
thread quite enlightening. It gives me a pretty good idea of what I
could expect should I decide to purchase a kramado. I see that if
one takes the time to read what is called the old forum that the cs
issues go back in time quite far. It would also appear that you go
out of your way to read about the CS issues, then cry about what is
said. Why not stick to the "How to cook a ... " section if they
bother you that much?
One thing I cannot understand about
ceramic barbecue owners is that they seem no matter what the brand
to have fierce owner loyalty to a fault. This seems to surpass
anything that Chevrolet, Dodge or Ford has. Many people who purchase
one brand of car or another would willingly purchase a different
brand if they got a little better deal down the street.
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Porkchop
Member
Post
Number: 39
Registered: 5-2002
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| Posted on Wednesday, August 07, 2002 - 11:36 am:
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tim, if you check this board, plus the BGE board, and
even the BBQ connection forum (basso), you'll see that many of us
own, or have owned, several types, metal, ceramic, whatever. myself,
i moved up from a homemade logburner to the
K. |
Joy
Associate
Member
Post Number:
19
Registered: 6-2002
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| Posted on Wednesday, August 07, 2002 - 11:59 am:
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With a product as good as the Kamado it is not surprising
that customers have brand loyalty. I only got my K5 in England 3
weeks ago, but I love it to bits. It is just great. If you want to
know why everyone is so loyal Tim - TRY BUYING ONE!
I had
not seen a K before I bought, just spent a lot of time on this forum
researching , and what I saw was enough to convince me this was an
excellent product. I have been reading this forum since April and it
is only this last few weeks that the tone of the place has been
lowered by one or two moaners, and as has previously been said they
don't even own a K.
Lets get this forum back to what it is
all really about. Enjoying a great product and putting up with the
odd bug bear in life.
I was not going to post on this thread
originally as I did not want to prolong it's life - but I think some
things should be said in support of a great
grill. |
Sidncid
Member
Post
Number: 54
Registered: 9-2001
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| Posted on Wednesday, August 07, 2002 - 2:19 pm:
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TNWhiz,
I apologize for misspelling whiz, correct me
if I'm wrong but I believe you own a BGE. I appreciate the fact that
you openly share information both on this forum and with links to
pages you've created. I also enjoy the fact that you really don't
try to steer people toward BGE, but mainly talk about ceramic
cooking as a whole.
Sid |
Thenakedwhiz
Member
Post
Number: 89
Registered: 7-2001
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| Posted on Wednesday, August 07, 2002 - 3:47 pm:
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Sid, yes I own a BGE. When I first bought it, I made the
mistake of coming over here and entering into a discussion of the
relative merits, and learned my lesson! :-) I just want us all to be
friends. Why can't we be friends? (sing along now!), why can't we be
friends? I'll leave it at that. Good Night, Mrs. Calabash, wherever
you are!
TNW |
Harry
Member
Post
Number: 330
Registered: 7-2001
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| Posted on Wednesday, August 07, 2002 - 3:59 pm:
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You look like Durante? Wow! A Dinky Doo, A Dinky Dah!
Harry |
Husker
Member
Post
Number: 44
Registered: 7-2001
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| Posted on Wednesday, August 07, 2002 - 6:25 pm:
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Maybe instead of bitchin about Customer Service we should
start telling about all the great service we have had!! I for one
have had great service from this company. Sure the phones have been
busy, and I got ahold of the answering machine a few times. This is
why I have redial on the phone I own. I talk to people, not
machines. My pizza stones did get the wrong address put on them(one
block south), but I did get them in a round about way. In one piece
I might add!! This company is having growing pains. They sell one
heck of a product! I could have bought a BGE locally, but the
thought of having a green turd in my yard, turned me off. It is hard
to compare a BGE to a beautiful piece of art that cooks too. I went
with the cobalt blue and I have never regretted it!
Husker
(Message edited by husker on August 07,
2002) |
Tcoliver
Associate
Member
Post Number:
13
Registered: 6-2002
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| Posted on Thursday, August 08, 2002 - 6:22 am:
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Husker, I agree. I just purchased a #7 unaware of any
growing pains and still received good service. I learned very early
on not to use e-mail, voice mail, or the forum to get information on
my order. You need to speak to a human (In my case it was Deborah)
sometimes this took several calls per day but when I did speak to
someone they were very friendly and informative. My order came
complete and correct and was only one week later than the original
guess that Deborah had made. When they did tell me it shipped it
indeed had. I even had a mishap and knocked off a couple tile while
uncrating, I called that day and talked to someone (forgot who) and
they were very helpfull in giving me the exact name and manufacturer
of the grout so I could go to Home Depot and purchase it. BTW if
anyone needs some ocean blue grout for a Levis Blue K let me know
and I'll ship you a baggie full. I had to buy a 20 lb. bag as it was
the smallest size they had and only used a cup full. Anyway, I was
very happy with the service I received and thrilled with the quality
of the product.
Tony |
Porkchop
Member
Post
Number: 40
Registered: 5-2002
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| Posted on Thursday, August 08, 2002 - 6:56 am:
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everybody-
this is the last i'll say on this thread,
as i think the things i'm saying are being taken personally. here
goes. i personally have not had a problem with CS or anything like
that. i feel bad for those who were not as lucky.
i'm sure
more folks got good service than didn't, BUT those that do have
complaints don't (in my opinion) have small problems, but MAJOR
problems. and they have no recourse other than this forum.
those of us that did get great service, put yourselves in
their shoes. would you be whistling a different tune had you
received half a kamado and never gotten a response from CS after
many attempts? that's all i'm saying here. you shouldn't pound on
someone b/c they are needing help. |
Thenakedwhiz
Member
Post
Number: 90
Registered: 7-2001
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| Posted on Thursday, August 08, 2002 - 7:55 am:
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Waderobin asked if Ducky was a sincere potential
customer. I exchanged some emails with him, and while any
communications between a Duck and his Whiz are confidential, I can
say that he was indeed a sincere potential customer. Just thought
you might like to know.
TNW |
Husker
Member
Post
Number: 45
Registered: 7-2001
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| Posted on Thursday, August 08, 2002 - 9:44 am:
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Porkchop,
I disagree with you about no other recourse
than this forum!
1.They have a toll free number. It does not
cost anything to call them. At times it is hard to get thru to a
human, but just keep calling. The humans have always been great to
deal with.
2.Their is also the Better Business Bureau.
There is a lot of better ways to handle this than going
to a public forum like this! It just stirs the crap. The customers
that got great service against the few who think they got poor. Yes,
there are a few who do have problems. I bet there are days that
nobody from the kamado company even looks at this forum. Why ask
"whats up" here when them might not even read it? TALK TO A HUMAN!!
This is the best way to make sure they hear you. Call TOLL-FREE
1-888-kamados or for those that have a hard time dialing letters
1-888-526-2367 TOLL-FREE to speak to a HUMAN!
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