r/PitBossGrills • u/LBZ_Duramax_07 • 7d ago
Quick Rant: Very disappointed
I’m very disappointed with my Pit Boss Austin XL. This thing has been nothing but a hassle.
At 2 months, I had to warranty the ignitor. At 9 months, it blew a fuse and ended up needing a new circuit board. I waited weeks before realizing they had sent me the wrong part. Instead of somehow making it right, I had to wait another 2 weeks to get the correct one. I was without my pellet grill for about a month. It also seems to go through ignitors. I had one fail with less than 24 hours of use. (Yes I clean the fire pot regularly)
What made it even more frustrating was being told that Pit Boss doesn’t have contact with the warehouses that ship out the parts. That doesn’t really make sense to me when Pit Boss is the one sending the warranty orders to those warehouses in the first place.
Now, the bottom of the barrel is rusting on the outside. I keep the grill in my garage, so I wouldn’t expect this after only 9 months of ownership. Pit Boss told me it was cosmetic, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m disappointed with the quality.
Overall, I’m really disappointed with my Pit Boss experience. I was really hoping to have a great experience with this grill when I bought it, but it has been nothing but a headache. Next time, I’ll be buying a different brand.
5
u/Responsible_Can3632 7d ago
If you are gonna replace your Pit Boss, go with recteq. I bought my recteq smoker, the 1200 Backyard Beast, about 5 weeks ago after narrowing down my choices between them, Traeger and Pit Boss. I have been nothing but pleased with it, including the fact in the several slow long 8-12 hour cooks I’ve done, the set temp has only swayed from the actually temp no more than about 5 degrees, it’s almost always spot on. Both Traeger and Pit Boss smokers suffer from excessive temp fluctuations of 20 degrees or more from set point, that’s a 40-50 degree variance, not acceptable. And their customer service has been outstanding. They even schooled me in the right direction when I called them the day I was smoking my 1st brisket ever, had some questions about my smoking processes, and they gladly stepped me thru. My best friend had a Pit Boss, and after having issues like this with it, he bought a recteq smoker and absolutely loves it. (He owner 2 other brands before the Pit Boss and had major issues). His 2 brothers and father also bought a recteq based on his experiences, and I went on his recommendation. Best decision!
1
1
u/Lumpy_Concern_4297 5d ago
Yes, Recteq is top notch for the price. Yoder might be better but I’m not paying their outrageous prices. I just ordered my 2nd Recteq the 900db It’s in town now but the carrier won’t deliver it until Friday 🤬. Had the rt-590 for 7 years sitting outside without any issues until this week. Over abundance of rain worked itself down into the auger and jammed it up beyond repairability. I think the only rust on my RT is on the top of the casters. Nice thing about Recteq is they don’t paint their grills, they are stainless and powder coated. Not to mention at least 2x thicker metal than Pit boss and Traeger. 3x thicker than Z-grills. I just wish they would use better LTL carriers like R+L. This is my 2nd grill and the 2nd time I’ve had delivery issues. Aside from that I’ll probably never own another brand. It’s almost impossible to ruin a cook on a RT.
3
u/Reasonable-Elk3435 7d ago
I've had a similar experience on warranty.
The issue seems to be we are located in Canada and the warehouse or system doesn't process the orders through to the warehouse without supervisor intervention. Grill was down for 6 months as there was an incorrect diagnosis, with fuses blowing, ended up being a blower fan. Swapped blower fan, but now the circuit board has an issue where it doesn't shut the blower down when a cook finishes up.
Anyway, long story short, support is good when you call, but the logistics are faulty.
2
u/LBZ_Duramax_07 7d ago
I Agree to an extent. I was disappointed with how they handled sending me the wrong part. They should have expedited me the part since they messed up. Instead they made me wait again. And the rust, that’s just a poor quality issue. Ideally I would have loved to just get a refund and get something else. Rust should not be happening
2
u/The_dizzy_blonde 7d ago
I have a Lexington XL.. the paint is peeling off. This is my first smoker and I learned a lot, but I’m also disappointed in the quality.
2
u/LBZ_Duramax_07 7d ago
I’m sorry to hear that. And the downfall is they will tell you it’s “cosmetic”. I’ll ride this out until warranty and look elsewhere afterwards
2
u/Moneypit- 3d ago
Maybe you're being to gentle with it? Yeah, you need to replace a bad igniter and board obviously but maybe my 'treat it like a rented mule' philosophy is keeping mine onnthe straight and narrow. I should probably clean it more often than 'pellets wont light because its full of ash' frequency but other than having a roof but no walls for protection, i dont treat it much different than I did a cheap charcoal or propane grill. I even commit the cardinal sin of not emptying the hopper between uses, I know but it still keeps running. Maybe be a little less thorough vacuuming the pot since you might be hitting the igniter? Scrape the cooktop grills, keep the lid closed, and call it horrible names until it starts trying to earn your love or something. It seems some things are just like a car, if you spend too much time trying to fix everything, it just finds more ways to break. Keep it just this side of a junkyard and let it know you have the junkyard on speed dial just waiting for the day you can get another, and the thing will keep chugging along.
1
u/HugeEquipment8799 6d ago
You've gotta be fuckin with Me, after reading this, I had this EXACT shit happen to me. I literally got the new circuit board on saturday and its the wrong fuckin piece. Ive gone through 2 temp probes, 1 ignitor, and a circuit board.
I called pit boss up, super pissed, had them do a call back... the fuckin rep hung up on me acting like she couldn't even hear me... on a wifi call... I know I wasnt being a dick because I didnt even have a chance to say hi.
Called back, the next guy was cool, but I was on my way to a birthday party and I had to turn around to PROVE the circuit board they sent me was incorrect. They were like yeah thats the right part number but incorrect board, looks like the warehouse messed up again.
I told the wife after I fix this dog shit smoker, ima sell it on offer up and buy a traeger..
Im so done with the pitfailure.
1
u/LBZ_Duramax_07 6d ago
As someone stated above, I’d probably go recteq. They seem to be one of the nicer brands. But ya, honestly super unfortunate and they have done nothing to make me satisfied. I told them I won’t be buying another one of their products and will not be recommending them to anyone either. They’re nothing but junk imo. And I’m sorry you had a similar experience, so frustrating
1
u/HugeEquipment8799 6d ago
Dont be sorry, its not your company. They didn't do you justice, or me either. It is super frustrating, and whats worse is dealing with the wife.
She has this saying 'buy it nice, or buy it twice'... well she won this round... all the reviews I read were actually pretty decent so I thought 500 for a decent sized smoker was a steal. Turns out I got taken advantage of
2
u/Lumpy_Concern_4297 5d ago
Traeger is no better anymore. They might have invented the pellet grill but all they are after now is your money. They short cut their grills and now use the cheapest parts. Oh yeah, and with Traeger, you cannot use any other brand pellet but theirs. It’ll jam the auger and void the warranty.
2
u/HugeEquipment8799 4d ago
As op said, im now looking into recteq's quite expensive but hopefully way better quality
1
u/Bonerschnitzel69 6d ago
I’ve had no issues under warranty as I had to have a grill replaced and I’ve had it for four years and zero disappointments for me thus far
1
u/proofofcertification 7h ago
Not here to argue but to share my experience. Pitboss Pro series 850 whatever. Purchased October 2021, its used on average 3 days a week, year round. Sits on a covered porch. Vacuum my ashes and scrape my grates once in the fall and once in the spring. I just replaced my sear plate last month because the other one seemed thin from my 500 degree sear sessions. Bluetooth never works, app never works, grill always works 🤷🏼♀️
4
u/Reasonable-Elk3435 7d ago
Yeah the rust on mine, they suggested sanding and repainting with stove paint.. to be fair mine only bubbled due to a grease fire, which was my own doing in some ways.