2nd Traeger in a week - Frustrated

[clijohns3998]

Hey all- I'm on my 2nd Traeger from Costco within a week. The first one I bought quit igniting after 1 cook. So, I return it today and pick up a new one. I put it together and begin the initial seasoning phase. I prime the auger and set it to 350. After about 20 mins, the display says it's still at 90 degrees. However, I noticed an ungodly amount of smoke pouring out of the grill but temp is still showing 90 degrees on the display. I can tell it's much hotter than that as it burned my finger. I shut it down, take it apart and didn't notice a ton of pellets in the cook pot so I'm at a lost now.

I called customer service and waited 45 mins for a call back. A girl named Savannah calls me and after about 2 mins, she drops off the call. She never calls back. I am pissed right now. Is there another # I can call to get some help?

 

[Flatlander]

Did you prime your auger before igniting it the first time?

 

[clijohns3998]

Did you prime your auger before igniting it the first time?

Yes, I followed the instructions in the manual. It stated to fill the hopper, turn the switch on and prime auger. After I primed it, I set it for 350 and the issues outlined in my initial post occurred. The temp shot up to 510 degrees and I shut it down.

Should I have primed the auger before adding pellets?

 

[clijohns3998]

Well...I'm done fooling with this grill and their customer service. I just ordered a Rec Tec 700 and I'll be returning my 2nd Traeger to Costco within the week.

 

[bfletcher]

I hope the Bull meets your expectations. I have an Ironwood and a Bull. In my experience, they are both nice units and both are also imperfect.

 

[soazsun]

Sorry to hear about your problems. I own both a Rec Tec RT-680 (the Bull predecessor) with an upgraded wifi controller at our main home (big patio) and a Traeger 22 at a mountain cabin (small rear deck) and both have been superb. The Rec Tec is 5 years old this month and aside from a bit of red paint fade in the harsh Arizona sun it is as good as new. The Traeger is 3 years old and it is still going strong as well. Rec Tec customer service is just superb and the 2 times I've called over the past 5 years with a question I had a quick answer right away. I've never had to call Traeger customer service...luckily...but it seems it is suffering of late, particularly when there have been more hardware and software issues reported with the grills.

We are huge Costco customers but also know things like appliances and TVs they carry seem to be either "last year's" models or closeouts....Costco gets a good price on them and then passes it along. I've also seen the Traeger grills in the store and often noted they are odd models not usually seen on the Traeger web site. Also closeouts? Special production for big box stores? I honestly don't know but I'm not sure I'd ever buy one there, although as you know now Costco will take them back. I hope the Bull works for you--good luck.

 

[BadgerFan]

Sorry to hear about your problems. I own both a Rec Tec RT-680 (the Bull predecessor) with an upgraded wifi controller at our main home (big patio) and a Traeger 22 at a mountain cabin (small rear deck) and both have been superb. The Rec Tec is 5 years old this month and aside from a bit of red paint fade in the harsh Arizona sun it is as good as new. The Traeger is 3 years old and it is still going strong as well. Rec Tec customer service is just superb and the 2 times I've called over the past 5 years with a question I had a quick answer right away. I've never had to call Traeger customer service...luckily...but it seems it is suffering of late, particularly when there have been more hardware and software issues reported with the grills.

We are huge Costco customers but also know things like appliances and TVs they carry seem to be either "last year's" models or closeouts....Costco gets a good price on them and then passes it along. I've also seen the Traeger grills in the store and often noted they are odd models not usually seen on the Traeger web site. Also closeouts? Special production for big box stores? I honestly don't know but I'm not sure I'd ever buy one there, although as you know now Costco will take them back. I hope the Bull works for you--good luck.

I have the 680 as well and switched to the WiFi controller and it never worked. I've contacted Rec Tec support and they couldn't get it figured out. The Rec tEc sits and so I bought the Traeger from Costco and I'm using that now. Rec Tec has great customer service and I'll never say anything bad about the company because I think they put out great products.