I found a quality issue. Does anyone have a good Traeger email address?

WindmillWall

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Pro 780
I have found that my Pro 780 has been operating with a floating ground for two years.

Basically, about three months ago, I started having issues with the grill shutting off shortly after I press 'Ignite'. I would get frustrated and just not use the grill that day (irritating). I would then try a week later and it would work fine. This went on for months, until I finally had time one day to spend time on the phone with Traeger Support. I was on the phone for two hours while the representative talked me through disconnecting each of the connectors from the back of the control board, and seeing if any of the connectors 'shorted out' and turned the grill off. This seemed to be their standard way of troubleshooting (because they made me do this the second time I called as well). This was not exactly representative of my issue (because it was only turning off after pressing 'Ignite'), but I went along with it anyway. After not finding a 'short' with their method, they had me disconnect all of the connectors and wait a few minutes. This got the grill working for that day. Weeks later, I called back (for another two hour phone call) because I still had the same issue. We went through the same process, and I stated "I should not have to go through this process to get my grill started". They agreed, and sent me a new control board and wire harness for the power switch.

Once those parts arrived, I dedicated a third Saturday to troubleshooting my $1000 grill (kinda wishing I had gotten a Big Green Egg instead). First, I swapped out the control board, and the issue immediately sprung up (grill turned off after pressing 'Ignite'). I then had to tend to my two year old daughter, and cook dinner in the oven that night. The next weekend, I finally had time to take apart and replace the power switch harness. Once I got down under the grill, I found where the ground was connected with a ring terminal. Well, I found that the ring terminal was making contact with powder coat! See picture. SO, I got out my Dremel, and removed the powder coat so that the ring terminal can make proper electrical contact with bare metal. I have used the grill three times since then without issue. I am going to fire it up one more time today, but I am feeling pretty confident that I solved the issue. (It still doesn't make complete sense to me that the issue popped up 1.5 years into me owning it. But, floating ground can cause unpredictable behavior, so I am not going to spend too much time figuring that out).

Anyway, I have spent four Saturdays, and approximately eight hours of my time troubleshooting this issue, and I am rather irritated. While I did have a good experience with the tech support representatives, I do not want to call about my findings. I want them to actually see the picture of the quality issue. I feel that pictures hit home more effectively. Like I say, this was a ~$1000 grill, and I shouldn't have to spend eight hours of my time (And multiple times not being able to grill and having to use the lame oven instead!) finding SIMPLE issues like this.

So, does anybody have an email address where I can illustrate my frustration?
 

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I’m sorry to hear all of this, I’ve been fortunate with my 780 and my issues are user related. For two years I cooked on mine a lot, I mean a whole lot of butts and ribs help a buddy get his wedding venue business going, actually he gave me my Pro 780 to try, long story. He’s got a $30,000 commercial smoker now and it’s awesome. I don’t use mine as much because he always cooks extra!! The only thing I can say for Traeger as well as all pellet smokers, they are greatly lacking in the smoke flavor department and my 780 pro is like other models, temperatures vary so I cook way ahead of time, usually a day or more because I realized the benefits of vacuum sealing and reheating. I do cook a lot of spatchcock chicken on it because everyone in my family likes pulled chicken better than pork nowadays. But it’s easy and I get decent smoke from smoke tubes.

I have had my XL green egg for over 20 years and recently a friend gave me a cheap controller by InkBird and it’s amazing how easier my egg is and it puts the real smoke into the meats. So I’ve been using it more than my Traeger lately on butts. Wood charcoal is less expensive than pellets, especially since I can shut off the egg quickly and reuse the wood over and over getting a few cooks from it. But I really do like the ease of my Traeger too. We recently got hammered by Hurricane Helene and was without power for 12 days. We lived off the generator so the Traeger was my go to oven, even baked good biscuits (no pictures sorry, things were rough) and a cake.

Sorry so long. Glad to hear you got it fixed and ready to cook!! Message me if you have any questions about the 780 and post up some pictures of your cooks. An absolutely great group of folks on here willing to share their knowledge.
 
My philosophy in cases like this is to go for the person at the top in this instance Jeremy Andrus CEO at Traeger. Cant find an obvious email online but Traeger Customer service should provide it if asked and copy them in to any communications.

Had a similar thing in terms of customer satisfaction with Toyota and wasn't getting anywhere, a firm but fair and pleasant email to their CEO (Europe and UK) elicited action which to cut a long story short saved me some $6000 / £4700 and also a commitment to improve my customer service experience and lessons learnt from a Toyota point of view.

It also demonstrates company general attitudes and behaviours towards the customer which should come from the top down. Worth a try?
 

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