TONYTOBEY
New member
Subject: Ongoing Issues with My Grill and Customer Service Experience
My name is Tony Tobey, and I work at The Home Depot. In October 2023, we were fortunate enough to have one of your representatives—Elijah, I believe—host an event at our Monroe store. He handed out hats, grilled hotdogs and burgers, and enthusiastically explained how your grills worked to our customers.
At the time, I was a part-time lumber associate and in the market for a grill. After my shift, Elijah kindly took a few minutes to walk me through the features of the Pro 22 pellet grill. He explained that while it didn’t include Wi-Fi capabilities, it would suit my needs, as I primarily grill for myself, my wife, and my teenage son. I was so impressed by his knowledge and enthusiasm that I not only bought the grill, but also the cover, flip-out table, grill cleaner, pellets, and a variety of rubs and sauces.
I’ve used the grill to smoke four turkey breasts, three Boston butts, five tomahawk steaks, five Wagyu burgers, and countless filets. The flavor was always outstanding—so good, in fact, that we stopped going out to our local steakhouse.
Fast forward to Easter this year. I had since been promoted twice and was now working 40+ hours a week. After a long day at work, I came home to find my wife had purchased three tomahawk steaks and two porterhouses for a holiday dinner with my in-laws. I was excited to share what I proudly called my favorite grill. But when I removed the cover and started it up, I was met with a high-heat error code.
I looked up the code, which advised me to unplug the grill and vacuum out the pellet dust. There was no dust—I clean this grill after every use like it's my firstborn. Assuming it was a fluke, I restarted the grill and was able to cook dinner just in time for our guests.
The next time I used the grill was on Father’s Day. Once again, my wife had bought premium steaks from our butcher. But when I got home, she told me the grill had stopped working with the same error code. Exhausted from work, I took the grill apart—grates, drip shield, and baffle—and again found it spotless. I repeated the unplug-and-restart process, and the grill appeared to come up to temperature normally.
Fifteen minutes later, we put the steaks on and stepped away briefly. When I returned, smoke was billowing from the hopper and chimney. The temperature had soared to 615°F. I opened the lid to find my steaks—and the grill—on fire. I shut the grill off immediately and called customer service. The bottom of the grill was dripping melted powder coating, and I questioned whether the $200 steaks were even safe to eat.
My wife salvaged what she could by finishing the steaks in the oven, while I spent nearly two hours on the phone being told the issue was likely my fault for incorrect startup procedures. I explained that I had always followed the directions, and that the rep’s instructions weren’t in the manual or printed anywhere on the grill—something I even demonstrated over video chat. Eventually, she agreed to send a replacement body but said I needed to perform a test first: remove all components and vacuum the burner.
Unfortunately, this instruction failed to acknowledge that the smoldering pellets would ignite my shop vac. After the grill cooled for over an hour, we resumed the video chat, cleared the remaining pellets, and ran a temperature test. She confirmed a new body would be sent.
When it arrived, it was immediately clear the replacement was of lower quality. It lacked the riveted nut connections needed to secure the chimney—just blank holes. Another call led to another disagreeable rep, who told me this was a "new body style" and that hardware would be sent separately. She assured me it would arrive before the 4th of July and that everything would work fine.
When the hardware arrived, it was missing the necessary nuts. Frustrated, I called again and demanded to speak to a supervisor. He told me the correct body had been sent and promised to send a new chimney with the required hardware. I spent the next two hours dismantling the original grill and beginning reassembly with the new parts, only to discover the baffle clips also didn’t fit the replacement body.
Tired and fed up, I called once more the next day. This time, someone finally told me the truth: I had been sent the body of a lesser model sold through Costco—the Mesa—and I would need an adapter kit. I was assured it would arrive before the 4th. Today is July 5th, and the tracking information shows the parts won’t arrive until the 10th.
At this point, I’ve lost all faith in this product and your company’s customer service. Another holiday has come and gone without the ability to use my grill due to a series of misleading promises and a lack of integrity and accountability.
My name is Tony Tobey, and I work at The Home Depot. In October 2023, we were fortunate enough to have one of your representatives—Elijah, I believe—host an event at our Monroe store. He handed out hats, grilled hotdogs and burgers, and enthusiastically explained how your grills worked to our customers.
At the time, I was a part-time lumber associate and in the market for a grill. After my shift, Elijah kindly took a few minutes to walk me through the features of the Pro 22 pellet grill. He explained that while it didn’t include Wi-Fi capabilities, it would suit my needs, as I primarily grill for myself, my wife, and my teenage son. I was so impressed by his knowledge and enthusiasm that I not only bought the grill, but also the cover, flip-out table, grill cleaner, pellets, and a variety of rubs and sauces.
I’ve used the grill to smoke four turkey breasts, three Boston butts, five tomahawk steaks, five Wagyu burgers, and countless filets. The flavor was always outstanding—so good, in fact, that we stopped going out to our local steakhouse.
Fast forward to Easter this year. I had since been promoted twice and was now working 40+ hours a week. After a long day at work, I came home to find my wife had purchased three tomahawk steaks and two porterhouses for a holiday dinner with my in-laws. I was excited to share what I proudly called my favorite grill. But when I removed the cover and started it up, I was met with a high-heat error code.
I looked up the code, which advised me to unplug the grill and vacuum out the pellet dust. There was no dust—I clean this grill after every use like it's my firstborn. Assuming it was a fluke, I restarted the grill and was able to cook dinner just in time for our guests.
The next time I used the grill was on Father’s Day. Once again, my wife had bought premium steaks from our butcher. But when I got home, she told me the grill had stopped working with the same error code. Exhausted from work, I took the grill apart—grates, drip shield, and baffle—and again found it spotless. I repeated the unplug-and-restart process, and the grill appeared to come up to temperature normally.
Fifteen minutes later, we put the steaks on and stepped away briefly. When I returned, smoke was billowing from the hopper and chimney. The temperature had soared to 615°F. I opened the lid to find my steaks—and the grill—on fire. I shut the grill off immediately and called customer service. The bottom of the grill was dripping melted powder coating, and I questioned whether the $200 steaks were even safe to eat.
My wife salvaged what she could by finishing the steaks in the oven, while I spent nearly two hours on the phone being told the issue was likely my fault for incorrect startup procedures. I explained that I had always followed the directions, and that the rep’s instructions weren’t in the manual or printed anywhere on the grill—something I even demonstrated over video chat. Eventually, she agreed to send a replacement body but said I needed to perform a test first: remove all components and vacuum the burner.
Unfortunately, this instruction failed to acknowledge that the smoldering pellets would ignite my shop vac. After the grill cooled for over an hour, we resumed the video chat, cleared the remaining pellets, and ran a temperature test. She confirmed a new body would be sent.
When it arrived, it was immediately clear the replacement was of lower quality. It lacked the riveted nut connections needed to secure the chimney—just blank holes. Another call led to another disagreeable rep, who told me this was a "new body style" and that hardware would be sent separately. She assured me it would arrive before the 4th of July and that everything would work fine.
When the hardware arrived, it was missing the necessary nuts. Frustrated, I called again and demanded to speak to a supervisor. He told me the correct body had been sent and promised to send a new chimney with the required hardware. I spent the next two hours dismantling the original grill and beginning reassembly with the new parts, only to discover the baffle clips also didn’t fit the replacement body.
Tired and fed up, I called once more the next day. This time, someone finally told me the truth: I had been sent the body of a lesser model sold through Costco—the Mesa—and I would need an adapter kit. I was assured it would arrive before the 4th. Today is July 5th, and the tracking information shows the parts won’t arrive until the 10th.
At this point, I’ve lost all faith in this product and your company’s customer service. Another holiday has come and gone without the ability to use my grill due to a series of misleading promises and a lack of integrity and accountability.
