Have 4 Webers and find the quality and service to be going down hill.


 
G Schafer said:
According to Google the 435 is only a couple of years old...
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Yep this one was one year old. Still a ways out but I could already see it's expiration looming.
I picked it up for cheap second hand and cleaned it up and made a decent profit.

Blows me away how great the first line of Weber Genesis gas grills were. Usually in manufacturing when introducing a brand new product from scratch like this there's many changes that need to be made for the second generation. Yet still to this day many of them are going strong and could argueably be the best gas grill ever made.
Of course this is just my opinion
 
Josh Dekubber said:
Yep this one was one year old. Still a ways out but I could already see it's expiration looming.
I picked it up for cheap second hand and cleaned it up and made a decent profit.

Blows me away how great the first line of Weber Genesis gas grills were. Usually in manufacturing when introducing a brand new product from scratch like this there's many changes that need to be made for the second generation. Yet still to this day many of them are going strong and could argueably be the best gas grill ever made.
Of course this is just my opinion
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From what I remember, the gas grills before the Genesis were using lava rocks which collected grease and had flare up problems. Weber went to flavorizer bars instead and that was a great improvement. Weber also went above and beyond in the construction. I believe the frames were powder coated; they used a porcelain coated lid and control panel and they included a quality book of recipes. I remember that my mom bought a Genesis for my dad around '87 and it was way more expensive than the other gas grills of the time. (anyone know what a '87 Genesis cost new?)
Anyway, they just worked! And the rest is history...
Gerry
 
G Schafer said:
From what I remember, the gas grills before the Genesis were using lava rocks which collected grease and had flare up problems. Weber went to flavorizer bars instead and that was a great improvement. Weber also went above and beyond in the construction. I believe the frames were powder coated; they used a porcelain coated lid and control panel and they included a quality book of recipes. I remember that my mom bought a Genesis for my dad around '87 and it was way more expensive than the other gas grills of the time. (anyone know what a '87 Genesis cost new?)
Anyway, they just worked! And the rest is history...
Gerry
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In 1987 I'm not sure but in 1997 about $600 for a Genesis 1000 LX
Screenshot_20241122_150115_Photos.jpg
That was definitely not cheap back then. I would definitely say a very worthwhile investment though
 
John Burns said:
Having spent 10 years (2010-2020) working in the Weber Americas Consumer Care department, your take is spot on. Depending on the time of year, there are dozens of agents all with varying degrees of knowledge depending on the length of their tenure, as well as their own personalities.

The consumer care team is empowered to go above and beyond (within reason), but it can be a very stressful job. We have thousands of SKUs/product models going back 70 years and it can take several years for a representative to become a pro at identifying and troubleshooting each one of them. The learning curve has become even higher in the past 10-15 years as the gas train systems, ignition systems, and most recently Smart/connected systems have become more and more complex.

Also, once you take into account that there is a certain, undesirable breed of consumer out there that can be quite rude and abusive to representatives and it can really change their attitude over the course of a day. They might have been a generous rep at the start of their shift, but after getting cussed out a few times they could become a bit more stingy by the end of that shift. Kindness goes an incredibly long way with how you interact with a consumer care representative.

#Iworkforweber

One more comment I thought of... There's also a breed of consumer that flagrantly abuses our warranty terms. We're already one of the most generous companies when it comes to the length of warranty on our products, as well as how often we cover things that are out of warranty. I can't share any figures, but the amount of no-charge parts we send out every year is substantial. And that is putting it mildly.

Certain consumers try to pass off second hand grills as if they are the original owner, and that is strictly against the warranty terms. The original owner will almost always take much better care of their grill than someone who bought it second hand or picked it up off the curb. But also, we have no idea how well that original owner took care of the grill. Maybe they were lazy and didn't perform any maintenance. Maybe they decided to make modifications to the grill. The bottom line is that second hand grills have no warranty for a variety of reasons, and those that attempt to push around consumer care representatives to get free parts that they are not entitled too can make a representative jaded and untrusting. Especially if they have been subject to corrective action or coaching from their supervisor for providing non-warranty parts for a situation where they were not covered.

There's also the consumer who doesn't do anything to take care of their grill and then want replacement parts for free. That is probably the most common type of consumer who wants free stuff but gets denied. I'd venture to say at least 25%-40% of the consumers I dealt with everyday fell into that category. Example: They have a 4 year old Genesis and want new burners, flavorizer bars, and a new ignition system. But, in talking to them I'd discover they have never cleaned anything below the cooking grates and it's become encrusted in inches worth of grease and debris, which has clogged their burners and trapped so much moisture in the grill that the flavorizer bars are developing holes and their igniters are encased with grease. Technically, none of that would qualify for replacement under warranty since they have not properly maintained the grill.
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That's a brilliant post all around. If I ever had you on the phone, I thank you. I've never had a bad experience with Weber.
 
Josh Dekubber said:
In 1987 I'm not sure but in 1997 about $600 for a Genesis 1000 LX
That was definitely not cheap back then. I would definitely say a very worthwhile investment though
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Thanks for that. I have always thought that my mom's cost for the '87 was around $600. That would have been very expensive back then compared to the other gas grills of the time. I'm guessing that the price for a '87 would have been lower than your $600 receipt.
edit: On closer inspection of your receipt, the grill was $479 plus tax.
Back in '87, maybe $300-400?


Gerry
 
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G Schafer said:
Thanks for that. I have always thought that my mom's cost for the '87 was around $600. That would have been very expensive back then compared to the other gas grills of the time. I'm guessing that the price for a '87 would have been lower than your $600 receipt.

Gerry
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Here's Larry's post talking about how much is 1992 cost. That would be a lot closer.

Post in thread 'Original retail price?' https://tvwbb.com/threads/original-retail-price.87077/post-971557

I bet the $600 price tag that you figured for the grill that your mom bought your dad is probably not too far off
 
G Schafer said:
Thanks for taking the time to look.

Gerry
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Looks like in 1984 they came up with the list price of $400 and other grills at the time were selling from $100 to $129.

Weber Home
Class Of´85: The Creators Of The Genesis


FACING REALITY
As things began to fall into place, Mike named the grill ‘Genesis’, which means creation in Greek. He had a vague feeling that they were on to something big, and that this was the perfect name for the new invention. In 1984, Genesis was ready to be presented to dealers at the McCormick Place, and Mike, in particular was nervous. They had invested a lot in the project – and now it was time to see if it would prevail.

“The interesting thing about the whole process was that we didn’t go after a specific retail price. We said ‘We’re gonna make a really great gas barbecue that’s worthy of the Weber name and whatever it sells for – that’s what it sells for,” Mike says.
“Not telling that to Dad was probably the smartest thing you did,” laughs Jim.

“Well … I figured that if we had something really revolutionary, that really would make consumers happy – then we’d figure out a way to sell it. That may be a crazy way to go about it, but that’s what we did.”

Yet the air was thick with apprehension as it came time for the curtain to fall. An average gas grill cost 100-129 dollars at the time, and Genesis had a retail price of 400 dollars. How would the dealers react?

“At the hardware show we’d take them through the story and they were impressed with it. And then we’d come to the ultimate question ‘Well, how much is it gonna sell for?’ and you’d see their face just drop when we’d say 400 dollars. And they’d say ‘Well, I don’t think it will ever sell.’ But they said one other thing: ‘Do you have some sort of special deal where we can get one for ourselves’. So Jim and I looked at each other and we knew that we had something right going on,” Mike says with a grin.

This reaction was not very different to the one George Stephen encountered back when he presented the kettle grill, so it would take more than that to alarm the team. They set a goal of selling 36,000 models in the first year, and invested lots of energy and resources in achieving this. A brand-new production line was developed so they could eliminate faults, and a teaser campaign was used to inform consumers that Weber had something square on the drawing board for the 1985 season. They reached the goal – 36,000 units were sold.

“And not one of them came back,” Jim adds.
 
I think the durability of the early Genesis grills is mainly due to two reasons. First, materials and craftsmanship. They used good thick steel, used quality paint and materials. Second is that they were just simple grills with little on them to go bad. They didn't have a bunch of electronics and an they were not constructed with a ton of places for moisture to pool up and collect. Now they have a million crevices, seams and flat panels for the water to get into and not want to dry.
 
I agree Bruce. I think part of Weber’s early gas success is similar to my “finding” the gas line after being a dedicated Weber charcoal griller. “Well, they make a damn fine (the best) charcoal grill, maybe the gas grill is legit too?”
 
Well Weber's first line of gas grills was truly a failure. It's why they went back to the drawing board. Kinda like the SmokeFire to the SearWood. Everything I'm seeing is showing the SearWood to be way better overall. Trouble is after so many years of doing things differently but better than other companies they went back to the drawing board and IMO went way backwards
 
I get that Larry. And many, many, many times I have sat and wondered what would happen if Weber put the Genesis Silver B back into production. I can't help but believe they would sell a bunch of them the first year, but after all the nostalgic guys grabbed one, they would have to rely on the millennials and later generations to continue the demand and I just don't think that would work out over the long run. They have to put on the bling and buttons and lights or they won't make it.
 
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