Weber warranty


 
H

Horace P

TVWBB Member
I have been buying or picking up from the side of roads webers and refurbishing and reselling for about 6 years now and have done at the least 500 of almost all. Within the last year by word-of-mouth people have asked me to do warranty work on theirs. I would show the customer how to register their grill online, if it was still within the warranty period of when they purchased and weber would send them the parts and I do the repairs. Most people don't keep their receipts some do but weber never cared. Now they do, and understand its business. However today even with a receipt they will not warranty a weber that has rust or corrosion caused by salt air or pool chlorine. I live in Florida. I took the matter up with a second Level supervisor and still they will not cover it. Sad to see weber drop to that level.
 

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So how do they know the corrosion was caused by salt air or chlorine? All of their newer grills get rusty anyways and they know it. Unless they can prove you live on the coast I don't see how they can deny a claim for that.
 
Hi Horace!
Glad to hear you are keeping things moving down in Florida. There were certainly a lot of premature grill losses due to that salt air.

I think Weber is facing serious financial pressure and is looking to get warrantee costs contained. That’s never welcome news for consumers, of course. I think in the old days, Weber built grills well enough that they could afford to be generous to those who had problems. Now, they are built with thinner and cheaper materials as I am sure you are familiar with from working on newer models compared to the “classic” earlier Genesis grills. So, warranty issues are going to abound while Weber faces so much pressure from off brands and declining store floor space being offered to them. It’s a tough dilemma to be sure.
 
Steve Hoch said:
So how do they know the corrosion was caused by salt air or chlorine? All of their newer grills get rusty anyways and they know it. Unless they can prove you live on the coast I don't see how they can deny a claim for that.
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They just assume if you live in Florida the air is salty
 
Jon Tofte said:
Hi Horace!
Glad to hear you are keeping things moving down in Florida. There were certainly a lot of premature grill losses due to that salt air.

I think Weber is facing serious financial pressure and is looking to get warrantee costs contained. That’s never welcome news for consumers, of course. I think in the old days, Weber built grills well enough that they could afford to be generous to those who had problems. Now, they are built with thinner and cheaper materials as I am sure you are familiar with from working on newer models compared to the “classic” earlier Genesis grills. So, warranty issues are going to abound while Weber faces so much pressure from off brands and declining store floor space being offered to them. It’s a tough dilemma to be sure.
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The worst are the spirit ii and Genesis ii, most of the rust out on the bottom slats and front and rear frame, not to mention the firebox warps, I have seen several of them. I just tell people know who ask me about Weber to avoid any of those models, they are just cheap junk. My current project is an old redhead Gen 1000 with the 13 flavor bars. Needs all new wood and guts but the cart and all else are in great shape.
 
Jon Tofte said:
Hi Horace!
Glad to hear you are keeping things moving down in Florida. There were certainly a lot of premature grill losses due to that salt air.

I think Weber is facing serious financial pressure and is looking to get warrantee costs contained. That’s never welcome news for consumers, of course. I think in the old days, Weber built grills well enough that they could afford to be generous to those who had problems. Now, they are built with thinner and cheaper materials as I am sure you are familiar with from working on newer models compared to the “classic” earlier Genesis grills. So, warranty issues are going to abound while Weber faces so much pressure from off brands and declining store floor space being offered to them. It’s a tough dilemma to be sure.
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This is going to happen more frequently than not with major manufacturers. I worked 25 years for one of the oldest(93yrs) window and door companies in the USA and for many years they would warranty products that were clearly out of warranty as customer good will. Times change and tighten and they about face and begin to hold to the warranty, tightly hold. Gonna see a lot more too.
 
Horace P said:
The worst are the spirit ii and Genesis ii, most of the rust out on the bottom slats and front and rear frame, not to mention the firebox warps, I have seen several of them. I just tell people know who ask me about Weber to avoid any of those models, they are just cheap junk. My current project is an old redhead Gen 1000 with the 13 flavor bars. Needs all new wood and guts but the cart and all else are in great shape.
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I don’t live by the ocean, and that may be the difference but I respectfully disagree, the open cart design on the Spirit 2 and Genesis 2 is far superior to the cabinet style spirit and genesis models. The closed cabinet models retain moisture and rot from the inside out. I’ve seen hundreds of examples of that. I have a Spirit 2 on my deck and it doesn’t have a spec of rust after 5 years of year-round exposure to the elements. The series 2’s also have Webers ten year ‘lid to wheels’ warranty that covers every single part of the grill, including maintenance items - grates, flavorizer bars, electronics, etc. This 10 warranty was only offered on the Series 2’s.
 
Jason Godard said:
I don’t live by the ocean, and that may be the difference but I respectfully disagree, the open cart design on the Spirit 2 and Genesis 2 is far superior to the cabinet style spirit and genesis models. The closed cabinet models retain moisture and rot from the inside out. I’ve seen hundreds of examples of that. I have a Spirit 2 on my deck and it doesn’t have a spec of rust after 5 years of year-round exposure to the elements. The series 2’s also have Webers ten year ‘lid to wheels’ warranty that covers every single part of the grill, including maintenance items - grates, flavorizer bars, electronics, etc. This 10 warranty was only offered on the Series 2’s.
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I agree with @Jason Godard. Certainly the open cart design is less prone to rust than are the cabinet base models. However, I am reluctant to jump on the, "they don't make them like they used to" bandwagon quite yet with the series II lines.
Newer doesn't always mean better but it doesn't always mean worse either.
I recently acquired a Genesis II E-325,² that I believe is from 2019 production. It stood on the deck of a neighboring beach house near ours for 2+years, 35 yards or so from Cape May County NJ's back bay, a truly harsh salt air environment. It was there for 2-3 years and I found no rust on it when I took ownership (trash picked it from the curb), cleaned it up and replaced the missing drip pan tray and hood hinge pins.
I've owned several Webers prior to that over the years. I also own a circa 2002 or so Broilmaster P3. I don't even know what Broilmaster's warranty is but the components are cast aluminum and 304 stainless but for the internals. Although, starting price points for comparative Broilmaster grills are significantly higher than Weber grills. I would say a different target market/demographic too.
Yes the closed cabinet models were very prone to rust. However, I did notice on this newer Genesis II that the interior shelves have a small gap of approximately 3/8" where the shelves meet the vertical support panels. Yes it saves a fraction on material costs, but it also is a design improvement that promotes drainage of water and improves air flow in that cabinet interior. Will this change alone eliminate cabinet rusting issues? Likely not entirely but it is a definite improvement and could add years to the life of the grill. I'll snap a picture later.
As far as "cheapening" the quality of the firebox...yeah...that's fairytale speculation based on random anecdotal evidence at best. But how many posts here ask about or speak to warped fireboxes on newer generation Webers? I submit very, very few, if any.
Of course a mid-90s Genesis or earlier that has either been well cared for or carefully restored will stand the test of time...the II series Genesis and Spirit lines haven't been afforded the luxury of time to prove their potential longevity.
 
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Here's a picture of the gap I mentioned previously. Potential for rust still? Sure...likely some in there now. But a design improvement? Absolutely. As I recall, the metal cabinet base and shelves went flush in direct contact with the vertical sides. I know on the 2013 Spirit S-210 that I restored twice, that was in fact the case and also where the rust gained foothold and spread ultimately destroying the base.
 

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I agree. Gone are the days that you will see users post up about a Genesis grill that is 20 years old and starting to show signs of rust. That pretty much ended with the end of the Silver/Gold B/C era in 2005. Now, by that time, the grills have complete sections rusted out and are likely no longer stable. Sure, there will be a few that survive that long without catastrophic rust, but gone are the days that a little grinding, priming and repainting will ensure another decade or more of faithful service.
 
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