Huskee can you help?
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Club Member
- Mar 2020
- 4277
- Near Chicago, IL
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Current Portfolio:
Joule
PK300
Meathead’s Large Big Green Egg Loaded (see below)
Old (sold) Loves:
PBC
Weber 22" Premium
Masterbuilt Gravity 560
Akorn Kamado
Thermometers:
Thermopro wired
Thermoworks POP
Combustion Inc
Preferred Charcoal:
Masterbuilt Lump
Favorite Rubs:
Homemade (mainly MMD/Just Like Katz rub)
Other Accessories:
Big Green Egg Slow & Sear
Tandoori Skewers System for BGE
Split ceramic plates BGE
Smoking plate BGE
Mercer brisket slicing knife
Rapala brisket trimming knife
SS BBQ trays
NoCry Cut Resistant Gloves
LEM # 8 Meat Grinder
Lodge 5-Quart Dutch Oven + Skillet
Meat Claws
Grill Rescue Brush
Meat Fridge for dry aging
Favorite Whiskey/Beer:
Anything Peaty or anything from New Holland brewery
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My email to Ted Conrad:
Good morning Mr. Conrad,
I purchased a FireBoard 2 Drive directly from FireBoard on May 23rd. When it arrived, I observed that there was foreign material between the protective case and the screen. I also subsequently observed in testing the unit that in spite of a fully charged battery it would not power a Pit Viper fan. I contacted FireBoard. I was told that I would receive a new replacement unit. The replacement was sent standard USPS even though I had paid originally for FedEx two day shipping. When the unit arrived I was surprised not to see a retail package but an unremarkable cardboard box with a FireBoard 2 Drive wrapped in paper and bubble wrap. I booted up the unit and immediately noticed that the LCD screen and LED lights were dim. The graphic display was different. The INFO section indicated that I was sent a unit that had an older version of the firmware, 3.0.10. The original one I received had 3.1.14. I attempted to add this unit to the APP but it would not pair. I noticed that the Serial # in the firmware did not match the Serial # on the back of the unit. It appears that this unit was a refurbished unit. It was the Memorial Day weekend so all I could do was send emails and pictures and wait. I packed the units up for return to FireBoard. On Tuesday, I received an email from Hayden Phillips. She apologized for what had occurred. She insisted that these were not refurbished units. She agreed to refund my money minus the shipping even though you had never sent me a new functioning unit. A reasonable response from a customer service standpoint would have been to offer to overnight me a factory new unit at your cost. That did not happen. This was a very disheartening experience. You have many devoted followers in the BBQ community who were shocked to learn of this experience. I would like to know your thoughts on this experience and offer you the opportunity to make things right.
Sincerely,
Scott A Berger
I'll let you know what response I receive.
ThanksLast edited by Truckbutt; June 2, 2021, 07:52 AM.
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Good email. I contrast this with the experience I had with Thermoworks where they replied within the hour on a weekend, we did some back and forth troubleshooting on what was happening, they said it sounded like water damage and sent me a new base unit. Free. They even paid to ship it. No questions about whether I'd done something to damage the unit, no "please send the damaged unit back" nada.
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Thermoworks is a lot bigger company that can afford to just send out replacements and eat some scams and user at fault issues along the way. I’m not suggesting Fireboard’s actions in this case seem at all proper or that anything the OP is doing is fishy, but it does seem fair a smaller company might have a few more steps in the process to protect margins. They should absolutely make him whole on defective products. It’s just easier for larger companies to send out free replacements.
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glitchy - true, but it was also the attitude. No attempt to lay blame, etc. If they'd asked me to ship the bad base station back, I'd have been fine with that.
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Administrator
- May 2014
- 18992
- Clare, Michigan area
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Follow me on Instagram, huskeesbarbecue
Smokers / Grills- Yoder loaded Wichita offset smoker
- PBC
- Grilla Silverbac pellet grill
- Slow 'N Sear Deluxe Kamado (SnSK)
- Masterbuilt Gravity 560
- Masterbuilt Digital Charcoal Cabinet
- Weber 22" Original Kettle Premium (copper)
- Weber 26" Original Kettle Premium (light blue)
- Weber Jumbo Joe Gold (18.5")
- Weber Smokey Joe Silver (14.5")
- Brinkmann cabinet charcoal smoker (repurposed)
Thermometers- SnS 500 4-probe wireless
- (3) Maverick XR-50 4-probe Wireless Thermometers
- A few straggler Maverick ET-732s
- Maverick ET-735 Bluetooth (in box)
- Smoke X4 by ThermoWorks
- Thermapen MkII, orange & purple
- ThermoPop, yellow, plus a few more in a drawer for gifts
- ThermoWorks ChefAlarm (wife's)
- Morpilot 6-probe wireless
- ThermoWorks Infrared IRK2
- ThermoWorks fridge & freezer therms as well
Accessories- Instant Pot 6qt
- Anova Bluetooth SV
- Kitchen Aide mixer & meat grinder attachment
- Kindling Cracker King (XL)
- a couple BBQ Dragons
- Weber full & half chimneys, Char-Broil Half Time chimney
- Weber grill topper
- Slow 'N Sear Original, XL, and SnS Charcoal Basket (for Jumbo Joe)
- Drip 'N Griddle Pans, 22' Easy Spin Grate, and Elevated Cooking grate, by SnSGrills
- Pittsburgh Digital Moisture Meter
Beverages- Favorite summer beers: Leinenkugels Summer & Grapefruit Shandy, Hamm's, Michelob Ultra Pure Gold
- Fav other beers: Zombie Dust (an IPA by 3 Floyd's Brewing), Austin Bros IPA, DAB, Sam Adams regular, Third Shift amber or Coors Batch 19, Stella Artois
- Fav cheap beers: Pabst, High Life, Hamm's & Stroh's
- Most favorite beer: The one in your fridge
- Wine: Red- big, bold, tannic & peppery- Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauv, Sangiovese, Syrah, etc
- Whiskey: Buffalo Trace, E.H. Taylor, Blanton's, Old Forester 1870, Elijah Craig Toasted, Basil Hayden's. Neat please.
- Scotch: Current favorite- The Arran (anything by them), Glenmorangie 12yr Lasanta, sherry cask finished. The Balvenie Double Wood, also like Oban 18yr, and The Glenlivet Nadurra (Oloroso sherry cask finished) among others. Neat please.
About me
Real name: Aaron
Location: Farwell, Michigan- near Clare. (dead center of lower peninsula)
Occupation:- Healthcare- Licensed & Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) at MyMichigan Health, a University of Michigan Health System.
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Ted Conrad responded to my email last night. He apologized for what transpired. He has offered to send me a new unit. I accepted that offer but only after we agreed first on what "new" meant. He acknowledged that I may have been sent a refurbished unit in error. I have not heard back since I emailed my acceptance. I appreciate all the feedback and offers of assistance.
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This has just come to my attention. I happen to know Ted was on the road for a while (here in Chicago). That may be why he didn't reply ASAP. I was prepared to reach out on your behalf but it sounds like it is under control. Let me know if I can do anything.
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I received the new unit, FedEx overnight from FireBoard with a note from Ted Conrad as well as some swag and a couple of competition probes. It booted up and paired fine, but there is an issue with the backlight and LCD. The LCD flickers and just cuts off. The screen flickers. I contacted FireBoard and spoke to one of the developers. It seems this one may have a bad LCD cable. The saga continues.Last edited by Truckbutt; June 4, 2021, 02:06 PM.
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Club Member
- Jun 2019
- 1558
- Bobcaygeon, Ontario
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My gear:
22 Weber Kettle
Napoleon PRO Charcoal Kettle Grill
Broil King Keg
Traeger Pro 34
Napoleon Prestige Pro 500
Pit Barrel Cooker
Blackstone Range Combo Griddle
Just to provide a counterpoint here, and I'm glad that things seem to have been resolved for you Truckbutt, I just had a very positive experience with them. I pre-ordered the Fireboard 2 Drive last May and received it on June 11th of last year. Last weekend when plugging a probe into port #1, the port came loose and dropped inside of the unit. I wasn't sure if I was going to pursue a warranty claim given the fact that I'm almost out of warranty and that I'd need to ship the unit from Canada back to the US but decided that it was worth at least an email today. Fireboard responded right away indicating that they would honour my received date for the start of the warranty and asked me to ship the unit back to them. I let them know that given the international shipping, I was just going to live with only 5 ports. They replied right back stating that they had cc'd their Canadian distributor with instructions to send me out a replacement unit and for them to handle returning the broken one to the US. Very impressed aside from the fact that they actually had not cc'd the Canadian distributor, but I do that kind of thing all them time, and they have since corrected that problem.
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Since my email to Ted Conrad people have been bending over backwards to be helpful. Now the issue is getting a unit without issues. I just received an email verifying that the unit I returned was examined and had a bad fan controller. There is an issue with the latest unit backlight dropping out, intermittent non cyclical screen refresh, and turning itself off. They are overnighting me another unit.Last edited by Truckbutt; June 4, 2021, 05:03 PM.
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Maybe the problem is trying to pack WiFi, Bluetooth, Fan Controller/Temperature Control, and 6 probe inputs into one unit for $250 and still make a profit? Flameboss is over $350. My experience thus far:
1st unit: Bad fan controller.
2nd unit: mismatched serial numbers, unable to pair Bluetooth, old firmware..
3rd unit: shuts off on its own, backlight faulty, LCD erratically refreshes.
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Club Member
- May 2021
- 208
- Springfield Virginia (DC area)
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Favorites: Pastrami; Pork Ribs
Cookers: Medium Big Green Egg; Older Weber Genesis 3
Current Favorite Lump Charcoal: Rockwood
Favorite Commercial Rub: Dizzy Pig IPA hops infused (Dizzy Pig Raging River a close second)
Most requested side dish: Stir fried green beans with soy sauce and garlic
Favorite non-cooking activity - listening to music
Region: Currently Norther Virginia/DC area. I grew up in Southern NY and have spent a lot of Time in Northeast Ohio
All I can say is that the majority of warranties state that "unit will be repaired or replaced at the manufacturer's discretion". Some even stat the replacmeent we be new or used (again at the manufacturer's discretion. The longer the warranty period the more likely they will be sending a refurbished unit versus a new unit.
All that said, the refurbished units *should* certainly have th elatest firmware and be in good clean and working condition. D'oh!
I did work for a company that occasionally "re-virginated" units and sold them as new, but that is a rare practice.
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As promised, Jason at FireBoard shipped and FedEx delivered a new unit today, #4. So far so good (knocking wood as I type this.) This has been a very unusual retail experience. FireBoard has taken computer geek/high tech approach rather than a standard retail approach to their product. They deliver a lot of technology in a small package that is constantly being fiddled with, and updated. Most retail manufacturers limit features to create devices that are easily made in large numbers with the fewest number of returns.
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First cook with FireBoard 2 Drive: Whole chicken, hung with hooks dark meat down, WSM 18.5, lump charcoal, few wood chips, high heat. The skin was golden brown and the meat was juicy and tender throughout. The meat probe was in a breast. I was going to use the a fan but the Drive stops at 350. I realized afterwards that I could have just gone by manual control and tested what % fan worked.
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