The sad demise of our Cobb Oven (R.I.P.)
Submitted: Thursday, Dec 22, 2005 at 20:32
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Member - Roachie (SA)
I sent an email to Cobb Australia a few days ago and attached the following DRAFT post, prefaced by informing Cobb that I am a frequent contributor to this site and that I would prefer NOT to have to submit this POST to EO.
Perhaps they saw my email as a threat of some sort and refused to be hounded into providing me with a replacement. Whatever their reason, I have not received any response, hence I now feel obliged to get this matter off my chest............
DRAFT POST TO THE
FORUM OF EXPLOROZ.COM:
Dear fellow Exploroz site dwellers,
It is my sad duty to advise you all of the recent demise of our much loved Cobb Oven. This oven was only 18 months old and had had an easy life, having been called upon to
cook no more than about 10 meals. The rest of the time it “lived” in it’s own bag, which in turn, was stored in a cardboard box in the boot of our camper trailer.
The Cobb’s troubles started early on in it’s life when one of the little feet broke off, followed later by the other 2. This made it difficult for the Cobb to “draw” air up from underneath and we had to sit it up on small blocks or stones etc when we wanted to use it.
However, it drew it’s final breath yesterday when Annette was roasting a chook and the whole outer plastic case simply cracked wide open for no apparent reason. This is indeed an unfortunate occurrence and we are now weighing up our options for a suitable replacement.
Can anybody on the
Forum advise us whether the later models of Cobb have addressed these issues, which appear to be centered on the quality of the plastic, being too brittle for the task at hand?
Cheers
Roachie
Reply By: Big Kidz (Andrew & Jen) - Thursday, Dec 22, 2005 at 22:12
Thursday, Dec 22, 2005 at 22:12
Hi Roachie
Sorry to hear about your Cobb. I would imagine that they are just hectic at the moment and have not checked all their emails and that you should contact them by phone. I have heard that in the past they are pretty good. We have a Cobb and we are happy with it.
I would think that a Cobb would be happy to replace your plastic outer. They say that it has a two year warranty on their website. (For a safe, user-friendly, high quality, stainless steel BBQ cooker, Cobb is exceptional value at $199.00 which includes a carry bag and a 2-year warranty.)
There is also a statutory warranty as per the ACCC website that says if something dies within a shorter time that its expected life, the there is an implied warranty. They give an example of a TV that dies after couple of years but is out of warranty - that there is an implied warranty. I am sure that the same applies to Nissans that blow up - not yours of course - but the 3 litre ones.
Anyhow mate, have a happy Christmas
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Follow Up By: AJB - Thursday, Dec 22, 2005 at 22:32
Thursday, Dec 22, 2005 at 22:32
Very true about Nissan. Told me bad luck with
mine. About $8000 to repair. It'll be ready end of Jan. The best thing to come out of it is I now have a much better vehicle. BA one tonner!
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Mad Dog (Australia) - Friday, Dec 23, 2005 at 07:37
Friday, Dec 23, 2005 at 07:37
you got the RV ?
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Reply By: Brian B (QLD) - Thursday, Dec 22, 2005 at 23:57
Thursday, Dec 22, 2005 at 23:57
G'day Roachie,
Sory to hear about the problems.
We got ours about a year ago and it hasn't missed a beat. I suppose it has been used 15 to 20 times for a whole range of cooking. When not in use we store it in its bag in our camper trailer.
Ours is one of thier Mark 2 models which I believe are now made in China. I vaguely remember that when they launched the Cobb Mark 2 it was to try and get on top of some quality and production issues they had with earlier ones.
Mate I think that given the time of year it may be better to give them a yell and see if they will sort it for you. A lot of
places don't process emails as promptly as they should and email always can give some
places an easy out. We've all heard the statement "Oh I never got your email". Put it on them by phone and see if they want to play the game or not.
Hope it all works out for you. Merry Christmas.
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Reply By: Trekkie - Friday, Dec 23, 2005 at 02:05
Friday, Dec 23, 2005 at 02:05
Roachie
I dont know you, but as a businessman if someone threatened my business, I doubt that I would respond in a very affirmative way, although in the end I would assist.
My experience with Cobb has been great - I had a problem with the plastic actually melting and once I was able to get hold of them I had NO PROBLEMS AT ALL in getting a replacement
From recollection I think I got an incorrect email address from their warranty or web (not sure which)
COBB stand by their product, and I cannot say enough good about them
Have a look at some earlier posts on Cobb. In the end customers appear to be satisfied.
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Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Friday, Dec 23, 2005 at 14:50
Friday, Dec 23, 2005 at 14:50
G'day Trekkie,
Having worked for the NAB for 35 years I have become used to the concept of people complaining about everything and anything.....in customer service you just have to (a) grin and bear it, (b) show empathy (like "I know how you must feel, I'd be the same if the same thing happened to me" etc.....this is called calming the situation down),
(c) make a decision........do you want to keep this client or tell the to POQ?......If the former, then you need to negotiate a deal OR just provide the client with what they're seeking. If the latter, then you tell them "sorry, nothing I can do for you, too bad" and then hope to christ they don't have a wide circle of friends (like here on EO for example) that they can some influence upon.
As I said above....I'm used to bearing the brunt of other people's displeasure, so I have no compunction about doing the same to a supplier of goods or
services to whom I have paid out some of my hard-earned dosh.
Whether they choose to appease me or tell me to POQ doesn't really matter to me, so I'm happy to wait and see what happens next.
have a great Christmas champ,
Roachie
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Reply By: MikeyS - Friday, Dec 23, 2005 at 14:01
Friday, Dec 23, 2005 at 14:01
Nup, not fair Roachie. Giving them only a couple of days before Christmas to respond, with no proof that they have actually read your email. Are you sure there isn't a replacement already in the mail to you? And coupling your email with what can only be a threat, which some would say you have been too keen to publish,is not the best way to resolve the matter. I'd be up before a disciplinary board if I handled my client's disputes that way.
No doubt you will be just as diligent in publishing a happy ending to this story (assuming there is one) once Cobb have had a reasonable opportunity to address the issues. All
too easy to destroy a reputation, and hard to recover once lost.
Just my opinion, m'learned friend.
I'm sure the turkey would've been good in the Cobb.
Cheers MikeyS
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Friday, Dec 23, 2005 at 15:01
Friday, Dec 23, 2005 at 15:01
Thanks Mikey,
I'll copy and paste a response I just did which appears above, but which may not otherwise come across:
>
>
Having worked for the NAB for 35 years I have become used to the concept of people complaining about everything and anything.....in customer service you just have to (a) grin and bear it, (b) show empathy (like "I know how you must feel, I'd be the same if the same thing happened to me" etc.....this is called calming the situation down),
(c) make a decision........do you want to keep this client or tell the to POQ?......If the former, then you need to negotiate a deal OR just provide the client with what they're seeking. If the latter, then you tell them "sorry, nothing I can do for you, too bad" and then hope to christ they don't have a wide circle of friends (like here on EO for example) that they can some influence upon.
As I said above....I'm used to bearing the brunt of other people's displeasure, so I have no compunction about doing the same to a supplier of goods or
services to whom I have paid out some of my hard-earned dosh.
Whether they choose to appease me or tell me to POQ doesn't really matter to me, so I'm happy to wait and see what happens next.
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Gerhardp1 - Friday, Dec 23, 2005 at 16:51
Friday, Dec 23, 2005 at 16:51
Having worked for 35 years in customer service in an Australian bank would certainly have educated you in how customers are there to be scr#wed.
I'm surprised that you have not learned how to approach a company for service after you have had that much training.
In my experience, you tend to get what you expect to get in these situations - you expected no response and were ready with a nasty threat, and presto you got no response. Others have posted that they got good service from the same people.
I'd just wait until the next show where they are demonstrating and selling their product and get yours replaced, or you can stand there holding your broken one for all the potential customers to see. Don't be threatening, though, or they will be within their rights to have security remove you.
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Reply By: Member - Pesty (SA) - Friday, Dec 23, 2005 at 17:00
Friday, Dec 23, 2005 at 17:00
Jeeezzzzz mate your on the boil today, thought you had millions of dollar's of work to do for the boss ! but you are obviously bored, poor bastards at cobb are probably hiding under a table in the back office with you chasin them?
Did you tell them that you ran over it with the 4.5 ton trol, cos the chicken wasnt quite dead??? LOL
Im sure they will come good if you give them half a chance, so go out into the sick bay and take a couple of valium and have a lie down.
Thats the trouble with you trol owners your always on edge! LOL
OK mate Cheers and see you shortly , Pesty
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Reply By: fozzy - Friday, Dec 23, 2005 at 21:03
Friday, Dec 23, 2005 at 21:03
roachie
hope they come good with replacement
been thinking about getting one myself but alot of money to
cook a decent pizza late at night-shovel in fire woorks fine at moment
certainly nothing wrong with pointing out problem with yours-lets us all know potential problem.
what differentiates a good supplier from the rogues is what they do when there is a problem with the product(it can happen to the best of products) and how quick it takes to replace tyhe faulty item.
in the past have heard of some good reports from cobb,
certainly keep us posted with your result-im sure there will be quite a few people waiting to see your result
cheers
fozzy
ps-should only be a matter of timer til u receive your replacement part
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