I have to say that Weber is an amazing company. When I bought our Weber Genesis E-310 grill a few years ago, we spent quite a bit more money than other no-name grills that had similar size. I’m extremely happy that we went with the Weber, especially after dealing with their customer service.
On Memorial Day, my wife is doing the grilling and she says that the lid (I learned it is called the “shroud”) won’t stay upright when open, and it falls all the way back. I take a look to see what the problem is and I discover that the “cookbox” has cracked by the hinges where the tabs from the shroud are supposed to rest on the cookbox. As a result, the little tabs have nothing to rest against and the lid falls all the way back. I’m guessing this area cracked because my wife, being on the short side, may have let the lid “fall back” because she couldn’t reach all the way up to open the lid. You can see the picture to the left.
After this happened, I figured I’d have to order a new part, or just replace the grill. I looked up Weber’s customer support phone number (800-446-1041) and on Monday night of Memorial Day, I called the number figuring I’d get a message with some information, and I’d call back on Tuesday. To my surprise, a very pleasant woman (without an accent) answered, and this was at around 9pm at night!! I was shocked to say the least. I went ahead and explained what happened, and gave her my information. She already had my grill on file because they sent us a new igniter kit last year (no cost to us). She was able to tell exactly which part was broken and said that they would send out a new cookbox, which we should receive in a few days. The grill is probably about 5 years old. Looking on the website now, it does look like Weber warranties the cookbox, lid assembly, and burner tubes for 10 years. The grates and flavorizer bars are warrantied for 5 years, and all other parts for 2 years. I guess we were lucky that they sent us the igniter kit for free.
As I was told, the cookbox arrived in a few days. The instructions were very clear and looking it over, I thought I’d have to spend an entire day disassembling and reassembling the grill. It turns out I was able to do the repair in about 90 minutes, taking my time. I did have to pretty much take the entire grill apart and then reassemble it, but the instructions and the design made it easy to do.
I’m guessing Memorial Day is a big day for Weber, but I am still shocked they had someone available on their support phone that late on a holiday. Bottom line – excellent customer service and they have a customer for life!
I agree you on Weber products and customer service. I had my cookbox actually melt and blow out a hole on one side. 8 years old. They sent a new cookbox free, no shipping and a new igniter as well. Great service on the phone. Love my Genesis.
I googled this problem because I have it. The bolts passing thru the shroud cover and cook box holes that forms the hinge were hopelessly corroded, broken and impossible to remove from the hole.
They are sending me a new cook box and shroud cover and I am crossing my fingers that we can reassemble it. Thanks for the hope. We always buy Weber because of the customer service and replaceability of parts. It is a hassle, but so much better than throwing it in the landfill. All of this would not be necessary if Weber would use a better Bolt that doesn’t corrode in the first place. You’d think it would save them money on all the replacement parts they have to send out.
It was not too complicated to disassemble and reassemble. Just follow the directions. I used a large space to lay out the parts as I removed them, so it was easy to figure out the order for putting them back together. You would think if they keep getting complaints, eventually they would fix the problem. Perhaps they haven’t been able to figure out a better long term solution. They have been a great company when it comes to customer support. I rarely want to pay extra for a claim of good customer support, but when it comes to grills, I can’t imagine buying or recommending anything other than Weber, even with the premium price.
I have a 300 series SS natural gas grill and received a new SS grill cover which had the issue with the broken hinge bolts and today, as I tried to remove the right side that was rusted but not broken, I found it to be broken too. My Rep at Weber has a new cookbox on its way to me too. this is my second expensive Weber Natural Gas Grill and I’ve had 4 kettles, have a Q grill and the Kettle grill with the cookstation too. Weber had my Summit grill picked up and rebuilt by Leader Ace Hardware, FRG, IL and re-delivered to me-basically a NEW grill. My Father is using that same grill today and it’s about 18 years old and he’s only done a minor rebuild of burners I think. I can’t wait to get mi 300 back together and start cookin’ w/ Weber Gas again soon!
My grill did the exact same thing yesterday ! Contacted Weber and they had me send photo of defect, hopefully I get a free cookbook as well.
I had the exact same problem as noted above. Without any pain or hassle, they are sending me a new cookbox — wonderful customer service @ Weber!
My Genesis 1000 grill has a cracked cook box as well, but is nearly 20 years old so Weber has no cookbox replacement nor do any of the grill parts retailers. I am seeking a company willing and able to braze or weld the cast aluminum in the area around New York City and Long Island. The grill is a wonderful product but the casting was damaged by my efforts to remove the cheap clevis pins used to connect the shroud (grill cover-lid) to the firebox after they became rusted and near impossible to extract for the purpose of refurbishing the old grill. .
I had the exact same problem – broken cook box by the hinge. I registered my grill on their site a few years back and had replaced burners, cross-tubes, flavorer bars… Called up Weber at least looking for how much the part would be as purchased in 2009. He told me still under warranty – apparently shroud and aluminum cast parts on my model are warranted for 25 years! Waiting for my new cookbook, hardware and instructions and have never regretted buying a Weber!