What would you do? (Smoker warranty issue)

Hi Y’all.

I bought my OG Grilla June of 2022. I used it many times that summer and it is a killer unit! During this time I talked to a rep and he was amazing to get advice from.

Fall of 2022, just 3 months later, I started having very serious health issues. I had a baseball sized brain tumor and spent 2023 having major brain surgery and recovering. They removed half my skull and a quarter of my facial bones to get it out. Recovery was long and hard. I also have serious inoperable back issues. Brain surgery left me with neurological damage.

June of this year, we get the grill out and moved it to the outdoor covered kitchen. I did some minor cleaning, and my OG was back in business! I had missed it for a year and a half!

After 2 cooks, I had powder coating flaking off all over the place. I never went above 325°, mostly stayed at 220°. I know this wasn’t a high burn situation. During the 3rd cook it became worse. I took photos and emailed the rep from before. No response.

I then emailed the general company and sent photos, and said I had an expert look at it, which is true, and he said because of all the bubbling under the powder coating from rust spreading, there’s not much you can do except blast the coating all off and have it redone.

I got a generic response to my email that said they need my name, address, email, and phone number, and the make and model number of the unit. In the meanwhile, you will be contacted by a representative.

I wasn’t contacted by a representative. I suffer from short term memory loss now, and the trial went cold because of it after that.

A couple days ago, when I remembered, I responded to the generic email with all my information and even gave them the serial number of the unit. I explained I wasn’t contacted back by a rep, and I wanted to get this back on track.

The reply I got was, well, a non response and felt like a “So there” instead of help.

“It looks like we responded a long time ago asking you to confirm your address so we can ship the parts to you. But I don't see a response to this email.”

I don’t get why that was the response with zero follow up on if they are going to help me or not? It just seemed unnecessarily cold with the “a long time ago”. Not even a hello or anything! The screenshot of the response for the email sent last June was pasted in the email. I have included it in a photo, but it says,

“We have changed websites over so you will need to make a new account. I am going to send you a new revolving lid and the touch up paint we use. I
would lightly sand those spots you see and give it two coats of the paint I send.”

I searched my email from the date of the screenshot they sent me and I don’t have that email. I never got it. It went to the Ether.

So there’s the issue. Do these areas look like they can be fixed (especially the lower base side) with a “light sand and touch up paint”? The Great Google says hell to the nope. It’ll look like a bad camo job. Now the rust is now bubbling worse around all those areas in the photo.

Do you feel this is making good on the warranty? I’m disabled and in a wheelchair half the time. I have tremors from the brain surgery and it’s painful to lean forward to do anything repetitive. I don’t have an internal Bob Villa to invoke. And my husband is not handy. He’s a tech nerd. I personally feel this isn’t a project I should have to handle because it was a bad powder coat job. Even the inside “bowl” when I got it had patches of missing paint showing the metal exposed. I was told at the time I won’t even notice once it starts to be used.

Is his response and solution valid, or what should I say?

I appreciate the feedback.