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View Full Version : Buyer Beware: PC Signiture Series Propane & Natural Gas BBQ's



omalak
08-06-2011, 06:40 PM
Summer is starting to come to an end, that means Real Canadaian Super Store is starting to mark down all their summer items.

Some items that may catch the eye of many are the Signiture Series BBQ's sold under the Presidents Choice Label. At first glance these BBQ's look awesome, fully stainless steel, cabinets and a host of other add on's that can entice anyone to purchase.

All bbq's seem to be marked down anywhere from 200-400 dollars.

So my story beings on June 28, 2011

Me and my dad walked into RCSS by Scarborough Town Centre. We saw a whole host of BBQ's on sale, plus there was a no tax event going on. We decided to purchase the biggest bbq they had, 75,000 BTU with side burner, searing burner, infra red burner and a rotisserie. The price was amazing at only 409 with no tax, the regular price being 799.

And so the fun begins.....

Brought home the BBQ, it took about 4 hours to build (no joke) took it out connected the propane tank and as i turned on the line i heard hissing and fumes of propane! Never a good sign. I proceeded to do the water test on all my connections, everything was fine.

Turns out the leaking propaner connection was in the main burner box (piping predone from tubing), having no access to the inner parts of the burner box I decided to call the help line as the BBQ said "Do not take back" please call support.

I called the support line, and of course you get nobody on the line and are forced to leave a voicemail. I managed to leave a voice mail. a day went by, then 2, then three, about a week and a half later i got a call from the company, at 10am, i missed the call as i was in a meeting at work. I tried to call back and got the same voicemail system, only this time the box was full!. 3 days went on and i kept tring to call to no avail.

My dad decided to partly dismantle and take this thing back to the superstore. Took it back, they apologized for the issue and gave us a new one. In the process my dad went to the back and noticed there were about 9-10 bbq;s in the back that had been returned by customers.

Anyhow, got the new BBQ great, rebuilt it, another 4 hours of my life gone.. put it together. First thing i noticed was that the rotisserie was missing! then a screw to hold in the light was missing, then i realized one of the rails for the cabinet drawers was actually welding on the WRONG WAY from the factory.. called Supersotre again, apologized again and gave us the right parts.

The supervisor stated if there are any other issues just bring it back for a refund, my dad agreed, and said, " I am going to test it out, if it doesn;t cook right i will bring it right back"

So last week we finally get to try out the BBQ we bought in June. and what do you know! The POS has uneven heat distribution! The flames all looked good and even, but measuring the heat with a temp gun and there were huge variances on the grilling surface! i am talking 50-90 degree celcius differences.

So we decide we are just going to take this thing back! Called the supervisor mid week, he said sure bring it back..

Ok we head on over to RCSS today, Supervisor is not in.. We speak to the associate who is acting as an intermidiary for the manager, and they are refusing to return it because we cooked on it once!

Manager comes out as my dad threatens to go to head office over this. At this point my dad is livid and is like, i don't even want my money just keep this junk. At the end of it we did get our money back.

So moral of the story... STAY AWAY FROM RCSS BBQ's

After doing some digging online i found out that the BBQ's are built by a company called Shinerich.. a chinese company. The build quality on these things is also garbage, there are numerous sharp edges around the corners and just overall bad build quality.

If you are looking for a good looking 400 dollar paper weight for the deck, this is the best useless cooking machine you can get.

If you want a functional bbq just stay away and invest in a good Broilking or a Webber.

;)

Osman

SonicBoy
08-06-2011, 09:16 PM
Proves the old saying "if the price is too good to be true, it normally is".

What an ordeal. I'm sure you can find a good Broil King/Webber on sale at HD/Lowes/Rona shortly.

omalak
08-06-2011, 10:57 PM
I knew it was too good to be true, but I gave it a shot only because PC branded it. I have generally had a good experience with their branded items in terms of outdoor items.

But never again... Spend the money for a good bbq and keep it for life!

bluewhitefatwhale
08-06-2011, 11:06 PM
Thanks for sharing. I saw that deal and I would've given it a shot too. lol. :)

Shawn
08-06-2011, 11:18 PM
Just make sure you avoid the chinese made webbers too then.

Thrizzl3
08-06-2011, 11:55 PM
just happy my store doesn't sell me BBQ's anymore. thank god!

-cj-
08-07-2011, 02:25 AM
I had a similar problem. Father in law bought us a crazy PC stainless BBQ for a house warming gift. The stupid thing got surface rust within 2-3 months. It was covered everyday! They told us we simply had to sand it off...... I was disappointed, since I've owned stainless steel BBQs before, as did my father in law, and never did they show any rust or require light sanding to keep clean.

Jackal
08-07-2011, 07:18 AM
Thanks for sharing Omalak. Sounds like a big waste of time.
We got a Weber about 3 years ago and no problems. I don't think there was any major assembly other than hooking up the propane tank.

Scottobot
08-07-2011, 09:24 AM
Thanks for the heads-up.. I might be in the market for a BBQ during the end-o'-season sell-off and I'll be avoiding these now!

breakfasteatre
08-07-2011, 11:08 AM
just looking at the bbqs on display that havent even been used to cook anything and its pretty apparent the quality is shit. sorry to hear all the problems you had