Cabela's, do you care about your customers at all? (BAD experience with meat grinder.)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

For Christmas, I got a Cabela’s hand-cranked meat grinder, but didn’t get around to taking it out of the box until today. I had high hopes for this meat grinder, as I had often seen it in the Cabela’s catalog and thought it looked great.

Here is what it is supposed to look like, according to Cabela’s.

When I opened the box, the first thing I noticed was that the manual, warranty card and other information were crushed, folded and torn. Here is a picture I took of them. Does Cabela’s really care so little about their products that they would send me important information in such a sorry state?

The small plastic bag containing the sausage stuffer attachment and other accessories was also in awful condition, with rips and tears all over the place. This is what it looked like, exactly as it was when I took it from the box - the plastic attachment is actually protruding from a hole in the ripped-up bag.

But whatever, I thought - that’s an entirely secondary concern. I took out the meat grinder. Heavy, cast-iron, seems solidly built, I thought. I took the crank and began to attach it to the grinder.

I couldn’t do it. It actually wouldn’t fit at all. The nut on the end of the grinder’s auger shaft did not remotely fit through the socket at the end of the crank. See for yourself. There was NO WAY to get the thing through - no way at all. It was simply too large and misshapen to fit. I can only assume they sent me a crank intended for a different device.

The “icing” on the shit cake, though, was this - and I still absolutely cannot believe how egregious it is. The handle on the crank is made of the absolute shittiest, dirtiest, most wretched-looking, totally fucked-up piece of wood I have ever seen - ever seen attached to a tool. Even at an antique shop. Even at a low-class garage sale. Even in a rusty pile of junked tools in the back of a fucking abandoned truck. And this is on a NEW-IN-THE-BOX PRODUCT!

Feast your eyes on this.

Feel free to full-size the image so you can really catch every nuance. Though you can’t tell by looking at it, the wood is totally cheap, flimsy and lightweight - it’s seriously just a step above balsa wood. As you can see, there’s a lengthy crack in the wood. There are dents and dings all over it, as if it was tied to the back of a car and dragged for a couple of miles over a gravel road. And it’s fucking dirty! Amazingly, it actually looks better in that photo than it does in person.

What the fuck, Cabela’s?

2

What’s so bad about the warranty/manual? They’re folded/wrinkled but still seem readable.

3

The only complaint you have that seems to hold a shred of validity is that the handle doesn’t seem right for the auger. Pretty much everything else in your OP is silly, including your outrage about the wooden handle. It’s quite obvious that they have “pre-aged” it for the vintage look. It’s quite common. Just call them and ask for a new handle.

4

Was it bought directly from the company? Call 'em.

If not, are you sure that the person who gifted it to you didn’t order a K@bela’z or something? (Fake product)

5

No. Trust me! I deal with all kinds of products all the time - I know what the “pre-aged” thing looks like, and this isn’t it. Go back to the first link I gave, the one that goes straight to the Cabela’s site image of the meat grinder. Zoom in. Look at the handle. Does that look like the one that I received? This handle is fucking dirty. There’s actual dirt on it. There are dents in it. And the wood itself is unbelievably light and cheap-feeling. And it has not one, but TWO length-wise cracks in it (you can only see one of them in my picture. There’s another one.) This is absolutely unacceptable. There are no circumstances whatsoever under which it would be appropriate for any part of a NEW product to be like this.

6

That’s not cast iron, it’s cast aluminum which IME tends to not take to it’s cast very well in that it always seems to float over the top of the cast or sand mold when it gets made (this observation is made from watching a lot of Modern Marvels and How It’s Made). That’s probably why the hole isn’t quite the right shape. Take a look at the hole in the handle again. You only took a picture of one side so I can’t tell, but, if it fits almost all the way on and it just seems like there’s a few pieces in the way at the end, they’ll probably break right off if you tap them with a hammer and screwdriver.
OTOH, if it’s entirely wrong, it’s possible you got the wrong handle. Your first link showed us a page with three different grinders and since the manual and parts bag showed a bit of distress so maybe they were opened and the handles got swapped. Perhaps they were returns or in store demos.

7

#1, #2: Yawn.
#3: That’s odd, call customer service.
#4: Well, it’s “rustic.” It looks functional to me, but it’s a photo.

So, contact CS and see what they say. This thread can become a Pit thread, if they refuse to make good, otherwise wait on that.

8

It’s most definitely cast iron. (I know what aluminum feels like vs iron!) And the auger does not remotely fit in the crank, it’s a totally different shape, I’m certain that it is the wrong handle.

9

Someone probably returned it and they didn’t check the box properly. Less a corporate issue unless they blow you off than it is a single employee screwing up.

Meh.

10

That’s what it sounds like. It was probably returned because that crank didn’t fit. Return it with a complaint. Maybe they’ll give you something for your trouble. And it was a present, remember that part about the thought counting?

11

Hey, believe me, I definitely appreciate the present - it’s a fantastic gift, or at least it would be if it didn’t have these problems. It’s not the giver’s fault at all.

12

Definitely call customer service…I actually trot out Cabela’s customer service as one of the best customer service experiences of my life.

Before my son deployed, I wanted to buy him a good scope. A $2,000 scope. (Leupold, for those that means anything to). I tried to deal with multiple small, mom-n-pop gun stores to get this scope, and apparently none of them wanted to take my money.

In frustration, I called Cabela’s, who carried Leupold scopes, just not the specific one I wanted. They were very happy to deal with me, ordered the scope, and called me back multiple times to inform me of the status of the order, to inform me it had shipped, and then finally to make sure the scope had arrived in and timely manner and satisfactory condition. In my experience, Cabela’s customer service rawks.

13

That is what I have heard and read. I am confident that they will fix this.

The handle on the crank, by the way, actually has THREE lengthwise cracks! (I looked at it again.) Good grief!

Anyone who would call my complaints about the handle “silly”, by the way, clearly has never spent a long time working with hand tools. The handle is everything. It’s the part of the tool that you freakin’ hold in your hand. When you’re talking about manual tools, that’s a really important consideration…obviously.

14

Looks like a used repack.

15

You know, when someone opens a thread saying they had a “BAD experience with a meat grinder” with the capitalized adjective and everything, I expect at least one tale of horrible, stomach churning injury or dismemberment.

16

Yup.

I was expecting the companion thread to be “The doper formerly known as Argent Towers is now to be called Lefty Towers”

17

What country was it manufactured in?

18

I was thinking now known as Stumpy, because its a meat grinder you doncha know.

19

I’m wondering if this was a regift. A dear old aunt did this to me years ago - got herself a new bread machine, put her old crappy bread machine in the new box, wrapped it and presented it to me. It lasted exactly three loaves before it gave up the ghost.

20

I’m wondering if someone needed a new handle, bought the grinder, “exchanged” their old handle for the new one, and returned it to the store. Call the company, I’m sure they’ll send you a new one.