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[rwalters]

I would like to add to this thread that I called Mak directly and spoke to Matt(the M in MAK). We had a good 30 minute conversation and he was patient and willing to answer all of my 300 questions and was actually a joy and entertaining to talk to. I called that other place and I really didn't get a very knowledgeable person on the phone and was nowhere near as passionate about the product and really did nothing to sway me to buy that day or really at all for that matter.

Your experience mirrors mine!

If you don’t mind sharing, what were some of the highlights of your conversation with Matt... things you learned about MAK?  l love talking with him! 

[wahoowad]

Matt sounds awesome, and seems to have a popular product. The day will come when he is a victim of his own success, his business will grow (hopefully!) and he will miss the time he used to have to spend so much time with callers. At that time wouldn’t he need dealers to help display and sell and support his products?

I am just asking, not intending to state how anything should be. The growth in this industry seems to suggest it. Am I naive?

[Bar-B-Lew]

Matt sounds awesome, and seems to have a popular product. The day will come when he is a victim of his own success, his business will grow (hopefully!) and he will miss the time he used to have to spend so much time with callers. At that time wouldn’t he need dealers to help display and sell and support his products?

I am just asking, not intending to state how anything should be. The growth in this industry seems to suggest it. Am I naive?

As someone stated elsewhere, this is sort of a side business for the parent company of MAK so they don't do the things that a Traeger are doing.  However, they do have a great product and great support when needed.

[rwalters]

Matt sounds awesome, and seems to have a popular product. The day will come when he is a victim of his own success, his business will grow (hopefully!) and he will miss the time he used to have to spend so much time with callers. At that time wouldn’t he need dealers to help display and sell and support his products?

I am just asking, not intending to state how anything should be. The growth in this industry seems to suggest it. Am I naive?

What’s interesting is that up until last year, MAK did have a nationwide dealer network. They brought it in-house last year and decided to go direct.

[Bar-B-Lew]

Matt sounds awesome, and seems to have a popular product. The day will come when he is a victim of his own success, his business will grow (hopefully!) and he will miss the time he used to have to spend so much time with callers. At that time wouldn’t he need dealers to help display and sell and support his products?

I am just asking, not intending to state how anything should be. The growth in this industry seems to suggest it. Am I naive?

What’s interesting is that up until last year, MAK did have a nationwide dealer network. They brought it in-house last year and decided to go direct.

I think they were shipping direct anyway from their factory to consumer with the dealer being the order taker.  I know it was that was when I ordered mine from their current only dealer many years ago.  And if the issues that a member here is facing with his new grill from another manufacturer were happening with MAK, they may as well go direct too so they don't have to deal with others creating a bad image for them.

[smokin soon]

Yup, never cared of the "other guy" myself. Info is brief and vague. You call Mak and it's "let's chat about grills time". No question goes unanswered.
And then there is that sales tax thing for Cali folks when you order direct.

[Goosehunter51]

Let me throw my 2 cents worth into this thread. I am the first employee of MAK Grills, started January 4, 2010. Prior to that, I worked at Traeger for 10 years.
Last year, we decided to go consumer direct because the retail world is changing. More and more people are making high dollar purchases on-line. It was also difficult to find retailers who felt comfortable selling a high dollar pellet grill, and who would carry grills all year long. The gap between a great dealer and a bad one was wide and growing wider.  We felt that the best way to sustain our growth as a company was by going direct. It has proved to be the right decision for us.

When you call MAK, you are talking with people who are intimate with the products we manufacture. We use our grills almost every day of the year. You'll get a straight answer to your questions.

As our company grows, we will hire additional people as needed, as we have by adding Dennis Ogg to handle service/technical support. That is his #1 job.

We work hard every day to provide outstanding service that is shocking. Shocking in that the customer is actually being taken care of in a timely manner. That is something we will ALWAYS have at MAK.

I will back this up, I have been very pleased with the support that I have received from MAK.  Matt was great and Dennis really seems to be on the ball.  Great customer service.

[Bar-B-Lew]

I've had great service when I needed them too.

[rwalters]

MAK is indeed Creme de la Creme!!!

[elenis]

I will agree with everyone else's sentiment here that when you call Mak for support or with questions it is always a great experience. I couldn't be prouder to call myself a Mak owner.

I bought my Mak back before they dropped dealers and got really lucky on it. It was right when they did the big price hike on the Mak 2 Star and all the sites had updated to the new Mak pricing other then a place I found that also had a 10% site-wide coupon. They also offered free shipping. They mostly sold swimming pools and products.  It turned out being very special when the delivery was supposed to come. They sent it in a full size semi that could not come down my road so I ended up meeting the FedEx Freight guy in a parking lot near where I lived and then had to do some maneuvering to get it in my wife's SUV. I knew it was going to be heavy, but the weight even surprised me. Thankfully the FedEx guy was willing to help me. Once I got it home I wasn't sure what I was going to do because that guy and I could barely lift it.....
Turns out I forgot that I had ordered a number of bags of Mak Pellets and all those bags were in the cavity of the main unit to make it easy to put on a pallet. Once I removed a bunch of bags of pellets, wouldn't you know that I could actually move the thing.