marge-m,
I, too, am disappointed in the response that you received. I will look into it and we will contact you in order to solve your problem to your satisfaction. Please send me your contact information, including the name under which you placed your order (so we can find you in our sysytem) and a phone number (so that we can talk to you in person rather than by e-mail), at d_johnson@cookshack.com and I will take care of this. Please do not post your name or contact information to the forum.
I would like to encourage anyone who does not get the results they want from our customer service team to call me personally at 1-800-423-0698. Usually we take care of things very well, but sometimes people make mistakes and I am glad to try to make it go more smoothly for you. Cookshack ships out several thousand smokers per year and most of them work trouble-free right out of the box, but they are made by human beings and sometimes things go wrong. We are eager to correct problems, and more than anything we want you to have a positive experience with your new smoker and with our company!
Thank you, Smokin' and Wheelz for letting me know about marge-m's problem so that I could help.