...two years without maintenance might be a problem. Did you winterize it after its final use of last season? How often did you lift the cooking grates and clean the gunk from the pans which protect the burners, and from the bottom of the burner pan?

I have a Master Forge, and keeping it clean is a regular part of my use of it. Clean grills don't usually rust out in two years. I've only had this one for a year, but I had the preceeding one for 14 years.

Good luck with Lowes. I've never had anything but very positive experiances with them, but then I haven't approached them quite as pissed off as you seem to be.

It's not that their workers are substandard, far from it. It's that those workers are worked like galley slaves on products the factory owners have cut every corner they can on and still have it hang together on a showroom floor.

Definitely take that thing back. You should have taken it back a couple of years ago when half of it wouldn't light. They get enough people taking stuff back and leaving it in the store and driving their waste hauling bill up, maybe they'll lodge enough complaints with the manufacturer to get some changes made.

What kills me is that stuff like BBQ grills won't even pass safety inspections half the time, even if they're subjected to them.

(Yes, I've been burned on cheaply made but expensively sold Chinese crap. We all have)

I made a stop in Lowes yesterday and ending up talking with a manager. His first question: "Did you buy the extended warranty?" "Nope."

So I asked "What can you do for me?" The manager said he could give me a 20% rebate if I bought a new Master Forge grill.

Fast forward to today: I decided to try Mass law first: http://www.mass.gov/ago/consumer-resources/consumer-assistance/consumer-complaint.html

Complaint filed - will let you know how it turns out.

Time to start researching the fed consumer laws.

How fucking insulting.

GE did that to me when I called GE to see about getting some help on my partner's mom's 14 month old under-cabinet microwave that quit working.

The woman offered me $50 dollars toward the purchase of a new GE microwave. THEN got huffy when I asked her "Why would I buy another GE when this one lasted a little over a year?" . Told me she refused to deal with me because I wasn't the registered owner as if I insulted HER.