5 Frequent Customer Complaints About Yeti Coolers

The general consensus about Yeti coolers seems to be that they are high-quality products that are well worth the premium price tag. After all, the company is still going strong after 20 years, constantly releasing new products, and achieving nearly continuous revenue growth from one year to the next. There are many things to know before buying a cooler, and Yeti makes a strong case for itself as the go-to brand for each item on that checklist.

That said, Yeti coolers certainly don't have an unimpeachable reputation among all customers. For one thing, there was that massive 2023 recall of over 2 million coolers due to faulty magnet-based closures. Beyond that, customers have a handful of other common complaints about Yeti coolers that have made their rounds online.

Of course, we still encourage you to consider all available feedback, not just the negative. Always do your own research before buying any product — Yeti coolers included. As a starting point to that research, here are some of the most common customers complaints that you might want to note right off the bat before you consider bringing a Yeti home.

It used to be that all you'd have to worry about was a stray beer disappearing from your cooler from time to time. In this era, that's no longer the case. Given that Yeti coolers — with their prominently placed logos — are well-known for how costly and identifiable they are, many online have complained about their coolers being swiped.

While the consensus seems to be that where you live (and the type of outing you're on) play a major part in how likely your Yeti is to be stolen, it is indeed a very real concern that is frequently discussed by customers online. As further proof that this is an ongoing problem, Yeti sells cooler locks for its own products — and third-party companies likewise make locks specifically designed for Yetis. Clearly, this is an ongoing issue that requires such a solution.

Since Yeti coolers are so pricey at retail, folks are always on the lookout for ways to get them a little cheaper. Often, this means turning to resellers to get a deal — though, unfortunately, some of those resellers may be obtaining them by stealing them in the first place. The whole thing is messy and doesn't seem to be rampant with any other brand of cooler.

Yeti makes big promises about how long its coolers will keep ice. Given that they are advertised as the type of coolers you want for long trips — coupled with how heavy duty and expensive they are — it would seem like a safe bet that you could fill one with ice and it to still be there after several days. Most don't seem to have any complaints about Yeti coolers having impressive ice retention. The issue is that it doesn't seem to be any better than what is offered by directly comparable models of coolers from far more affordable brands.

While you will certainly find the odd online commentator complaining about Yeti's ice retention on its own, the more common issue cited among customers is that Yeti does well in that category but simply doesn't perform any better than other brands. Putting various Yeti models next to their closest cousins from Coleman, Lifetime, and RTIC have led to some vouching for those brands instead. To these customers, they are either as good as or slightly better than what Yeti offers, and for a significantly lower price.

For instance, RTIC makes a 52-quart cooler that is nearly half the price of Yeti's 65-liter cooler. Admittedly, the RTIC cooler is smaller, but Lifetime's 65-quart cooler is still priced significantly lower than Yeti's similarly sized version. Sometimes you get what you pay for, and sometimes you're simply paying for the name. To hear some customers tell it, the latter is the case with Yeti coolers in terms of how long your ice will last.

One of the things you expect when you pay for a premium product is that it will offer premium features. For some, when the pricey Yeti cooler skimps on something as minor as a tether for the drain plug, it results in customer irritation. In fact, one Igloo spokesperson poked fun at "the competitor" for not using tethered drain plugs, something Igloo's Sportsman models have.

Even otherwise glowing reviews of Yeti coolers make mention of how easy it is to potentially lose track of the plug since it isn't tethered to the cooler in any way. Sure, replacements are cheap, but that doesn't do you much good if you lose the plug while you're still on your trip. Drop the little black plug in the woods — or worse, into the water — and good luck finding it.

If you just had the plug off to let out some excess water but were still counting on a few more days of use — and again, multiple days of continuous use is how Yeti markets its brand — you're going to have a bad time. Of course, you can always make sure to keep an extra plug or two on hand, but you shouldn't have to in the first place.

There are only currently four Yeti cooler models that have wheels, which is an issue given that even fairly compact models of Yeti coolers are known for being particularly heavy. Customers have complained about larger Yeti coolers being both heavy and unwieldy when trying to lift them up into a vehicle. One Redditor revealed their simple workaround: "I generally load them once they're in the car, and either plan for having someone help me pull it out at my destination or unpack it out of the car and throw stuff back in as needed once I've pulled it out."

That may work for the initial load up before the trip, but what about at the end when you've already got your caught fish (or whatever else) and still need to get your cooler into the truck? Additionally, some customers take issue with the actual capacity of many models of Yeti coolers. These Yeti owners say the coolers are misleading when you see how big they are from the outside. Upon filling them up — and especially once the ice is packed in — some have found that there isn't nearly as much room as they assumed. 

Last, but certainly not least, customers lament about a common issue with Yeti coolers that is related not to the product itself. Some will attest to the lifespan of a Yeti cooler being multiple decades without incident, while others find themselves needing to reach out for product support for one reason or another. If the chatter online is to be believed, that process isn't always a smooth one.

There are entire Reddit threads dedicated to bad experiences with Yeti customer service. Furthermore, on one customer review site, Yeti has a paltry 1.7 stars out of 5, with one of the most scathing reviews reading, "Difficult to be objective on something that is barely above being non-existent!" The other customer reviews add about every negative adjective you can think of, with many declaring it the worst customer experience they ever had.

Through the Better Business Bureau, Yeti has had over 100 stacked-up complaints from over the last three years. Many of these specifically point to customer service issues.