Yep, we welcomed a new cooker into the fold today
I was NOT in the market for one but had been thinking about getting the Pellet Boss 700FB for a little while. My wife has been hearing of them being put on clearance at Wal Mart but we never could find one. In the process of sending a google link to a friend regarding the PB700 I looked on Wal Mart's site and just for giggles, I put one in my online cart. They have this new promotion that you can buy it online and as long as you're willing to go pick it up, you can save even more.
Well lo and behold, I added it to the cart under my normal Wal Mart I shop from and it was no cheaper than usual but as soon as I clicked another close by, it came up to $321.00 out the door instead of $423.00! It said I saved $96.00 by picking it up (before taxes). I was happy! I ordered that sucker with the plans of going to get it the next day with my wife after she got home. I got an e-mail from Wal Mart the next morning saying my order was ready for pick up. So far, so good.....right?
Wrong! We went to pick it up and went to the back for online pick up and they went back to get it and a little while later, rolled it out on a cart. I noticed immediately that it was the wrong pellet grill! It was a Camp Chef model (although nice, it didn't have the sear feature of the Pit Boss and was a little smaller). I told them that it wasn't the right grill and they looked it me like I was crazy, lol. They asked me if I was SURE that I didn't order that one. I started getting hot. I told them YES I WAS SURE. The lady then asked to see the e-mail I was sent when I ordered it. So, I had to pull out my phone and SHOW her that it said "Pit Boss 700FB"!!! She then said that the sku# on the box matched what I ordered, then the lady who pulled it out on the cart chimes in and says "We overrode the computer and put this one in, we couldn't find the other one. It turns out they sold it to me w/o having it in stock then they tried to pass off the cheaper Camp Chef instead. Really ticked me off. I couldn't believe that they thought I'd just take it and not notice! I told her it would be like me buying a 10 speed online and showing up to the store to pick it up and them trying to send me off with a kids bike.
I then used another analogy of buying a Mustang at Ford and then they drive out a Pinto to take home. The lady just wasn't understanding why I was upset. I could see that she wasn't the brightest so I asked for a store manager. She reluctantly radioed one to come over. I took the manager aside and said "Look, I am not one to complain but you guys did me wrong here. Mistakes happen, I get it but ALL you had to do was contact me and ASK me if I wanted the other grill, not let me spend the time to come here, thinking it's ready to go and then try to pass off another grill like I wouldn't even notice or care. How's that even acceptable?" She then tells me that the associate (who is a department head) should've contacted me and agreed that she handled it wrong. She apologized but really didn't seem to care one way or the other. So, that got refunded.
Not one to accept defeat, I came home and began scoping out different locations by putting that grill in my online cart and choosing different stores. As luck would have it, I found it at another Wal Mart on the other side of Atlanta for $250.00!! I wasn't going to get too excited though so I called the location and after about 20 minutes of trying to get a person on the phone I reached someone in electronics as it was the only extension that would answer! I had the lady check the "Wal Mart number" in the system and she said they didn't have it
She then said that she could connect me to Garden to see if they could see it over there so I got transferred and it took about 10 minutes more to get someone. A guy answered and I told him that I wanted to order a grill online but wanted to make sure they had it in stock before I did. He tells me that if I order online it will be sent from the warehouse. I told him I didn't want it shipped because I get could it cheaper by picking it up so once he understood I gave him the model number and he puts me on hold. He comes back a couple of minutes later and says "Yeah, I got one" so I thanked him, hung up and ordered the sucker!
I kept waiting for the bubble to burst though, I thought that maybe he too saw the words "Pellet Grill" on the Camp Chef box and thought it was the same. I got the "ready to pick up" e-mail mid morning and around lunch time made the trek to get it. I get there, go to the back, show the the order number, he looks at my license and goes to the back to get it. He comes out 5 minutes later with the RIGHT GRILL on the cart! Woo Hoo!
I got it for $260.00 out the door. That my friends is a great deal!
Now that you've read the book, I do have some pictures of this sucker. It's quite large compared to my little Traeger and it's even a good bit bigger than my last Pit Boss, which was the 440D.
Loaded the box up in my work truck. Big sucker. Loaded it with no help even though they said they'd have someone help me. Rrrriiiiggghhhttt
After putting it together.
Placed in front of my scooter for scale. This sucker is BIG!
Hard to tell but the hopper is huge as well
The Flame Broiler is nifty
Other random pics
Now I know this isn't the end all be all pellet pooper but for $260.00, it's a steal! 700sq/in of cooking space and it gets to 500°, that's not bad at all!
I peeled the stickers off and sprayed it down with cooking spray and fired her up to 500° to do a burn in and then my wife grilled me a piece of chicken and her some blackened shrimp skewers on it when she came home, She likes it
Sorry for the long read, I do get carried away but I felt this was a story worth sharing!