Well, I had a HD 10% discount coupon burning a hole in my wallet, so I decided to go get some ice melter and check out the pellet situation there. Checking the outdoor supply, they had Chow, FSU, nasty Green Supreme, and nastier Nations Choice (aka Infernos ). So I figured I'd grab 10 bags of the Chow & 5 of the FSU. FSU's were open in the store, but the Chow weren't, so I asked the Garden center guy to bring in a pallet of the Chow (they didn't have any more loose bags inside anyway). Well, you'd have thought I asked them how to solve world peace or split the atom right in the store......what a freakin' commotion I stirred up. The asst. manager said "no, we just bring in what's next in the line outside". Unfortunately for me, that was GS. But I said to her, "what's the big deal...I want Stove Chow, and their sitting 10 feet away". Then, to make matters worse, the garden manager started telling me how they sell mostly GS, and that they're the best pellet, and SC suck, GS are hardwood and the Chow are softwood so they're no good, and he sold 17 tons of GS to someone (sucker), etc, etc,....basically giving me a REAL hard time. Basically, they're trying to unload the GS ASAP. But I was having none of it....I told them "I want what I want". Then, the manager came out. I asked him if I were buying batteries (which are all the same price too, regardless of whether I buy Energizer or Duracell), did I have a choice? He said I could buy whatever I wanted.....<long pause>.....and then told the garden manager to go get a ton of Chow for inside the store. And as I was loading the Chow into a cart, a woman who worked there came up to me and said " I'm glad you stood your ground....the garden manager was being an azz". One interesting thing though.....they sell loose bags the same as the ton price....$4.18. so I got them for $3.98/bag And I really enjoyed rolling the cart of SC past the garden manager on my way out..........
I don't have a pellet stove but enjoyed your post lol.. I don't blame you for standing your ground.. Ray
Haven't seen any Chow up this way yet but I have 2 tons of FSU in the basement and would love to hear how this years are.
Maybe if they actually burned pellets, Should they be able to say whats good or bad? I always ask if they heat with them, And all usually say they don't. Then I usually give em the evil eye so they just go away! "I'll pick my own pellets if you don't mind"! Chow seem to be dandy this season, With short length pellets(less than an inch long), They are throwing some nice heat. Ash don't look half bad either. Even with the cold snap, I haven't had to push the stove any, Besides switching to hi/lo at night. MWP I started with weren't that bad, But I have to give the edge to the chow with the heat they are putting out. The TSC Premier Appalachian's are on deck and should be very similar to the chows. With Lowes only having GS, Inferior and NA's. Plus TSC can't seem to get any more Premier Appalachian and the MWP blend seem a tic off. I am so glad that HD has chow's in stock. I'll keep refilling as I go as long as I can get them. Keep me posted on how you do with this years chows and FSU!
Wish I could find me some Chow?? Took 3 yrs to find PTL's again. Good for you Imac. They should always listen to the customer. Especially those that have no idea about pellet stoves. If all pellets were created equal? Then there would only be 1 Manufacturer per every 5-10 states. Stand your ground, get what you want, and get a deal doing so
Don't know where they were getting off trying to get you to buy what you didn't want. Lazy or stupid, maybe both. I don't know when you had that experience, but I have found it best to avoid HD on wk ends unless you are going to wait on yourself. Lowes is my first preference, but they don't carry the brands of something I like best Glad you stood up for yourself. Enjoyed reading that story.
This actually happened today around 5 pm. I normally never go to HD, just because there always seems to be an "issue" about something there. IMO, they are pushing the GS to get rid of it. If the reviews are anything like what the Lowes garden manager told me, no one wants them. Last year, all they had were the nasty GS, so I didn't even think about going there, but I recently drove by and saw different colored pellet pallet wrapping (the GS are dark green), so figured I'd take a shot. In past years, they always had the Chow and FSU. And yes, I agree about Lowes....I'd MUCH rather go there. But I had that dam 10% off card......
If he said the GS's are the best, he is flat out an idiot. He obviously didn't know that us pigs ARE always right!
Anytime you are mistreated in a retail outlet, you have the option to report that incident to those who run the company. They usually want to weed out behavior that discourages sales. In this case, someone was lazy and didn't want to access the item they had which the customer wanted. Rotten service. I have reported both good and bad sevice and received responses from the companies. Sometimes they send discount coupons for either comments.
