Returning meat to the store - Feel Guilty

WeberWho

I'm in a rib compeition that's a few weeks away so I figured I'd stop at the grocery store that sponsors the competition for ribs. I went strictly in for ribs. Nothing else. I found a rack of ribs and went home. So I start trimming the rib fat away only to realize that the whole inside of the meat was fat. I've never seen ribs hide so much fat before. Not good fat. Hard chunks of fat hidden everywhere. Next thing I know you can see through the meat if held up to a light they were so thin. I then thought to myself, do I really bring these back? I just did spend $14 on these and half the rack is missing. So I did what any logical guy would do. I sent my wife in! Haha not exactly but my wife asked if we could exchange them for another rack. The gal remembered us earlier at the grocery store because we found a cell phone in the parking lot and returned it. I found another rack that was a few dollars more and the lady said we didn't need to pay the difference. Bonus! She said she would have done the same thing. She couldn't believe all the fat that came off the one rack. Still feel bad as I know that half rack went straight in the trash. Now worried with the competition. We are given the ribs to use and that rack was garbage. I went with a different brand the 2nd time that won't be used in the competition. Will see what this weekend holds for ribs and that brand when practicing. Hopefully @Brisket_Fanatic gets the crappy ribs for the competition. Anyone else ever return meat? Just feels wrong

RedSkip

I'm not sure I could have returned the meat, however, I would be livid.  Knowing that I'd never shop there again for meat due to a past experience would be rough - esp if they are the only major player in town.

Im glad they made it right, not only do you feel better about your purchase but you'll also enjoy shopping there in the future!

Brisket_Fanatic

No fat equals no flavor. I'll take the fat and make it taste like bacon wrapped ribs. Good to know your trying to cheat.  Just kidding as your skills are really good and don't need to practice. I would have done the same thing and took them back as well. That's part of the fun with this competition as you never know what your going to get. Can't wait to get competing again. Hopefully this year will be better than last year. As long as @Ripnem gets his butt handed to him I'll be happy. 

Carolina Q

Brisket_Fanatic said:

As long as @Ripnem gets his butt handed to him I'll be happy. 

Speaking of... how's Adam doing anyway? I haven't seen or heard from him in forever!! But kick his butt anyway.

Dobie

Ive switched to baby backs only after several racks of spares and St Louis cuts just laden with fat. 

Chubbs

Never returned and myself. Have a rack on too though. Well this was an hour in

Whats your competition style? Mind sharing?

Brisket_Fanatic

Carolina Q said:

Brisket_Fanatic said:

As long as @Ripnem gets his butt handed to him I'll be happy. 

Speaking of... how's Adam doing anyway? I haven't seen or heard from him in forever!! But kick his butt anyway.

He's good, I think he hangs out on FB!

bhedges1987

I haven't returned meat. But I have had some very bad racks like you have described. I only get them from meat markets now so I get the best quality. 

RRP

Why feel bad? Their supplier passed off inferior product! As a former biz-man in the world of banking I was ingrained to listen or to be notified about irate customers. I always used the line of "Hi - my name is.. and I'm at the top of the food chain here! I hear you have a problem with our bank/policy/whatever and therefore I do too! What can we do together to solve this problem?"

Today this may not work and the irate customer is probably told to piss off! 

WeberWho

RedSkip said:

I'm not sure I could have returned the meat, however, I would be livid.  Knowing that I'd never shop there again for meat due to a past experience would be rough - esp if they are the only major player in town.

Im glad they made it right, not only do you feel better about your purchase but you'll also enjoy shopping there in the future!

@RedSkip Only local grocery store in town. It's a 30 second drive from my house and do most of my shopping there. (Besides meat) We have a Walmart but you know how that goes. I like Aldi but haven't tried the meat department. 90% of the meat I purchase is from Sam's Club. Never had an issue with Sams. We do have a local butcher in town but when I asked about a brisket I was shown a 2lb frozen prepackaged brisket. Haven't been back. 

Thatgrimguy

Nothing wrong with returning a product that doesn't live up to expectations. It's not like you opened it and just decided "I'd rather eat ham than ribs" and brought the opened package up there and exchanged for Ham.  

You wanted ribs, bought junk, returned junk and got ribs. 

WeberWho

Brisket_Fanatic said:

No fat equals no flavor. I'll take the fat and make it taste like bacon wrapped ribs. Good to know your trying to cheat.  Just kidding as your skills are really good and don't need to practice. I would have done the same thing and took them back as well. That's part of the fun with this competition as you never know what your going to get. Can't wait to get competing again. Hopefully this year will be better than last year. As long as @Ripnem gets his butt handed to him I'll be happy. 

@Brisket_Fanatic  I don't Ripnem signed up. I talked to him last week and he wasn't signed up at that point. He's not sure if he'll be in town. I'm hoping the comp goes back to Hormel. They switched it up last year. Hormels ribs looked much nicer. Will be fun either way

WeberWho

Carolina Q said:

Brisket_Fanatic said:

As long as @Ripnem gets his butt handed to him I'll be happy. 

Speaking of... how's Adam doing anyway? I haven't seen or heard from him in forever!! But kick his butt anyway.

@Carolina Q I meet up with him last week. All is good. Like Brisket_Fanatic mentioned he's on a Facebook group. 

WeberWho

bhedges1987 said:

I haven't returned meat. But I have had some very bad racks like you have described. I only get them from meat markets now so I get the best quality. 

@bhedges1987 I hear you. Unfortunately the last time I went into my butcher I asked about a brisket. I was guided over to a freezer and was shown a 2lb point that was frozen solid. Haven't been back

Brisket_Fanatic

I don't remember which brand did they switch too?

WeberWho

RRP said:

Why feel bad? Their supplier passed off inferior product! As a former biz-man in the world of banking I was ingrained to listen or to be notified about irate customers. I always used the line of "Hi - my name is.. and I'm at the top of the food chain here! I hear you have a problem with our bank/policy/whatever and therefore I do too! What can we do together to solve this problem?"

Today this may not work and the irate customer is probably told to piss off! 

@RRP The employee working told me that she would have done the same. I just hate being a pain. I needed another rack for practicing. I couldn't justify  $30 for a rack if I went back a picked up another one. Little out of my comfort zone I guess

WeberWho

Thatgrimguy said:

Nothing wrong with returning a product that doesn't live up to expectations. It's not like you opened it and just decided "I'd rather eat ham than ribs" and brought the opened package up there and exchanged for Ham.  

You wanted ribs, bought junk, returned junk and got ribs. 

@Thatgrimguy I like your thinking!

northGAcock

If you purchase a product that does not meet your expectations....there is nothing wrong with taking it back for a refund or replacement. If the trimming identifies the quality deficiency, you take it back assuming the product is within a reasonable proximity in time from when you purchased. If the product deficiency is determined after preparation, take a picture and talk to your butcher or store manager. They need to know of quality issues especially if it is a quality minded store.  Just my 2 cents worth.

Dredger

@WeberWho, fortunately, we have had to return only one pack of New York Strips. We usually do grass-fed filets and realized we were out and a local store had NY strips. The strips looked fine, but were so tough that you couldn't cut them with a knife and we took them back. Store was great, but have never bought beef there again and never will. Some people would just shrug it off, but we believe in getting what we pay for. That's also another reason we don't eat out very much.

Carolina Q

Never understood crossing a store off my list because of one bad purchase. Especially if they made it good. Two or three maybe, but not one.

As for returning the ribs (and being a "pain" as you put it), I would definitely do that. They need to know about the problem... And you need a decent rack of ribs to cook.

WeberWho

Chubbs said:

Never returned and myself. Have a rack on too though. Well this was an hour in

Whats your competition style? Mind sharing?

Sorry @Chubbs I missed your post when responding. I'm still learning myself. The competition is given two racks of St. Louis Style ribs with a minimum of 6 bones at turn in. The 35+ teams all use Big Green Eggs. So that in itself is challenging. Basically you want your ribs to stand out from the rest of the field but not too much that it's different. I do the basic 3-2-1 method with spares and pull at some point the last hour once tender. Trying to to get down the smoke and rub profile. I'm happy where the sauce is at but the rubs I've made or bought in the past lack in taste. Still trying to get it right. Headed in the right direction but not quite there yet. 

WeberWho

northGAcock said:

If you purchase a product that does not meet your expectations....there is nothing wrong with taking it back for a refund or replacement. If the trimming identifies the quality deficiency, you take it back assuming the product is within a reasonable proximity in time from when you purchased. If the product deficiency is determined after preparation, take a picture and talk to your butcher or store manager. They need to know of quality issues especially if it is a quality minded store.  Just my 2 cents worth.

Thanks @northGAcock That was one of the reasons why I ended up bringing it back was quality and price. They were priced more per lb. than the better looking ribs. Only went with that brand because it was the brand that they used in the comp last year. You would think the quality would be a little better than the cheaper ribs. Not with this rack. Just one rack. I've had success with their racks in the past. I'm guessing it was a rack that slipped by them in quality control. I'm hoping at least 

WeberWho

Dredger said:

@WeberWho, fortunately, we have had to return only one pack of New York Strips. We usually do grass-fed filets and realized we were out and a local store had NY strips. The strips looked fine, but were so tough that you couldn't cut them with a knife and we took them back. Store was great, but have never bought beef there again and never will. Some people would just shrug it off, but we believe in getting what we pay for. That's also another reason we don't eat out very much.

That was similar to my thoughts. I'd be fine with a rib or two but when half the rack was missing and supposed to be practice ribs it didn't sit very well with me. I just felt weird bringing meat back in. They couldn’t have been nicer about taking them back. Thanks for your story @Dredger

Dredger

You're welcome, @WeberWho. The lesson we learned there was to keep better inventory control on our grass-fed beef, lol. We buy lots of other meats there, just not beef.

WeberWho

Carolina Q said:

Never understood crossing a store off my list because of one bad purchase. Especially if they made it good. Two or three maybe, but not one.

As for returning the ribs (and being a "pain" as you put it), I would definitely do that. They need to know about the problem... And you need a decent rack of ribs to cook.

@Carolina Q A few years ago my wife and I went to a local restaurant and I ordered a plate of chicken wings. A big huge black hair was wrapped around a chicken wing and than found another. I mentioned something to the waitress and she was very apologetic. I'm kidding you not the 2nd plate had another huge black hair baked into the wings. Still didn't make a big issue out of it but the waitress could tell something wasn't right. The waitress said, "don't tell me that you found another hair!" This time the GM came over and apologized and comped my wife's and I meal. Crap happens. I totally get it. My wife and I ate there earlier this week. No hairs this time!