Weber Summit Charcoal Grill must be selling

[wbzipf]

I ordered a Weber Summit Charcoal Grill Center two weeks ago (April 15th). I ordered it from Firecraft (great people by the way), now they had sold out of their initial inventory, but were under the impression that they would receive their next orders this past Sunday, May 1st (their regularly scheduled delivery date). Unfortunately for me, they haven't received this shipment of WSCG's yet. The people at Firecraft reported to me that Weber customer service reports that dealers all over the country are on back order and the plant making these is running 24-7.

Anyway, this sucks for me as I have no idea when I will be getting mine, but it appears that the initial demand for this product exceeded Weber's own expectations. I thought this was interesting given that some of the initial reaction to the product launch was that the price maybe to high.

[CeramicChef]

I've talked to folks at my two local BBQ speciality stores and they told me their initial stock flew out the doors by the end of the first couple of weeks. They've been on back order since then. Retailers hate being on back order. You want to make the sale before the customer buys something else somewhere else or the customer gets second thought and decides to use what they currently have.

[billg71]

I picked up my Grilling Center Saturday from Workbench Ace Hardware, they had one on the floor and one in the box(mine). I think they were happy to see me since they got both of them in the first shipment.

They have yet to receive one of the SCGs, they only got the SCGC.

It looks like Weber shipped all their initial production run and now dealers are waiting for the next delivery.

[wbzipf]

Yeah, it sounded like Weber shipped their full initial production out to retailers, but didn't quite expect so much initial demand.

[Powersmoke_80]

So much for the price coming down if demand is high!

[BluesDaddy]

Well, high demand drives price up not down. If production goes up significantly and then demand levels off, price might come down a bit. But as long they're selling everything they're producing at the price they're asking, it will stay that way.

[Mosca]

This is great news. Our initial reaction was that it might not have the perceived value demanded by its price, but apparently once people see it, they believe it represents superior value for its price!

[Mosca]

Yes, and I hope everyone understands I'm talking about marketing and perception, because I haven't even seen the thing yet!

[Ray]

I agree that it is very well put together. I am tempted to spring for one but its difficult to justify the additional time spent to use charcoal versus the gasser that I own, also a Weber Summit, or the wood pellet cooker which is super easy to use and hold temps like crazy!

[JeffJ]

Ray My response to your personal situation: Charcoal tastes better. :-)

[Smoke Dawg]

Or they have limited supply, a tactic many companies use to make demand appear greater.

[surfdog]

Yup...found the same thing out here. :-/ And yes, while the price does seem a bit high, it's no worse than what my now ten+ year old Summit Platinum cost me when I purchased it new. I paid $1999 for that and have NEVER regretted it. I can't wait to get my hands on one of these!

[Jon Solberg]

Say what! Webers got a new cooker?

[mjkelch]

I just picked up the Weber Summit Charcoal Grill Centre (which includes the table) here in Ontario Canada for $1785 CAN at a promotional price. With taxes and delivery/assembly plus cover, all-in was $2100 CAN. So there IS some price discounting going on when you figure the list price for this item is $2499 CAN before any taxes. Taxes would take final cost up to $2874 CAN. So using my simple math skills, looks like I saved around $750 off of MSRP.

My son will inherit my Broil King Keg.

The Summit is quite amazing to look at. It is a BIG kettle. Can't wait to experiment with this thing. It looks extremely flexible in possible uses and the build quality looks very good.

[JeffJ]

Congratulations. Looking forward to pics of your cooks in it.

[mjkelch]

One immediate problem......this is a WIDE rig if it comes to your home assembled. I think 36" minimum width to get through gates etc.

Ours was dropped off in the garage where I will need to remove the upper and lower Kettle portions to allow installation on our deck. Minor inconvenience and looks easy.

My wife's first reaction upon first sight...."whoa"!

[Jon Solberg]

It's training for your Lang 60 : )