My first bad review

I am bummed. Getting all this free stuff to review has been great. Still, I knew the time would come where I would have to give a negative review because I pledge to give my honest opinion. I worry it will affect my reviewer status, maybe less companies will send me items, maybe this company will take issue with my opinion? Well, here goes...

For several years The Ogre has placated his foodie wife by chopping/slicing vegetable combos, mixing up an array of spices, and grilling them ONLY TO LOSE SEVERAL PRECIOUS MORSELS TO THE FLAME when he flips them over.

Last summer (two summers ago?) we went to dinner at our friends and he described a metal basket that our friend Nate had used to cook the veggies on the grill. He wanted one too! (Of course, they always have the BEST stuff!)

At season end I watched as the grocery store clearenced one time use grill pans down to fifty cents and I bought a double pack. It was really hard to do because it went against my don't buy non-necessities rule AND was disposable. (Seriously, now you know how we can survive on two part time incomes: I fret over WASTING fifty cents!)

Well, I don't think The Ogre had the same coronary reaction over the two quarters, but he wasn't happy with the wastefulness of the product so he gave it two thumbs down.

So, I waited, as I do most times I want something. You have to wait a lot when you spend N.o.t.h.I.n.g.

Then I was given the opportunity to review The Grillfella. Answer to my grilling prayers. Cute, industrial, trendy, copper! I was thrilled that my hard working husband could finally have that grill wok!

Then it arrived.

Scratched up.

No biggie, right? But the company should know so I informed them. They responded that they dealt with the issue with Amazon shipping and that if I wasn't going to give it 4 or 5 stars I didn't have to review it and they could remove me from the promo without it affecting my review verification rate. Hmmm, that didn't sound all that honest but the scratches really hadn't bothered me enough to make me rate it less than a 4.

So we kept it and The Ogre was genuinely excited to try it.

And genuinely excited to eat the food he cooked in it.

Until we noticed the copper.

The potatoes I had carefully chopped and The Ogre had oiled and seasoned, had now picked up large copper peels which has cooked on like a crispy skin.

I tried to pick the good pieces from the top but worried I was exposing my children and their parents to strange chemicals.

The whole thing left me feeling icky and worried about the products we as a society use and what we expose others and are ourselves exposed to.

The Ogre and I wondered if there wasn't enough oil or if we missed some other instruction. I scored the messages I had received from Grillfella as well as their Amazon post and couldn't find any hints.

I contacted Grillfella and didn't respond. I offered remedies so at least I could end my review on a positive note. No response.

I tell you this all so you can be assured my reviews are my honest beliefs and so you don't waste your hard earned money on low quality product.

Don't feel too bad for us though, Moo had a better use for the wok from the beginning ;)

Grillfella says that grilling any other way is nuts, but I think they have that backwards

I told him he didn't look Ogrely enough in the first picture

Check out those gloves Debbie!

I circled the clearest examples. See the circles where the copper didn't attach itself?

MOO Thought it worked perfectly well as a bed for this guy. Right she was. That was a much better use!