A truck pulled into my refuge west of Tucson yesterday and a man got out and proceeded to deliver one of the better sales pitches I’d heard in a while. It would have had me reaching for my wallet if he hadn’t been selling steaks and seafood.
Not that Larry Whiston’s steak and seafood isn’t top notch. Most of the reviews of the meat from his employer, Showcase Meats, are quite good, and the prices seem fair. Alas, this family eats almost no meat, and when I told that to Whiston I could see his heart sink. It was all I could do to hold up the two halves of an acorn squash I was preparing for dinner, as if to say, “No, really, I am a vegetarian. I am not brushing you off like the 57 people before me. My excuse is valid! Believe me!!”
So I told Whiston that I’d let people know they could have meat delivered to their doorstep. This seemed to lighten his mood a little. He said he delivers pork, chicken, seafood and steaks, and that his prices are lower than the supermarket’s. He also said the business has a top rating from the Better Business Bureau. His cell phone is 870-1863, and if you call him he’ll rush over in his little meat truck.
The life of a door to door meat salesman has got to be a rough one. Here’s to you Whiston!
This article appears in Nov 24-30, 2011.
It’s when *they* show up at the door running the tired “our refrigerated truck of meat broke down just outside of town so you get super deals NOW!” that alarms should go off in your Old Pueblo head.
HORRIBLE!!!!
We had purchased from this company before for steak, which was ok, nothing impressive. When the OWNER showed up at the door while I was working, my little sister got roped into buying a box of what was to be regular chicken breast for $30. After we defrosted a couple packs we noticed there was a white haze/goo in the bag with the chicken and it smelled off. We called the company within 3 days of purchase and left a message. We called back and actually got someone on the phone and were told that they would have to “figure out” what they could do and that is why they have a “guarantee” for replacement (which would have been fine). 2 weeks went by without hearing a word from anyone, in which time we left 5 messages. We finally drove from DM area to their office (ruthrauff & I-10) with the chicken, to find no one in.
We left the frozen chicken on their door at 1pm with a note asking them to call us back and here is the returned chicken.
We finally missed a call from them a day later that said we were given the honey chicken (which was not the product asked for) and there was nothing wrong with it.
I then called to see what they were going to do & of course, had to leave a message.
I left a message stating that had ANYONE returned my call in a 2 week time frame, we could have cleared this up like any other good company would do. I asked them to please call back so we can resolve this matter. 5 weeks later, no call, no money, no chicken.
Another Showcase driver actually showed up at our door again looking to sell to us. My sister told him what happened and he said he had heard of us (not like we left death threats, we left chicken for goodness sake!). He apologized for bothering us & said if he could do anything to help he would be back. Needless to say, we have still not heard one word about a refund or an apology. DO NOT DO BUSINESS with them, they have no honor or credibility. As for their product, I can only say the steak was sub-standard, as I never got to try the chicken.
We are the owners of Valley High Mobile Home Park in Benson,AZ and we are letting Show Case Meats out of Tucson,AZ now that we do not like for them to show up again in our park for the reason that we do not allow any soliciting.We have your license plate numbers and if you do show up in our park again,we will call the Benson Police Department and file a complaint against you and your company for trespassing .So we are giving you fair warning as of 1/21/2016 –
Similar to the above, guy shows up at my front door, (in a gated community, with NO SOLICITING signs), says he’s selling meat, told him about the no soliciting, just ignores me and says he knows, he had just made a delivery and was checking with the neighbors. I asked what part of NO SOLICITING he doesn’t understand, told him this door to door stuff is illegal, and I’ll be happy to call the office. Turns and walks back to the truck and they go pull up in front of another neighbor. Need to get jerks like this off the streets
This lunatic just stopped in front of my trailer in a senior community. I told him I was not interested and to go away and he had a meltdown. He said he is a veteran and he was gonna kick my a** and was screaming at me as he drove off. The poor guy. I hope he gets the help he needs.