Hey gang,
I got a free grill cover and what appears to be a stainless GBS cooking grate with my new green Weber Performer Deluxe (gas assist) that i picked up over at Ace hardware.
Apparently, the cover is not supposed to be included and stainless steel grates included on a 22.5" kettle are supposedly unheard of as well yet i seem to have gotten these items. I ordered this cart kettle from the local Ace and got a factory sealed box (because i am picky about that) and assembled it myself.
I did not think anything of it until i met a local WKC member here and he suggested this was not normal. I emailed back and forth with Weber and they confirmed the same thing. Yet I asure, you, for whatever reason, I pulled a brand new "free, included" cover out of the box. And the included grates are clearly NOT the thinner gauge plated GBS cooking grate that i see on ohter 22's. It is a heavier gauge, non-plated 22.5" GBS grate that looks just like the grates made for the 26" kettle and the Summit Charcoal.
I seem to recall that these things may have been noted on the box but those got folded flat and disposed of right after i assembled it and knew i got stuff for free.
It also seems that i have thrown away (or more likely) temporarily misfiled the owners manual where I might have found a clue.
Anyway, did i get free stuff or did Weber change how they package the Performer Deluxe (street price new of $399)? The Weber support guy who looked into this said he checked things like engineering documents and such. Sounds like he checked pretty carefully.
Thanks!