Rain Man
12-27-2007, 09:44 AM
Here's a synopsis of the past two months for me as it related to refrigerators. (All dates are approximate.)
November 4th - I buy a refrigerator for our basement apartment. My sales person is very dour and pushes the "surge protection warranty" to the point where I have to tell her that I'll cancel the order if she mentions it one more time.
November 11th - Sears brings the refrigerator, and the delivery guy says it won't fit. I disagree. He won't bring the refrigerator to the door to try. He says to exchange it for the next size down.
November 12th - I go to Sears to exchange it. They tell me that I have to work with the same saleslady, who becomes even more dour and embittered as she has to handle the exchange.
November 15th - I wait for the delivery in my allotted 9 to 11 a.m. window. Refrigerator 2 never comes.
November 15th - I call and ask why my refrigerator wasn't delivered. They tell me they're behind and it'll be delivered from 4 to 6 p.m. It never arrives.
November 16th - I call and ask why it didn't arrive. I was told that they don't know. Delivery is rescheduled for November 26th and they send me a $50 gift certificate for the problem.
November 25th - I get a call asking to reschedule delivery to December 3rd.
December 3rd - I get a call asking to reschedule to December 5th.
December 5th - Sears truck shows up with the next smaller size. The delivery man comes in and says that it won't fit in the door. I tell him that the previous delivery man said that this one would fit for sure, and he won't bring it in to try. I think it'll fit. He says that I have to get another smaller size down and drives off.
December 10th - I drive home from a meeting. Someone has removed an old refrigerator from a house, and dumped it in my driveway to save the $10 haul away fee. (We have alleys, and about once every two or three year someone will dump furniture or a TV or something in a person's driveway on our block because they're lazy jackasses and the homeowners can't see the alley from their house.)
December 11th - We check to see if there's a dead body or anything inside the refrigerator, and there isn't. We figure we'll just wait and have Sears haul it off for an extra $10, along with our old refrigerator.
December 12th - We come home, and someone has stolen the refrigerator from our alley. (People will drive through the alleys and scavenge stuff, so we've learned that if you have something you need to get rid of that's not just garbage, you can set it out and people will often take it. This isn't homeless people, either - it's people who just drive through the alleys in our part of town and pick stuff up to resell or something. I have no idea who or why, but we embrace it.)
December 26th - I finally get back to Sears to get a third refrigerator. I tell myself that I'm going to get one less than 26 inches wide so there can be absolutely no doubt that it'll fit. It's $200 more expensive because it's a "specialty refrigerator". A nice sales associate offers to help me, but can't do it. I have to get a manager to make the exchange, and he tells me that the dour, unhappy woman is the manager, so she'll give me a call today.
December 27th - Waiting for a call from Mrs. Mean, who is undoubtedly going to lecture me again.
So the bottom line is I've received two non-fitting refrigerators, one non-working refrigerator, and had one non-working refrigerator stolen in the past two months, and the bottom line is that I still don't have a refrigerator in my apartment. This has to be similar to the experience of trying to get a refrigerator in the Congo or something.
November 4th - I buy a refrigerator for our basement apartment. My sales person is very dour and pushes the "surge protection warranty" to the point where I have to tell her that I'll cancel the order if she mentions it one more time.
November 11th - Sears brings the refrigerator, and the delivery guy says it won't fit. I disagree. He won't bring the refrigerator to the door to try. He says to exchange it for the next size down.
November 12th - I go to Sears to exchange it. They tell me that I have to work with the same saleslady, who becomes even more dour and embittered as she has to handle the exchange.
November 15th - I wait for the delivery in my allotted 9 to 11 a.m. window. Refrigerator 2 never comes.
November 15th - I call and ask why my refrigerator wasn't delivered. They tell me they're behind and it'll be delivered from 4 to 6 p.m. It never arrives.
November 16th - I call and ask why it didn't arrive. I was told that they don't know. Delivery is rescheduled for November 26th and they send me a $50 gift certificate for the problem.
November 25th - I get a call asking to reschedule delivery to December 3rd.
December 3rd - I get a call asking to reschedule to December 5th.
December 5th - Sears truck shows up with the next smaller size. The delivery man comes in and says that it won't fit in the door. I tell him that the previous delivery man said that this one would fit for sure, and he won't bring it in to try. I think it'll fit. He says that I have to get another smaller size down and drives off.
December 10th - I drive home from a meeting. Someone has removed an old refrigerator from a house, and dumped it in my driveway to save the $10 haul away fee. (We have alleys, and about once every two or three year someone will dump furniture or a TV or something in a person's driveway on our block because they're lazy jackasses and the homeowners can't see the alley from their house.)
December 11th - We check to see if there's a dead body or anything inside the refrigerator, and there isn't. We figure we'll just wait and have Sears haul it off for an extra $10, along with our old refrigerator.
December 12th - We come home, and someone has stolen the refrigerator from our alley. (People will drive through the alleys and scavenge stuff, so we've learned that if you have something you need to get rid of that's not just garbage, you can set it out and people will often take it. This isn't homeless people, either - it's people who just drive through the alleys in our part of town and pick stuff up to resell or something. I have no idea who or why, but we embrace it.)
December 26th - I finally get back to Sears to get a third refrigerator. I tell myself that I'm going to get one less than 26 inches wide so there can be absolutely no doubt that it'll fit. It's $200 more expensive because it's a "specialty refrigerator". A nice sales associate offers to help me, but can't do it. I have to get a manager to make the exchange, and he tells me that the dour, unhappy woman is the manager, so she'll give me a call today.
December 27th - Waiting for a call from Mrs. Mean, who is undoubtedly going to lecture me again.
So the bottom line is I've received two non-fitting refrigerators, one non-working refrigerator, and had one non-working refrigerator stolen in the past two months, and the bottom line is that I still don't have a refrigerator in my apartment. This has to be similar to the experience of trying to get a refrigerator in the Congo or something.