Appliance Angina

Two Friday nights ago, I came home and went to sleep. In the middle of the night Sam nudges me and says, “Keith! What is that?!” I hear this ungodly growly/grumbling/gurgling sound. I hop out of bed and slowly made my way to the door. Once I opened the door, I could hear other noises accompanying the ones we heard from the bedroom.

It was then that I could tell that our refrigerator was breathing its last breaths. It was making some noises that I had never heard before. Saturday morning, it was running fine, however, we realized that we needed to go get a new one.

I measured the old one. I obtained the cubic feet and had every thing I thought we would need and decided to shop for one over the weekend.

It was then that Sam told me that it was about time to get a new stove/oven. The temperature of the oven, never matched what we set it at. This made baking especially difficult. We decided that we would get one of those too.

Sam also pointed out that it was also time to get a dishwasher and that sometimes, they had deals when you bundled them all together. We added one of those to the list, too.

You got all that so far? Refrigerator, stove, and dishwasher. Go ahead and give yourself a rough estimate of the costs in your head. Cha-CHING! Thank God for the Labor Day sales!

We ran some numbers and shopped around and figured out the best deals. Lowes had a nice deal on a stove and dishwasher, so we ordered them from there. For the fridge, we opted for Menards. All of them were stainless steel and all the same brand, so all was good, right? Hold tight, dear reader, the fiasco is just about to begin!

The dishwasher and stove were to be delivered first. We received the call the day before giving us the window of when they were coming. It was going to be just after I left for work, so Sam was waiting for them. I hadn’t been to work more than 10 minutes when I got her call.

“Where the hell is my stove!?”

I asked her what she was talking about and she said that they had only delivered the dishwasher. I called Lowes and gave them the order number. They told me that the order stated that we “carried the stove out of the store.” I told them that they could check their videos, because the only thing we left with were some Halloween decorations!

I asked them why I would only have one appliance delivered and not both! They made some calls and told me that they would deliver the stove two days later. I told them I appreciated them sorting things out, and hoped that everything was set.

The next day the refrigerator was to be delivered. I was driving to work when they called to tell me that they would be at the house shortly. I explained that the kit for the waterline was in the kitchen for them to hook it up. The guy told me that they didn’t do that. I informed him that the people at Menards said that we needed to have the kit or they wouldn’t hook it up. The guy told me that they were not allowed to hook it up for insurance reasons. I was furious! I told him ok and I called Sam and told her to expect them.

Shortly afterward, Sam called to say that they were taking the fridge back to the store. When I asked why, they told her it wouldn’t fit through the door. They were not allowed to unbox it on the porch. They were not allowed to leave it on the porch. They were also not allowed to take the fridge doors off to get it through the door. You can only imagine how angry I was.

I called Menards and got someone on the phone who told me that “everyone is sue happy” and that was the reason they cannot do those things. I told them to refund the money to my card and I’d be back to find a smaller fridge. It was after that they they told me that since they were technically at the house, the delivery fee was not refundable!

Back to the stove. The day it was supposed to be delivered they called to say that they had to delay it another day. This may or may not have been the day that there was trouble with the delivery truck. Things are all starting to run together. At any rate, they next day, they called to tell us that they had sold the stove and we’d have to wait again.

I went off on the gal at the store. She told me that she would have the manager call us back. He finally did and once again arranged for a delivery. That delivery didn’t happen either. Once again, we called and it was finally supposed to be delivered today. We waited for the pre-delivery call last night. It never came.

Sam called first thing this morning and they told her it was not coming. She asked to speak to a manager and they said one would call us back. I answered the phone and this guy got an earful. How many times are you going to tell me you are coming? How many days did we rearrange our lives, work schedules, babysitters, etc only to have it not show? He assures me that it will be delivered tomorrow and refunded us 15% of the price. In my opinion, it was not enough, but hopefully the stove will be here tomorrow.

Back to the fridge.

We happened to have last night together and we went up to Menards. I had the measurements that we needed to get a fridge that will fit through the door. I felt bad for the gal who was helping us, because I told her how ridiculous it was that they couldn’t unbox it and get it in the house. I explained about the delivery charge and told her that whoever I had talked to said that sometimes a general manager could waive a fee – he didn’t. So now, I had to get a fridge that was not on sale, so it cost us more, and we will have to pay to have this one delivered, too! It is also supposed to be delivered tomorrow.

I truly hope that both of these appliances arrive tomorrow and that there are no issues getting them into my house! I am not sure they are going to want to hear from me if something else goes wrong!!!