Blessing in Disguise

My refrigerator gave out this weekend. It made for a trying weekend. Why do some of the most simple things become so complicated?

A lot of the food went bad so I had throw it out. What a waste of money! Then I had to recruit my nephew and we wrestled the old thing out the door.

It was then time to go find a replacement. There was an ad that had a new fridge for pretty cheap. We ran out to the place (that shall remain nameless), and they were closing up at 8:00 on a Friday night. When I asked the rep in the parking lot why the early closing, he said that they open an hour earlier than everyone so they close an hour early, too. It was a trade off. I said, "Some trade off! You open at 8:00 a.m. when most people with jobs (where paychecks and refrigerator payments come from) are at work instead of 9:00 a.m. (when those same people are still at work) so you can close at 8:00 pm when those same people are finishing up dinner on a Friday night out so you can disappoint them in the parking lot. Makes sense (to someone).

The sale was pretty good so I decided to wait and come in on Saturday. When I got there, I found out that the good price was on a 14 cu. ft. unit (which is a little bit bigger than a dorm fridge). When I checked the ad again in the store, it conveniently didn't give the size.

Even though I hated to get baited like that, I swallowed my pride and asked the guy to show me the non-toy refrigerators. The prices weren't that great, but I was getting desperate and they had a finance plan that was two years with no interest. I inquired about one, and was told that I could get it the next day. The next day? The way this company does business is that they have NOTHING in the store, they have to get everything from a warehouse 20 miles away. I told him that I couldn't wait and would have to give up the good financing deal. He then told me that I wasn't going to get the financing anyway, because I would have had to spend $1000 to qualify. What a waste of two days!

I went down to the closest place to the bad store which happened to be Lowe's. Fifteen minutes later, I had a refrigerator in the back of my truck heading for the kitchen that had a refrigerator-sized hole in it. I got free financing for a year, a decent price, and the aforementioned quick service. The only problem I had was that I needed them to change the side of the door handles, but they wouldn't unless it was delivered. That makes sense - I save them the time of delivering and that disqualifies me for getting them to switch the door handles. I got a shrug as a response, which I guess is better than an argument. ;)

The old refrigerator was ruining food before their due dates and giving my slightly better than room temperature drinks. I was just procrastinating on getting it replaced. I am glad that it finally gave out. I actually enjoyed a drink last night that wasn't even a Diet Coke with Lime! It was cold, though, and I had forgotten what that was like.

2 comments:

Sayre said...

I find buying appliances at Lowe's so much easier and convenient! They have most everything there, and if they don't, they give you the floor model! Any purchase over $300 is good for a year of no interest, and sometimes you can get "free" delivery (they charge you but then you get the cost rebated). I love Lowe's!

Congratulations on your new fridge. Frozen ice is so much better!

Jod{i} said...

hmmmmm...is this 'other nameless' place orange?

LOL...We bought ours at Lowe's as well..better deal, quality and all that jazz.

Cept we delivered it and it got stuck in our door jams...long story, but funny, kinda...

Glad you can enjoy cold drinks again! Take the sting out of limeless coke..