ABC Warehouse SUCKS!!!
In the ongoing saga of things-that-blew-up-for-no-damn-reason-this-week, I THOUGHT I was getting a new dishwasher today. I went to ABC Warehouse, where I have bought all my major appliances because they have had good prices and the Russian guy that worked there was very nice. BIG mistake.
Before I start in with this, I just want to point out that the riding lawnmower died today. Add that to the growing list of ghostily sabotaged items. Back to the story…
When you go into this place you are immediately assaulted by salespeople trying be helpful. I told the first guy what I wanted and we found it right there and he said it was in stock and I could get it the next day. Yea! We wanted a very specific model and color which has been hard to find without a long wait. In this case I get exactly what I want and I can get it before the dishes run out. Cool.
So I had my parents hang out at the house all day waiting for the truck. They are visiting for a very short time but it was worth the bother of just sitting at home if we were going to get clean dishes today. I pulled out the old dishwasher and had it waiting in the garage for pickup.
I had to work today but I gave ABC Warehouse my number at work to call (house phone still dead at that point) for emergencies. They said they would call 1 hour before delivery.
Noon: no truck - its early still.
2:00 pm: no truck - Hmmmmm.
3:30 pm: Call ABC Warehouse and ask where the truck is. Delivering in Jackson and we got moved to the bottom of the pile of 17 deliveries, but they will get there in about 2 hrs. Ok, fine.
6:00 pm: no truck - Call ABC Warehouse and ask WTF, where’s the truck. Still stuck in Jackson with 2 more deliveries but will be to my house in 2 hours. Again. Uh, fine.
8:30 pm: no truck - Go to ABC Warehouse and ask WTF, where’s the truck? ABC pages the driver 3 times (no reply), calls the shipping company owner and he pages the driver. Driver calls and says they’ll be at my house in 20 minutes.
10:00 pm: no truck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
10:30 pm: get home from dinner out and call ABC Warehouse to find out their hours so I can be there first thing in the morning to CANCEL my order. Manager answers the phone (even though they closed an hour ago). Bitch out the manager and tell him I will see him in the morning when he gives me back my money for the washing machine that never was.
11:30 pm: Large delivery truck pulls up at the end of the driveway (did you notice there was no call at 10:30? ;) ) Two very apologetic and clearly lying drivers (who smell strongly of manure for some reason???), with a dishwasher on a cart in my front yard, give an incredible tale of whoa driving hither and yon’, trying to fill 17 orders in one whole day even though they didn’t know the area well. At first neither one seemed to know anything about any pages or phone calls. After asking 3 times, one of them (the one who would never look directly at me) finally admitted that they had told the manager they would be here in “20 minutes”, three hours ago. Why did he say that? Didn’t know the area very well.
11:45 pm: Jon stands staring at the goofs that brought the dishwasher trying to decide if he should accept it or not.
On the one hand, the service was terrible and I got jerked around royally by the store and drivers who very clearly did not have very good planning skills and were not very honest about when it would be delivered.
On the other hand, these guys may be just two working folks trying to make some money and get home to their families so they can get up at 5:00 AM (according to them) and start all over again, and who the heck do I think I am standing on my porch like a spoiled rich boy wanting his latte hotter and frothier?
On the third hand, nobody at the store will think twice about it if I just accept the shipment because they get their sale and commission and there’s no incentive to do a good job in the future.
On the fourth (and final!) hand, tomorrow I will have to spend my last day with my parents buying yet another dishwasher, which will likely come from a reputable place in town and hopefully will be delivered soon.
Two questions:
1. What would you do?
2. What do you think I did?
May 6th, 2005 04:32
I would have accepted it, and I’ll bet your dishes are clean, too! Yes? Don’t you hate days like that? Here’s the thing: we’re only given so many bad days in a row. You are due for an upswing.
May 6th, 2005 07:52
I’d want to send them home with their dishwasher and their tails between their legs. If nothing else, it just not appropriate to be delivering an appliance at 11:30 p.m. for crying out loud.
I’d like to think that I’d be brave enough to refuse the delivery…but when actually faced with the situation, I’d probably cave and just accept it. HOWEVER, I would still try to negotiate something with the manager - some type of refund or extended warrantly or something.
What would Jon do (wwjd)? Hhmmm. That’s a tough one…I’ve got a 50-50 chance so I’ll just guess that you accepted it, hoping to move past all the bad mojo from the past few days.
May 6th, 2005 08:08
Take it but demand a store credit ($20-50)towards a smaller item that you won’t need delivery for. After all your parents time and your time are valuable. Actually you shouldn’t even have to ask, the store should apologize and offer it!
May 6th, 2005 09:20
I would take it. Although I don’t mind doing the dishes by hand, I would still take it because by nature, I’m a “face saver”. I would have *wanted* to let them off the hook, ultimately. Of course, then I would come to my blog and give them whatfor, by god, nobody treats me like that. :) I think you probably took it, but for different reasons. I guess I think you would feel it wasn’t practical to start all over!
May 6th, 2005 09:32
This has already been said, but I would have accepted it, but demand a store credit for future purchases, especially if you plan to do business with them again, or at least liked to do business with them in the past.
By the way, you have a dishwasher?! *drooling* If only to have a dishwasher…
May 6th, 2005 10:07
Give that manager plenty of Jon hell.
May 6th, 2005 19:27
well…if you are a spoiled rich boy with 4 hands? COME ON OVER! That’s what I think you should do ;)
May 6th, 2005 21:18
Well, I have an exact dollar figure for what my time costs–I bill at $140.00/hour. I would inform the manager what my hourly rate is, and that he can pay it if he wants me to wait like that.
Actually, I would try to get some kind of store credit, too.
May 7th, 2005 09:42
“I’m sorry. This residence is not open to accept deliveries at 11:30 p.m. Why don’t you put it back on the truck and I’ll discuss this with your manager in the morning. You guys go on home and see your families.”
Next morning to Mr. Manager: “Your crack team of deliverymen were here last night. I would be willing to receive the dishwasher today between 9:30 and noon. I expect a credit/refund of $X (15%) for the time I wasted yesterday. If the delivery is not during the time I am requesting, you can keep your MF dishwasher and refund my payment in full. The action reporter at Channel X will be hearing from me too.”
WDJD? He turned it down and went to a Plan B, althouhg having Mom and Dad there may have influenced the decisions, because we always do what our parents tell us, right?
May 7th, 2005 11:40
I love David’s action plan :D I have to admit that I’m always too nice though - I never say anything, because I figure out it’s less trouble to make a happy face and swallow the mess.