Refrigerator Drama

If you've been reading this blog, you know that our old refrigerator was dying. So after numerous attempts by my husband to limp it along, we decided to just give in and buy a new one.

I first researched and figured out exactly what I wanted. We then went to every single store in town that sold appliances and checked prices, delivery fees, etc.

We settled on Electronic Express. We'd previously purchased things from them with no problems. The sales guy, Cody, was really nice and worked with us. By that evening I had my nice, new shiny appliance sitting in my kitchen. This happened on August 19th.

This Monday (a holiday) we noticed that the freezer wasn't freezing anything. It was keeping things cool, but the ice was melting in the door and anything frozen was now just cool.

Because it was a holiday, I had to wait until Tuesday morning to call the store. They were borderline rude when they told me that I would have to call Whirlpool. 

Whirlpool went through the typical questions and then tried to verify my address. But it was incorrect. They had my refrigerator at someone else's home. And my warranty expired in November. As in only a couple of months away. The lady was really sweet and told me what to do to get the information changed so my warranty would be good a year from date of purchase and set up a repair person to come to my house the next day. She made a comment about previous repairs, but I didn't understand what she was saying so didn't pay attention.

That evening the repair place called to verify my information so they could come to fix it. And again, she had my refrigerator at the wrong house. She asked if we'd recently moved. Turns out this appliance was purchased in November 2012 and had 3 repairs before being returned to Electronic Express. They put it back into the new section to be sold again. And I was the unlucky person to get it. I was furious!!! I called the store. I felt that I did a great job of restraining my fury. I asked to talk to a manager and explained what I'd learned. He stumbled all around and told me he'd call me back. A few minutes later he called back and stuttered around the issue and told me I'd have a new fridge by the next day (Wednesday) and he was really sorry.

Wednesday goes by with no call from Electronic Express. So I called them. Yes, a truck had come in. No, I wasn't on the list to get a new appliance, but they'd call me back when they'd straightened it out.

I woke up this morning (Thursday) to a warm refrigerator and spoiled food. The entire thing was now not functioning. I called and again spoke with a manager. He was so sorry. There weren't any refrigerators on this shipment and he'd forgotten to order one. So I would have to wait 2-3 weeks for a new one. I was about to blow my top by then. So I told him to just come pick up his old refrigerator and refund my money.  His response -

"Well, I don't know when we'll be able to come get the refrigerator. We're pretty busy. I'll have to call you back about that. And if you want your money back, you'll have to come into the store. We don't handle that over the phone."

He then offered another brand if I would pay just a little bit more money. What?!!! So I apologized, but told him that based on this experience I didn't feel comfortable trusting them again and wouldn't be purchasing anything from them.

His response -

"Uh Oh."

Seriously?! And this guy made manager?

I go into the store to get my money put back on the card. The salesman who had sold us the fridge was there. He couldn't refund the money without a code from the manager so went back to get him. The manager kept going up to other people and asking them if they needed help. It was clear that he was avoiding me. By this time even the salesman was getting annoyed. He finally found another employee to put in the code. And was really shocked when I gave the reason for the return.

The manager walked by me at least 5x and never once made eye contact or talked to me or the salesman. He was extremely rude and abrupt when asked questions.

I actually felt sorry for the poor salesman guy. 

So now I have a "new" non-working fridge in my house that will be here indefinitely and have ordered a new one from the place I should have gone with in the first place. Sigh!

My problem with this whole issue is - How do I respond? I am trying to act Christ-like and be patient, forgiving, and understanding. But the entire time I want to scream and get compensated for my ruined food. I know that Jesus got angry, but it was about sins committed against his temple and his Father. My anger is probably selfish. So now I'm trying to calm down and figure out how far to take this. Do I contact corporate? Do I tell all of my friends (oops, already did that)? Or do I just leave it alone and never step foot into that store again?