Elayne Savage, PhD
It makes me crazy to be at the mercy of delivery or repair people. To wait around all day for someone to show up.
My dryer died. My regular appliance store wanted $100 to deliver, install and haul away. That seemed excessive. Someone told me Sears offers a rebate and has a pretty painless delivery operation.
Wrong. The Sears experience has been a nightmare.
It took at least 6 tries at scheduling and 4 delivery attempts before I had my new dryer. You may be familiar with the routine. You receive an automated call the evening before providing a two-hour window for the following day. If the time doesn't work, you call back and request another day. Once again you wait until the night before to learn the new delivery time.
I can clear part of my day, but not all of it. I'd request a morning appointment, and get an afternoon time slot. When I tried asking for an afternoon time, a morning delivery was scheduled.
The first attempt seemed like a snap. The phone call came in the night before as promised. The two-hour window they gave me worked out perfectly. The delivery team showed up within the specified time window.
How easy is this? Except the delivery guy won't install the dryer. He says the gas valve is too tight to turn. He doesn't want to force it. He tells me to call a plumber.
The order is canceled. Talk about disappointment!
Back to Sears goes my dryer.
As long as I'm reordering, I decide to order a slightly larger dryer. I measure the doorway carefully. The salesman promises it will work.
Again I go through the procedure with the automated call and the two-hour window. This time it takes a few tries to schedule the delivery.
The Confrontation
The delivery guy shows up exactly within the promised two-hour time frame. Except he refuses to take the dryer through the doorway. He argues with me that it is 29 inches wide, even though the online dimensions (and salesman) say it is 28.
There is a second, wider door to my laundry area, but he also refuses to bring it through that one. It seems like he doesn’t want to be bothered. Grrrrrrr. I feel like I have no control over the situation. By now I'm sounding a bit testy.
Back to Sears goes my dryer.
I order the smaller one even though it is not the dryer I really want. Again we go through the phone call/two hour window routine a couple of times.
A Scary Experience
I could feel my face drop when the same delivery guy that refused to bring the last dryer through my doorway shows up.
He asks me to go down the block where the truck is parked to "make sure it's the right dryer." Seems kind of weird to me that he was making this request.
Seems even weirder when he comments about my 'nice house.' In fact it pretty much freaked me out when I realized I recognized the number when he called me a few minutes earlier to check if I was home. There had been two or three early am and late night hang-ups with this same number showing on my caller ID.
We walk over to the truck. The dryer is in the cardboard box. He pulls down the back box panel and asks, "Is this the flat back model you ordered?" Yes. It is.
Then he moves around to the side panel. Before he even pulls it down, he exclaims, "Oh! it's damaged." And indeed there is a huge dent in the side. Hmmmmm.
How did he know it is damaged before he sees it? The other two delivery guys just stand there staring at their feet.
I tell him I want it installed anyway, knowing I'd have time under warranty to replace it. He refuses to bring it into the house. I am way past testy this time. I lose my temper.
Back to Sears goes my dryer.
When I order a replacement dryer I'm told the delivery guy reported I had refused delivery on the dented one.
Complain Instead of Compliance
I call Customer Service. They explain these delivery people do not work for Sears even though they drive Sears trucks and wear Sears uniforms. They are contracted.
The rep suggests a different delivery team the next time. She connects me to an administrative complaint person. He says the dryer should have been installed when I made that request. I have 45 days to return it if it is damaged. He is writing it up to "send up to corporate."
The re-ordered dryer takes a couple of reschedules and two more days to be delivered. This time the delivery guy and his team are terrific. He also answers some questions for me. He measures my doorway and says there is enough room for clearance. It's tight but he would have installed the wider dryer. He also says the only time he asks a customer to walk over to the truck is if he knows an appliance is damaged.
So after 2 ½ weeks I have my new dryer. And I am so relieved to be done dealing with Sears.
Premature. Turns out the replacement dryer reorder activated a new charge on my Visa bill. I notice the refund is $110 short. I have to make another phone call to Sears. They insist they refunded the full amount. They insist it must be a restock charge, which could only be requested by the delivery company! After several phone calls it is finally refunded.
It has been quite a struggle not to take all of this personally.
I really hate feeling at the mercy of delivery or repair people. Just a few months ago I waited on two different days for Comcast to show up and change my non-functioning modem. I waited and waited. They never came on either of the scheduled days. I’m angry about that experience too. I had to keep reminding them they owed me $20 for each missed appointment. I'm sure the earlier experience with Comcast colored my reaction to the Sears drama.
How to Cope
So what might I have done differently in these frustrating situations?
- Not have unrealistic expectations that things will go smoothly. They probably won't.
- Breathe. Count to 10. Breathe some more.
- Try to remember I don't have to take the word of a delivery or repairperson. I can I can ask them to call supervisor on their cell phone. Right then and there.
When I get caught in the tentacles of feeling 'done to' or manipulated or lied to, I can sometimes get angry, overreact and don't think clearly about what my options might be. Does this happen to you, too?
I'd love to hear your stories on how you experience and handle these situations . . .
© Elayne Savage, PhD
Until next month,
Elayne
Elayne Savage is the author of ground-breaking books published in 9 languages.
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