Let this be a lesson to you: When you see signs that appliances or plumbing aren't working right, the time to act is NOW. I've learned that before but apparently ignored my own advice when I noticed strange noises and indications that my refrigerator wasn't working correctly. Saturday, I got up to discover that things in the freezer were either thawed or well on their way to room temp. So goes the freezer, so goes the refrigerator.
But first, a word about my refrigerator. When I got it--as near as I can figure--was about 15 years ago. Maybe more. My old second-hand one had given out and wasn't worth repairing. One of my dear radio friends said he and his wife were going to be buying a new one in a week or two, and if I could wait until then, I could have their old one for free. He said his old one was about 20 years old but still worked fine. He even donated his son's old dorm-sized refrigerator for me to use in the meantime. When the time came, he and two of my other radio friends brought over the beige door-in-a-door Whirlpool that had to have cost a pretty penny when it was new. It was a major problem to get it in the house because the guys didn't have all of the required tools. They took off house doors and grunted and groaned and worked hard just to get it through the door, but when they finally did, I was delighted to have it! They also took my old fridge to the street. (We had to remove the doors and the compressor, and I paid $50 for the Solid Waste Management people to come pick it up.) In short, as close as I can figure it, the refrigerator that just died was at least 35 years old or more. It didn't owe anyone anything, and when the neighbor who came to collect my thawing frozen foods to stash in his freezer suggested that I should just call Turner Appliance Repair to have it fixed, I said no. Time for a new one. I hadn't had a brand-new refrigerator since 1988. I deserve a new refrigerator!
Back to the story of my quest to find a new one.
After I sent my expensive meats over to my neighbor's freezer, I started looking online at the usual places to see about prices. I am painfully aware that stainless appliances are all the rage, but I hate them. Had been thinking for a long time about what direction to go when appliances needed to be replaced...and finally decided on black. (Personally, I would have preferred beige, but it's hard to find those now without ordering them special.) I don't need ice makers/dispensers because the fridge is too far from the kitchen plumbing, and since my house is on a slab, water tubing can't be strung under the floor. The only options are all over the ceiling in the kitchen, or up into the attic and down...but I know that it gets cold enough in the attic in the winter to freeze stuff up there. Yet, the only refrigerator models that don't include ice makers/dispensers are the really old-fashioned, small ones that just won't fill the bill.
Have you priced refrigerators lately?? Scary! If you want stainless, the sky is the limit. If you don't, you have to take pot luck. My daughter (who lives 2,000 miles away) knew what I wanted and told me that Lowe's in Mooresville, IN, had what I wanted in stock. (In stock meant, to me, that I could get a fast delivery, right?) So, on Sunday, after church, I transferred some $$ from savings to checking in order to go buy a refrigerator and hope for quick delivery.
The salesman at the appliance department looked at my little note about what I wanted, took me right to it, and said it was on sale. He showed me others, of course, but I knew what I wanted, and this particular Frigidaire was on sale until the 19th. He looked at the delivery schedule and said they were booked clear up until Friday...then said, how about early tomorrow? I'll take it! In very short order, I was on my way to the checkout register to pay for my purchase and go home for a nap. Did it happen that way? Of course not! What was I thinking??
My bank declined the purchase. I assumed it was because it was over the limit of how much could be purchased in one day...so I wrote a check. Lowe's declined the check (which I found out later on was because my bank had declined my debit). The only thing for me to do was go home and call the bank to get them to turn loose of my funds. God bless the manager and cashier, they both suggested I could call from there, but if my bank doesn't recognize a phone number--or even a computer--they get stingy. (My bank doesn't know my cell phone number because I rarely use it.) I tucked my tail between my legs and went home, thinking that if I couldn't get the refrigerator paid for that day, I was going to lose my next day delivery.
Came home and called the bank. Well...of course, they have office hours and aren't open on Sundays. My next call was to the Lowe's watchdog company, Certegy, to see why they declined my check. The gal was very polite, but after several minutes told me, in couched words, that my check was declined because they couldn't confirm that I had the money (because my bank had already declined the purchase). Following me, so far?? Meanwhile, I was sending Megan messages online about everything that was going on. She volunteered, unasked, to cover the purchase by phone, but it would be my job to get the bank to turn loose of the funds so she could be reimbursed. (Truth be known, even SHE had problems getting the transaction to go through her own bank, but finally, FINALLY, it got done!)
I wasn't done yet. The man that sold me the refrigerator had called to ask me if I knew the appliance was still "invoiced" (unpaid). I told him yes...there was a problem...but I was working on it. After Meg's payment went through, the gal she talked to still wanted me to call to check on delivery because she wasn't sure it was on the books. I called the salesman AGAIN. He wasn't close to his computer at the time but said he'd check to make sure. Since I didn't hear back, I could only assume that it was all a GO. Morning deliveries are anywhere from 8:00 to noon. Since I wasn't ready, I figured I would be early on the docket!
I woke up at 7:00 this morning absolutely dreading the day. I needed to get things out of and off of the old refrigerator and was considering what else needed to be moved in order to expedite delivery of the new one. I needn't have been concerned. The delivery truck showed up around 9:30, and both of the fellows seemed to know exactly what they were doing. In spite of my warnings that the guys that brought the old one in had problems, the main delivery dude had tape measure in hand and assured me it would be fine. There were two men, Jackie and Rick. They had the right tools to do what needed to be done and knew the drill, right down to timing. They worked together as a well-oiled team but were still personable. Jackie was the obvious leader of the two. He had 15 years' experience delivering appliances for Lowe's. No rookies here! They were done in an hour!!
As it left the house, the old refrigerator dripped rusty water all over the place to the front door, but I got most of that up with a couple of old towels. There is still clean-up to do, but it could be worse.
The new black fridge makes the kitchen look smaller, but at least I have one now. It is cooling. Will put stuff in it tomorrow. I have thrown away a couple of hundred $$ worth of food, but it happens to all of us. Had I paid attention to the signs at the beginning of this saga, it might have turned out better. Mea culpa!
After the delivery guys left, I went to Meijer where there is a branch of my bank. I needed to know why my card had been declined at Lowe's, and why my request for cash at a local ATM "couldn't be processed" earlier in the morning. The gal quickly told me that the declination at Lowe's wouldn't have happened if I had used it as a "credit" rather than a "debit". (I don't think I was given a choice!) The problem with the ATM was apparently the ATM's problem because it didn't even show up on the bank records. I was assured that the card was still viable and that a reimbursement check to my daughter for $850+ would work.
This whole transaction isn't complete until my daughter receives my check and it clears....but what a long, strange trip it has been! Now all I have to do is replace the foods that had to be trashed, clean up the messes that were created, retrieve my meats from my neighbor, and hope for the best. I have known that this day would come for a long time. And now it has come and gone. God bless ME for surviving it!
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