Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Best Buy Dishwasher Hostage Crisis Goes to the Next Level

As I look at the Hostage Crisis counter and see that we have been held captive for 44 days and 23 hours I think "Can you be serious???"

By last Thursday I had had enough!!!! I called the Best Buy store where I bought the dishwasher and asked to speak to a manager about an issue with my dishwasher. So I very calmly and politely tell my short version and end with "I either want my dishwasher fixed by tomorrow or I want a refund."

To which the manager replied "How about I give you a new one."

Why did I think it would be that easy?

After dinner I slipped away (my errand last Thursday night when I saw my laundry room exposed to the world) and went to Best Buy to arrange for my new dishwasher. But here's the catch: the original dishwasher I bought was a floor model and was sold at a reduced price so I either had to accept a lower quality dishwasher or I had to pay more.

For all I knew the part for the original dishwasher was still being manufactured in China so I had no idea when, or if, it would get fixed. (If I had only known I was going to need that part I could have picked it up this past July while I was there.) I know, I know, it seems totally insane to pay more to a business to replace a dishwasher that they failed to repair due to their own incompetence but I had been driven to the point of insanity. I have heard that hostages start to feel an affinity to their captors, maybe that was it. I fell for the "we're going to replace it because its been too long but you have to pay more because your model is no longer available." I was fooled by the bait and switch.

I just wanted a dishwasher to wash my dishes. Is that so much to ask for?

I know, I know, I should have demanded my refund and run out the door straight to Lowe's but like a fool I stayed there. I reasoned that finally someone was trying to make this right and all I wanted was a dishwasher to work and this was probably the fastest way to make that happen.

Hello!!!! We're dealing with a business that won't even call you 7 weeks after supposedly ordering a part!!!

So I paid my $191.59 ransom upcharge and went home happy that I was finally getting a brand new dishwasher on Monday.

What an idiot.

My new dishwasher was delivered this morning and the delivery guys brought in a cardboard box and turned to leave. WHOA! Guess what? Installation wasn't included. I asked if they could at least unpack it, which they did. They hauled the old one away and a few minutes later they knocked on the door handing me a metal hose and an hard wire electric cord saying I would need them to install the new one.

Unbelieveably I'm still Little Miss PollyAnna. My brand new shiny dishwasher is only feet from its destined spot. So I had to install my new dishwasher myself? I couldn't do any worse than Mike the Plumber/Contractor. And if worse came to worse, I could call my brother Kevin to come and help me.

The day wore on and I hadn't installed the dishwasher yet. In the meantime, REAL, not paper, dishes are piling up all over the counter because the new dishwasher will be working any minute! Finally while I started to cook dinner I decided that I'm standing right there so I might as well figure out what I need to do. I looked at the instruction manual and realized that I'm missing a part. While the delivery guys gave me the hose they neglected to remove the brass elbow attached to it. This required a trip to Home Depot.

Of course, the elbow bracket wasn't sold seperately so I had to purchase a new universal kit for $19.99 + tax. So now my new replacement dishwasher has cost me over $2oo. But I don't care -- I just want my dishwasher!!!

I get home and start to screw the elbow in and it barely goes in so I broke down and called Kevin. I had no idea what I was doing wrong. Thirty minutes and 2 phone calls later Kevin and I figure out that I wasn't doing anything wrong. Its the dishwasher or the kit. I need a new one or the other.

After 45 days, 4 hours in phone calls, 2 visits to the store that have lasted about an hour and a half, one trip to Home Depot and $211 later I STILL do not have a working dishwasher. (Do you think I emphasized the "still" enough?

Oh, and the kicker? Guess who called me last Friday? The repair people called to tell me that my part was in.

8 comments:

Stonefox said...

AAAHHH, I am so gritting my teeth right now! I am incredibly frustrated and it's not even my dishwasher! These types of things drive me NUTS!

Actually, I came to your site because I heard that you were an adoptive parent (I just adopted earlier this year). But now I am so pumped over the dishwasher I can't think straight! Seriously!

~Isabel said...

Denise, is there a news channel with one of those newcasters who 'get things done' when a company has done something that they will not fix? The bad publicity that your ding-dings who sold you the dishwasher would be huge...maybe you shoud check your local news channel websites?

Or, lol, you could haul all of your dirty dishes to the manager and pop them on his desk-telling him that you were doing a 'sit-in' until he PERSONALLY saw to it that your dishwasher was fixed asap!

Kristin said...

Oh good grief!! Is there no end in sight?? I likely would have done the same thing (upgrade instead of starting over again elsewhere). I hope you can finally get this thing up and going. Bribe your brother with anything!! Hey, and there is no reason to believe that the repair guy would actually show up anytime soon even though the part had arrived.

I'll check on you tomorrow and hope to see clean dishes. :-)

Margaret M said...

I was cracking up after reading your post....surely this issue is about to come to a successful end! I actually enjoy doing dishes...it relaxes me (don't worry...I hate cleaning house) Hope it gets resolved soon my friend!

Mary, Martin, Maggie and Mickey said...

This is unacceptable. First, call corporate HQ at Best Buy and demand refunds for everything. Threaten to go to your state's attorney general and Better Business Bureau and the DO IT. Finally, and I wish I had checked your blog earlier, you should probably contact the manufacturer of the original dishwasher. The Best Buy warantee is a bit of a trick, at least for the first month or two. Appliances come with Manufacturer's warantees that are good for 30-60 days and sometimes longer. So for the first while you owned that dishwasher, you were under two warantees, one that was free and one you paid for. Contact the original manufacturer (high up the chain) and complain; Best Buy needs their good will and if you catch the right person they might put pressure on them.

Oh yes, and OMG is that Emma?? She is gorgeous! SO different from the tiny little thing I met at the Somerset. What a beautiful little girl.

Jen said...

Oh my! I'd go nuts without a dishwasher for that long.. and I only have one child! I found your site through BlogHer and just wanted to say that your family looks great and you are a hysterical writer. Good luck with the dishwasher saga!

Kay Bratt said...

Denise,

You could always make use of a non-working dishwasher...

Take me for example:

Three years into our stay in China, we decided to move to a new house across the lake. The movers came and boxed everything up. On our final walk-through to make sure we hadn't forgotten anything, my husband opened the dishwasher that had not once in three-plus years washed a load of dishes... he was speechless (actually...it was more like, "What the @#!!@ is this???!")as he came upon my stash of American goodies that I had hidden from HIM! I was using it as a cupboard, knowing he'd never think to look in there!

I had cereal bars, chocolate, potato chips, plus a lot more goodies from the states that I had been hoarding and only bringing out on special occasions!!

Needless to say, in the next house I was forced to find a NEW hiding place! And I even managed to use the dishwasher once or twice for what it was made for...

Kay

Denise Grover Swank said...

Kay,

Currently my brand new dishwasher is making a nice island in my kitchen. Perhaps I should pull the bar stools up so the kids can eat of the top of it.

That's too funny about using your dishwasher to hide your "stash." I know when I have previous houses we have used both the dishwasher and the refrigerator to hide all kinds of things that we wanted off the counter!