What Irked You Today?

[bobthehobbyguy]

A lot of places outsource delivery of large items. Costco recently brought that delivery  back into house because the contract delivery was creating too many problems.

[Ace-Garageguy]

44 minutes ago, bobthehobbyguy said:

A lot of places outsource delivery of large items. Costco recently brought that delivery  back into house because the contract delivery was creating too many problems.

Yeah, when everyone has shiny new degrees in useful things like emoji design and gender studies, it's hard to find anyone qualified to deliver appliances without destroying them.

Too bad there are just some jobs that can't be outsourced to China. 

Edited October 23, 2022 by Ace-Garageguy
TYPO

[TonyK]

My wife wanted to buy from a smaller appliance store but all her Internet searching and contact with a couple of stores were telling us the ones we wanted weren't available. We wanted to replace all our appliances and had a specific brand and type we wanted. The person we dealt with at the Lowe's store was very helpful but it all went downhill after that.

[HomerS]

Our fridge was dying earlier this year.  The sales lady at Lowes stalked the wife and I like were going to grab a floor model and run for the door.  We got the current one from them and their deliveries guys were not the shiniest crayon in the box.  It has to come through the living room, through the dining room and then a 90 into the kitchen as the side door is not wide enough to come in that way.  They took the doors off and reinstalled them once the fridge was in place.

We went to a local appliance store and bought a 'scratch & dent' model with a good sized dent on the back.  No one will ever see it and it doesn't affect the performance.  Their in house delivery crew was top notch.....and they were smarter than the Lowes guys as they got it in the kitchen without removing the doors.  Color options have really dropped as it's white, black or stainless.

[espo]

During our resent move, the downsizing sort of thing that needed to be done at this point in our lives, we ordered and received after a couple of months wait a pair for living room recliners.  These were ordered from Lazy-Boy, a company that we have used in the past for many years and have in the past provided good service with no issues. This time was anything but acceptable. The contract delivery guys bring the chairs into our home and the backs had to be installed on the chairs. The first guy gets his done and takes pictures of the chairs and disappears to their truck. The second guy is struggling to get the seat back aligned and installed. I suggested he get the first guy to help him since he seemed to have no problems. Guy #2 manages to get the back on, and it looks fine, and he leaves. I tryout the chair and the seat back just doesn't feel right, and the reclining position is different from the first chair. Within a 20-minute window after delivery I call the store manager and tell him of the problem. The store manager says that I have to call the companies 800 number to schedule a service call and indicates that it may cost us if we have done anything to damage the chairs. The service department gives us an appointment three months in the future. I fiddled with the seat back myself and got it installed finally. One of the four mounting brackets for the seat back was installed off by maybe a half an inch so nothing was lining up back there. When the service called to say they were coming out I explained that it was not needed since I had corrected their error in assembly. That didn't sit well with him, but since I no longer intend to purchase any of their products in the future based on their customer service, which I also mentioned to the "Brain Surgeon" on the phone. They aren't going to go broke with the loss of my business, but on the other hand I will only spend my money with those that appreciate my business and are polite about it.  

[BlackSheep214]

8 hours ago, espo said:

During our resent move, the downsizing sort of thing that needed to be done at this point in our lives, we ordered and received after a couple of months wait a pair for living room recliners.  These were ordered from Lazy-Boy, a company that we have used in the past for many years and have in the past provided good service with no issues. This time was anything but acceptable. The contract delivery guys bring the chairs into our home and the backs had to be installed on the chairs. The first guy gets his done and takes pictures of the chairs and disappears to their truck. The second guy is struggling to get the seat back aligned and installed. I suggested he get the first guy to help him since he seemed to have no problems. Guy #2 manages to get the back on, and it looks fine, and he leaves. I tryout the chair and the seat back just doesn't feel right, and the reclining position is different from the first chair. Within a 20-minute window after delivery I call the store manager and tell him of the problem. The store manager says that I have to call the companies 800 number to schedule a service call and indicates that it may cost us if we have done anything to damage the chairs. The service department gives us an appointment three months in the future. I fiddled with the seat back myself and got it installed finally. One of the four mounting brackets for the seat back was installed off by maybe a half an inch so nothing was lining up back there. When the service called to say they were coming out I explained that it was not needed since I had corrected their error in assembly. That didn't sit well with him, but since I no longer intend to purchase any of their products in the future based on their customer service, which I also mentioned to the "Brain Surgeon" on the phone. They aren't going to go broke with the loss of my business, but on the other hand I will only spend my money with those that appreciate my business and are polite about it.  

Hogwash! Never mind scheduling a service call. And they had the balls to charge you for any damages you cause?!  I don't think so. Not on my watch. They should have sent the same guys that delivered your chair and fix the problem. That’s call customer service. Nowadays nobody wants to work or give good customer service.

[bobthehobbyguy]

10 hours ago, espo said:

During our resent move, the downsizing sort of thing that needed to be done at this point in our lives, we ordered and received after a couple of months wait a pair for living room recliners.  These were ordered from Lazy-Boy, a company that we have used in the past for many years and have in the past provided good service with no issues. This time was anything but acceptable. The contract delivery guys bring the chairs into our home and the backs had to be installed on the chairs. The first guy gets his done and takes pictures of the chairs and disappears to their truck. The second guy is struggling to get the seat back aligned and installed. I suggested he get the first guy to help him since he seemed to have no problems. Guy #2 manages to get the back on, and it looks fine, and he leaves. I tryout the chair and the seat back just doesn't feel right, and the reclining position is different from the first chair. Within a 20-minute window after delivery I call the store manager and tell him of the problem. The store manager says that I have to call the companies 800 number to schedule a service call and indicates that it may cost us if we have done anything to damage the chairs. The service department gives us an appointment three months in the future. I fiddled with the seat back myself and got it installed finally. One of the four mounting brackets for the seat back was installed off by maybe a half an inch so nothing was lining up back there. When the service called to say they were coming out I explained that it was not needed since I had corrected their error in assembly. That didn't sit well with him, but since I no longer intend to purchase any of their products in the future based on their customer service, which I also mentioned to the "Brain Surgeon" on the phone. They aren't going to go broke with the loss of my business, but on the other hand I will only spend my money with those that appreciate my business and are polite about it.  

First off 3 months to fix their problem is totally unacceptable. It's obvious hey we have your money we're in no hurry to fix it.

Second they are paying as little le as possible for delivery and it's shows in the poor Install. Unfortunately this is typical of the big name stores.

[espo]

20 hours ago, BlackSheep214 said:

Hogwash! Never mind scheduling a service call. And they had the balls to charge you for any damages you cause?!  I don't think so. Not on my watch. They should have sent the same guys that delivered your chair and fix the problem. That’s call customer service. Nowadays nobody wants to work or give good customer service.

I agree but they have your money, and the delivery guys are a subcontractor. The service manager tried to say that by rolling the chairs onto their front to work on the seat backs had somehow damaged the chair, which he hasn't even seen. I mentioned that I used the same procedure that the delivery guys used to install the seat backs, but that didn't seem to matter to him. As I mentioned I'm no longer going to purchase anything from Lazy-Boy ever. 

[espo]

18 hours ago, bobthehobbyguy said:

First off 3 months to fix their problem is totally unacceptable. It's obvious hey we have your money we're in no hurry to fix it.

Second they are paying as little le as possible for delivery and it's shows in the poor Install. Unfortunately this is typical of the big name stores.

They have gotten the last dime from me they will ever see. As I have mentioned the problem here, I will trash them to whoever may ask about buying from them. 

[TonyK]

Same as us about Lowe's. The wife ripped the shipping guy a new one on how they botched this whole scheduling deal with a product they didn't have, telling us a delivery time and then not letting us know it isn't happening while we sit and wait. She was very stern about it but also told the guy she was sorry he works for a company that is this bad.

Amazing how companies such as Lazy Boy and Lowe's and other places have gone to "you know what". Just sad.

[espo]

Now this may be out of place since it was a positive experience. When we moved, we wanted to add some additional ceiling fans and Home Depot was having a sale on them, so we went down to check them out. We found three that we liked, and they were all different styles since they were going to be in different areas. I was starting to assemble one fan when I noticed the fan didn't match the picture on the box and the instructions were wrong. I loaded everything back into thew box and went back to HD. The return desk had to get the manager and there was some examining of the fan, and it did appear that someone had been into the box and had changed the fan in the box. She was able to see in her inventory that someone had bought the fan and then returned it. Never knew these things had serial numbers. She suggested that the person bought a few fans just as we had. They returned the most expensive fan box with the least expensive fan inside. She didn't hesitate for a moment and called another store, and they had the fan we had bought. She replaced the fan with the proper product, apologized all over herself for our inconvenience and gave me her card and said if I ever had a problem with anything in the future to just call her. Had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. When was the last time you ever got that kind of service?

[Ace-Garageguy]

13 minutes ago, espo said:

Never knew these things had serial numbers. She suggested that the person bought a few fans just as we had. They returned the most expensive fan box with the least expensive fan inside...

You really have to wonder about the lengths some people who have zero sense of decency will go to to save a few bucks.

Something like that isn't the same as stealing a loaf of bread to feed your starving child.

It's just stealing, period...and if I ran HD, I'd put the cops on 'em.

[BlackSheep214]

17 minutes ago, espo said:

Now this may be out of place since it was a positive experience. When we moved, we wanted to add some additional ceiling fans and Home Depot was having a sale on them, so we went down to check them out. We found three that we liked, and they were all different styles since they were going to be in different areas. I was starting to assemble one fan when I noticed the fan didn't match the picture on the box and the instructions were wrong. I loaded everything back into thew box and went back to HD. The return desk had to get the manager and there was some examining of the fan, and it did appear that someone had been into the box and had changed the fan in the box. She was able to see in her inventory that someone had bought the fan and then returned it. Never knew these things had serial numbers. She suggested that the person bought a few fans just as we had. They returned the most expensive fan box with the least expensive fan inside. She didn't hesitate for a moment and called another store, and they had the fan we had bought. She replaced the fan with the proper product, apologized all over herself for our inconvenience and gave me her card and said if I ever had a problem with anything in the future to just call her. Had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. When was the last time you ever got that kind of service?

And no Home Depot employees or customer noticed another customer was doing the old switcheroo? What about security cameras? Their Loss Prevention staff should have caught it. I guess no one cares anymore.

[LL3 Model Worx]

6 minutes ago, BlackSheep214 said:

And no Home Depot employees or customer noticed another customer was doing the old switcheroo? What about security cameras? Their Loss Prevention staff should have caught it. I guess no one cares anymore.

 

In most cases the vast majority of staff at alot of places are high school kids and those that freshly dropped out it seems.

So, it's not that anyone stopped caring, it's that they never did unfortunately.

 

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

9 minutes ago, BlackSheep214 said:

And no Home Depot employees or customer noticed another customer was doing the old switcheroo? What about security cameras? Their Loss Prevention staff should have caught it. I guess no one cares anymore.

They bought fans, some cheaper than others.

They took them home and switched contents.

Then they returned the cheap fans in the expensive boxes.

Happens all the time, everywhere.

Over the past 5.5 decades, I'm sure I've got home to find either switched, used, or broken crapp in boxes I've purchased in good faith, at least 20 times, and had to go back to the store and try to convince them it wasn't me who was the crook.

Edited October 25, 2022 by Ace-Garageguy
CLARITY

[bobthehobbyguy]

1 hour ago, TonyK said:

Same as us about Lowe's. The wife ripped the shipping guy a new one on how they botched this whole scheduling deal with a product they didn't have, telling us a delivery time and then not letting us know it isn't happening while we sit and wait. She was very stern about it but also told the guy she was sorry he works for a company that is this bad.

Amazing how companies such as Lazy Boy and Lowe's and other places have gone to "you know what". Just sad.

It's because the big corporations are being run with the same flawed philosophy. 

The two most important parts of a purchase are the buying experience and the delivery and installation. .

The delivery is where the corners get cut. Outsource it as cheaply as possible. In turn the delivery schedule is aggressive with no time to deal with any issues.

[NOBLNG]

Usually, if I return something that I have opened, they will have a peek inside right then and there to see if it looks ok. If I buy an open box item, I’ll check it before leaving the store….usually.?

[Ace-Garageguy]

50 minutes ago, NOBLNG said:

Usually, if I return something that I have opened, they will have a peek inside right then and there to see if it looks ok. If I buy an open box item, I’ll check it before leaving the store….usually.?

Well yeah...once I got some miles on me and realized the world was full of dishonest buttwipes, I started checking everything that looked even slightly like it might have been opened or tampered with.

But still, I've received sealed packages where somebody went to the trouble of getting a roll of identical tape, or on one occasion, apparently removed the security seal with solvent to dissolve the glue, and then glued it back on...very carefully.

EDIT: Come to think of it, I once bough a supposedly new Maserati Biturbo fender, only to find it was used, had been bead blasted, primered with the right color stuff, and labeled with a fake sticker that even had the right part number. The initial giveaway was that the sticker was made on an inkjet, and the colors ran when I spilled my Coke on it. Then I started looking close, and found minor rust pitting that hadn't been entirely removed, very minor indentations around the fastener holes, etc. I probably paid as much for that fender as the junkyard paid for the whole car, so there's no question as to why they pulled that stuff.

Anyway, there's no shortage of reasons I'm a grumpy old SOB.  

Edited October 25, 2022 by Ace-Garageguy
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

[Rodent]

I once bought a replacement cat for a Honduh I used to have. Sealed, minty box. I opened it at the parts counter to see if I needed to get the gaskets separately or if they were in the box. Lo, and behold: A used cat in the box. Of course they didn't have another one in stock. They got one the next day, but it looked like the box had been run over by a forklift, so all the hardware was missing.

[Phirewriter]

As a Hot Wheels collector I've seen issues with switched contents for years. Hot wheels has premium line cars that average $5 on up they put  in multi car sets. Sad to see returned sets with common mainline $1 cars switched into to the package, there's always obvious factory seals that are easily identified if they've been tampered with. Apparently the people working the service desk are either lazy or ignorant and clearly don't check to see if there's any nonsense going on. Sad to think people who aren't familiar with these premium line cars purchase these thinking they have or are gifting something special and end up being a victim of greedy dirt bags. Unfortunately I know who some of them are within my local collecting community. I have called some of them out for this practice as well. 

Edited October 26, 2022 by Phirewriter

[Ace-Garageguy]

3 hours ago, Rodent said:

 ...Lo, and behold: A used cat in the box...

[slusher]

7 hours ago, espo said:

They have gotten the last dime from me they will ever see. As I have mentioned the problem here, I will trash them to whoever may ask about buying from them. 

I have had 2 of their chairs both was terrible quality!

[slusher]

31 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Your cat Bill?

[HomerS]

Watching the Rangers/Avs game and hear a loud crunch outside.  Young lady took out an SUV belonging to a neighbor.  She was not injured but did leave in the silver bracelets as she failed the field sobriety tests badly.  My youngest just got his temps so I stood out in the rain with him while the police processed the scene and he got to see her do all the tests.  Summation:  Her insurance pays for her Honda CRV, the Ford Escape she took out, six points on the drivers license, spend tonight as a guest of the city (or possibly the county), couple grand in fines, higher insurance costs.  My wife is not a fan of me doing these real life examples but here is something that drives the point home for a new driver.

Irony...the owner of the Escape she took out drives for Uber

Edited October 26, 2022 by HomerS

[Ace-Garageguy]

21 minutes ago, slusher said:

Your cat Bill?

Nope. Looks just like his father though. Although my cat seems to be black and white, in the bright sun the black is really very dark orange, with stripes.