Scam
January 4, 2011, 9:18 pm
Anyone who has lived in America the last decade knows that every transaction with a large business is a scam. This fact is lamentable but true.
The creativity of these scams is stellar and endless. For the average working family, there are not enough hours in the day to be scambusters.
Being retired helps; endless time can be spent reading small print or hanging onto a phone on hold. But even this approach only yields marginal relief.
For example, my husband spent a month researching the best cell phone deal. He did get a low price and no contract, but with one caveat. The company could change the terms at any time.
But the most creative scam was just perpetuated on us. My old stove was dying, or, more accurately, burning up, and a replacement was a necessity.
Since I still work, my husband did due diligence. He read Consumers Reports for hours and then trudged from store to store. He made an educated purchase and set a delivery date. I was to see my new electric range for the first time when it was delivered.
I was home alone when the stove arrived. It was a beauty. And then the delivery guy, a nice man I believe, said sheepishly,” Do you wish to buy a cord so you can plug your stove in?”
To which I replied,”I know you were forced to do this, but isn’t it a shame that everything in America is a scam now?” He agreed.
I bought the cord. No need to send the cordless stove back only to waste another month and be victim to yet another ingenious “gotcha”.
7 Comments for this entry
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Greetings and welcome...
The Suitcase Lady Blog is now in its fifteenth year. I intend to keep following the advice from poet Mary Oliver, "Pay attention, be astonished and tell about it". Many thanks for being the people I tell it to.
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January 4th, 2011 on 9:43 PM
What resonance. Since I moved into my new house, I have found that I can only heat my kids’ bedrooms if I turn off the heat to the rest of the floor; that the gas stove seems to have been installed by hand– no wrenches used– resulting in gas smells whenever the burners were turned on (situation now corrected!); fire alarms that started going off at 6:00 am because there was moisture in the air– and gathering on the wooden mullions on the windows; that the excitedly-ordered “drawer dishwasher” seems to have been designed for the maximum of 5 of my dishes at once; a newly-installed hose bib cost more than my washer-dryer and the water pressure in the showers about the force of an August drizzle. Oh well— we work through it all, don’t we?
January 4th, 2011 on 9:47 PM
What resonance. Since I moved into my new house, I have found that I can only heat my kids’ bedrooms if I turn off the heat to the rest of the floor; that the gas stove seemed to have been installed by hand– no wrenches used– resulting in gas leaks whenever the burners were turned on (situation now corrected!); fire alarms that started going off at 6:00 am because there was moisture in the air– and gathering on the wooden mullions on the windows; that the excitedly-ordered “drawer dishwasher” seems to have been designed for the maximum of 5 of my dishes at once; a newly-installed hose bib cost more than my washer-dryer and the water pressure in the showers about the force of an August drizzle. Oh well— we work through it all, don’t we? ps Glad you bought the cord. It’s called “Grace Under Pressure”.
January 4th, 2011 on 9:58 PM
Paying extra for the cord? I actually feel bad for the delivery guy — you were probably nicer than most people.
January 4th, 2011 on 10:00 PM
BRAVO!!!! We did not know that you had arrived at the new house. Fill us in on the details. What do we have to do to get an invitation? Despite the glitches you mention, we are happy you are ensconced by the river. Love from R&M
January 5th, 2011 on 12:41 PM
Wow. That’s a new one, although I have become used to this stuff with technology. Care to share the name of the retail establishment?
January 5th, 2011 on 1:43 PM
The store was Best Buy, but I’m sure they are all the same.
January 9th, 2011 on 8:18 PM
Mary–You were more than kind to that guy. I agree that it wasn’t his fault. But still. I’d have been tempted to say, “Oh, I think we have one around here somewhere.” And then punt. blessings, eve