More tales of Chutzpah

After yesterday’s tale of Chutzpah I figured I’d show that I can show just as much temerity if I am pushed.

Over Christmas a few years ago we purchased a new washer and dryer (a purchase we had been putting off but decided it needed to be done, as our washer treats our clothing the same as if you beat the clothes on a rock by the river). We saw that Home Depot was having a “Boxing Day” sale, and we actually walked down to Home Depot to purchase a washer and dryer. My wife had done her normal extensive investigation of the topic, so she knew what she wanted, so I let her have at it with the sales lady.

I wandered off and found that Home Depot did sell “liners” for my new green bin, and I looked at various other building supplies. I returned to find that my wife had settled on a model and price, which seemed reasonable and we then needed to decide when to have the new washer and dryer delivered.

Our previous configuration had a Natural Gas based clothes dryer, so to remove it and replace it with an electric dryer would mean a gas fitter would need to come and “cap” the supply line, so we pushed the delivery into mid-January which we were told was not a problem. We also “qualified” for the “don’t pay until next year (and then we gouge you with ASTRONOMICAL interest rates)” payment plan, so we signed up for all of this and left the store treading carefully (Ottawa had an Ice Storm on Boxing Day).

Fast forward to 3 days before the new washer/dryer was due to be delivered. By this time Home Depot had already put the purchase on my credit card (interesting, I never like paying for something I haven’t received yet), and the gas fitter had just come and capped our Natural gas line, leaving us with no clothes dryer, but for only 3 days (or so we thought).

That very afternoon my wife got a phone call from the manufacturer of the Washer/Dryer (LG) that our delivery was going to be delayed by over a month because there were no more Washer/Dryer models in North America of the type we purchased. Now that in itself is a type of chutzpah but at least they called, leaving my wife at a level of aggravation which if it was on a scale of 1 to 10 would be around HOLY CRAP! level.

I got on the phone to the manager of Home Depot to voice our displeasure about the fact that:

• We no longer had any ability to dry our clothes for more than a month (at least).
• When we “purchased” the washer/dryer it was not actually purchased, it was in fact simply us saying we’d like them and if they were in stock, we might get one when we wanted. No one went into the “warehouse” and marked a set “Property of Mr. & Mrs. C8j, deliver in January”, we simply put in an order which might be filled.
• The purchase had appeared on my credit card yet I was not going to have it for more than 2 months after I allegedly “purchased” the product.
• The manufacturer was the one who told us about this, and not Home Depot
• He had upset my wife and I got to enjoy her wrath, when in fact she was mad at him and his store

After assurances that the situation would be remedied, the Manager never called me back, but did call Mrs. C8j and offered her a “loaner” clothes dryer until our actual washer/dryer pair arrived, for free, so that we could continue to have clean clothes and such. Mrs. C8j was happier with that solution (although still secretly seething with hatred for Home Depot) and we now have this dryer in place and we are able to have clean clothes until our new washer and dryer appears.

Was this Chutzpah on my part to get a loaner dryer? Not really, but I do think it is truly chutzpah on the stores part not to ensure that they had stock enough to make their deliveries for the next month.

My guess would be someone looked in the inventory for the warehouse, saw there was a set left and sold them before they could be delivered to us, so someone else got a “great deal” and “fantastic service”, while I ended up with a loaner dryer and a wife with the disposition of a Wet Wolverine.