Runaway Refrigerator

     It seems like buying a refrigerator would be a simple process and not much of a story, but sometimes things that should be simple turn out to be complicated and almost comical.

     The process of looking for a new refrigerator is just a matter of choosing color, style and size.  For us the color and style were not the issue but we were limited by the size.  After visiting a number of appliance stores we selected on from American Furniture, which was a big mega appliance store in St. Charles.  We made the purchase, setup the delivery date, which included removal and disposal of our old refrigerator.  Smooth so far.

     Delivery day arrived, I was the only one home at the time they arrived.  The delivery guys came in and 1^st removed the old frig taking it to the truck then brought in the new refrigerator impressively carrying it with straps.  They brought the new frig into the kitchen and began hooking up the water lines when my wife (Mimi) and my daughter (Maureen) arrived home from a shopping trip.  Immediately my wife noticed a dent in the side of the frig that was not there when we purchased it (floor model) plus when they tried to slid it into position it was too tall hitting the cabinets above (our measuring mistake).  In addition to that when I tried to fill a water glass the plastic arm broke.  Well we said this isn’t going to work take it back and bring our old one back in.  The head delivery guy said he needed to call the office and check in with them so he and his compadre went out to the truck to make the call. What a hassle!

     While waiting for the guys to bring in the old frig we noticed they just took off leaving us with the dented, broken new frig sitting in the middle of the kitchen.  My wife says, “Go after them” which seemed like a reasonable plan.  So I go out to follow them and Maureen’s car is blocking ours so I get her keys, and the chase begins.  The delivery guys are in a panel truck so driving my daughters Mazda is like a having a Ferrari, well not exactly but you get the picture.  It was no problem catching up with them even though they tried to elude me (just like a James Bond movie).  Come on use your imagination. 

     I had a cell phone (flip phone) with me so I got a call from my wife who had contacted American Furniture to explain the situation.  Their first comment was “Oh again”.  Really this apparently was not the first time this has happened.  American Furniture used a sub contractor for deliveries and the delivery guys got paid by the number of deliveries that they made, customer satisfaction was not a factor. 

     While chasing the panel truck through St. Peters/O”Fallon, I noticed Maureen’s car was running on empty, which is unfortunate but not unusual.  Now time became an issue in this below speed limit chase, would I run out of gas before I could get the truck to turn around.  I continually beep the car horn to let him know I’m still behind him and not giving up (thankfully he doesn’t know I’m running out of gas).  I get another call from my wife and she tells me the police have been called, good that should help if I can get him to turn around.  Miraculously, (probably thinking they had enough of this craziness) at a stoplight on Hwy K one of the delivery guys gets out of the truck and comes back to the car telling me they will turn around as long as we don’t call the police.  I said fine and so they did. My only concern at that point was that I had enough gas to get back home, which I did. 

     We arrived back home and to their surprise the police were there, sorry about that I guess I fibbed a little, my bad.  They off loaded my old refrigerator and set it at the bottom of the driveway, saying they would not go in the house.  I protested to the police and he said their only obligation was to return the refrigerator, WTF!  I told the delivery guy if he moved the frig up to the garage door I would take it inside myself.  Don’t piss off an angry 5’6” guy, he agreed, I guess he didn’t want me to follow him on the rest of his route.  

    Through numerous phone calls Mimi got American Furniture to pick up the new refrigerator (different guys) and refund our money.  Shortly thereafter we bought one from Sears, they had their own delivery guys and we had no issues with this delivery.  What is the moral to this story………..I don’t know, always make sure you have a full tank of gas on delivery day.