A saga of a fridge.

[Backroads]

Ten years ago, we moved into our home. There in the kitchen was an ancient refrigerator, ugly and worn. We figured we would replace it very soon.

Last week, we finally got sick of it mildly leaking and having some minor light issues. I went shopping for a new fridge.

A few days ago, they came to deliver it. They packed up the old one and hauled it away. That's when we learned the delivery people are otherwise useless. Today an internet search revealed to me I am supposed to bribe/threaten/bully them. Anyway, they refused to bring in the new fridge because reasons. This was repeated the next day. Picking it up ourselves proved a challenge.

After some calming breaths, I am going to shop elsewhere. I don't know how long cooler food is going to last.

 

[mikbone]

Service has certainly suffered.

”because reasons”

I would love to return to the 80’s.

White glove service to your front door.

Could you do it for $50??

Edited July 3, 2024 by mikbone

[Backroads]

I even offered "set it down on this corner a full yard away and we will handle it from there somehow".

[Carborendum]

11 hours ago, Backroads said:

I even offered "set it down on this corner a full yard away and we will handle it from there somehow".

I had a problem with an appliance, but it had a satisfying (not exactly perfect) ending.

My dishwasher was dead.  I bought a new one at Home Depot and had it delivered, which included an additional fee of about $100 for installation.

When they came, they brought the new one and took away the old.  But they realized that the wiring wasn't what they were expecting.  So, I'd have to get an electrician to install it.  I asked about the installation fee.  They said that they'd install it after the electrician fixed the wiring.

I went to HD and asked them to cancel the installation fee since they didn't install it.  They asked if they could just send someone else out there to install it (it appeared that they've had this type of problem before with this particular delivery company).  I told them that I already rewired it and installed it myself.  It only took about 30 minutes.  I don't know why it would have been a big deal for a team of supposed professional installers.

I got my money back and went home happy.

[Ironhold]

3 hours ago, Carborendum said:

 I bought a new one at Home Depot and had it delivered,

"Well, there's your problem!"

I keep seeing people who claim to be former or current Home Depot employees saying that the company doesn't always respect its lower-tier workers and so those workers, in turn, are often finding it difficult to be motivated to provide the proper level of customer service. 

[Carborendum]

2 minutes ago, Ironhold said:

"Well, there's your problem!"

I keep seeing people who claim to be former or current Home Depot employees saying that the company doesn't always respect its lower-tier workers and so those workers, in turn, are often finding it difficult to be motivated to provide the proper level of customer service. 

The delivery guys were a third party contractor that works with Home Depot.  They were not Home Depot employees.

All the HD employees were very accommodating.

[NeuroTypical]

Home Depot tried something new, I'm not sure if it's just in my area or what.   Last time we got a dishwasher, their system gave me 3 options.  Install myself, Pay for Home Depot to install, or I could release my details to their database of local independent small appliance people.  I tried the 3rd thing just to see what would happen.  Before I completed the drive home, I had 3 companies text me.  Was contacted by almost a dozen by the end of the week.  I went with one of the early responders, everything went absolutely fine.

[Traveler]

What I have learned about appliances and other things:

Dishwashers.  The big problem in this modern age with dishwashers is the motherboard.  I wonder if obsolescence is designed into the motherboard to expire shortly after the warranty runs out.  In most cases the motherboard is a simple process to replace but the problem is that China floods the market with cheep electronics that will fail – sometimes as soon as their used.  A Chinese motherboard can cost like $150 compared to factory replacements costing $500 – to $600 (which is the price of a new midrange dishwasher).  It is my opinion that this is the result of higher corporate taxes in the USA inspiring manufacturing to rely on foreign silicon manufacturing for things like motherboards.  Do not plan on a new dishwasher lasting more than 5 to 8 years max.

Refrigerators: There is a similar problem with refrigerators and China manufacturing.  The most critical part of a refrigerator is the compressor.  Asian companies like LG and Samsung purchase their compressors from China – and they are pure crap.  Often these compressors will not last the warranty.  The replacement part will be free, but the installation cost will be about $1,000 and the replacement is not warrantied – so when the replacement fails (which can be a matter of seconds) a new replacement will include the cost of the part as well as the installation.  My advice – purchase refrigerators from a US company like GE or Whirlpool and write to your congressman to not increase corporate taxes and inspire cost saving oversea manufacturing.   Better yet never vote for a Democratic congressman and do you best to convince individuals like @Phoenix_person  to become more informed about what Democrats are causing with corporate tax increases (and other things).  Newton's 3rd law about opposing forces - actions and reactions.

Delivery services:  This is becoming an unbelievable problem.  I am suspicious that this is a direct reflection on our border policy because my most recent delivery nightmare involved a delivery crew that did not speak English.  Lucky for me I have a son that speaks fluent (what they spoke) and he happened to be here when the delivery happened.  They were delivering our cabinets for our remodel and refused to bring the cabinets into the house.  They said they would deliver to the garage, or I needed to pay them an extra $150.  I said okay; I will go with the garage delivery but I would charge them $150 to park in my driveway near the garage.  This really upset them because there is a bit of an uphill walk from the street to the garage and all the parking in front of our house was used up by my contractors working on the remodel so they would have to park and carry the loads about 4 times the distance than just cooperating and taking to load inside the house.  They did the house delivery.

I would add that the problems I am posting about have all become much worse problems in the last 4 years or so.  The reason I know this is because I use to own rental property which requires various replacements and deliveries of some sort every 3 to 4 months.  All this stuff has become such a hassle we decided to sell most of our rental properties.   Anyone want to know why rental costs are increasing faster than standard inflation?  And at the same time service and quality is dropping?  To quote a prominent Democrat, “Elections have consequences.”  One more note: - Things have been continually getting worse for some time – thanks to cooperation between democrats and republicans.  It is true that Trump has his problems, but he seems to understand the economics of competitive businesses that professional politicians seem to lack any clue.

I am now retired and figure I have about 15 to 20 years left of some kind of awareness of things.  I am to the point that it has become far to difficult to contribute much – especially things that require physical labor.  Sorry to leave such a screwed-up society to you up and coming generations. 

I started working at the age of 8 to purchase my needs and wants.  My parents required that I purchase my clothing, contribute to food and vacations.  When I say work – it did not include chores around the house – it was for working outside the home like working in fruit orchards and farming fields (now done by foreign workers).  I have hunted to supplement my food sources.  I got through college with academic scholarships and working (no student loans or debt).  I fulfilled a military obligation during the Vietnam conflict. Saved and paid for my own Church mission.  I have eaten insects, worms and grubs to survive – all of which (in today’s society) makes me a recipient of white privilege.  It looks to me that the upcoming generation (regardless of race) has it easier today – you all will see how long it all will last. 

It is interesting to me that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints seems to be going in the exact opposite direction.  I used to work weekly at the welfare farm in the summer, pay into a building fund, ward budget fund, ward missionary fund, fast offering, Tithing, temple fund and food storage.  The Church had great difficulty having enough funds to cover needs.  Now days members seem much more prepared and educated.  Leadership burdens are more distributed and church finances are not suffering anywhere.   There are still many opportunities for service and helping of others and there is a lot of temple work getting done.  It seems to me that the Church is quite ready for the millennium and that the world in general is quite ripe and settled upon the things that don’t matter or help.

 

The Traveler

[NeuroTypical]

18 minutes ago, Traveler said:

Sorry to leave such a screwed-up society to you up and coming generations.

Well, setting aside society for a while, I take an awful lot of comfort in this chart:

 

Some folks have done some math, and this rate of growth will mean over 2000 temples by 2100.  And making some educated guesses, the church is in such an advantageous financial position, every single one of those 2000 temples could be self-funding and not even reliant on member's tithes to continue to operate.  It's an amazing thing.  

Refrigerators are amazing too, though.

Edited July 3, 2024 by NeuroTypical

[Jamie123]

14 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

Refrigerators are amazing too, though.

[Jamie123]

Fridge jokes are the greatest. For example...

Quote

What's white and kills you when it falls on you from a tree?

A fridge.

What's white and stands in the corner?

A naughty fridge.

What's white and can't climb trees?

A fridge.

What's white and blue and can't climb trees?

A fridge wearing a denim jacket.

Why did the monkey fall out of the tree?

Someone threw a fridge at it.

Why did the elephant fall out of the tree?

It was sellotaped to the monkey.

How do you put a giraffe into the fridge?

Open the fridge door
Put the giraffe in
Close the fridge door.

How do you put an elephant into the fridge?

Open the fridge door
Take out the giraffe
Put in the elephant
Close the fridge door.

 

[Carborendum]

On 7/3/2024 at 1:36 PM, NeuroTypical said:

...every single one of those 2000 temples could be self-funding and not even reliant on member's tithes to continue to operate.

I'm afraid I can't conceive of any business model that would allow this to be accurate, given what I know of temples.

Can you elaborate?

[Jamie123]

Why did the fridge fall out of the tree?

It was the monkey and the elephant's day off.

Sunak lost the election. Starmer is now Prime Minister*.

Big surprise! NOT

*Literally. We don't have any of this "lame duck" stuff in UK. This very morning the King accepted Sunak's resignation and appointed Starmer.

Edited July 5, 2024 by Jamie123

[NeuroTypical]

On 7/5/2024 at 6:58 AM, Carborendum said:

On 7/3/2024 at 12:36 PM, NeuroTypical said:

...every single one of those 2000 temples could be self-funding and not even reliant on member's tithes to continue to operate.

I'm afraid I can't conceive of any business model that would allow this to be accurate, given what I know of temples.
Can you elaborate?

 

Sure.  Lets make some assumptions:

- Assume new temples cost around $60 million to construct, including land purchase cost.
- Assume maybe 4% ($2.4 million) per year maintenance/upkeep/utilities/repair costs
- Assume maybe 30 full time employees making maybe $50k/year, for another perhaps $2m per year.
- Churches are tax exempt pretty much worldwide, so we pay no property taxes or any other kind of tax on our temples.

Some temples will cost more, some less, depending on the country where the temple is being built, and a hundred other factors.  But those three assumptions are conservatively reasonable, would you agree?

If our leaders decided to use our church's vast wealth as a temple construction/operation fund, Ensign Peak's ~$100 billion, invested conservatively at ~4.5 - 5%, could fully fund a couple thousand temples with just the interest. That's construction, maintenance, and human costs.  With not a single dime of tithing used from the members served by the temple. 

Edited July 6, 2024 by NeuroTypical

[Vort]

3 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

Sure.  Lets make some assumptions:

- Assume new temples cost around $60 million to construct, including land purchase cost.
- Assume maybe 4% ($2.4 million) per year maintenance/upkeep/utilities/repair costs
- Assume maybe 30 full time employees making maybe $50k/year, for another perhaps $2m per year.
- Churches are tax exempt pretty much worldwide, so we pay no property taxes or any other kind of tax on our temples.

Some temples will cost more, some less, depending on the country where the temple is being built, and a hundred other factors.  But those three assumptions are conservatively reasonable, would you agree?

If our leaders decided to use our church's vast wealth as a temple construction/operation fund, Ensign Peak's ~$100 billion, invested conservatively at ~4.5 - 5%, could fully fund a couple thousand temples with just the interest. That's construction, maintenance, and human costs.  With not a single dime of tithing used from the members served by the temple. 

Reasonable, except that 30 f/t employees at $50k/yr is realistically going to be somewhat more than $2m. But this is back-of-the-envelope stuff, so that gets a pass. The problem I see is that what you've described is not a self-funding temple program. The temples are all cost sinks; none generates a single dime. What you're really saying is that the Church could, if it structured its finances correctly, offer temples that are run off the profits of its (the Church's) investments, without needing any tithing funds. That may well be so, but it's not self-funding temples.

[mikbone]

37 minutes ago, Vort said:

Reasonable, except that 30 f/t employees at $50k/yr is realistically going to be somewhat more than $2m. But this is back-of-the-envelope stuff, so that gets a pass. The problem I see is that what you've described is not a self-funding temple program. The temples are all cost sinks; none generates a single dime. What you're really saying is that the Church could, if it structured its finances correctly, offer temples that are run off the profits of its (the Church's) investments, without needing any tithing funds. That may well be so, but it's not self-funding temples.

One could argue that because a temple recommend requires tithing compliance…

[Jedi_Nephite]

On 7/3/2024 at 8:30 AM, Carborendum said:

I had a problem with an appliance, but it had a satisfying (not exactly perfect) ending.

My dishwasher was dead.  I bought a new one at Home Depot and had it delivered, which included an additional fee of about $100 for installation.

When they came, they brought the new one and took away the old.  But they realized that the wiring wasn't what they were expecting.  So, I'd have to get an electrician to install it.  I asked about the installation fee.  They said that they'd install it after the electrician fixed the wiring.

I went to HD and asked them to cancel the installation fee since they didn't install it.  They asked if they could just send someone else out there to install it (it appeared that they've had this type of problem before with this particular delivery company).  I told them that I already rewired it and installed it myself.  It only took about 30 minutes.  I don't know why it would have been a big deal for a team of supposed professional installers.

I got my money back and went home happy.

Years ago, before I graduated from college, my parents let my wife and I live in their second home while I was going to school.  Shortly before we moved in, they had replaced the old dishwasher with a new one.  However, maybe within a year after we moved in, that dishwasher stopped working.  So, my parents replaced it with a new one, even though the one that stopped working was relatively new.  The contractor they used to have the new one installed said that whoever installed it previously did it wrong, and that’s why it stopped working (I believe it was a contractor from Home Depot or possibly Menards).  They somehow wired it wrong and it shorted out the dishwasher over time.

Never had any issues with the new dishwasher.