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HHGREGG & The Very Bad Awful Experience With Them @ 08:29 pm
Current Mood: 
angry
angryCurrent Music: I Fall To Pieces
I had every intention of blogging about recent Halloween & birthday festivities. Instead, I feel compelled to write about HHGREGG & the very bad, horrible, awful, nightmare experience I have had with them.
My Mom is handicapped. She barely leaves the house. Frequent falls have resulted in a shattered arm, facial lacerations, surgery. We have a lifeline installed and have made every attempt to make her life easier and more safe.
In August, Brad and I decided to buy her a new refrigerator. Nicer than the one we own, we choose a Whirlpool side by side with ice/crushed ice/water in the door. We paid the extra for the energy rated fridge. Damn, we are generous. It was delivered promptly despite the fact that the salesman had our city wrong. We had also paid to have it installed and a water line installed. When the delivery people called to confirm their impending arrival, I asked about the water line. Bubba (well, he sounded like a Bubba) practically guffawed. "You have to make an appointment for that." I said, I did when we bought the refrigerator. I paid for it. The appointment is written on my contract." He responded, "We don't do that." I called HHGREGG. I received a phone call from the man that would be there that afternoon to install the water line. The delivery men showed up with the new refrigerator. Much to my chagrin, there were TWO dents in the door with the ice maker. I pointed it out. Delivery man A (who had the most amusing verbal tic I've ever heard. His speech was frequently punctuated with "yep, yep".) offered to recompense me for the dents if I agreed to keep the flawed refrigerator (yep, yep) and seemed incredulous when I said, "No, I would like an UN-DENTED one.(Unspoken "nope nope")" "You'll have to wait for us to get one ordered, yep yep." was his response. "Okay" I answered resisting the urge to throw in a "yep yep" of my own. A few days later, a new group of delivery guys brought the new door & installed it. This saga should be over, right? WRONG.
In September, Cincinnati was hit with a hurricane. Yes. Fact is stranger than fiction. 99% of the folks here lost power. Mom was no exception. We were one of the lucky ones. Hers was only out a few hours as opposed to those that were out for over a week.
Shortly thereafter, the ice dispenser on Mom's fridge quit working. Sporadically at first, and then pfffftt... permanently. I called repair. A rather nice gentleman showed up in a few days. He couldn't figure out the model. He called his boss. Finally, he said, "You have a bad Taurus board." He ordered the part and was on his way.
A few days later the part arrived despite being sent with an incorrect name. (Do I sense a pattern?) Putting in the new part was scheduled for Wednesday, Oct 15. On Saturday (11th), I found Mom's freezer had an ice waterfall. It seems the ice wasn't breaking off from the maker, however, it was still trying to fill the still full tray with water, spraying water that then froze inside the unit. I called repair to see what to do. They were closed. I called HHGREGG. They said, "disconnect the water line." Um... I don't see how to do that. Instead, I tried to loosen the offending ice. That worked. I made a mental note to tell the repairman about that on Wednesday.
He arrived & said, "I knew before I got here that it was a misdiagnosis. I'm willing to bet your Taurus board is fine." A few minutes and several machinations later, he commended himself on being correct. "Because of the power being out, a lot of these are showing up. Water melts from the bucket & gets down around the motor and shorts it out." Still later, he said, "No, your motor is fine. It just had ice around it. It's working." I tried it and sure enough, we were back in business. I mentioned the frozen Niagara from the weekend along with solution I came up with. "It's a fluke. Don't worry about it." He responded in a rather glib, don't-worry-your-little-head-about-that mode.
Two hours later, we were fixing Mom's dinner. Going to get ice from the door, HEY SURPRISE, it's dead as Lincoln. I call repair. They schedule another service visit today, October 20th between 1 - 5. I receive my reminder call last night. This morning at EIGHT, I receive another call. "Your area tech has called in sick. We need to reschedule. I have everything open from tomorrow through Saturday." I choose tomorrow.
I write HHGregg and describe the situation. I have now had to be here SEVEN times for ONE refrigerator. Eventually I receive a call from a rather blase sounding individual that points out HHGREGG has a ten day return policy. Yes, my ancient eight week old refrigerator is my problem. They suggest I contact Whirlpool.
I call A&E service to see if they can't send a tech out that actually knows his ass from his elbow. (I don't phrase it that way with them - I'm still trying to preserve a modicum of respect.) I tell the gal on the line I have an appointment tomorrow. "No you don't. I don't see you on our system."
I ask to speak to a supervisor. After a five minute hold, I'm connected to a supervisor that gives the perfunctory "I'm sorry about your troubles" along with the unspoken, "ain't nothin' I can do about it." routine. She has no idea why I'm not in the system. There's nothing available until Wednesday. I ask about having a more experienced technician. She responded, "I asked them about that. They can't tell me if there is one in your area. I've noted that "if at all possible, please send an experienced tech."
Oh, comfort and joy. I feel better.
I've written HHGREGG back and been a bit more direct. If this isn't fixed properly this week, I'm going to dispute the charge with my credit card company. I don't want something for nothing. ALL I WANT IS THE DAMN REFRIGERATOR WORKING. I want to quit dealing with A&E repair on a WEEKLY basis. I included in my letter to HH (I mean, hell, we should be on a first name basis by this point, shouldn't we?) that I would blog & write EVERY consumer advocacy outfit I can about this horrific experience. I'm making good on the first part of that promise now.
Does anyone take pride in their work anymore? Does anyone think it is fair that I have now had to schedule EIGHT days to be here for a refrigerator that has not worked properly HALF the time we've had it over eight weeks? Or should I content myself with the fact that a majority of the people (but not all) I have had to speak with seem to speak English as a first language.
Beauty is only skin deep. Here's the offending refrigerator.
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