Tuesday night, I turned on the dishwasher before I went to bed. It’s not even two years old. We purchased a better model this time, and it was on the pricey side. I cook a lot and have a lot of dishes; therefore, it made sense to get a good one.
Marty got up early Wednesday morning, and when he walked into the kitchen, the rug runner was soaking wet. After further investigation, the water seeped between the floorboards and dripped onto the washer and dryer in the basement below. The 1832 floorboards were so soaked that they are still swollen and buckled. They will shrink back, but there is a hump on the floor in front of the sink for now.
Marty was at the sink filled with dirty dishes when I got up, and the rug runner was out on the deck drying. Of course, I knew what was wrong. We think that a hose may have burst or came loose. We bought the dishwasher from a small, local, high-end appliances store. Normally, Marty would have tackled the problem himself, but we expect their repairman to come to fix it for the money we spent.
Marty left a message on the store’s answering machine. The message said they would return our call the same workday. My ass! That was Wednesday; they didn’t call back that day or Thursday and Friday. Seriously, when we support a small local business, I want and expect to be treated better than a big box store, not completely ignored.
Marty called again yesterday after production. They answered but immediately said they would have to call us back and not expect anyone for at least 3 weeks. They called back later and said it would be the end of next week. So that’s two and a half weeks of waiting after our initial call leaving a detailed message. They knew about the problem and chose to ignore it. Thank God it isn’t a washing machine we are talking about!
I believe in supporting small businesses 100%, especially since we are one ourselves. We try to give everyone, wholesale and farmers market customers, the best customer service we possibly can. We change game plans if necessary to fill customers’ orders or have to make an emergency delivery. We appreciate our customers and want to take care of them.
Waiting for a call back for 3 days never came, and such a long wait time for a repair is not acceptable. I do at least 2+ hours of dishes by hand in the production kitchen every day. Do I feel like doing lots of dishes by hand in the house? Um, no.
I know everyone is looking for help these days, but that’s not an excuse. If you can take our money, then you should be able to provide customer service. The store is only open from 9 -5 Monday-Friday, leaving a small window of opportunity for phone calls, sales, service, or repairs. Those are bankers’ hours. Even if they couldn’t schedule the repair for 3 weeks but called us back right away, I’d probably be ok with the situation.
Am I sorry I shopped at this local “high-end” appliance store? You bet your ass I am. We never had an issue with Lowe’s calling us back when we had a refrigerator problem that we purchased from them. The attitude today is…”Oh well, it is what it is or sorry.” Everything is good enough for people, well it isn’t for us. It’s another word for a cop-out.
We have a house guest coming for the weekend, and I am not changing my menus or eating on paper plates because of a broken dishwasher. I hate that instead of enjoying my company, I’ll be in the kitchen washing dishes. 😣
I still believe in shopping locally and supporting small businesses; next time, we will do our homework and ask around before making a big purchase.
I have a feeling of what business you are referring to. I would expect way better service as well.