I have had a devil of a time trying to make some purchases with the money from the sale of the Norland Rd. house. One of my major purchases was a new (to me) car - a Ford Taurus! My poor little GEO still runs but it is a bit long in the tooth and is apt to die any day now. My "new" car is another shade of green and has a NIN (Nine Inch Nails) sticker on its bumper too.
Want to know all about my bad purchasing experiences as a temporary rich person? Read on;
| the Culprits | the Incident(s) |
|---|
| Best Buys: $5,200 |
- Two laptop computers and accessories plus extended warranties
- Both computer screens were broken (each had a single pixel that stayed lit. one was white, the other red.
- Replaced by an 8 hour trip to two separate stores in Akron
- We were not informed of in-store setup requirements
- We were lied to about store policies
- We were accused of breaking the merchandise
- We witnessed several internal company employee disputes rather than being helped
|
| Compaq: |
The computer memory (4GB) is split into 2 drives
It would break the warranty to reformat the system the right way
There was no product info about this type of memory setup
|
| Hills: $250 |
Household goods bought during closing-sale
No checks allowed
Credit card denied (even though I just paid $1000 onto it)
25 minute trip to bank and back (got smart and brought $1000 back from bank)
|
| Walmart: $300 |
Clothing and household good
Check needed verification
After a 15 min. wait and questioning, we just paid in cash
|
| Montrose Chrylser-Plymouth: $6,500 |
Used 94 Ford Taurus 30,000 miles
(To avoid payment problems, we asked bank for $7000 in cash but they wouldn't release amount)
Bought a three year warranty (paid first payment up front)
The next day I discovered the wiper motor broken
The following day I noticed that the radiator seam had burst
- Appointment 1:
- Day1:
- Set for 11AM car not checked until next day
- Day 2:
- Lied to about which repairs had been done
- *I owned car for 1 week, of which 4 were spent in the shop.
- *Dealer owned it more days than I did!
- Stranded 3 times by fuel pump problem
- Appointment 2:
- Day 1:
- Set for 9:45 but dropped car off at 8:30
- Had to call at 4pm, car not even checked out
- Day 2:
- Called at 11am, no solution
- Called store manager, Mr. Amato
- Received call from mechanic
- See Warranty Dispute below
- Day 3: called at 2pm
- "tested it a little bit"
- Day 4: called 1:30pm, JP had called around 11AM
- No work done on car
- Told a warranty might not cover fuel pump
- In-store visit with both store managers
- Day 5: JP called to say car done
- Charge spilt ($183)
- Not washed, and ran out of gas
- Warranty dispute
Ford car from a Chrysler dealer with a Chrysler warranty
Even though the two stores were in the same auto group, there was an internal dispute between service dpts. about which store would cover the costs of repairs
- After 30 days, the temporary tag expired with no receipt of tags or title (but I was in the hospital so it didn't matter too much at that point LOL)
- Title received with tag refund
- Charge for fuel pump removed
- Received a notice of late warranty payment
First payment was taken as down payment not as the first payment
|
| InterWeb: $247 |
Used credit card to purchase web domain
Notified of domain setup
Credit card denied. (Bank did not credit $1,000 payment properly)
Notified of domain cancellation
Credit card denied again (despite assurances from Debbie at bank)
No reply for 6 days
Three times had to email to correct problem (as of 3/28/99 still not corrected)
Delayed propagation (I wonder if reigningpages.com will ever get online?)
|
| Greggs' Applainces: $350 |
After not having a stove for 10 yrs. I broke down and bought a gas stove (plus a washing machine)
They had the incorrect parts for hookup
Hardware Store trip 1: parts for connection
|
| Miracle Plumbing: $67 |
The valve threads for the gas connection were stripped
Trip 1: incorrect pipe size, would return in 5 days
Trip 2: still left stove unconnected
Hardware Store trip 2: even more parts for connection
|
| Seaman's Furniture: $2,800 |
Sectional sofa (and dresser for Jodi)
Nicest sales clerk (Karen), comfy furniture at a great price
The clerk forgot to validate the Check while we were there and called later.
However it was President's Day so the were banks closed and I couldn't correct the problem
Returned to the store the next day and paid in cash (ones) (because they were bastards about the check (I had written it for $2800 and there was only $2500 in the account)
The asst. manager had to look for my check although I had called before coming in
10 day wait for refund from the corporate offices in New York
Received second thank-you card on the same day I received my money back
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