Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Now I know why men carry pocket knives; they need them to open boxes.

If you made it through yesterday's post,  you know I walked away from the "deal of a lifetime." At least, that's what Mr. Salesman would want me to believe.

Daughter and I continued our shopping, making a trip to Hallmark.  I sent Hubs a text telling him I would pass on the cooktop and explain later. He wrote me back.

"Where are you?"

"The mall."

"Me, too."

"Where are you?"

"Near the food trough."

"Meet me outside Hallmark."

Then we looked up and saw each other.  Hubs was doing some last minute shopping after work. I explained the situation with the cooktop and how the salesman wouldn't even open the box.  Plus, the fact that he said the measurements for the downdraft portion were off made me a little skeptical. Honestly, it was all very odd because the box wasn't even opened yet. How did the previous customer know if the measurements were off?  It all sounded made up, as Hubs would say.

Hubs wanted to go back and talk to him together.  I agreed, but first we had to finish some shopping. We walked to Dillard's, split up again, and then met back.

When we arrived in the appliance store Hubs asked for the previous saleswoman he had spoken with the day before. Of course, she wasn't working that day.  So, we wound up with Mr. Deal.

This time the salesman offered a different reason the last customers returned the cooktop, saying it was the measurements of the actual cooktop and not the downdraft. Obviously, he was guessing. 

Then he continued to say, "Well, she was just interested in the burners."

HELLO. Of course I am interested in the burners. That's where all the cooking happens!

I said that I really wanted to see it, no matter what kind of burners it had.  Hubs pressed and the salesman hesitantly opened the box. 

Geesh.

Surprisingly, the burners were completely different than the ones in the picture and were actually more like the ones I am wanting.  But the cooktop is glass, not porcelain or stainless, and I had to think about it. 

If this is painful for you to read, I understand.  The entire experience was painful. 

We ended up walking away to talk about it and I decided that night to wait.  I have had glass cooktops before and don't care for cleaning them.  They are great as long as you use the perfect cleaner, but I always ended up using the wrong one because I am clumsy and a clutz and not good at following directions.

In the end, I'm still "driving" my old cooktop with the all its dents and wobbly burners. After Christmas, I will continue my test drives for a new one.

If, you know, they will let me actually see it.

I will be off the blog for a few days. Y'all have a Merry Christmas. I hope you get to open all of your boxes!   

3 comments:

The Bug said...

Seriously - this guy needed some more customer service training! My dad has the glass top - I don't think I'd want to mess with it either. Of course, we rent & our stove is an ancient dented wobbly-burnered thing so I might take the glass if someone offered it :)

(On the other hand, I rarely cook, so what do I care? Ha!)

Susanne said...

My oldest has been home for Christmas so my blog hopping has been minimal. Hope you find exactly what you're looking for. Looking for appliances can be darn right stressful! I stood for 2 hours in the store trying to decide between 2 styles of washer and dryer.

A belated Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year to you, Melanie!

Roxanne said...

First of all, Kudos to Mr. Man for going to the mall to shop. That's a BIG DEAL 'round these here parts where even *I* did not go to the mall this Christmas season.

Secondly, I once called a salesman a (and I quote), "Lying, sneaky-dog, snake in the grass." Over the phone. And he sold us our first home and it was the very tail end of a long, long journey. And he was condescending. And obnoxious. And also a lying sneaky-dog snake in the grass. By that day, I'd had enough--so much that even my "Be sweet" southern girl training caved to indignant truth.