October 7, 1999
Dear Everyone:
Herein lies the saga of the washer, the dryer, and
the refrigerator.
You will remember from last time that I had
arranged to donate the old appliances to the
Salvation Army.
I would take Tuesday and Wednesday as vacation days so that I
would be home when the Salvation Army came to take the donated
appliances as well as when
Circuit City
delivered the new appliances.
I could not know when the Salvation Army truck
would arrive until Tuesday morning.
So, bright and early (OK, it wasn’t until around 8:00), I called
1-800-95-TRUCK and pressed the required buttons to get a recording
telling me that the “approximate scheduled pickup time is between 11:30
a.m. and 2:30 p.m.”. This
meant that I had to be ready before 11:30 and couldn’t leave the house
until 2:30, or when the truck arrived.
On the plus side, it gave me plenty of time to
clean the refrigerator. As
far as I know, this was also the
only time I’ve ever cleaned the refrigerator.
(When you live alone, and aren’t messy, who needs to clean the
refrigerator?) I had stopped
at the store the night before for a bag of ice.
I put some of the ice, the milk and the butter in the cooler,
turned off the refrigerator and cleaned for about an hour.
I know how long it took because I could hear
Law & Order
on A&E in
the next room. By 11:00,
everything was ready for the Salvation Army.
By 2:30, no sign of the Salvation Army.
By 3:00, no sign of the Salvation Army.
Finally, at 3:15, the driver showed up and told me, quite
cheerfully, that he wasn’t going to take the appliances because his
truck was full. He only
stopped by to let me know this.
I made a hurried call to Circuit City’s Home Delivery staff.
The woman on the phone said they wouldn’t know the next day’s
schedule until 7:00 p.m. But
she also assured me that the movers would be happy to take the old
appliances away…or move them out to the patio for me.
The Salvation Army driver (and his friend) said
that would be no problem.
They would be back again the next day at the same time.
The next morning, I called 1-800-95-TRUCK again.
They knew nothing about the driver promising to come back and, in
fact, rescheduled another pickup for next Tuesday.
Not surprisingly, no one showed up Wednesday afternoon.
This doesn’t make the Salvation Army look very good, does it?
In sharp contrast, Circuit City’s computer called
me that evening and left a detailed message, including “scheduled
delivery time between 12:10 p.m. and 2:10 p.m.”
This driver arrived half-an-hour early.
He and his friend were perfectly happy to move the appliances out
to the patio. In fact they
liked the patio so well, they brought all the appliances in through it,
thus avoiding the two steps up to the front door and hauling big, heavy
things over the living room carpet.
And when the refrigerator was too big to get
through the door, they had no problem with removing (and replacing) the
handles. (I swear, this was
one of the smaller refrigerators.
When I told the salesman that 14 cubic feet was plenty big enough
for me, he said they don’t make them that small anymore.)
The driver and friend hooked up the washer and dryer, tested them
and made sure they were positioned just the way I wanted them.
They even gave me time to clean the floor before installing the
new appliances.
And that’s the difference between the Salvation
Army and Circuit City. They
both want your money, but one knows a bit more about customer service,
which is what keeps the customer coming back.
Maybe my tax-deductible dollars will be going more toward the
Project Open Hand people in the
future.
Anyway…
Last week, the problem was with phones.
In the middle of Friday afternoon, “Livermore” suddenly lost all
connection to the rest of the company-wide network.
We could see the two servers in “Livermore”, but could not see
any computers (or computer services, like email) outside of our
building. Found out later
that Pacific Bell
had apparently done something to our T-1 connection to Company Park and
places beyond. Didn’t get
reconnected until late Sunday.
Then I heard from someone in “Idaho Falls” that
their phone company had apparently disconnected the entire state for a
day.
Finally, “Jeannie” had been unable to locate the
cordless phone I had given her for her birthday.
She could hear it when it rang, in a muffled sort of way, but
couldn’t find it. Looked
everywhere, of course.
Finally found it Saturday afternoon.
It was in the refrigerator.
Next to a very cold cup of coffee.
Love, as always,
Pete
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