As I mentioned yesterday, our hot water heater is a health hazard which we have been directed to replace immediately so much of today was spent in search of a new hot water heater.
Due to the fact that we live in the land of really expensive square footage, our crawl space where our hot water heater lives is not very tall. So, none of the hot water heaters which are normally kept in stock (those 60 inches or taller) will work for us and we must special order. Having done a bit of online research last night before venturing out today, I found that Sears has a short model that still manages to hold 50 gallons (the Kenmore Power Miser 9, 50 Gallon Short). This is a good thing. Most other short water heaters we were finding maxed out at 40 gallons.
After repeatedly getting shot down, we decided to throw in the towel on the hope of coming away with a hot water heater in hand today and go ahead and order the 50 gallon shorty from Sears. Armed with the knowledge that the Sears in Glenwood Springs had closed, we called the Grand Junction Sears from the parking lot of Lowes to place a phone order, only to be told by the manager, Mike, that we could only place a phone order if we were paying with a Sears card.
Huh?
I nicely stated our case, that we lived 2+ hours away and that we really wanted to get the order in since it was getting late on Saturday afternoon and we needed to pick up the unit as soon as possible since we're without hot water in the interim. I told him that we had researched, found units at competitors but had decided to go with the Sears model PLUS the extended warranty. I asked him if he wanted me to purchase from his competition. As I got more frustrated, I said if this was Sears' policy, I could understand why they were on the verge of going bankrupt. I asked him if I could speak with his boss. He didn't seem to know who that was.
Thoroughly frustrated, I got off the phone and turned to my Blackberry's web browser to find someone to complain to, only to discover that Sears has a store in Rifle. Now Rifle's only a little over an hour away. Hmmm. Just for curiosity's sake, I called the Rifle store.
And proceeded to place a phone order for the exact same water heater. With my Visa.
So now we only have to drive one hour in each direction to pick up our hot water heater, rather than 2+ hours in each direction . . .
Due to the fact that we live in the land of really expensive square footage, our crawl space where our hot water heater lives is not very tall. So, none of the hot water heaters which are normally kept in stock (those 60 inches or taller) will work for us and we must special order. Having done a bit of online research last night before venturing out today, I found that Sears has a short model that still manages to hold 50 gallons (the Kenmore Power Miser 9, 50 Gallon Short). This is a good thing. Most other short water heaters we were finding maxed out at 40 gallons.
After repeatedly getting shot down, we decided to throw in the towel on the hope of coming away with a hot water heater in hand today and go ahead and order the 50 gallon shorty from Sears. Armed with the knowledge that the Sears in Glenwood Springs had closed, we called the Grand Junction Sears from the parking lot of Lowes to place a phone order, only to be told by the manager, Mike, that we could only place a phone order if we were paying with a Sears card.
Huh?
I nicely stated our case, that we lived 2+ hours away and that we really wanted to get the order in since it was getting late on Saturday afternoon and we needed to pick up the unit as soon as possible since we're without hot water in the interim. I told him that we had researched, found units at competitors but had decided to go with the Sears model PLUS the extended warranty. I asked him if he wanted me to purchase from his competition. As I got more frustrated, I said if this was Sears' policy, I could understand why they were on the verge of going bankrupt. I asked him if I could speak with his boss. He didn't seem to know who that was.
Thoroughly frustrated, I got off the phone and turned to my Blackberry's web browser to find someone to complain to, only to discover that Sears has a store in Rifle. Now Rifle's only a little over an hour away. Hmmm. Just for curiosity's sake, I called the Rifle store.
And proceeded to place a phone order for the exact same water heater. With my Visa.
So now we only have to drive one hour in each direction to pick up our hot water heater, rather than 2+ hours in each direction . . .
1 comment:
I'm glad this worked out. It's incredible or sad that the first Sears manager couldn't sell you the water heater. Doesn't he realize he's in sales and interested customers are hard to come by?
I can't tolerate cold showers so I'm glad you won't have to.
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