I was doing laundry over the weekend, as I’ve been known to do, when my washing machine decided to explode. Hmm…maybe I should back up a little bit. The first load of laundry went fine, but when I went to switch the second load over to the dryer I noticed that there was some water on the laundry room floor coming from the washing machine. I had just washed a load of sheets and bathroom towels, so I figured I must have overfilled the load causing it to leak when it went off balance. So, I wiped up the floor with a couple beach towels and threw them in the machine to do my third load of the day.
MISTAKE!!
Okay, in my imagination it goes like this:
Anyways, moving on. I went back downstairs to check the dryer and there was a HUGE pond of dirty water filling the laundry room! Like a two inch deep pond. Not cool. This is when it finally dawned on me that my 20+ year old washing machine was broken. No, not when it initially leaked. I had to submerge my laundry room before I got a clue and realized that we have a problem.
So I did what any thrifty person would do, I started googling around for deals. I checked a bunch of local big box stores and even clicked around on craigslist. I then took a trip to my local Home Depot and Lowe’s stores to check for any floor model sales. Typically they have a few random appliances hanging out in the aisles that have been refurbished or returned as an ‘open box’ item.
I got lucky at Lowe’s and found a refurbished washer with a couple marks on it. It was a great deal – marked down about half price to only $280. I got even luckier when the sales associate pulled some strings to have it delivered to me the next day. The delivery went super smooth and my new washing machine was in my house and ready to go about 12 hours after I plonked down my credit card to buy it.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work.
Now I’m getting super annoyed because I didn’t WANT to buy a damn washing machine in the first place and now that I went through the effort to go and buy the stupid thing, it doesn’t even WORK! So I call up my friendly Lowe’s manager and tell him how annoyed, frustrated and inconvenienced I am.
At this point the story could go either way – I could go off on a tangent about how awful Lowe’s treated me and that I’m never shopping there again, or I could tell you what a great job they did fixing my situation. I’m happy to say that I’m pretty sure it’s going to be the second option.
The manager asked me to give him an hour to figure out what they could do for me and call me back. When I spoke to him again, I had found another washer on their website which had great reviews. However, it was brand new and almost $200 more then the one I had purchased.
The manager got the priced discounted down so that I only had to pay $20 more. Understanding that I work during the day, he also arranged for a special delivery truck to bring my order to me after 6pm on Wednesday. He took a really crappy situation and did everything in his power to make it right.
Now, I’m reserving my final judgment until I actually get the washing machine delivered to me tomorrow and do a load of laundry with it. However, I have to say I really respect the fact that Lowe’s so obviously wants to keep my business. Their manager was friendly and helpful when I called to complain on Sunday and has even checked in with me a couple times since then.
A little good customer service goes a long way with me. I’ve been a Home Depot girl for most of my life, but I think I’m leaning towards cheating on the old HD with my new luvah, Lowe’s.