Senseless Sunday Sarcasm : refrigerators
Shopping for refrigerators is a lot like trying to find a nursing home. It’s not fun, nothing is a good fit, and you’re left paying for something you never wanted in the first place.
My present fridge lasted all of 5 years. It died around the same time as the world’s sweetest (7-year-old) puppy dog.
The last thing I wanted to think about was, “What am I supposed to do with 50 pounds of spoiling food?”
, .
Five dogs were at the receiving end of a feast as 1.2 cup containers (aka two months worth of lunches for work) were unscrewed and the contents dumped into a giant mixing bowl.
In my case, the contents weren’t all that exotic; tuna casserole, chicken&rice, beef&rice, spaghetti with meat, and something with potatoes in it that I couldn’t recognize.
But dogs care only about one thing:
My parents bought a fridge when I was too young to remember, and replaced it when I was floating in that 20-something Neverland. It was still working and though I can’t remember if this is true or not, I think they gave it away.
If you’re wondering why my fridge lasted only five years, here’s a clue:
Not that I miss watching mom do this for 20 years of my life:
True, it was a useful for the purposes of asking mom,” What is snow?”
She led me to the fridge and said, “Honey, this is as close as I can get to showing you.”
Man, was I surprised to find out that snow was cold.
My BAID (My but alas I digress).
Well, I found the fridge I wanted, spent 10 minutes doing checkout and a message in pink said:
NOT IN STOCK.
So, I looked for another one and went through the mind-numbing tell-us-your-blood-type check out process.
NOT IN STOCK.
A message popped up: PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE.
My review looked something like this:
%(#*#& YOU %(#*$&’S I TRIED TO BUY A FRIDGE AND YOUR $(@&*%& CHECKOUT PROCESS IS so %)#(@#*$^ I can’t even get your %*$&@^’s website to take my credit-card non-money!
They should be able to read between the lines quite well. I could certainly read through theirs:
Cost of fridge: (Somewhere between 0 and, “WAY out of my price range.”)
Cost of 5 year warranty: $528.00
Cost of 10 year warranty: $783.00.
You’re betting that when your fridge dies in five 10 years it will cost more to replace than to have it refurbished.
Being without a fridge sucks. Sure, it’s a 1st world problem and at least I’m not drinking brown water out of a hole in the desert…
…but habit is a merciless slave owner.
I spent a lot of time doing this…
Believe me when I tell you: Warm, smelly and empty is an appetite killer.
So….one day my prince fridge will come. When it does, I can stop eating peanut butter sandwiches and canned soup.
All the appliances seemed to last a lifetime in the past. Now you’re happy to have it work for more than 5 years.
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Well-written and hilarious! Reminds me of my recent experiences trying to buy a car. Still no car. Out of stock, or price out of sight. From a larger perspective, it makes me wonder how these companies stay in business. Even worse, it makes me wonder how our economy works at all!?
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The fact you find it well-written means a lot. Editing has never been, nor will it be, my forte. 🙂
Buying a car is, literally, hell on wheels. I remember trying to get one without electric windows, but if you wanted cruise control you couldn’t get the roll-down. We ended up having the cruise control added on.
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I’m curious as to why you would want the roll-down? Are you preparing for going off into a pool of water?
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When I was a child, an optometrist’s wife lost control of her Cadillac and went into a canal in South Florida that was at least 40 feet deep. She died because she couldn’t get the electric window to roll down. I’ve never wanted an electric window since.
Fast forward to now: It is harder to get a vehicle without electric windows. I prefer roll down because I don’t have to wait for the car to be on before I can control how far up or down
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I thought only I think about such potential scenarios.
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So wrong, on so many levels. May your unrefrigerated time pass swiftly and not be repeated. I am stuck with a side-by-side fridge, whose stupidity of design has me continually gnashing my teeth every time I need to freeze something wider than a loaf of bread, but you have restored my perspective: at least the damn thing is cold.
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LOL! Yes, you have something that will not allow your salad to turn into a slimy mush. 🙂
The lack of depth and space is one of the reasons I’m not considering a side-by-side, too. Like the inside of a house, it always looks bigger before you start putting stuff into it.
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Habitat for Humanity Re-Store is my favorite place for house stuff like dining room tables and appliances.
A friend swears by Facebook marketplace.
My theory is… Why spend all that money for new when used works just fine
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I’d rather be able to replace it if it dies during the warrantee, but I’ll look into it. Unfortunately, there’s a new thing happening now that I didn’t know about until I bought a color laser printer years ago. The printer died the first week. It was in the contract that if it had to be replaced, it would be replaced by one that was refurbished. The refurbished one lasted until a week after the warantee expired.
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That is one of our mahor problems – companies don’t make things to last.
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It would be so easy to make a product that could last. After all, I’m still using a vacuum purchased in 1972.
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That’s awesome! But if they make a product that lasts, then they can’t milk you for more money on a newer, more expensive product in 2 years.
My logic is, if I buy a used washer for $100-$150 now and then in 3 years I buy another used one for the same cost, I still spent less than if I bought a new one.
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I’m not that fortunate with appliances — with one exception. We live in the country and someone dumped a Maytag front-loader next to the road that goes to our home. It stayed out there — in the elements — for several months, weathered a hurricane, and hubby said, “Hmmm….I wonder if it still works?”
One part didn’t work. He found the part for a 2004 machine, replaced the part and it’s been working now for almost a year.
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With me, it was washing machines. See my post Death of a Salesman
😀
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I read it & have had that very same comment with other sales people. 🙂
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It’s amazing how they don’t listen and are so blinkered with credit terms and extended warranties!
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Now, you don’t need me to tell you they just don’t make them like they used too!a d young lady! Language…….where they my favourite words? Smirk……….yes, but there is nothing like that new fridge smell. I had a fridge die on me some years ago. I got to the point I wasn’t going to clean it again. (3times in a week!) luckily I got funding and got a new one. Sometimes, it’s all about brands. Get one worth while it should last. More than 5 years. Cheers,H
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I really didn’t use curse words, I just threw the D#(%&d things in for effect. 🙂
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This wasn’t a refrigerator but a freezer. I remember being told that my grandparents bought it in the 1940’s. Growing up I remember in May of every year they thawed it out and cleaned it.
We gave it away after my grandmother moved out in 1996. To say they don’t make ’em like that anymore is an understatement.
We’re buying a ‘fridge too. I feel your pain. 🙂
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You are absolutely correct, and I believe you understand how much I did NOT want to have to buy another appliance.
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OMG, I somehow missed that your baby didn’t make it. I’m so sorry, how heartbreaking.
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It was unexpected.
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I went through the same hell a few years ago when we remodeled our kitchen (that was built in the 70’s, probably by Mike Brady) “Fridges were considerably smaller then and trying to find a modern version to fit in our Brady Bunch space was challenging. (And by challenging I mean ready to go full out postal on the sales clerk who kept trying to sell me appliances larger than my car)
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Sorry to hear of your experience.
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I had bought most of the home appliances 10 years back when I was setting up my home. Every 5 months since two years, one by one started going down. We replaced one by one. The latest one was refrigerator. It was working well and no hint of a problem. Guess it gave in to some peer pressure.
Enjoying your blog. Cheers!
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Same here — it was working one day and totally dead the next. That’s why it was such a surprise to find that everything in the freezer with liquid in it was mush the next day.
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I sat and read every bit of this. Was very interesting to read..I loved how comical you were. Great refrigerator sarcasm.
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We have an old fridge that still runs, but it’s too small to fit everything. It belonged to my parents in the 1970’s. Most appliances today are overpriced and don’t hold up.
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