Appliance Troubles

Background

This is a semi-continuation of My Avoision of Covid-19 which explains that I hate being sick, so I want to avoid Covid-19 for that reason alone. Plus the risk of complications, being a "long-hauler", death, etc. To avoid Covid-19, one must avoid people, and that shouldn't be too much of a problem as long as I don't need any service people to enter my house.

Unfortunately, I ended up having more service people into my house since Covid-19 than before. I ended up breaking the story down into 3 posts: My Avoison of Covid-19 where I give an overview and do a count of total service people entering my house; My Basement Issues - Part 2 where I tell the story of some water damage to my basement and how I had to have contractors in to fix that.; and this post explaining all the service people who had to enter my house due to my appliace troubles.

The Appliances

The problems

One day I did a load of dishes in the dishwasher, which has worked fine up until this point. When I walked past the dishwasher, I got a bit of a soaker. I looked down and water was dripping from the overhanging part of the door. When the load was done, I opened the door to see that the door seal had come loose. I tried fixing it, and got one good load out of it. When I did the next load, there was a leak on the other side of the dishwasher.

I had also noticed that the elements on my stove stopped working. The small elements were good, but the front elements weren't. The one on the right would never get up to 10. You coudln't boil water. The one on the left was unpredictable. If you put it at 3 to simmer, it would go to 3 and the thing would simmer. For a while. Then the thing on the stove that was simmering would turn into a violent boil. If you set the dial back to Off, then back to 3 it may simmer, or it may boil. You just never knew what that element was going to do. (I guess you could say that it was the element of surprise!)

Furthermore the fridge (which still worked) started getting really noisy. It had always been noisy, and I had enjoyed its white noise blocking out other unwanted noise from neighbours, or the cars outside. But it had gotten worse. It started making a high-ish pitch humming noise which made its way upstairs into my bedroom keeping me up at night. That had never been a problem before.

The Solution

When Black Friday arrived, I decided it was time to take advantage of sales. The pandemic was still going on, and I've been a pretty cautious person. (If everyone lived like me, we could have eliminated Covid-19, as well as probably a few other communicable diseases months ago.) So I did my shopping online. I found this frustrating. It turns out that most stores that sell major appliances leave it up to you to get rid of your old appliances. Why? Most people don't have means to do that sort of thing. Some places (ex: BestBuy and Costco) offer removal and recycling services.

I didn't think it was worth getting a Costco membership just for this, so I went with BestBuy. And that's when things got interesting. A few years ago my washing machine needed to be replaced. I bought a new washing machine from BestBuy. I went to a local store and bought one there. I setup delivery, installation, and removal of my old unit at that time. But this time, I did not want to to go a store anytime near Black Friday during a global pandemic. So I went online.

They had sale, and a deal that if you bought three items from one manufacturer, you'd get $300 off (and free delivery). It turns out that the pandemic put a real bottleneck on the supply chain. Many units had delivery dates of "At least April". I didn't want to wait that long. So I looked for appliances from the same manufacturer, with a near-ish delivery date, that would fit in the areas in my kitchen. And the fridge doors must either open to the left, or at least be reversible. (I didn't want to break the bank too.)

I found some stainless steel Whirlpool units. Expected delivery: December 12^th. Right measurements. The only issue: The fridge doors opened to the right. But they were reversible. Okay, sold!

Delivery, Installation, Removal, and Recyclying

As I checked out, I kept looking for the "Installation and removal" options. None were presented. Eventually, there was a note saying "Before delivery, you will receive a call from BestBuy to give you a delivery time window, and set up options for removal and installation." Oh okay. I just have to wait til I get that call.

When December 12^th came, I remembered I still didn't get that call. So I called them to set it up. It turns out they needed at least 24 hours to do that. So I asked if my delivery could be delayed until later that week. "No problem! We can deliver Tuesday!"

"Okay, good. I don't need them right now. It's totally worth it if I can have my old appliances removed."

"Yes, of course, sir. Just give me a minute to set everything up."

After he set everything up I confirmed the new day (Tuesday), and that since that was 4 days out, that installation and removal services could be added.

"Oh no, sir. It's too late. It needs to be added earlier than 24 hours before delivery."

"Yeah, but it's Saturday today. Tuesday is 4 days away."

"Yes, but they're already at the warehouse ready for delivery."

"But the only reason I delayed was so I could add those services! What am I supposed to do with my appliances?"

"Well, that's what those 4 days are for. You can arrange something."

Okay, whatever. I'll Google something.

Turns out there are people on Kijiji who will take working appliances and give them to low-income families. But I have come to not trust Kijiji people. They're unreliable. They say they're coming and they never do. I'd rather just have the service.

It was still Saturday. I got a call from the delivery people saying "We're 5 minutes away." And I told them the story. The guy says "Okay, the way it's written here is unclear if you've got removal services or not. I'll call email BestBuy and see what's going on. I'll let you know when I know." (Spoiler alert: he never called me back.)

So after a while I called BestBuy and got someone else. I explained the story, and he said "Oh we can totally add removal services if you want!" Okay, so I did that for the fridge and oven. (I had already gotten rid of my dishwasher. I took it out to the curb on garbage night and in the morning, it was gone.) "Okay, I'll make a note of that, and your credit card for the original purchase will be charged. Also, you won't get your appliances today. Let's set up another day. How's Tuesday?"

"Oh good, thank you. Tuesday works."

Tuesday came, but the appliances didn't. I called BestBuy, and it turns out that they couldn't deliver Tuesday, so they moved it to Thursday, December 17.

Okay, Thursday.

On Wednesday I got a text giving me a delivery window which was to from 2:24 to 5:24. On Thursday, at about 4:51 I got a call from BestBuy asking permission to charge my credit card for removal of 2 items. I said "Go ahead. But my delivery window is almost closed, and I haven't heard from the delivery people."

5 minutes later, the delivery team showed up. But they had no record of removal on their worksheet. So, they offered to move the appliances to another room, or out to the curb where "it won't last the night. Some scavenger will come and take it for scrap.". So I asked them to move the fridge to the curb, and I'd get the guy on Kijiji to come and take it to a low-income family.

"Also, there's a problem with the oven. One of the knobs broke off. It came like that. It's damaged. If you want, just refuse delivery, and I'll make a note, and you'll get another one later."

"Okay, yes, I refuse delivery."

"Okay, I'll leave you with your old oven so you at least have that. And I'll take the old fridge to the curb. And I'll wheel the dishwasher and fridge into their spots." (There were 2 delivery people.) Since they didn't, and wouldn't, take the fridge I called BestBuy to get half the removal and recycling fee refunded. I was told the charges would be reversed on my credit card soon.

(Incidentally, the fridge didn't get taken in the night, and the Kijiji guy waited til the next day afternoon to get it. Shortly after he took it, the condo property management company called me because someone complained.)

Fridge Door Reversal - Part 1

Before putting all my food into my fridge, I decided to do the door reversal myself. I quickly ran into problems. At the bottom of the fridge there's a doorstop that must be moved. This doorstop is a metal plate with 2 screw holes. On the front metal piece of the fridge there are two screw holes on each side, and behind them is a little casing with the fridge wheels that also have metal holes. You have to get all three sets of holes aligned to screw the doorstop on. I couldn't get them aligned. I had tilted the fridge back and it was resting on a box so all the weight was off the wheels. It was no good. I still couldn't do it. So I put the doors back on the original way for now. I needed to get the food in the fridge soon, and I needed to eat something, and go grocery shopping before the store closed.

Later on I decided to try it again, but first I'd have to take the rubber stoppers out of the top of the fridge. The rubber stoppers sit on the side of the fridge opposite to the side of the door hinge. You have to take them out, so you can screw the hinge in when you switch sides (and presumably put the stoppers in the other side where the screws used to be.) I tried taking them out. I tried screw drivers, a plastic putty knife, a metal putty knife, thin blades just to get them up a little so I could pull get them out with another tool. I could get them to budge at all. All I was doing was ruining the finish.

Dishwasher Installation - Part 1

Okay, defeated by the door, I decided to install the dishwasher. Uninstalling the old was was easy enough. Installing the new one should just be like that, but in reverse. Nope. It turns out you need a special dishwasher installation kit that doesn't come with the dishwasher. Why not?! They know I'm going to need one! (Ugh. If Apple ever gets into major appliances, Whirlpool better watch out.)

Oven Delivery and Fridge Door Reversal - Part 2

Okay, December 29^th. Back on the phone with BestBuy to get my new oven. They gave me a date of Saturday, January 2^nd. "Okay, that's fine." I ask about the cost of dishwasher installation, and fridge door reversal. I decide that it's probably worth it. I also mention that I had paid for 2 appliances to be removed, but only one was. I tell them I had called to get the second fee refunded. I'm told "You will see the charge reversed on your credit card in 7 to 10 business days. Due to holidays and weekends, we're at day 6. So wait a few days." At this time, I asked for dishwasher installation service.

"Okay, the dishwasher installation will have to happen a week later, on Friday, January 8^th. We'll try to get the door reversal done when the oven gets delivered, but no guarantees. It may be a separate thing."

So on Saturday, January 2^nd (as I write this) the delivery people show up (well past the end of the window, without having called me.) (Now we're up to 4 service people.) They take away my old stove, and bring the new one in. I ask them if they have "door reversal on their worksheet." Indeed they do. So I quickly empty the fridge. I figure for them it'll be a 15 minute job.

It took over an hour. And they had the same problems I did. They wound up breaking the rubber stoppers and having to just drill new holes. They had to turn the fridge on its back. The guy was like "I don't believe this! The holes don't line up!"

Eventually, with a lot of grunting (and probably some French swearing) they got it done. The guy appologized and took some pictures and said "I'm going to put this in my notes. This shouldn't have been that hard. You should get a discount or something."

I really don't want to get on the phone with BestBuy again. But I have a feeling the fridge door won't completely close on its own to make the seal. I imagine I'll be making a warranty claim.

Let's see how the dishwasher installation goes!

Update: The dishwasher guy called on the day he was supposed to show up on Friday, January 8^th to ask if he could delay until Saturday, January 9^th. That was fine. So, he shows up on the 9^th and asks where the dishwasher will plug in. I show him. It's in the basement. (There's a hole in the floor behind where the dishwasher is.) The guy looks at it and says "Oooohhhh. The cable won't go that far. Do you still have the cable from the last one?"

"No because I'm an idiot and I assumed that an electrical appliance would come with its own cable."

"Yeah it's just dishwashers."

"If Apple ever gets into the home appliance game, Whirlpool is done."

"Okay, anyway if you order a cable from Home Depot, then text me and we'll set up another appointment. It'll take 20 minutes tops."

He left and I went to HomeDepot.ca and found a good 10 meter cable and ordered it. I picked it up (curbside pickup) the next day. Then I texted him and told him I got a long cable. (We're up to 5 service people for appliances.)

No reply.

Maybe just telling hime I got a longer cable wasn't enough. Maybe I needed to actually ask for an appointment. I texted back.

No reply.

Now, as of January 14^th to at least February 11^th Ontario has moved from lockdown to stay-at-home. So, he may not be able to even come for another 4 weeks. Not that I can know until he gets back to me.

Update: The dishwasher guy came and installed the dishwasher on Monday, January 18^th. (Same guy as before, but who knows who he's been in contact with in the last week, so I'm counting him again. 6 service people for the appliances.)

But my removal fee has not been refunded. So I called BestBuy (Wednesday, January 20^th. I'm told "You case has gone to the head office on January 15^th, and you should get an email about it by Friday evening."

Yeah. Right. Okay. Whatever you say.

I also tell him the story of the door reversal, and how the delivery guys had such a hard time doing that and took pictures and said they'd send them in. I asked if there was anything in the file about that.

Nope.

Final Update (hopefully): I did get the email from head office on Friday that said the refund should show up on my credit card in 3 to 5 business days. It did show up on Monday, the ^th of January. So now, this chapter is complete. The appliacens have arrived, been installed, paid for, registered, and reviewed on BestBuy.ca. And the whole process only took 2 months, and caused 6 service people to come into my house during a global pandemic.

The Blinds Side B

Recap: If you missed it last week, I spent a lot of time and gas trying to find affordable blue PVC horozontal blinds for my bedroom and living room of my new apartment. Every store either had an extremely limited selection and/or were going to charge me an arm and a leg. The only good option I could find was to order from Sears online. So I did.

When I got the first blinds, I checked online how to install blinds. I would need wall anchors. I went to Home Depot to ask about them. The first guy I talked to was useless. He told me I'd need to find a stud.  [Insert joke about the stud being 'right here']  If I had wooden studs I wouldn't need anchors. Otherwise, I would.

In fairness to him, he might not have been talking to me.  He wouldn't make eye contact with me and he was speaking loud enough for everyone in a 3 kilometre radius to hear.

So I found someone else who was much more helpful.  In fact people were crowding around him waiting for their chance to glean some home-reno wisdom from him.  He showed me where to get the wall anchors, and a stud finder.  [Insert joke about the stud being 'right here'] He told me what I needed to know. I bought some wall anchors and a stud finder [Insert joke about the stud being 'right here'] and went home.

I wanted to install the blinds in my bedroom first. I put my bed by the window so I could stand on it as I installed the blinds. I drove the anchor into the wall with my screwdriver. It took a bit of effort at first, then there was no resistance.  I took the anchor out.  I looked in the hole and saw that there was a metal plate with holes in it. I managed to put the anchor through one of the holes.

I thought I'd better ask the Super about installing blinds before I go any further. He suggested I install the brackets a little closer to the window. The window sill is pretty deep. So I tried that and it worked. The blind went in without trouble or incident. I didn't install the other blind in the living room because I didn't have a chair, stool, ladder, or bed to stand on to install the brackets.

I ordered the two custom fit blinds. When they arrived I decided to install the blind in the bedroom first. This one took a lot more effort than the other one. In fact, I ended up tearing some skin on my hand holding the screw driver. It hurt. One of the anchors was going in vertically, until it encountered some resistance. Then it went diagonal. Then it stopped before it was all the way in. In my effors I ended messing up the head of the anchor, so I couldn't unscrew it. If anyone knows how to remove one of those, let me know.

At this point you're probably asking two questions: "Why didn't you use a drill?" and "Didn't you use your stud finder?" The answer to the first question is that I did use the drill and that's how the anchor got messed up. After that I didn't want use the drill until I knew things were exactly right. It's a lot harder to undo something that's been done with a power tool than something that's been done by elbow grease. 

The answer to the second question is that I did use the stud finder. [Insert joke about the stud being 'right here'] But, according to my stud finder, my window sill is one giant stud. So, I deemed it to be useless. It works fine on my walls, just not the window sill.

I tried again a little bit closer to the center. This time it worked. When I tried putting the screws in, 3 out of 4 went in easily. The fourth one stopped part way up. My hand really hurt, and I was sweating like that guy landing the airplane at the end of the move Airplane. I was tired. The bracket wasn't going anywhere. The screw wasn't getting in the way. So I left it.

Before installing the blinds in the living room I wanted to 1) let my hand heal, and 2) get a stool, or chair, or ladder to stand on. I figured a chair would be good because I would use it to sit at my table when I got one of those. Off to Ikea!

I must have sat in every chair in the kitchen area. I couldn't decide on a chair or a table. And I wanted them to be coordinated. As I sat there contemplating what to do, I saw a footstool. I walked over to it. It was new to the Ikea lineup. It was $15. It was solid wood. It was almost 2 feet tall. It was perfect! I could use it as a makeshift end-table, or rest my feet on it under my desk. I decided not to decide on a dinning set that day, and just get the stool.

Of course, they didn't have any of those stools in stock. The guy there said they didn't know when they would get any more. I checked their website everyday for two weeks until it was in stock. I bought it. I put it together. Due to a sharp edge in the packaging, I managed to cut my wrist. Now I look like an emo-kid.

This Sunday past, I was sitting in my living room looking at my blindless windows. I had marked out where I would put the anchors. I decided to get a start on it.  The skin on my hand had partially healed.  I had to install 2 blinds, 4 brackets, 8 screws and 8 wall anchors. After six anchors, skin had ripped off the palm of my hand again. I gave it a rest. Until last night, Wednesday night. I decided to takle the last two anchors. I decided I was on a roll, so I kept going. I drove in the screws holding up the anchors. I put the blinds in. Finally, my living room is dark. It might be worth trying to cool down my entire apartment with the air conditioner. My hand hurts. I have several blisters and cuts. I guess thats what you get when you try to do some manual labour after a lfietime of computer programming.

The Blinds Side A

I have been in my apartment for a month and a half now, and I finally got my window blinds up last night. What took me so long? Procrastination? Yes. Laziness? Yes. But that's not all. It turns out that getting and installing blinds isn't as easy as it used to be, or should be. It turned out to be a real vortex!

The last time I had an apartment that needed blinds, I measured the windows and went out to Zellers. I found the ones that would fit in the colour I wanted (dark blue). I brought them home. Since I knew nothing about installing blinds I had a friend over to help me. He brought his drill. We got some wall anchors and installed the blinds in one evening. I didn't have a steady job at the time, and still going to school, so I wouldn't have been willing to spend a whole lot.  Four blinds about 3 feet each probably cost me less than $100.

I thought it would be that easy this time too. Boy was I wrong!

I measured my windows. 5 foot, 11 and a three-quarters inches. What an odd measurement! Why don't they make windows a standard size? Why couldn't they have been an even six feet?

I wanted mini, a.k.a. horizontal blinds. I wanted dark blue.

One day I went to Home Depot. As soon as I found the window area I saw three employees hanging around talking. I thought "Great! I can ask one of them for help." Boy was I wrong! As I was approaching I heard one of them say "I'm hungry. You guys want to get some lunch?" They all agreed and scattered like cockroaches when you turn on the lights. I was on my own. So I went looking. There are lots of different kinds of blinds; wood, faux-wood, S-blinds, mini, PVC, etc. etc. The only mini blinds I could find were coloured white and off-white.

So, off to Walmart! They only had white. Someone there told me for better selection to check out Sears.

So I went to sears. The woman there first asked me if I was renting or owning. What an odd question. I told her I was renting. She told me I'd be better off ordering online, or from the catalog. If I ordered in store, it would cost me upwards of $250 for one set of blinds.  I could get the exact same thing for as little as $27 from the catalog.

So I figured I'd order them online. I left the store. As I was driving out, I saw a store called Blinds to Go. Perfect! Blind experts! So I went in. They quoted me $150 for each blind. I needed 2.  Forget that noise!

This was getting frustrating. I tried Bouclaire. They only had white and faux-wood.

I went back to Home Depot. This time I managed to get a salesperson to talk with. If I wanted blue blinds I'd need to get them custom ordered, and that could run well over $100 per blind.

What ever happened to cheap non-white blinds?!

Ikea had limited selection. As did Zellers. As did the Bay. I forget what other stores I checked out, but none had what I wanted.

I went to the Sears website to order. I was nervous about ordering custom blinds. What if they were wrong somehow? Could I return them? Their return policy doesn't allow custom blinds to be returned. So, instead of ordering one blind for the whole window, I decided to order two 3 foot blinds, and two 2 foot, 11 and a half inches. I would order the two 3 foot blinds first because they weren't custom. If they weren't any good, I could return them. Once I was satisfied, I'd order the custom blinds.

This entry is getting long, so I'll stop now, and continue next week.