It started last Thursday, I think, though the ending may not yet be in sight. I went to the garage to get an additional creamer for my coffee. I was greeted by a wave of heat and a growing stench. Yes, it had died and carried with it about $250 of meat and dairy. Spectacularly! Milk was curdled and the meat had blead all over the bottom of the freezer. It was, literally, hotter than the surrounding garage joyously roasting in the Texas summer heat.
I have a policy with American Home Warrantee which covers, at an extra fee, my garage fridge, and I when they said that Ace Appliance (rated one and a half stars on Yelp) would be here on Friday I was surprised. (That is quicker than I am used to with American Home Warrantee.) Around noon, a gentleman came and I explained that when I discovered the problem the fridge was hotter than the surrounding garage and mentioned the spoiled meat and dairy and my need to clean it. The fridge was open and the freezer drawer was removed and disinfectant spray was still sitting on the fridge shelf.
He then asked me if I was defrosting it.
This surprised me as I had just that second finished explaining about the spoilage and temp. I did not really feel it NEEDED defrosting. He then plugged in the fridge, looked at it, had extensive conversations on the phone in Russian, took photos, reminded me that I had to pay $75 and said he thought it was the compressor, but he was not a compressor guy, so that someone else from the company would have to contact me.
I asked him if he could assist me in remounting the freezer drawer and he told me that it was against policy. If I had disassembled it, he could not touch it. I was responsible for reassembly. The drawer is a bit weighty and two metal tabs had to be slipped into two metal slots on the sliding bars and I am 74, live alone, and needed help. But he could not, by policy, touch it.
That was the last I heard from Ace Appliance (rated one and a half stars on Yelp) until I called them the following Friday, today.
In my long conversation with the young boy who handled their phone, I was asked repeatedly if the fridge was assembled. As it was a stand alone, I was confused. After many questions, I finally began to understand that they were not talking about the type of fridge, but that the repair man had reported that it was disassembled, referring to the fact that the drawer was removed. But all the company knew was that it was disassembled and so they could not repair it until they could see that it was fully assembled, running for 24 hours, and still having a problem. So since they had not been assured of that, they would not return, not send anyone out, and reported to American Home Warrantee that it was resolved.
When I called American Home Warrantee, I spent about 5 minutes hearing repeated messages on how I could request a service call on line before finding out the appropriate response to get a human. This human listened for about 5 minutes, I think, to my summation of the situation before I realized that the call had disconnected and no one was on the line.
On my second call, this time to a young gentleman for whom English was NOT his first language, I was put on hold several times before being informed that Ace Appliance (rated one and a half stars on Yelp) would not be able to be out to check on my fridge until next Wednesday. But they did say that even though it was a new work order, I would not have to pay the $75.
Now, not to allow you to think that this week was all about my Fridge, I will jaunt off to a bit about my new computer.
My computer is getting a little strained in its old age. I am an avid game player and get a bit thrown when the voice which should come louder from the character in front of me, does not improve until I turn around. Also, the monitors blacking out every once in a while, is a bit troublesome. It is, maybe 10 years old.
Now, as I am getting a new machine, I thought now was the best time to add shelves in my office so I could move the speakers up above the monitors, and perhaps get the external drives where I could reach them rather than hidden beyond my feet under the desk.
I am very lucky to have a good friend who is a computer professional. He has assisted me many times with windows issues and diagnostic strategies. He has volunteered to assemble my next machine (yes, I am paying him.) so all the parts are being delivered to him. He then offered to assist me in assembling and setting it up which is generous because it will educate me considerably but will add considerable time to the process.
Anyway, everything is delivered and I headed out to his house with my keyboard, mouse and old box to start the process. Obviously, the first thing to unpack is the box, case, thing that is going to hold it all. New, fancy with a glass door so you can see all the workings, which, unfortunately is discovered to be in several thousand tiny little pieces.
Calls, photos, pack up my keyboard, mouse and box and head home.
BUT, waiting for the replacement box will give me time to get the shelving I want in my office so I can have more room.
I will not go into GREAT detail, but suffice it to say $300 later, after visiting two different stores, I now have the equipment to install two, 20 inch deep shelves across a 10 foot wall, all ready to have piles of wires moving between them.
Oh, wait, one more thing. I have a relatively small car so getting them in was rather difficult. I got 4 six foot shelves which fit into the car, just barely. The only issue is that on the drive home, they slipped a bit and put several foot long cracks in my windshield. Sigh!
See you Wednesday.
