Don't choose a machine--CHOOSE A DEALER!
Sep 08 '01
The Bottom Line As Spock said, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one." Except, of course, when you're buying major appliances.
I and The Bride bought our very first matched washer and dryer a few months ago. The washer we had would go off balance and buzz if a bumble bee put too much weight on one side by peeing on it. The dryer was now putting rust spots on the clothes. Sooooooo, after over 26 years of marriage and countless used washers and dryers, none of which matched each other or even had the same brand name, we thought it was time to buy a real set.
During this time we also felt we were going to need a new refrigerator, as well. The one we had was over 20 years old and while it had done us very well up to now, it was constantly running, water was accumulating in the bottom and the damn light switch burned out. I think there was a family of trolls in it that were feeding off our forgotten foods.
We looked at all the flyers that came with the newspaper. Places such as Circuit City, Best Buy, Comp USA, Sears, etc. all had TREMENDOUS, MONEY SAVING SALES. Right. Were these come-ons? Naaaaahhh. How can you say that? Especially since almost every unit advertised had an asterisk next to the price and you went blind trying to find the matching one at the bottom of the page. When you finally found it, it gave--in extremely tiny print--so many disclaimers and conditions of sale that you knew beyond doubt that a lawyer had written the ad.
Also included were the provisos that they would gladly deliver the appliances purchased for the piddling sum of $25-$40.00 per unit. They would also pick up and dispose of your old appliances for the same piddling price again. In other words, the washer and dryer, if bought at their fantastic savings, would cost us an additional $100 to $160 for the pick up and disposal. WHAT???!!! Hey! Turnip Truck! Wait for me--I just fell off the back.
We live in a small town on the South Shore of Boston. It's a lovely, eclectic community. We've been living here for over 20 years and we love it. We think of ourselves as "townies" and we felt we should do business with local merchants rather than these humongous conglomerates. We were right.
The one we chose was a place called George Washington Toma, two towns away from us. We went to Toma's ("where there's always a Toma to talk to") to look around and compare prices with the national chains. We found that the prices there were just a tad higher than the chains. Well, I understood that since I grew up in retailing and knew that the chains had more buying power and bought from the manufacturer cheaper than the single stores.
We told the saleswoman, who happened to be Mr. Toma's daughter, Donna, (we had our Toma to talk to) that we weren't buying right now, just looking. She said "OK, if there are any questions, my name is Donna," and left us alone. In the chain store the commissioned salesman would have become my shadow.
The Bride and I looked around and began to get confused. We knew we wanted the best we could afford but which one? How do we choose? "Donna? Could you come over here for a second, please?" She nicely didn't gloat--outwardly.
Well, kiddies, she showed us the various machines without pushing any one brand. Having been a salesman I know when something's being pushed. We asked about the Maytag line and she began to beam. She liked the Maytag personally and was glad to talk to us about them.
The explanation of the features (not a sales pitch--I do know the difference) was thorough without being long winded, clear without going into all sorts of technicalities and said that the choice to buy or not was ours, not hers. She also told us that while their prices were a bit higher than the chains, THEY DELIVERED AND PICKED UP FREE!!!!!
"Hmmmmm", was the thought, "if the chains charge for delivery and pickup and have lower prices, and these people don't charge and have higher prices, it's probably the same thing and I'm dealing with local people, contributing to the local economy, and I've got a name and a face to yell at if anything goes wrong." We bought. We even got a 19" TV for our office in the house at the same time. We also got a discount on the purchase 'cuz we bought all this stuff. They delivered, picked up, did all they promised and smiled all the time.
Now comes the stove, refrigerator and dishwasher. After that lovely experience we went back two weeks ago to look for a refrigerator (needed badly) a dishwasher and a stove (not needed but The Bride want everything to match. After all, how does it look to have a bisque refrigerator, black dishwasher and black and white stove?).
Well, we now have a bisque refrigerator, a bisque stove and a bisque dishwasher, all Maytag. We got a hell of a deal on them--at least as inexpensive as the chain stores 'cuz we were now established, repeat customers. We paid $1,800 for the new stove (gas, self-cleaning oven with lots of bells and whistles), refrigerator (21 cubic feet with a light in the freezer and other amenities) and the dishwasher (well, it matched the other two pieces.)
The point I've laboriously been making is that you need to find a dealer you can trust first. Local people are the best because they're in the community to stay. Chain salespeople change jobs as often as they change their socks. ("Hey, Charlie said..." "Forget Charlie--he's not with us any more.") Local people know the value of keeping their word and they're not afraid to see you come back to the store. Chains are OK if you want to buy clothing or food. However, for appliances and the like, go local.
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Epinions.com ID:
masonmaven
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Location: Massachusetts, United States
Reviews written: 38
Trusted by: 9 members
About Me:
Opinionated old fart who calls 'em as he sees 'em.
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