Frigidaire Doesn't Care

 

We all know that if you have any kind of air conditioning unit (although I'm specifically talking about window units) that if it's going to break it's going to be during the hottest part of the summer (or year).  It's not going to be that one last warm day of fall or that freaky day in the spring...it's going to be during the heat because that's just how it goes.  

Which is what happened (again) to us:  https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-virus-diary-delivery-saga.html.  Yes, we did eventually get it (on a Friday).  My husband installed it.  And it worked; kind of.  Believe it or not you can get an A/C unit with Wi-Fi!  Which is what my husband wanted.  Per the Frigidaire's website:  Cool your room anywhere, anytime from your smart device using Wi-Fi and the Frigidaire® app. At your convenience remotely turn the unit on or off, change temperatures, control modes, create custom schedules, and adapt fan speeds to best meet your comfort.  The unit worked, but the Wi-Fi connection did not.

Hubby calls customer service.  Talks to a rep who is very helpful, but can't help.  It was late Friday afternoon; there wasn't much that could be done at that point.  So the very helpful customer service rep opens a help ticket with their IT dept. and says we will hear back on Monday.

You KNOW the drill by now.  When he hadn't heard by mid-afternoon, my husband sent an email AND got a reply.  There was some kind of error on their end so that the unit could not be Wi-Fi activated. (There's a lot of technical jargon that goes in here, but I'm not going to get into it.)  The Frigidaire rep was very nice about it offering two options:  a $100 refund in the guise of a debit card as that is the difference between the Wi-Fi enabled unit and the "regular" one OR they would send us a new unit.  (We would have to dispose of the old unit.)  No brainer right?   They didn't want the non-Wi-Fi functioning unit back (because let's face it the shipping, checking it out when it arrives; refurbing and reselling is not worth it).  We did have to "dispose" of it.  Ok, we can do that.  (Or not, I bet you are thinking.)

We opted for the new unit.  Before we could get the new unit, we had to fill out some forms and show proof that the unit had been disabled.  Now I understand that they wanted to the unit disabled and disposed of, HOWEVER, by asking the customer to disable BEFORE they will send a new unit puts the burden of inconvenience on the customer.  Disabling the unit means that we have no A/C unit during the heat of the summer and that we would have to rely on their delivery service.  (And you know how that goes.)  

Now I DO appreciate the offer of the new unit and I don't want to seem ungrateful, but the reason I ordered a window air conditioner was because I needed it.  I needed it right away.    I don’t want to disable a unit and sweat for a week (or more) while I wait for a new unit that may or may not be properly functioning.  (Reading some on line reviews it seems like this is not just an issue we had.  There are quite a few units that are advertised and sold as "Wi-Fi enabled" that are not.)

Finally, we got ANOTHER email from Frigidaire saying that they would be sending us a gift card for the full amount of the unit.  Great!  I'll get the money, but I will still be without a functioning unit since it had to be disabled.  So I'll be reimbursed for a unit that doesn't work, but I won't have A/C.  I'll either need to order another one on line (who knows how long that might take) or take my chances with local retail.

Does any of this make sense?

In my mind Frigidaire seems to care; or at least the custom service person my husband deal with did.  They seemed to want to make good on THEIR mistake.  However, they expect the customer to jump through hoops to get their make good.  I wouldn't mind the hoops quite so much if it weren't the middle of August!

Am I being unreasonable?  (I'm not sure I want you to tell me if you think I am, but go for it anyway.)  What I want is what was advertised and supposedly purchased.  It shouldn't be that hard.

Frigidaire, IF you care, the ball is in your court...


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