Chaos on a Summer's Day

 I knew when we returned from vacation that things were going to be a bit chaotic, but I didn't know how chaotic...Let me backtrack to the days PRIOR to our getaway.  

A week or so ago, we noticed that our refrigerator was not working properly.  Because we live in an old house, there is no room for a fridge in our kitchen; it resides on a landing as you head down to our basement.  It's a tight space that calls for a specific size fridge that is not always easy to find.  (And of course is not cheap.)  As a matter of fact, we have found that Summit is the company that only really manufactures what we need.  We knew that appliances are difficult to get during the pandemic, but with some research, we managed to find a local company (they only deliver to NY and NJ) that actually had what we needed IN STOCK.  I was very impressed with Designer Appliances.  The customer service I received was excellent.  (Which is sadly rare these days.)  They said they would be able to deliver on Monday, but since we would be away until Wednesday, I scheduled delivery for Thursday.

A refrigerator delivery couldn't cause too much chaos could it?

When we got home, after all the unpacking and laundry, hubby and I were sitting outside on the patio (because I'm trying to enjoy it as much as possible) and hubby noticed how many insects there were flying by our security light.  We'd noticed it before, but it seemed like a lot more.  Then we took a closer look. They weren't flying by the security light, they were flying out of a perfectly formed hole in our exterior brick. 

  Definitely not good.  Hubby gets on the phone with the pest control company that we had used in the past.  While he's trying to explain the situation, I'm looking at my neighbor's tree which overhangs our driveway and has some high branches that are resting on our roof.  We had talked about getting a tree service in and I had sent an email to a company that we had used before, but I had never heard back.  So while my husband was still trying to get help from the pest company, I called the tree service and was able to get an appointment for Thursday afternoon to assess the situation.

My husband finishes the call and is told a sales person will call him back.  When that doesn't happen after an hour or so, he decides to try another company that we had once used.  They answer the phone and although they try to upsell him to an annual contract (we are just looking for one time service at this point), the sales person arranges to have someone come out on Thursday afternoon.

You can see where this is headed right?

 Tree service showed up first.  Did a look, gave us a reasonable price and we immediately said yes.  His wife and office manager is supposed to call us to schedule a time.  I'd be leery, but he has done work for us before.  (They took down the big tree in our backyard.  I cried when it came down, but it has ceased to bloom for several years and it had to go.  In retrospect I'm glad we did it when we did because Superstorm Sandy came by not too long after that and who knows what would have happened.)

As he leaves I get the text that the fridge delivery truck is on the way and should be by in less than 30 minutes.  Ten minutes later we get a call from the pest guy who is also on his way.  It was a race to see who would get there first.

It was the refrigerator by a hair.  The pest guy was close behind and did assess the situation, but said he couldn't treat while they were delivering.  The back of the house would need to be shut while he sprayed the yellow jackets.  He left and promised to be back by the end of the day.  Meanwhile, the delivery guys inform my husband (who in turn informs me) that they are there to deliver and not install.  I paid extra for installation as the door will need to come off the new fridge and then rehung so that it opens out to the left and not the right.  (Remember it is on landing and in a tight space.)  I am furious, but they explain to me that the person who does the installation wasn't in that day and they just do delivery.  I understand that, but why did the delivery company let me (or the appliance store) know this so that we could have delayed.  I call the sales person at Designer Appliances, but get her voicemail.  I leave a message and then call customer service.  I quickly get someone on the phone who assures me that installation is part of the deal and that she will call a supervisor and get it cleared up.

In the meantime, hubby says that the doors will have to come off the refrigerator in order to get it into the house.  This is something the delivery guys will do.  If the instructions inside the fridge are clear, he figured he could do it himself.  While he is talking, my phone rings and its lady from customer service assuring me that they WILL do the install.  At which point, I hand my phone to hubby who explains the whole thing and says if he can't figure out how to put on the door, he will leave it and they can send someone out tomorrow to install.

Frustrated, I head back inside to work.  Twenty or so minutes later, hubby comes back in and says it's done.  Once the doors were off and the delivery guys saw how easy it was to reinstall the doors so they would open the other way, they decided to, with the help of hubby, give it a try.  After all the fuss, I did get a new refrigerator installed.  I let the sales and customer service people know that it had been resolved and stated that it wasn't their fault or the fault of the delivery guys, but the delivery company who SHOULD have let them (and then in turn us) know that the installation person was unavailable.  At least for all my trouble (actually my husband's trouble), they refunded half of the cost of the installation.

Which brings me to the end of the day.  And, believe it or not, the pest control guy DID return...although not until after 6 pm.  I'm hoping the yellow jackets didn't have time to get angry and just died, but time will tell.  (If I see any more after a week, they'll come back and treat again for no charge.  I'd rather not have to do that.)

The day ended with all of us (my son included) loading up the new fridge.  (It had to cool for several hours before we could stock it.)  Our poor mini fridge in the basement was really overloaded and working hard.  (Hopefully it will recover.)  The items that I had in the cooler still seemed pretty cool.

So, as Shakespeare says "all's well that ends well," but as for me I've had enough chaos in this one day to last me quite a while.  Fingers crossed...