I bought two garage door openers online. I paid $120 each to have them professionally installed. I paid another $10 each to have them hauled away because I didn’t want to deal with it. I picked 12/8 as the install date and arranged my work schedule so I could be available to be home to make sure everything was done well.
Grand total: $644.10 + my time. I can accept that.
So I get a message from the installer last week and he says he can install it on Friday 12/3 or Monday 12/6. I called him back and left a message that I had scheduled 12/8. He called back and said he could do 12/8 in the afternoon.
I came home in time for the 2pm window for installation, and shortly after got a call that he was having car problems and needed to reschedule for the next morning. (Today.) So I arranged to be home from work AGAIN so the install could take place. He said he’d be here between 8:45 and 9:00am.
He arrived around 9:20 and looked at everything. He asked what I wanted to do with the old units, and I told him that my understanding was that they would be hauled away, since I paid for that. He said he doesn’t haul them away, so he could just leave them – and that a lot of people use Craigslist to get rid of things. Yeah – I know that, but I didn’t want to deal with it. I wanted these things gone without hassle.
So he went to get started and I went back inside. About 10 minutes later, he called me down and said he can’t install because of the way the garage doors are built. He need another part, and I have to order it and tell him when it comes in so that we can reschedule the install.
Really? I’m paying $120 x 2 to have something professionally installed and there’s some part – that I would have NEVER known I needed – that prevents this service from taking place when I scheduled it? The installer or local store doesn’t have the part? The CUSTOMER is required to arrange everything in order to get the right part and complete installation? This all seems ridiculous to me. At least if I’d gone to Lowes to get the opener/install I could have saved $40 since their install service is only $97 each. I feel like I’ve wasted so much time and money right now.
So I called the customer service number on my order email. I told the rep I didn’t know if she was the right person and gave a quick overview of my deal. She gave me another number to call.
I called that number. I asked if they were the right person to talk to, as the initial menu didn’t make me think it would be, but she asked me to describe my deal, so I did. She got a manager or someone on and I explained it to them. Then I was referred to a parts person so I could order the part ($6.99 each, so $13.98 plus tax and shipping) for another $25 added to my order, and waiting another week until those are even here.
Any one of these things alone may not have been that big of a deal. But now everything together, along with not being able to get anyone who can seemingly take charge and get the job done for me without more of my time and effort, has made this a really infuriating experience.
Here’s a suggestion for how to help this process in the future:
Be sure the installers have some basic parts on hand so that an installation can take place when scheduled. OR when setting the appointment, the installer may want to ask the homeowner to verify some things in order to determine if additional parts are needed.
If additional parts are needed for the install, the INSTALLER should contact Sears, or maybe just run to the local store and get it in order to perform the install. There is one store in town that had these parts in stock, but I paid for and scheduled installation because I don’t have time to run all over to do it myself.
If a customer calls into a customer service number, transfer them to the right person as quickly as possible, or be very sure the number they give out is the right one. Understand the PROBLEM and deal with it. Do something to make it EASIER for me, not something that makes me work harder.
It should be a linear path for the consumer. Buy product, schedule install, get install, be happy. If I pay for something to get done, don’t make me do more. If the installer would have even said, “Because of your door type, we need this bracket. They are $6.99 each. I’ll order them for you and resched deliver when they are in.” (Or said he’d check the local stores and get them and come back.) Then I would have only been unhappy about having paid for haul away but not getting it.
OK. I think that pretty much covers it.
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