Exhaling

Behold!

My wall this morning.

My wall tonight.

The new TV, purchased at 10:32 this morning, installed at 7:30 tonight.

Take THAT, Big Box Store!

First stop this morning was Walmart, where I couldn’t find anyone to assist me and didn’t see anything I could get up the stairs on my own, or figure out how to hook up.

A worker passing by asked, “How’s your morning going?”

“Confusing. Do you deliver and install?”

Electronics not being her area of expertise, she flagged down a young man who’d not yet clocked in but who graciously rounded up a pamphlet for a company I could contact, adding “People don’t usually ask for delivery here. We haven’t used this company for two years”.

I thanked him but, because that didn’t sound very reassuring, headed for Costco.

Still not finding anything manageable by me, I pulled out the cellphone to call daughter to see if she and her partner could come help me pick out a TV, get it upstairs and installed when, all of a sudden, an angel of an associate in a red jacket appeared and asked “May I help you?”

“Yes, please. Do you deliver and install?”

“We partner with an Express Delivery Service.”

“How long does it take?”

“I don’t know. Depends on how busy he is, but here’s his card. Give him a call?”

I called on the spot.

“We can deliver today or tomorrow. Select your TV and call me back with when you want it delivered”.

I like the sound of that.

After red jacket explained to me the difference between LED, HD, Smart, I opted for a 40 inch simple uncomplicated HD and Costco put it on hold for Express to pick up.

Calling Express Service back to schedule tomorrow, he tells me “We can do it tonight, if you like”.

I very much like, and didn’t even bother to ask how much he charges.

Didn’t matter. The fact that there are still businesses that do right by its customers was worth what turned out to be only $75, plus of course I tipped the two guys for taking the time to walk me through the set-up steps.

Telling them of my experience with Big Box, they indicated they’re getting a lot of business because of dissatisfaction with Big Box. One customer was jacked around some 30 days on delivery before he gave up and went to Costco.

As for that Big Box store, at the bottom of the email verifying a refund had been processed were the words, “We value you as a customer, and we hope to see you again soon.”

I don’t think so, and the many negative Yelp reviews I read -- as I was adding my own negative review to the list, demonstrated just how little you value your customers.