Roughing It

This living without a microwave since the end of June, because there was a ghost in the 5-year old microwave (causing it to run in the off position) and the new one I ordered not available for pick up until end of August, has been the definition of “roughing it”.

Luckily for me, the new microwave arrived early. The ready for pickup email arrived Thursday, and I hot footed it over to pick up after yesterday’s morning workout. 

Before

After: Whirlpool 0.5 cu ft countertop

It’s way larger than I’d expected for what was advertised as a “small” microwave and, at 24.9 pounds, way heavier as well.

Feeling more like 50 pounds, it was difficult to get upstairs, even on the dolly. 

A male resident, I’ve seen around for about three years, happened to be walking down a side walkway. He looked able bodied, so I asked if he could help me.

At first, the guy balked, saying, “You know I have back problems don’t you?”

Now, how was I supposed to know that? I don’t even know his name, but I said, “You don’t have to lift. I’ll roll it up the stairs on the dolly. I just need someone behind to push, because the weight makes it look like it might roll backwards off the dolly”. (Even though I’d taken the precaution of duct taping it to the dolly, the box appeared to be trying to destroy the dolly).

The guy reluctantly agreed to help but, instead of getting behind pushing, he lifted up the back so we were able to walk it up the stairs.

Oh well, at least getting it upstairs was over and done with.

I had planned to test it for leakage while the microwave is in the return period, as a just in case measure that it's functioning properly, but after that long wait and how difficult it was to get upstairs, I’d rather not know if it’s spreading microwave energy all over me. I’ll take my chances.

Actually, I could have gotten the microwave way back in June, five days after ordering but, in reviewing details of the item on the site of a now formerly trusted retailer, something drew my attention to “sold by” which led me to some obscure electronic business I’d never heard of.

I googled the business and up popped warnings, by several buyers, that the business was “palming off used items as new”. The business had a 1 Star satisfaction rating with an “F minus in communication and zero interest in customer satisfaction”.

Inasmuch as the other retailers I'd researched estimated a two and three month wait, those reviews made sense as to how this particular retailer could guarantee 5 days — it was coming from a supplier that was taking advantage of unsuspecting buyers, and probably the formerly trusted retailer as well, palming off a rebuild as new.

Needless to say, I chose to order from one of the other two retailers offering the model I'd opted for, roughing it for the last 45 days or so.

Originally, I’d ordered the item in all black, but was able to cancel that order and reorder in silver when I realized silver was a better match to my other appliances.

Did you know the color of an item makes a difference in price?

I didn’t, that is until I switched from black to silver.

Reordering in silver drove the price up from $171 to $210.

Color not only affected price, but date to arrive as well. Black had an estimated pick up end of August, the wait for silver was longer — early September.

Fortunately, the wait was much less than expected. Roughing it is over. It’s back to civilization.

And btw, the business “palming off used items as new” priced silver all the way up to $299.72.

How do ripoff places like this stay in business?