At 10:25 AM 12/27/2007 -0500, Wayne wrote:
>was shopping for a new fridge back in July, and made an annoying
>discovery. All the "big box" stores that have run everyone else out of
>business DO NOT STOCK A DAMN THING! Lowe's, Best Buy, etc all told me
>they had ZERO refrigerators in stock, except for the occasional beat up
>floor display model or customer return. Both suggested I shop online
>from their selection of hundreds (rather than BOTHER them) because
>delivery was the same $50, and they all took 1 to 3 weeks to ship from
>an Atlanta warehouse (3hrs away.) I don't know what you do if you need
>one in a hurry!
>
>I always like to support mom & pop stores when they're competitive, and
>thankfully the folks at Ballard's Appliance in Asheville NC had
>inventory (wow!) and staff that didn't seem annoyed with me, and hooked
>me up with a Kitchen Aid fridge for $300 *less* than the
>comparable/identical K.A. or Whirpool from the billion dollar guys.
I can second that. Over the last 20+ years and two houses my wife and I
have purchased ALL of our major appliances from one or two local appliance
outfits, where we can talk to sales people who know what they are doing and
will deliver and service the stuff themselves, not farm it out to the
lowest priced subcontractor. We have always received competitive pricing,
too.
Re: the defrost stuff, that is one reason why our deep freeze is not a
"frost free" model. All the reviews and other info we read years ago
pointed out that non-frost free freezers were a LOT more efficient (if you
keep them defrosted manually), so my wife generally takes care of this task
every nine months or so, and our freezer has worked just fine for about 20
years. We are going to replace it in the new year with a newer, more
efficient model, and it's gonna be non-frost free, too. Thanks for the
info on the thermostats and heater strips; I'll keep that in mind when our
frost free fridge/freezer craps out.
Dave C
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