Every day I laugh, so why am I bitter?
 

Yesterday the Sears appliance delivery truck shows up at a job I'm on fixing up a little rental house. They pull up, see the address and park in the middle of the residential street blocking thru traffic. No flashers. There was parking in front of the driveway out of the center of the street. The designated time of delivery was 7 to 9 am. They got there at 10:30. I stood around for 3 and a half hours waiting. No calls.

They proceed to unload the 2 items and unpack out there in the middle of the street. They begin assembly such as putting the racks in the oven and installing the power cords. The other appliance is a combo apt size washer/dryer.

Stove first. The main lizard of a crew of 3 hooks up the gas line and plugs it in. He turns on all 4 burners and after the lines purge, they light. I ask about the oven. He turns the knob and nothing. I wonder if the thing has a standing pilot light (I know, this is the 21st century, but I haven't bought an oven for 2 decades). He has no idea and starts reading the installation manual. We'll get back to that later. I never saw a bottle of gas supply test liquid (most of the time just soapy water, but you can buy a better product).

Next up is the washer. I watched the one fool attach the pig tail to the terminals and tighten the connector to the wiring box. Or tighten the connector but not attach it to the box, as it were. Then he put the cover in place and hit it with his cordless drill stripping the sheet metal screw. They bring it in and hook up the water lines...backwards. They see that I will use the side cutout for the vent so they ask if I would like them to remove the knock out. I say sure and after they beat on it for 2 minutes, I say never mind, I'll do it.

The main dude, all of 23 years old but with the best English of the 3 is still on the oven. By chance, after leaving the gas on for a minute or so, it self lights. Cool.

Sign here please and do help us out by giving us a high rating when the follow up call comes in. Then they take a few parts that I could have used finishing up what they didn't do and drive off. They didn't install the drain hose shoe (I saw it and then it was gone) and the line kinked in a few minutes after they left. 20 minutes tops for the whole show.

The supply connections are leaking. Oh well, I have to reverse them to the correct position anyway. One did have a cap on the threads (which they pilfered) indicating that the valve was a leaker to begin with. But that leak would have been into the line itself. So, I guess they just were rough enough to cause a leak at the threads. So, I get new valves and install them.

Now, the way the pigtail was installed through the sheet metal knockout would have had it cut through the insulation due to washer vibration in time. That would have been some nice fireworks to see, but I don't think the renter would have enjoyed it as much as I. So, I pulled it all apart and reconnected it and repaired the stripped cover screw. That cover would have fallen off exposing 220v on the first cycle.

The landlord is a 75 YO single lady and the renter is a 20 something single female (no, I haven't seen her in person). This would have been a fine couple to leave these problems to on their own. But that's about par for the course these days.

I can't stand it. Speak English, have some tools and take some training. And to top this off, I understand these bozos get paid by the unit delivered and installed at the rate of hundreds of dollars a day!

I'm not laughing anymore.

I don't think you suffer fools well...

Well, I did laugh yesterday, quite a bit. It was when I considered the wire being rubbed to the copper that I kinda got pissed.

Same here. Idiots from Lowes block the road with a car parked across the street. I guess they didn't plan on anyone leaving the cul-de-sac before them...

After 5 minutes and pictures, I had to go get the homeowner and tell the fools to move thier truck.

And that crew thinks they did a good job!

Next time have then drop the stuff off and install yourself... call me and I will help for the price of lunch.

This is why I do things myself. Far too many idiots out there. And they want to come in my home, possibly scoping it out to come back a few nights later? Nope. Bzzzt. You lose. I'll pick up my appliances and/or building materials and install them my damn self, thanks.

I don't suffer fools well either, Milt. As a couple of guys have said above, the best policy is to never, ever let these idiots do this work. Do it yourself. Sadly, some folks (like your clients here) are at their mercy.

I had no control over the delivery. The landlord told me about it the day before and asked if I could be there. I had no idea who it was that was coming. I don't haul or move appliances anymore if I can possibly help it. Probably for the same reason I don't crawl under houses anymore.

Today it's raining a bit, so I'm home. Good thing because my shoulders are aching from pushing and pulling the washer/dryer in and out as I located that side vent outlet through a cabinet and through the outside wall as well as hooking the water lines up to the correct hot/cold and redoing the electrical. There had never been a dryer before in that rental.

When I get the pics from my wife, I'll show you something else sorta related. The Boxster had to be towed a couple of weeks ago from the fill up drive at a gas station. Yes, it died right there. Actually, I pushed it back aways so people could access the pump.

But the carnage that began when the truck arrived was not to be believed. One woman in an SUV destroyed the side (driver's!) of her car trying to come between the truck and the 6" steel post at the end of the island. An older man drove up over the side of the extended and lowered flat bed folding his running board up.

I guess you don't have to be an appliance delivery person to be a blithering idiot.

why in hell are you surprised?

it was SEARS

I see the same stuff daily and just think "can't fix stupid or lazy" then wait for them to leave and fix/install it right. I used to try and educate the folks but it takes longer than letting them fail.

Milt,

That's one thing I like about a small town. If I need an appliance or service, I know who I'm talking to and I know what kind of work they do.

For just about everything else, I am the 'Family Designated Contractor', so I really have no one to complain about.

Maybe it's time to move away from the city and find a place with some space, where your equity isn't tied up in a piece of land the size of a postage stamp.

It's true, there are fools and slackers wherever you go, but they are thinner on the ground in some places.

Hang in there, my friend.
Les

I guess you won't get the follow up call since it is a rental. Too bad but I don't even think it would help to let the company know about the incompetent and dangerous job they did/are doing. I think you did the right thing keeping your mouth shut and just taking care of business after they left. It wouldn't have done any good to say anything. They wouldn't have known what you were talking about.

I can relate.
After installing my oil furnace and the fuel tank i had to leave on a trip. So i called our oil service and tell them to fill the tank and run the fuel lines from the tank to the furnace and get it fired up.
Come home a few days later and fuel is dripping on the floor at the filter. So i tighten the fitting and notice the copper line is rubbing on the edge of the entrance into the furnace. I fixed that and a week later the furnace quits. Long story short they had hooked the fuel lines up backwards so once the return line dropped below the fuel level in the tank it ran out of fuel. :rolleyes:

The landlady will get the call. She bought the stuff. I went over everything with her including showing how vibration would cause chafing of the insulation and eventual grounding of the hot lead to the washer chassis. The reverse hook up is not something that is critical, but the temp cycles would have been weird and all hot would have (obviously) been all cold.

Sure, a service call would fix that but how long to realize something is not right? You get 30 days according to what I heard and after that, it's warranty work where you pay for the call and they will replace the parts, if needed. IOW, installations are not guaranteed if you don't notice a problem in 30 days.

Yes, you are correct in stating that correcting the items while they were there would have been nothing buy frustration for them and me.

After all, here's this guy beating on a Phillips screwdriver with a pair of ChannelLocks to remove the 4" vent knockout. Had I let him keep at it, he would have beat in the entire area on the side with misplaced blows

Get away! Later I used the same pliers to twist it out firmly but gently.

I buy lot of appliances from Pacific Sales (their Burbank store only) for our Kitchen jobs. I found out from pac sales that Western Installation, who they sub out their deliveries and hires a bunch of ex-cons. I or one of my guys are always there at the job when they drop off their stuff. I slip them 20 bucks and watch them like a hawk. They do an ok job because they know I will b!tch except for leveling stoves. They don't know what 1/8" above the countertop is. I have given up on that and just do it myself. Leveling ref. is another. I know what you mean about not having to moving appliances. Those big commercial stoves are freaking heavy. I purchased an air sled a few years ago just for appliances. Best purchased I have ever made. with one finger, I can move one of those 36" Viking stove anywhere in the kitchen. I don't like those ex-cons. I always think about them checking out the rest of the home. But then again, they must enter many muti-million dollars homes per day. Thankfully I haven't had any issues with any of my jobs so far. Knocking on my maple desk.

Jeff

That's what I was thinking as well. F'n bozos.


Don't get me started about the guys delivering an 800 pound subzero refrigerator that needed my 125 pound wife to help them carry it in. Not Sears, but similar incompetence.

Larry

I usually buy from pacific sales too at the Brea store, never had any problem. In the past two years I bought a dishwasher, oven, and over-the-stove microwave from them.

But I have them deliver the stuff to my back yard and I install it.

If ANYONE shows up at my house that I can't clearly communicate with, I send them away immediately.

It is because you are an OLD COOT....:)

No, no don't touch that ref. Let them damage the house unless its a priceless art work or something. If they put a little ding in any pace in the house, they may blame her. Those guy don't know how to move refs. Two of those guys should be able to move it anywhere in the house. I had them move a 4' Sub-zero onto a third story condo via stairs in West Hollywood. I made sure they each got a good size tip before start humping that day.