As promised, I got a robocall from the delivery contractor yesterday, giving me a four hour window for delivery, and indicated that I’d get a follow up call half an hour before they arrived Unfortunately, the delivery window was right smack dab in the middle of the day, rather than early morning, or late afternoon. I did get the half hour warning call, and they showed up on time. They were in and out in ~half an hour, carting away our old one, and installing the new one, water line and all. I thought they were going to have to take the doors off the fridge to get it in through the door. Instead, they took off the kitchen door, then reinstalled it before they left. Better them than I. No way could I have taken that door off its hinges, although I could have taken the pin out of the storm door to allow it to swing as far out of the way as needed.
Delivery and installation were “free,” meaning included in the purchase price, but I did have to cough up an extra $25 when I ordered it for them to take away the old one. Would have cost me a lot more to arrange for our trash hauler to do so, and we would have had to manage to get it up the hill, curbside, which wasn’t going to happen. Our other option was to call someone like 1-800-GOT-JUNK, which again, I’m sure would have cost a lot more than $25.
We knew the model I had picked out would be a tight squeeze for the opening, horizontally. So was the old one. Still, it fit. It should have. I measured everything twice. Width and height mattered; depth, not so much. I was originally going to order a 22.1 cu.ft, model that was 3″ narrower, but when we perused the floor models, with my tape measure, this 25.4 cu. ft. model looked the same, was the same price, and the same 36″ width as our old one. I’m not sure the trim around the opening for it is completely plumb, but it it fit, regardless. The only thing I wish about it is that it came with one more shelf on the refrigerator side. The deli, crisper, and onion drawers are not adjustable, but the top shelf is, and who needs 2-1/2′ worth of top shelf, or between it and the deli drawer?
Gave the guys each a $10 tip. Got a call ~an hour after they left from the delivery company to follow up on what I thought of their delivery service, and told the woman I thought it was very efficient, they were very professional, etc. She gave me a number to call within the next two days if something was amiss, and they’d come back.
If we decide to get a fridge for the kitchen in the annex, I think we’ll go with a $600-700 over/under model with no ice maker or water dispenser. That’s what we bought for the old house, but it only cost us $400 at the time, because we took a floor model, brought it home ourselves on the spot, and did our own installation, which was limited to plugging it into the outlet. That thing was a total champ! We left it for the new owners because they indicated that they wanted it. It was an enticement to buy. Otherwise, if they hadn’t wanted it, we would have managed to get it moved here. People say you HAVE to move a refrigerator upright. No, you don’t, but if you don’t, you’re going to have to let it sit upright for a day or two, unplugged, to let the lubricant settle back into place first. Then you can plug it in.
Haven’t gotten the freezer stuff that we stashed in the upright freezer in the basement moved upstairs yet, but all the fridge stuff we packed into coolers with ice packs is in the fridge side, which is doing its job.
The funniest thing to me is that when I got the half hour warning call from the delivery team, from a cell number I didn’t recognize, I answered it, and told him we were ready for their delivery. The guy told me “see you then, sweetheart,” and then when they both were leaving, he told my husband “thanks, boss,” even though I handed them their tips. Maybe it’s a Hispanic cultural thing to assume the guy’s the boss, and the gal’s “the little missus,” or something. Anyway, we got a chuckle out of it. I picked out the model. I paid for it. I tipped them. Yet, he’s “boss” and I’m “sweetheart”? *eye roll*
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