Welcome Home: Appliances
When buying a new home it's not uncommon to purchase one or more major appliance at the same time. Even if the home, like most, comes with the appliances you may not like what is already there. In our case, there were no appliances at all. We had the joy of shopping for a refrigerator, oven/range, washer, and dryer.
We started out by setting parameters. In our case we needed gas range but had our choice of gas or electric dryer. Melody wanted a newer fridge, and I'm not inclined to trust a used washer or dryer to last very long, but it would have been nice to find a used range. Unfortunately, one didn't turn up while we were shopping. I also prefer a dryer with a lint trap in the door rather than on top of the machine. Having used both types in recent years, the dryers with the lint trap on top haven't worked as well and the lint ends up making a big mess. Other than that, we had to do this as cheaply as possible-- buying a house doesn't leave you with a lot of extra money for things like appliances.
Next we did some pre-shopping. This was mostly just for fun, but it also gave us a general idea of what we would have to spend, helped us set a budget, and effected how much we offered (and ultimately paid) for the house. After that I found the delivery policies and fees of the major vendors (Home Depot, Best Buy, Sam's Club, Sears, Lowes, and local independants).
After that we started really shopping. Some of it was done online, but that at first was mostly to set expectations for trips to the store. For purchases like this you want to see the items in person. I stopped a few times each merchants listed above. After spending a lot of time looking around, we finally settled on a fridge from Sears. We wanted to keep our purchase together to avoid multiple delivery charges, but Sears didn't have as great a deal on the other items. For a while I thought we would end up with a nice closeout dryer and washer from Home Depot, but they wouldn't deliver the closeout times and we don't have the vehicles to pick it up ourselves. In the end, I created shopping carts online with all three items with the different merchants, adjusted for delivery costs, and took the cheapest option. The winning cart was from Lowe's, and it included the nicest dryer (with the lint trap where I like it) and the nicest oven (the only one in that price range with both a clock and window/light for the oven). Lowe's seemed to have a much larger selection online than the others did.
Now we just sit back and wait for delivery. We were able to schedule the fridge delivery with Sears to be the day after we moved in. They showed up on-time and were very efficient. Unfortunately, the item was slightly damaged, but the delivery people were able to tell us how to get a replacement and left the other item with us so we would have something to use. I wasn't happy with the person I had to talk with to get the replacement (she didn't want to believe it was really damaged), but it only took one 15 minute phone call to make the replacement.
The experience with Lowe's delivery was less satisfying. I was initially given the impression that all the items were in stock and they could be delivered within a week. However, it soon came to light that they had to wait about three weeks for one item. During the intervening period I was called twice about the other items by different warehouse managers, wondering when I'd be coming to pick the items up. Not good. When everything finally did arrive, the delivery people installed the washer, but left the gas range and dryer (the items I was most hoping to have professionally installed) for me to handle. To top that off, they got the hot and cold water backwards.
Installing the gas wasn't that hard, but it was still something I would have liked to avoid. I was advised to call the local utility and see if they would do the hookup. They do offer that service, but at an outrageous rate. Here's a tip for them: you are not in the business of making money from the installation process. Make the process easier and safer, and more people will use your core product. So I hooked the gas up myself for two appliances. I made sure to read all the instructions three times to make sure I understood every detail, and used a soapy mixture to check for leaks when I was done (if you see bubbles, gas is escaping somewhere). It's been nearly a month now and no explosion yet, so I think we'll be okay. ;)
