Accepting Donations

In yet another unfortunate event, we lost all of our food in our refrigerator and freezer last week. I'm getting ahead of myself though....let me start from the beginning.

Last week I called the service department and told them that our fridge was acting up in various ways and it needed fixed. As the fridge is only 5 months old, everything is covered under warranty and I wasn't worried. They made the appointment for 2 days later (lucky it wasn't an emergency) and gave me a very specific time...sometime between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm. Apparently, we are at their mercy since we're the ones needing the repair. Anyway, the man showed up around 3:00 and spent about 2 hours working on the fridge. Before leaving, he told me he fixed it and left me an explanation of what he did. The next morning I got up and found that he didn't only NOT fix the appliance, but he actually broke it. A normal freezer blows out cold air; our freezer blew out warm air. A normal freezer keeps things frozen; our freezer thaws things out. A normal freezer....well, you get the point. Anyway, I call Frigidaire again and set up another appointment and tell them that someone at the service company broke my fridge during the last visit. They were very apologetic and were happy to make me another appointment.....3 days later (courteous service and lightning fast repairs...why am I complaining?). Anyway, the next morning rolls around and I see that my fridge is getting warm as well. Apparently, it was broken too. I immediately call Frigidaire (again) and let them know that original service date that was three days from now is fine, but I would lose everything in my fridge as well. Again, they were apologetic and reminded me that they can't get service people to the area on Saturdays or Sundays, so it would have to wait until Monday. At this point, I'm at their mercy; however I remind them that I am only calling to prevent all of my food in the fridge from being ruined. They didn't seem to care and ended the call.

Over the weekend, we went through the fridge and freezer and through everything out. If you've never had an entire freezer of meat de-thaw, let me tell you that you won't believe how much blood is in it. The entire bottom drawer was full of blood (check out the picture above. This was taken after I removed the drawer that was full too). Monday rolls around our Sarah and I both realize that our house smells like hot garbage. Sure, we cleaned the food out, but it wasn't enough. Our next step was to pull out the fridge and attempt to clean off all of the liquids that had leaked out onto the floor and other working parts. By the way, does anyone know how to get blood out from underneath laminate flooring? I sure don't. I guess we'll have to get used to the hot garbage smell.

Later Monday, the A&E Factory Service guy comes to repair the fridge again. He was slender guy who made a joke about the weather when he came in....I immediately feel that he may be somewhat competent in his job duties. He spends about an hour working and then tells me that it's all fixed. Great! We're back in business. I remind him that his company told me to give him the list of items that were lost due to the other service guy breaking something. He looks at the list and then says that he would gladly verify food loss, but I needed to call the 800 number and get the list to them. Great! Our food is back in business. That wasn't hard at all.

After the service guy leaves, I call the 800 number at A & E Factory Service and they tell me that they aren't going to pay for our food and I needed to call Frigidaire about reimbursement. I'm not happy. I argue the fact that my appliance worked before they got there and didn't work after they left. They still disagreed and in the back of my mind I envisioned a lady sitting in a large call center snickering and having her friends listen to our conversation as she repeatedly said she wasn't paying and our fridge broke on its own and it was a coincidence that their service repair man was there on the same day it broke. I reluctantly hang up and immediately call Frigidaire. I get a similar response from Frigidaire when I tell them I have receipts I need to submit for reimbursement. Apparently, they too are not much for standing behind their product.....I let them know this. During the conversation, I was under the strong impression that I was talking to the same call center lady who answered the phone at the other A & E Factory Service place. Again, I hang up unhappy.

Both places blame the other and I'm stuck in the middle with $300+ worth of bad food.

I'll be following up with a call to both places again today. I don't expect much from either place, but keep your fingers crossed for me and pray that the hot garbage smell ends. I'll keep you updated.

This may turn into another smalls claims fiasco (similar to the great Pigg vs. Menards case in 2003).