Oh Pretty Fridge, Why do you Torture Me So?

I was so excited to receive my brand new french door refrigerator yesterday....I've had a very old, yellowing side by side since moving here....it was a good 20+ years old.  I was sooooo psyched to have a built in water filter and room to put trays! 

I patiently waited as the delivery guys removed 3 doors (yes, 3) and struggled to get this baby in my narrow old-house doors.  When they left I painstakingly took about an hour to remove all of the blue tape and styrofoam off the fridge.  I lovingly cleaned each and every shelf and enjoyed putting all the food into its new home.

My joy lasted about 3 hours.  I soon found that water was puddling around the bottom sides of the freezer.  My initial thought was that I didn't close the door and condensation was collecting.  After 3 more cleanups I realized that wasn't the case.

After multiple calls to the store from which this came, and a return visit from the installer, the problem was determined as a leaky door (the one the water dispenser is in).  Nothing that can be fixed by the installers.

Ok, so first order of business - turn off the water feed to the fridge, right?  Ha ha!  Well, that would have been easy except it wouldn't turn off....broken.  Ugh.  Given the leaky situation, it required an emergency visit from my plumber to replace the pipe to the tune of $200+.  Ok....water feed is now off....hmmmm...fridge is still leaking.  How?  Don't really know. It's not as bad, but it is definitely still leaking.....I think I've found a portion of the gasket that is wrinkled...seems to be creating condensation in that area which is probably causing the leak....

A few hours later I can barely open the freezer because of all the leaking water that froze the door track.  Nice!  I finally get the freezer door to open to find that the light works only some of the time....oh, and the little button is not pushed in - I checked that.

And if that isn't enough, the cold air from the ice maker is leaking out of the water dispenser creating a ton of condensation that is dripping into the dispenser run-off pan.  Now I find that I have to sop up that water so it doesn't start running down the front of the fridge.  I KNOW that isn't normal!  This fridge is obviously a dud.  I know that, I'm sure the store knows that - but as a business owner I understand that they need the official tech to come out and say that.  Ok - I'll play....

Now I have spent the last 12+ hours trying to remedy this situation.  The service company the store uses tells me the 1st available tech appt. is NEXT Thursday...."No, sorry, that doesn't work for me....you see the leak has caused my freezer to freeze shut....I have water on my floors...." Ok, they somehow magically move the service call to Monday.  "Fine, but will they bring a replacement door?"  No?  They just come out to "assess" the situation.  "Then what?"  If a new door needs to be ordered it will be up to 10 days for the part.  "No....Not acceptable."  And what about the condensation issue?  The freezer light?  A new door does not fix that...

Another call to the store.... 

Next solution:  The store will deliver a temporary fridge for me to use from their floor model selection and have mine fixed and sent back out to me in a few weeks.

Let's think about that.....  Now I have to unload and load fridges another 2 times...not to mention take out all the time for delivery and remove my doors each time?  Oh....and endure the 24 hour wait for the fridges to reach temperature...  I don't have time for that!  I run a business, have a family, have a LIFE!  I've already spent more hours than I would like to think about tending to this nightmare.  Even if I do all this, I paid over $2000 for a new, working fridge....now I'm going to get a broken, repaired one for that price.  If I wanted a "repaired" one I would've purchased a refurbished model at a fraction of the cost!   "No....not working for me either."

Now, I am waiting for a call back from the store as they try to convince their GE sales rep to replace the fridge.  I was promised a call back by days end.  Guess what - I didn't get that promised call.  I'm upset.  I really upset. 

I'm at the point of wanting to just return this piece of garbage and purchase from another store which would take the fridge back no questions (like Home Depot did a few years ago with a different dud appliance).  But guess what - this store will charge me 25% for the restock.  $500 I do not have.  So I am stuck in this nightmare.  I really hope this family-owned business gives me a reason to praise them in the end.  I bend over backwards for my customers, especially those with problems...it is how small businesses build the strong positive reputation that is required to survive in this world of monster retailers....I have my fingers crossed that this small business will make this right.  I would be thrilled if I could write a follow up post that is positive.

Needless to say, I have not gotten much work done in the last two days!!!!  Grrrr.....
Sorry, for the vent session....I need to blow off some steam!

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day!