Hot Deal

Yesterday, I wrote about how the cosmos was ganging up on me and starting to slowly dismantle all the bits and bobs that help me glue my life together, like dinner!! How could I keep everything from falling apart, if I couldn't cook a hot meal from time to time. You see, my stove quit this week. This has nothing to do with the fact that I would kill for an Aga range!! I did not kill my old stove!! Anyway, an Aga is not in the budget.

I decided that since I couldn't afford the creme de la creme of stoves, I would at least do some research to get the best stove I could buy, for the price I could afford. Here is what happened:

1. I goggled "best stove Toronto." Fortunately a consumer listing came up with 10 stoves compared on a scale of 1-10. This list was not only current, it also included prices!! I circled the top 3. I called my local appliance place, Home Depot, only to find out that they couldn't pull up the model number for the stove that scored 9.9 on the list.

2. I called Whirlpool, perhaps there had been a keying error. No, Whirlpool manufactured the stove, but it had been discontinued. Perhaps they thought that they were giving us too much of a good thing for the amazing price of $469.00 CAD.

3. For some reason I was having trouble locating the second stove and it was pricier anyway. The third stove was a Sears' model, I wasn't sure about, since the stove that quit on me was a Sears'.

4. Armed with my consumer report, I decided to drop into a few places to get something comparable. Home Depot had a GE model for $448.00. I hesitated. I'm a bear for punishment. Obviously I hadn't driven around enough, waited in line enough for the few listless salespeople there were out there, or kicked enough ovens :) to buy something just yet. I needed to beat myself or the stoves up a bit more! (You get put in jail, if you beat up salespeople :)

Virgin Stove!

5. I came home and looked on line at a few more stores. One showroom, not that far away had the same GE stove at $439.00. I drove over the next day. It would have been a done deal, but they couldn't deliver for 3 or 4 weeks. How could I cook Thanksgiving turkey (Oct.14) without a stove?

6. I went to another Home Depot in the area. They had the ubiquitous GE model, but it was now $668.00. I thought that there had to be a mistake!! I rushed back to my first Home Depot only to find that the same stove, in the same place, had gone up by $200.00 in less than 24 hours. We have inflation - but this is ridiculous!!

7. I complained!! I was told that the sale was over and I was out of luck!! I didn't even realize that it was on sale!! This is when I played the ace up my sleeve. Home Depot had a sign that said, if I found the same stove at a lower price, they would match it and take off another 10%. I pointed them on-line to the appliance store that had the model listed for $439.00!!  There was some mumbling and grumbling, but they honoured their policy and sold me the stove for $404.00. Now I had to pay shipping and tax, but I would have had to pay that anywhere. In the end, I was very glad that I had done my research.

Touché, my new stove arrived today!! Now to tackle the other slings and arrows!!

Have a wonderful day!!