We moved into our rent home far away from many modern conveniences on a Tuesday. By Thursday, it was obvious our refrigerator wasn’t working. While the AC repair man was checking why our AC wasn’t working (that is a post for another day!), I asked him if he could check the temp in our fridge with his temp gauge. “It doesn’t seem to be cooling ma’am,” stated the courteous AC repair man. Perfect. Luckily, we hadn’t even had time to go grocery shopping since officially moving in.
A quick trip to the gas station and everything worth saving was in a cooler and on ice. In my old life, I would have had a plethora of options for solving this inconvenient problem. But, I was in a new, foreign place. Out of sheer pity, the AC repairman gave me a few leads, but no one could help me. Recalling seeing some paperwork about the appliance upon moving in, I dug around and found some helpful docs. Sears! They have a Sears!
The next day, a Sears repairman came to the house to inform us that a very crucial part had to be replaced. He would have to order the part and it would be at least 5 days until he got it in. Five days without a fridge? How much is the part and repairs going to cost? Okay, deep breaths.
We are renting this home and the fridge appears to be less than two years old. I begin chatting with the repairman knowing that complaining isn’t going to get the thing fixed faster. Seeing the panic on my face and probably realizing that my AC was also on the fritz, he makes a few calls and discovers that the fridge is under warranty. He gives me everything I need so that the home owner can claim the repair on the plan she purchased through Sears. One of the many benefits of living in a small town: going the extra mile for your neighbor.
It took 12 days for our fridge to get up and running again but it didn’t cost us a penny. Had this happened in the town where we used to live, I’m quite certain it would have been fixed faster, but I seriously doubt my repairman would have gone to all that trouble to make sure I didn’t have to pay for the repairs.
And, that’s a trade off I’m willing to live with.
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