When Your Freezer Breaks
So our refrigerator broke down.
More specifically, our freezer stopped freezing.
The ice cream could not be saved.
Neither could the meat.
Of course, this happened at the worst time.
But then is there ever a good time for your freezer to go on the fritz?
Remaining, calm, I did what every person with a broken appliance would do.
To which Lenore responded:
But it was way too late for that.
At 1 pm, I was feeling optimistic.
And then something magical happened!
So instead of focusing on how much meat I’d just thrown away, I focused on this:
Because I won this contest that Clay and Leanne Shirtliffe did a while back.
It was nice of Clay to include a crumpled up bag of Starbucks coffee. It made the box smell really good.
Then I read Clay’s note which explained that if I return the empty bag, the folks at Starbucks will give me a free coffee.
He also included this:
Thank you, Clay! 😉
Unfortunately, the coffee would have to wait.
Because I couldn’t leave the house.
At 2 pm, the repair guys still hadn’t come.
And I had a terrible realization:
Whaaat?
So I was in my jammies at 2 o’clock in the afternoon?
It was my day off!
Don’t judge me!
One tweep invoked Murphy’s Law:
I stuck this on the front door — just in case:
Time dragged like the time my brother dragged me by my hair.
And then it all happened so fast.
I so wanted to get a picture of Patrick, my freezer repair guy.
But I never even had a chance to ask for it.
Or explain why I wanted it.
Or get his permission to post it.
He was in and out of that freezer so fast you’d have thought I hadn’t showered or something.
Which I did, thank you very much.
Anyway, he’ll be back next Thursday.
Meanwhile, tomorrow the student who gave me the tip on how to bet in that hockey contest will be getting a little somethin’-somethin’ from me.
Whaaaat?
I mean chocolate from Pittsburgh.
Sheesh! Y’all can take something innocent and delicate and gentle — like hockey — and twist it like the towel Patrick used to dry out my dripping freezer, and turn it into something nasty.
And, by the way, that towel is nasty now.
What is the last appliance you had to service? And how many times did it take for the repair-person to come back until it was really fixed? And what do you think about extended warranties?
Love the timing of the chocolate. Love the chocolate in fact. And you got Starbucks. Now Larry is going to be pestering me for Tim Hortons. Yup, I’m speaking Canadian again.
Does a broken freezer mean you get to go out for dinner every night? I’d be all over that…
We have Tim Horton’s, too. I’m only 1.5 hours from Ontario. Love Tim-Bits. Don’t tell Jessica. I think she might unsubscribe.
Our washer and dryer “broke” – which just meant it didn’t spin and took 3 cycles to dry. Since this meant no laundry done EVER unless I ran out of underwear (I never run out of underwear), Hubs finally bought me a new set after growing tired of wearing the same undershirt three days in a row.
Ah, love.
Yay for legitimate reasons to eat out!
Way to work it, Jess. I love how your hubby “broke” after three days. 😉
How many receipts do companies need to give out? Guess I should’ve checked for the mysterious #2 🙂 Yes, I thought that coffee smell might be pleasantish. And I love those free coffee bags! Hope your fritzy fridge gets fixed. And you gonna love that chocolate.
Clay, my sweet original Fryber, I did not mean to imply I wasn’t grateful. Because I am. And it came at such a great moment! I will totally use the coffee, and I will share the chocolate with my student. I know he’ll be thrilled.
Replaced furnace on Tuesday. Blog post forthcoming re: this VERY unfortunately-timed expense.
Glad you got your chocolate, though. Your warranty covers this right?
Hey, Leanne…are you auctioning off Timmies coffee? Is Larry? Is Larry brewing Tim Hortons coffee?
I’m going to Larry’s…
Liz:
Yes, the whole thing was miraculously covered. I think. But what do I know? The guy has to come back next week.
Stay tuned for a sequel to this post. I feel a top ten list coming on. I got a lot of stuff done today. Weird stuff.
Sorry to hear about your furnace. That is decidedly unsexy.
I feel very un-adult saying this, but . . . I haven’t had to repair an appliance yet.
I bet you anything I will be following up on this comment in the next few days to say, “Well, wouldn’t you know!”
This post made me smile, though not for cheer at your ice maker’s untimely vacation.
Oh girl, I hope you didn’t just jinx yourself.
–Always make time for Choclolate, Renee 😉 x
Hi stranger! Thanks for stopping by. And yes, I always make time for chocolate.
Especially when I’m trapped at home waiting for the repair person to show up.
The best thing about extended warranties is its pretty much a guarantee that your appliance will not break down until the month after it expires. At which point you can grumble about having wasted money on the extended warranty AND still have to pay for a repair.
I’m still weeping for your ice cream tragedy.
I just snuck in with the warranty. I think.
At least that’s what they told me.
I asked Patrick how much the repair would have cost if I hadn’t had the warranty and he said around $350.
So now I’m considering renewing for the next two years. I guess I’ll decide next Thursday.
Oh, I feel for you on this one, I had appliance gremlins attack my computer and my bottom freezer right between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, really bad timing. Waited around a long time for my repairman too. I blogged about it in my post: Switching to Decaf
After that happened, I bought the extended warranty. I will never – NEVER not buy extended warranty again. Good luck!
Oh Stacy:
What a disaster! Two major appliances went down at once? Ack! I’ll have to check out that post. I think I will opt to renew the extended warranty. It will save me a lot of aggravation later. Maybe. 😉
Extended warranties are useless from stoves to cars. The only things that break or go bad are the 17 parts not covered and your warranty covers parts not labor so they jack you twice. The element thing in my freezer top of the fridge went and the guy came right out and they had to order the part and it came in 2 weeks. I had no fridge for 2 weeks. Shouldn’t they have given me a loaner until the part came?
They definitely do not make things like they used to. My parents had avocado-colored appliances for decades. Those suckers were built to last. Why don’t we do that anymore?
Your experience with the fridge is like mine: the guy came, he saw, he left. Now I’m waiting for some part to be delivered to him so he can install it. We’re assuming next Thursday, but what if it takes a month? And what am I doing until then? Shouldn’t the folks at GE have to give me something during the in-between?
Dare me to ask? 😉
Oh good lord. I freak out when we lose power, only because I’m evil about any of my food going bad. A broken freezer with no alternate freezing alternatives would drive me to drink–a strong drink with ice cubes about to melt from the freezer.
At least the part is on the way and you got a nice surprise in the mail. Hopefully the next repairman will be hot, which tends to negate the craptasticness of their lack of respect for your time–and ice cream.
It would be great if the repair guy was crazy hot. But I’m pretty sure I’m getting Patrick again. Which is not to say he wasn’t hot. He was very nice.
And frankly by next Thursday “skilled” and “competent” will be the most important adjectives I’ll be looking for in a repair-person.
i hate it when things break, but I love it getting new things! I think the timing of this means that you should always keep chocolate in your freezer.
Oh, I’m not getting a new fridge/freezer.
This sucker is only 3 years old.
But yes, I will keep the freezer stocked with chocolate.
Clearly, that is what all the signs are indicating, 😉
Woo hoo! I’m famous! It’s all about the ice cream, Renee. I am very sorry to hear the ice cream didn’t make it. Shall I send you some Ben & Jerry’s coupons? I will. Honest.
I cannot believe the freezer will remain on the fritz until Thursday. At least you did get chocolate out of the deal. The timing of the delivery could not have been better.
RIP ice cream.
Lenore:
I am not quite sure what I am going to do.
This is kicking me in the bagels.
My son must have a sesame bagel every morning, but if I don’t freeze them…well, they turn to rocks after about 24 hours.
There was a light frost on the grass this morning. If these temps stay low enough, I can just put the bagels outside.
Or he can have chocolate for breakfast. 😉
I’ve had ’em show up late, not show up, not have the right part . . . you name it. Personal favorite was the one who started to track mud into the house. When my wife screamed about his muddy shoes, he wiped them on our good entry hall throw rug instead of going back out to the mat.
I once had a cable guy track dog poop all over the house. That was most excellent. I had forgotten all about that until right now. Thanks for that.
I swear, my husband does not understand that I spend a large portion of my life waiting for service people to show up. Or not. 😉
Three years ago, my hot water heater and washer died on the same day. I’m very lucky to live less than a mile from Home Depot. By the end of the day both items were replaced. I’m with Keenie Beenie on extended warranties; they usually expire a few days before your appliance dies. Sorry about your meat! (That’s what she said!)
A double travesty!
I don’t think I could survive it!
A flood in one place and a drought in another.
Glurg.
So I opted for the extended warranty.
Since I snuck in under the warranty, this repair will be free.
I think the $100 (for 2 years) will be worth the peace of mind.
This repair would have been pretty spendy.
I don’t know.
I’ll let you know in 2 years, okay?
All I know is that when it comes to my computer, I call the folks at Mac all the time. I need that warranty because I need to talk to a human.
I never realized how much I use my freezer.
It’s like Joni Mitchell says:
“Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone…”
http://jonimitchell.com/music/song.cfm?id=208
Maybe that’s a little dramatic, but I miss having ice.
I feel like a kid at little Ricky’s birthday part on I Love Lucy saying, “Today, she’s a my birthday too!”
Because I had this SAME EXACT THING happen to me. Except it was wine instead of chocolate that got delivered.
And I never did shower.
And my GE repairman was named Carlos.
And he blamed me for the broken freezer because there wasn’t enough ventilation above our refrigerator.
And my GE dryer needed to be repaired too, which Carlos blamed on the fact that I’d never had my ducts cleaned.
Duh.
Who has clean ducts? I didn’t know there was such a thing.
Did he not notice that I hadn’t cleaned MYSELF?
He may have had a point that I’m hard on my appliances.
But I didn’t install the damn fridge.
So.
I miss my ice cream.
Julie, I’m telling you, we are cosmically attached.
And I think Patrick said he had a brother named Carlos.
But they lived in different cities.
And Carlos has a thing about ducts.
And Patrick was gentle.
He may have only spent 9 minutes with me, but they were quality minutes.
He felt my pain.
I could tell.
And I get to see him again next Thursday.
Sometime between 1-5 pm. 😉
I hate those long waits for service people. My most recent was a 5 hour window for someone to come overseed the yard. I had to put the dogs up and we wasted a whole afternoon waiting for someone who never showed up!
Annie:
That is the worst!
At least this guy showed up!
Not that he did anything.
But he did come. 😉
Oh Mannnnn I feel your pain. Our biggest issue is always with cable! But the last thing that drove me crazy was a junk pick-up company, where I waited ALL day and then *I* called at 4pm. They said to wait another hour, then I called AGAIN and they said they didn’t have time to come! I told them to just forget it, LOL (To which the guy responded, “Good luck finding anyone else with our prices.” Um, okay, if you don’t show up, does it MATTER?!) I didn’t take a shower all day for fear they’d show up!
My water heater went last March. I replaced it.
My washer stopped moving. I took the whole thing apart (surprisingly easy to do), took out the motor, and fixed it. Lesson learned: DON’T WASH YOUR TAR-COVERED SHOES, SHIRT, ETC WITHOUT HAND WASHING THEM FIRST!
My dryer is making a nasty grinding noise. It’s either a bad ball bearing or something caught between the tub and the outside thingy. I guess I’ll find out when I take the whole darn thing apart to find it.
I never buy the extended warranty. I am the extended warranty.