Not Exactly Sucky - Dad Gets Tough on a Delivery

[Jay 2K Winger]

This was related to me by Dad as he picked me up from the airport after my trip to Mexico.

He and Mom have been shopping for a new mattress, and finally settled on a Tempur-pedic (or whatever they're called). These are very pricey mattresses. So they ordered one from [Department Store]. There was some delays in getting it delivered, however, as they couldn't settle on a date when Dad could take the time off from work to be home to oversee it.

They finally settle on Friday afternoon, May 24. They even made sure to call up [Dept. Store] on the day and confirm it would be delivered. But they couldn't be any more specific on the timing of the delivery than "between 2 and 6." So Dad, after a morning meeting, is home during that time frame and they wait. But 6pm comes and goes by without any word from the store about the delivery.

Naturally Dad calls them up to find out why it wasn't delivered. The store tells him his delivery is scheduled for next Friday, May 31, between 2 and 6pm. Dad says "No, that's not what we were told when we called up this morning to confirm the delivery." The salesman apologizes and says they can get it delivered on Tuesday instead--

Dad says "No, let me tell you what's going to happen. Either you deliver our mattress tomorrow, or you can cancel the sale." I know my Dad, he probably raised his voice a bit, but only to express his frustration. The salesman very quickly got them scheduled for a Saturday afternoon delivery, but again, couldn't be more specific than "between 5 and 9." This was enough to satisfy Dad for the moment.

Fortunately, Dad got a call on Saturday afternoon, about 4:30pm, from the delivery guy, asking if it was okay if they got there earlier than scheduled. Yes, it was fine. Mattress was delivered, complete with the low profile box-spring that makes it easier for Mom to get in and out of bed, and Mom and Dad are happy.

The salesman probably moved heaven and earth to get that delivery made, since it was his commission that was at risk. The initial charge for the sale had already been made to my parents' account, but the salesman doesn't get his commission until the delivery is made.

This was all second-hand from Dad, so I hope he didn't get too Sucky in dealing with that guy.

[Pixilated]

It doesn't sound as if your Dad got very sucky at all (he was flexible enough to OK the Saturday delivery), just annoyed enough to guarantee some action. I've never understood why stores can't be a little more specific about delivery times -- admittedly, I don't work for one. But this is no longer the culture in which one person could almost certainly be guaranteed to be at home anyway. So people agree to be home during the specified time. And when the item doesn't show up, people get annoyed -- and no wonder. Because now they get to do the whole thing over again.

[Chromatix]

The reason they can't guarantee a particular delivery time is that several deliveries are put in for the same shift of the same van, and the driver then decides which ones to go to first based on where they are relative to the depot and each other. If the van only has a few deliveries in it, then all of them will probably be made during the early part of the shift.

[Jay 2K Winger]

I know why they can't specify times on deliveries. Well aware of it. Not so sure if Dad was aware of it, but the point is the delivery window came and went with no word about what was going on-- and then he was told "Oh, no, it's coming next week." Despite having been told that morning it would be delivered that day.

[sstabeler]

Yeah, he wasn't sucky. He had called to confirm the delivery, and they had confirmed that it was definitely being delivered tha day. He also wasn't rude about it, or make particuarly unreasonable demands- most places will deliver on a saturday, so demanding a delivery the next day, when all the company needed to do was put the mattress on the truck, is reasonable. ( i.e. he wasn't demanding the comany pay for overnight shipping when he had paid for standard shipping)