The Appliance Battle

Saturday was the battle of the big box stores. It took Mom, Dad and me nearly 7 hours to watch, coach and compete in the battle, but I believe we came out victorious. Fingers crossed, of course.

The players:
The list:

• 1 Double Oven/Range Combo
• 1 Over the Range Microwave
• 1 Refrigerator
• 1 Dishwasher
• 1 Washer
• 1 Dryer
• 1 Garbage Disposal
  

Armed with a list of appliances, we headed first to BB. The salesperson told us about an amazing special which was: buy 1 appliance - get 10% off; 2 appliances - 20% off; 3 or more - 30% off! Plus... use the BB credit card to get 18 months, no payment / no interest! There weren't too many samples on the floor, so we picked things we liked, priced them out, looked online to see other options, and said we'd be back. That took about 2 hours.

A quick trip to Chipotle for fuel, and then we headed to HD. I have to say, I like HD a lot. I was kind of hoping they'd win. Our salesman was great and knowledgeable and not pressuring. After a quick scare about the measurements of my refrigerator, he helped us pick out nice "counter depth" options. Then he sent our completed appliance list to the HD "Bid Room" to see what deals they could come up with.

Another break, in which I drove my parents around Mueller, stopped in a $1mil open house, and we were back to HD. The total price had dropped only a little more than 10%! However, the warranties were good, all items were in stock, and again, we really liked our salesman. (Luckily they don't work on commission so that wasn't really a decision factor.)

Armed with the HD quote, we made our way back to BB. After plugging everything in - luckily they had all the appliances I wanted - the total was only $100 or so off from HD. How could that be if we were supposed to get a 30% discount?! She kept trying and trying to make the bid work, but it just wasn't equaling 30% off. Then, my dad read the circular and found out she had misquoted us the sale. It was only 20% off total. We were getting really annoyed at that point... nearly 6 hours in to our appliance battle, and we had been given faulty info! This is when my folks stepped up (while I hid behind some ovens) and took charge.

When all was said and done, we nearly had our 30% discount from BB. It took us 7 hours, but we saved nearly $2000 on GOOD appliances from what we would have paid had we just walked into the store. (We saved over $500 from HD's best price.)

I can't wait to have a dishwasher and a functional washer/dryer! (And an awesome refrigerator, microwave, and double oven/range.)

I owe my parents BIG TIME for their help yesterday. I'm so happy to check "get appliances" off the list. One giant step closer! :)