What about quality and integrity??

In these difficult times wouldn't you think every business would make extra efforts to be certain that they practiced business in a way that would hopefully provide them with a happy customer who would in turn recommend them to others? Maybe we just have "S" tattooed on our foreheads here - S for stupid - and Tramp 1 says "G" is on his, too, for gullible...

We are that fortunate couple that pretty much always gets the item that arrives broken, malfunctions upon use, has parts missing, etc. And this has been an ongoing adventure for us - ongoing as in years worth of what we call "being tested". After awhile you just come to expect it and maybe it morphs in a self-fulfilling prophecy. And, after awhile you develop a very calm manner since you expected it to happen anyway. The calm manner helps to dilute the anguish that comes with these kinds of issues. Point in case - 13 blinds, ordered once and replaced three times due to defects... A brand new camper that came with a generator that did not work, a heater that went out, a roof that leaked, windows that leaked. Windows on our addition that had to be replaced three times due to quality issues - a 300+ mile trip each time for the company that made them... A massage chair that arrived with a cracked base right out of the box. New ceiling fans that have malfunctioned. A downdraft fan on the gas cooktop that sucks the flames out because it is so powerful! (Not a problem anymore - it has quit working completely!) And so it goes, on and on.

But this one is a real first for us - irritating and also a bit shocking. It involves a canopy lift (electric, heavy duty) that we ordered through a local business for our hard (and heavy!) truck tonneau cover. We ordered it in December (paying half the cost up front) and it arrived in January. Tramp 1 picked it up and that was that. We planned to have it installed by the contractor that has been doing so many projects for us here as of late. I had not seen the thing until two evenings ago. I wanted to know where it was so I could be ready when it was to be installed. And when I did see it - oh, my! The darned contraption looked used. Some of the rope was frayed, the motor housing and other parts had paint chipped off and even the remote switch was all beat up. And this morning when I showed it to the contractor we discovered that some of the parts were missing. Tramp 1, the contractor and I all came to the same conclusion that we were duped. This thing was supposed to brand new... When Tramp 1 picked it up, it came in open cardboard boxes and didn't even have instructions. The business where we purchased it said they had to "test" it and they had instructions faxed in after Tramp 1 inquired about them.

Yesterday Tramp 1 called the manufacturer and learned much more. First, they ship their product in a big cardboard box - 1 box - and it doesn't need "testing". Second, they have a separate application for tonneau covers versus canopies - the one we got was for a canopy. Third, they had no record of shipping the product to the business we bought it from. So tomorrow, Tramp 1 is taking the whole thing back to the business that sold it to us and they had better want to take it back! And they better have a really fine explanation of their trickery. They really scratched the wrong itch with us. We have lost faith in what we thought was a business we could trust. And they picked the wrong guy to do it to - Tramp 1 deals with fraud issues at work so he is well versed in the shenanigans people will pull. But most of all, he is simply very angry - and he is tired - not a good combination!

He will also be returning two other items to Costco - a weather station that doesn't work and a Foodsaver that has issues. But at least with Costco you know that you will get customer service - and that is something that seems to be disappearing these days, too.