Crisis At The Florist: When Cooler Heads Prevail
Flower shop proprietors Billy and Mrs. Billy, previously seen in this Ask the Consumerists post seeking a used floral cooler, have found a solution. The business survives! Billy offers a virtual bouquet of thanks to everyone who tried to help in their hour of need. How did they solve the cooler crisis?
After weeks of trying to get our floral cooler fixed, it has been fixed as of 2:00pm today! The issue was with the dryer valve and not the compressor. The valve was completely clogged and we had a new one soldiered on. It went from 85 degrees to 44 degrees in 15 minutes. It is the best $324.45 I have ever spent!I had given up on the refrigeration guy who was coming to give me a deal. He never showed and only made excuses each time I spoke to him. I asked around at some of the restaurants and everyone uses the one company I will not do business with. I felt like we were stuck. My only other option was to buy another unit, but couldn't find one cheap enough or one that worked correctly.
I decided to call a guy who was coming out to setup a new alarm system to find out why he had not been out. He had been out, but we had just missed each other. I asked him why there are two business names on his business card and he said his other business is refrigeration. I asked him about the cooler and he showed up last night to look. He knew instantly what the issue was and didn't charge for the diagnostic. He instead sent his partner out today to fix it. It took him 40 minutes and now everything is working perfect. All he did was soldier on a new dryer valve and service ports. He filled with freon and we tested. It was a great feeling to finally see it working again!
Thanks to everyone who commented on this story! Your ideas and suggestions kept my spirits up and I knew we would find a solution to the problem. Keep up the good work and great ideas...your help DOES make a difference!
It's fantastic to hear that finding a competent repairperson was all that the business needed to get back to work and restocked with all those pretty, pretty flowers.
PREVIOUSLY:
Ask The Consumerists: These Flowers Just Need To Chill
(Photo: theogeo)
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Comments:
What is the Refrigeration man's name or Business name?
Wow, what are the chances that the security guy also happens to do refrigeration?! What luck.
Gulp...Sniff...[wipes tear]...I love happy endings.
Thanks to Mr. & Mrs. Billy for letting us know everything worked out so well!
@H3ion: I had to re-read the post to realize why you were questioning yourself. And to answer your question, the OP soldiered on (in the face of adversity) but the partner soldered on the new value.
Here's a tip I learned from my dad, an HVAC tech by trade. If you do a lot of business with someone in the trades already, ask them if they know someone that fixes what you need fixed. My dad was an HVAC tech who also did electrical and carpentry; he knew other guys who were plumbers, roofers, landscapers, etc. It always pays to ask because the guy you trust to fix your furnace just might know someone equally reputable to build you a new deck, re-do your roof, etc. They might even give you a special rate if you were referred by their friend. It works mostly with the small time guys who I might add are often pretty flexible when it comes to schedules/rates.
I wish I had seen your post but haven't been online in a few days! My brother is a HVAC repairman and is very good. If we have a problem here. I just call him up and tell him what is wrong. He either tells me how to fix it or comes over and fixes it himself!
So glad you were able to get someone fix your cooler!
Glad to see the problem is fixed. Sooo... what was done in meantime? I got the impression that this was an urgent problem when it was originally posted.
@Megan Squier: +1. I have found trustworthy people usually know other trustwothy people, and deal with them too more often. IMO its more true in fields where there is lots of fixing/manual things and less so in intellectual fields. I dont know why.
I don't think i've ever seen a post here about Angie's List - it's kind of like Consumer Reports, but for things like small-time mechanics, repair people, carpet installers, floor finishers, landscapers, cleaning people, roofers, painters, etc - a lot of people we've hired through Angie's List really do pride themselves on their customer service, and will (sometimes) give a discount for Angie's List subscribers. As an Angie's List member, you can write a review for a company you've worked with, or read reviews from other members (think of it kind of like Amazon's website, where people can rate aspects of a product and write reviews)
Cool!
heh
@redkamel: Because it's relatively easier for an electrician to judge the work of a framer than it is for a programmer to judge the work of a chemist?
Yay, Mr & Mrs Billy!
It was a "brazen" attempt to fix it and was successful because we "soldiered" on. My wife thinks that I "rose" to the occasion and my "cooler" head prevailed!
@H3ion: *Throws fish at the three punsters.*
Small wonder it was starting to stink in here.. BAD PUNS!
@Zeniq: Reminds me of the time my husband and father-in-law were trying to fix our A/C on a Sunday. They knew we needed a small but very specific A/C part, but none of the specialty stores in town were open. They stopped in to our local hardware store which happens to be open for a few hours on Sundays. They didn't have the part, but the only other shopper in the store was... an A/C repair guy, with a truckfull of A/C parts, including the needed one. He wouldn't even let them pay for it.
A suggestion for the future: Start putting away maybe $50-100 or so each month into an emergency fund in case your cooler breaks down again for good and you have to buy another one. This way you will have saved up some cash on hand to replace it and not threaten your business...
@gStein:
How reliable are the reviews, though? I mean, considering all the crap we've heard about Amazon's reviews. Is it pretty straightforward?
I worked really hard on those puns....thought I did a great job!
@H3ion: Watch out! Make sure the solder he used isn't made in China, or it might contain lead! It would cause neurological damage in the Baby's Breath.
@Megan Squier: Excellent tip. We had a guy that fixed some things for us, and he knew all kinds of people to help fix other things, too.
The link in the writeup does not got to "this Ask the Consumerists post," but the source for the photo.
I guess that proves we just need to soldier (solder?) on.