Does Accepting A Better Fridge Than The One I Ordered Make Me A Bad Consumer?

Last week, a reader wrote in wanting to hear from the Consumerist hive-mind if he’d been a Bad Consumer by badgering a carwash into giving him some wiper fluid for damage that might not have been the carwash’s fault. Inspired by that post, another reader wants to hear your verdict — and this time it’s a lot pricier than a bottle of wiper fluid.

Writes K to the people of Consumerist:

Last week I bought a new fridge at a local appliance store. I’d gone in to see what they had available, wrote down the item #s I was interested in, and did my research online.

When I went back to the store, I pointed out that it had been difficult to find any information on the model I was interested in, since they had the wrong item # on the label — they had WRT779REYM when my online research had showed it to be WRT779RFYM.

The sales associate assured me that I must be mistaken, and showed me their product book as proof that they had the correct codes. I accepted that I was wrong, and purchased the fridge.

The fridge was delivered on Saturday, and sure enough, it was the upgraded model (WRT779REYM) that was delivered. It’s worth at least $300 more, and I feel a little guilty about not saying anything to the delivery crew. However, I did try to point it out earlier, and I can’t exactly not use a fridge for the week or so it will take to get it replaced.

What would a good consumerist do?


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