When you hand over $1,400 for a new refrigerator, you sort of expect to get a new refrigerator. Home Depot sold a California woman a fridge in early June, promising delivery in early July. Only the specific appliance that they had sold her wasn’t sitting in a warehouse somewhere, waiting for delivery. It hadn’t even been manufactured yet.  Oh. 

The customer received a call from Maytag on the day before the refrigerator was supposed to arrive. That’s not how it’s supposed to work, insists Home Depot. “The backlog was due to a high consumer demand for this particular model in this area,” a spokeswoman explained to CBS Sacramento’s ace consumer reporter Kurtis Ming.

She’s been making do with a borrowed mini-fridge in the meantime. That doesn’t really cut it when temperatures top 100 degrees and you want to keep meat fresh and keep some ice around.

It’s worth noting that the woman featured in this story isn’t totally blameless: she dealt directly with Maytag regarding her problems. Before an item is delivered and within the initial return period, you should deal directly with the retailer.

Ultimately, the woman got the same item from a local retailer. Home Depot offered her a loaner fridge once they learned of her dilemma, but would they have done so if she had made the initial call a few weeks ago, and not a reporter now that the appliance is almost a month overdue?

Call Kurtis: How Could Home Depot Sell Me A Refrigerator That Didn’t Exist? [CBS Sacramento]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.