So, I thought this week was going along pretty well, until our male cat, Domino, woke me up at 3:30 am on Wednesday morning growling and hissing at the foot of the bed at his sister, Xena. They both typically get along fairly well, so I got up to investigate. Well, Domi wanted nothing to do with me, slinkering away with his tail down, growling and very upset. Initially, I thought that maybe it was his litter box, so I cleaned it out as best I could without waking up my wife and went back to bed.
A few hours later, Domino is not much better, wanting to find a good hiding spot. This is never a good sign for a cat, so as soon as the vet's office opened, I gave them a call. Luckily, they saw us right away and determined that poor Domi had a fully obstructed bladder (which is extremely serious in a male cat). He was taken to the back room, sedated, and flushed out his bladder. They then kept him for observation.
The next morning, I go downstairs and notice that the temp gauge on the freezer side of my side by side fridge is blinking. I open the door and the ice container is slowly leaking with water and the ice cream containers are also leaking, with the ice cream having the consistency of a milkshake. We've been having a bit of a heatwave here in SoCal, so I turn on the express frost setting and adjust the thermostat to -14F. After a few hours, things appeared to be cooling down. Later that evening, the temp is reading -25F, but when I open the door, most of the ice has melted and running down the inside of the door. The fridge side is running as cool as usual. This is a fairly new Samsung refrigerator that we purchased in December 2010, barely six months outside of its full mfr warranty, but still within the sealed coolant system 5-year warranty. Could not believe it was requiring service already. But then I remembered that a friend of mine recently had to get his Samsung TV serviced just one month past the warranty period (although he was lucky, as the repair was covered under a class-action lawsuit).
Meanwhile, Domino is still at the vet hospital, on the mend, but his pal, Xena, is constantly crying and looking for him.
So, this morning, I call Samsung to get warranty service. They tell me the unit is out of warranty, but they can send a request to their authorized service center to call me to set up an appointment. I ask them who the company is, then do some research. It turns out that the company has a BBB rating of F, and that there are several complaints against them on other forum sites where customers actually had to call the police to have the service tech removed from their home. Having worked for Geek Squad, I do take many of these complaints with a grain of salt, but still... So, I call Samsung back and tell them that I do not want a service company that has a BBB rating of F to work on my appliance, and that as a company, Samsung should be concerned about such a rating. The customer service rep then sets me up with another company, who has a BBB rating of A, and actually called me in a very timely manner to set up an appointment for Monday morning. I remind them that my freezer full of food is not working, and will not last the weekend. The response then is that I'll likely need parts after the tech diagnoses the issue, and the parts would then need to be ordered, which could take up to a week. Also that the diagnosis call would be $100, non-refundable, even if the issue is related to the sealed coolant system. Frustrated and tired, I agree to the terms and appointment time. I then get an automated email from Samsung confirming the appointment, but 20 minutes later I get an automated email from Samsung that my ticket has been cancelled, and should call back if I still require service.
Then the vet calls with an update on Domino. Apparently, during the night, the little troll managed to pull out his catheter (ouch). But there is a silver lining, as he apparently used (and filled) his litter box as well as ate his dinner and drank a lot of water on his own, and that he would likely be discharged this evening.
So the week was starting to look better, but I had to call Samsung back to find out why my appointment had been cancelled. When I got through, apparently no notes were made as to why. Back to square one, and they set me up with yet ANOTHER service company based out of Temecula. I tell the agent that it is very likely the company does not service my area, but am assured that they do. Minutes after I hung up with Samsung, the Temecula service company calls to say, guess what, that they do not cover South Orange County!!
Back on the phone to Samsung (truthfully, whenever I've needed warranty service from anyone else, it was usually only one call to tech support, and then provided with a list of phone numbers to choose from). I re-iterated that the freezer should not have failed 18 months after delivery, that I was tired of calling in to arrange an appointment, and that I did not really want to wait a full week for parts to be ordered to get the freezer repaired. The agent apologized, then set up an appointment while I was on hold with their "go-to" service company when either no one is available in the customer's area or all of the service centers are booked solid. She got me an appointment again for Monday morning, but also told me that if the part is not on the truck, it will be shipped overnight to the service center and installed within two business days from the original service call. There would be no charge for the repair or part, and once the repair was completed, I should call back to file a claim for food spoilage re-imbursement (up to $200).
With that behind me, I drove over to the vet to check on Domino, who was at the back of his cage looking really pissed off. As I rubbed his ears, he began to relax a bit, but then tried to chew on the stretchy bandage holding his IV in place. I scolded him, but continued to rub his ears and chin as he continued to relax. The vet came over to let me know that Domino seemed to be doing much better since the morning phone call, using his litter box again and being less lethargic, and would likely be discharged this evening.
So, this weekend, I will be spending time with my boy, cooking up lots of meat before it spoils, write a review or two for HTF, and do some pre-production work on my film. Not a bad way to end what was turning out to be a not so fun week!
A few hours later, Domino is not much better, wanting to find a good hiding spot. This is never a good sign for a cat, so as soon as the vet's office opened, I gave them a call. Luckily, they saw us right away and determined that poor Domi had a fully obstructed bladder (which is extremely serious in a male cat). He was taken to the back room, sedated, and flushed out his bladder. They then kept him for observation.
The next morning, I go downstairs and notice that the temp gauge on the freezer side of my side by side fridge is blinking. I open the door and the ice container is slowly leaking with water and the ice cream containers are also leaking, with the ice cream having the consistency of a milkshake. We've been having a bit of a heatwave here in SoCal, so I turn on the express frost setting and adjust the thermostat to -14F. After a few hours, things appeared to be cooling down. Later that evening, the temp is reading -25F, but when I open the door, most of the ice has melted and running down the inside of the door. The fridge side is running as cool as usual. This is a fairly new Samsung refrigerator that we purchased in December 2010, barely six months outside of its full mfr warranty, but still within the sealed coolant system 5-year warranty. Could not believe it was requiring service already. But then I remembered that a friend of mine recently had to get his Samsung TV serviced just one month past the warranty period (although he was lucky, as the repair was covered under a class-action lawsuit).
Meanwhile, Domino is still at the vet hospital, on the mend, but his pal, Xena, is constantly crying and looking for him.
So, this morning, I call Samsung to get warranty service. They tell me the unit is out of warranty, but they can send a request to their authorized service center to call me to set up an appointment. I ask them who the company is, then do some research. It turns out that the company has a BBB rating of F, and that there are several complaints against them on other forum sites where customers actually had to call the police to have the service tech removed from their home. Having worked for Geek Squad, I do take many of these complaints with a grain of salt, but still... So, I call Samsung back and tell them that I do not want a service company that has a BBB rating of F to work on my appliance, and that as a company, Samsung should be concerned about such a rating. The customer service rep then sets me up with another company, who has a BBB rating of A, and actually called me in a very timely manner to set up an appointment for Monday morning. I remind them that my freezer full of food is not working, and will not last the weekend. The response then is that I'll likely need parts after the tech diagnoses the issue, and the parts would then need to be ordered, which could take up to a week. Also that the diagnosis call would be $100, non-refundable, even if the issue is related to the sealed coolant system. Frustrated and tired, I agree to the terms and appointment time. I then get an automated email from Samsung confirming the appointment, but 20 minutes later I get an automated email from Samsung that my ticket has been cancelled, and should call back if I still require service.
Then the vet calls with an update on Domino. Apparently, during the night, the little troll managed to pull out his catheter (ouch). But there is a silver lining, as he apparently used (and filled) his litter box as well as ate his dinner and drank a lot of water on his own, and that he would likely be discharged this evening.
So the week was starting to look better, but I had to call Samsung back to find out why my appointment had been cancelled. When I got through, apparently no notes were made as to why. Back to square one, and they set me up with yet ANOTHER service company based out of Temecula. I tell the agent that it is very likely the company does not service my area, but am assured that they do. Minutes after I hung up with Samsung, the Temecula service company calls to say, guess what, that they do not cover South Orange County!!
Back on the phone to Samsung (truthfully, whenever I've needed warranty service from anyone else, it was usually only one call to tech support, and then provided with a list of phone numbers to choose from). I re-iterated that the freezer should not have failed 18 months after delivery, that I was tired of calling in to arrange an appointment, and that I did not really want to wait a full week for parts to be ordered to get the freezer repaired. The agent apologized, then set up an appointment while I was on hold with their "go-to" service company when either no one is available in the customer's area or all of the service centers are booked solid. She got me an appointment again for Monday morning, but also told me that if the part is not on the truck, it will be shipped overnight to the service center and installed within two business days from the original service call. There would be no charge for the repair or part, and once the repair was completed, I should call back to file a claim for food spoilage re-imbursement (up to $200).
With that behind me, I drove over to the vet to check on Domino, who was at the back of his cage looking really pissed off. As I rubbed his ears, he began to relax a bit, but then tried to chew on the stretchy bandage holding his IV in place. I scolded him, but continued to rub his ears and chin as he continued to relax. The vet came over to let me know that Domino seemed to be doing much better since the morning phone call, using his litter box again and being less lethargic, and would likely be discharged this evening.
So, this weekend, I will be spending time with my boy, cooking up lots of meat before it spoils, write a review or two for HTF, and do some pre-production work on my film. Not a bad way to end what was turning out to be a not so fun week!
