If you have ever come over for dinner to our Mid Century Modest home, you've probably heard this story! It was one of my favorite stories to tell because it STILL blows my mind to this day!
About a month after we bought our first home and were in the middle of gutting our basement den for a remodel, the stove on our oven range went out! We figured maybe it was some weird power issue or glitch since the oven and clock still worked just fine. We turned the breaker on and off again, unplugged and plugged it back in, but had no luck. We really didn't know anything about anything when it came to maintaining a home, let alone appliances, so we called up a knowledgeable friend to come and take a look. Unfortunately, we didn't have any luck there either. This went on for about a week and the inability to boil water or make our classic chicken and pasta for dinner really started to fester. You don't realize how important a stove is until you don't have one anymore! Finally accepting our new reality, I broke down and started shopping around for a new range.
They are expensive. Very expensive.
I checked Facebook Marketplace and all of my go-to places for a good deal but wasn't finding anything that seemed reliable. I came to the conclusion we would just need to buy a brand new range. Now, when I decide to buy something new I get VERY picky - after all, it's a larger investment and I need to make sure it's reliable, long-lasting, and the highest quality we can get with our budget. I also had a gut feeling we would eventually update the kitchen so we may as well get a nice oven to match, right? Right!
Remember: EVERYTHING IS AN INVESTMENT
After doing a lot of research I came to the following criteria: double oven, stainless steel, and ideally a GE brand. Why a double oven? First of all, why NOT?! But also, we had a second oven to the right of our range that we figured we'd take out and replace with more cabinet/counter space if (WHEN) we renovated the kitchen. If (WHEN) that renovation took place, then we'd be left with just one oven; not terrible - but double ovens are always a plus!
The Lowes sales associate was starting to notice my frequent lunch break visits to his appliance department and graciously took the time to walk me through just about every option within our budget and my criteria. Finally, he took me to his computer and recommended a very specific range that met all my requirements and some! It was out of stock and would probably need to be ordered - but that was fine with us.
It was reasonably priced for such a great appliance, but, yuck, $1,500 was a hard number to swallow! He said the two best times to buy appliances are Black Friday and Memorial Day. Lucky for me, Memorial Day was in 3 weeks AND I also had a 10% off coupon!
When you buy a home, stores will send you stellar coupons in the mail that usually don't have a lot of restrictions! My Lowes 10% off coupon didn't have an expiration date, it was applicable for any item and/or number of items, and could be paired with any additional discounts!
So, the plan was once the Memorial Day sales started I would skedaddle my little hiney over to Lowes and get our new electric range for about $980! Though we were a little reluctant to drop the cash, we felt good about our research, planning, and decision!
At about 2 weeks with no stove and 2 weeks before Memorial Day, we invited some friends over for a game night and desserts - our favorite! I was complaining to my girlfriend about our janky range and my anxious feelings about buying a new one. For dramatic effect, I turned a knob for one of the burners so I could show her how our dumb stove wouldn't turn on; and what do you know... IT TURNED ON! I laughed so hard! I tried all the other knobs and they worked juuuuust fine!
Moral of the story: Just ignore the problem until it fixes itself! (Totally kidding - don't ever do this! Ha!)
Now, keep in mind, we were periodically checking the stove to see if it would magically turn on and never had any luck until that very moment and the pinnacle of my story! I mean, it was cool that it worked now, but what the heck?! What was wrong with it?! We skeptically continued to use the stove and figured if it had any issues between now and Memorial Day, we would buy our new GE as planned. As the holiday was approaching I started to become more skeptical of its longevity; the last thing I wanted was for our stove to die on us after the Memorial Day sales but before Black Friday - then we'd HAVE TO buy a new one at a higher price and I would KICK myself!
Memorial Day was around the corner, the sales were in full force, and we were gearing up for a Lowes trip to get new carpet for our basement den - gotta take advantage of those sales while you can! But that dang range was weighing heavy on my mind. I felt we should really look into buying a new one while it was on such a great sale; it just felt like the smart thing to do. We were also having family visit for the 3-day weekend and knowing my luck, the stove would go out on us while trying to play hostess for our guests. If I wanted to get the new range, today was the day to do it. Tyson and I talked it over and agreed that we'd rather be proactive than reactive with our home; it was a good time to take advantage of the sale and our one-time-use coupon.
We pick out our carpet and the flooring associate added the GE double oven range to our order. Thanks to my homie in the appliance department, I was prepared with the exact skew number to make things easier! As expected, it was not in stock and delivery would take about a week. He printed our order and we took it to the cashier upfront. He checks us out and tells me my grand total is about $700! Uhhhhhh... what?? $700 for a new range AND carpet?? I looked at Tyson’s we both awkwardly laughed. I told the employee there must be a mistake as the oven range should be about $980 and the carpet was roughly $200. I joked that I would love to take them both for that price but there's just no way it's the correct price! The cashier double-checked. Triple checked. Called a few people then quadruple-checked. He explained that the price of the carpet was correct, but the oven range was showing up as the wholesale price no matter what they tried! He said it was just a glitch in the system and that today was our lucky day!
I COULD. NOT. BELIEVE IT.
JACKPOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I literally SKIPPED to the car GIGGLING! If you know me, you know I LOVE a steal of a deal! And this was the steal of the century! So, there you go! There's our famous miracle!
But wait! There's more! ...There's... always... more...
I sell our range on Facebook Marketplace (my very best friend) for $200. We told them about the issues we experienced and that if they had any issues with it within 60 days we would give them $100 back. The week goes by and I haven't heard anything from Lowes about my new range being delivered. I give them a call and it seemed my order was flustering quite a few employees up the chain! Finally, the manager explained to me that their store location stopped selling that specific range and it should not have been sold to me. Because of this, my range was never formally ordered! But, since I already paid they would honor the price and contact GE directly to special order the range for me. WOOHOO for exceptional customer service! I honestly thought they were going to refund me the money and tell me to get lost! Which, for the record, I was fully prepared to do haha! They informed me this custom order would take a minimum of 4 weeks to be delivered - yikes! I've already gone 4 weeks with no stove and 4 more would be quite difficult. But, rest assured, Lowes kindly offered to loan me a temporary range till my new one came in - free of charge! That temporary range was delivered and installed within 24 hours! Seriously, Lowes is the absolute best.
4 weeks go by and I get a beautiful call from Lowes that my range has been delivered to their store and is ready for pick up! I told them that I'd like to take advantage of their free delivery service and that they would probably want to pick up the temporary loaner range as well. They seemed bewildered! "What temporary range?" they said. I explained the situation and apparently, this was never documented! No one knew about this BRAND SPANKING NEW replacement loaner range that's just been chillin at my house for a month! Tyson and I joked that if we were terribly dishonest people we could have sold that loaner range for more than what we got our new range for and made a profit on this whole shenanigan! But, we all know that would have kept us up at night wracked with guilt for the rest of our lives haha.
The loaner was picked up, and the $500 GE, stainless steel, double oven range (who's original price was $1,500) was happily and finally delivered! It worked like a charm and was quite the charmer! We highly recommend this beaut if you're in the market for one!
So, I guess the real moral of the story is:
Treat your purchases as investments (especially the large ones), budget, research, plan, and for Heaven's sake follow your instincts!
Sincerely,
I'd be bawling my eyes out! This is such great story!!