Today, for the third time, my husband and I unplugged and emptied our refrigerator, anticipating the delivery of a new one we've been waiting on since we placed our order on August 2nd. For the third time, the delivery truck arrived but did not bring us a fridge. For the third time, we plugged our old fridge back in and put our food away--only on the top three shelves, since anything in the bottom half freezes, which is why we've been trying to replace it for almost 3 months with a nearly identical model from a different brand.
The fridge was ordered from Corbeil Electro on Parc, the same company that had delivered our old fridge years earlier to the previous owner of our condo. We placed an order on August 2nd for a similar model to our old one, a 36" side-by-side GE, and were told it would be about 4-6 weeks. 8 weeks later, on September 25th, we were finally scheduled for a delivery. I rushed to the store to sign the papers and secured a verbal promise that the delivery drivers had looked at the photos we'd sent and would be able to carry the fridge up our curving Montreal stairs. When the drivers arrived and began to remove the fridge doors, which was necessary to get it inside, they noticed that a cord had been severed at some point during transit, which meant that the fridge would not work. They drove away with it still in their truck, and we had no choice but to plug our old fridge back in and replace the contents.
Over the next two and a half weeks, the Corbeil store and customer service line appeared to dodge our calls. When I called them, I would speak to receptionists, who would promise callbacks from supervisors that would never materialize. Finally, on October 14, I returned to the store in person and cornered the manager. Sure enough, on October 15th, I received a call from customer service to schedule a delivery for the next day.
On October 16th, we unplugged and emptied our old fridge again, but when the delivery people arrived, they said it would be better to wait for somebody more experienced who could deal with our stairs. The photos we had sent had apparently not been passed on. We were rescheduled for October 17th.
On October 17th, we again unplugged and emptied our fridge, and the delivery truck arrived, this time with the original delivery people who had discovered the broken cord. When they went to take the doors off the fridge, they found that rather than replacing the cord, the repair person had reconnected it using electrical tape. This meant that it could not be disconnected without undoing the "repair", which meant that the doors could not be removed, which meant that the fridge could not come inside.
Every time this has happened, we have planned our grocery buying around needing to empty the fridge, and spent money on takeout rather than cooking for ourselves. Every delivery date, we have cleared our schedules for the entire day, cancelling and rescheduling important appointments. Corbeil customer service has offered us a rebate of $150 for our troubles. However, considering I paid them the full amount of almost $2000 over three weeks ago, and considering the time I have spent on the phone and in person dealing with failed deliveries, this seems inadequate. I asked them to offer us a complementary extended warranty (a value of about $250) rather than the rebate, since we were now dealing with a refurbished refrigerator, but they refused. I also just filed a Better Business Bureau complaint requesting the complementary warranty as well as compensation for food spoilage due to the multiple failed deliveries.
We would be happy with any equivalent (or better) fridge of the same dimensions, but apparently none are available. Today I was specifically told on by customer service that this is the responsibility of the salesperson at the store; the salesperson told me it is the responsibility of customer service. It seems like a huge scam to me. Absolutely would never recommend Corbeil for any reason. read more
