I don't even know where to begin. I feel like at the end of this story, Rod Serling is gonna step out from behind this store with a cigarette in his hand and say to the camera "This is how we order appliances.....in THE TWILIGHT ZONE".
It all started Labor Day weekend 2026. My wife and I went down there to order a new gas GE 5 burner range in white. I know everybody wants stainless steel, but our kitchen is completely white appliances, so we had to order one in white.
The store was closed, but Mr. Ruddy told me on the phone that he'd be there anyway and to come on down.
I had done my research and already had the exact model number that we wanted. It was model number GGF500PVWW.
The last two letters, WW, indicate that it is a WHITE one. Keep that in mind as you read on.
Mr. Ruddy was a very kind and nice man. That is undeniable. However, from the very start this whole transaction seemed straight out of the Twilight Zone or maybe from 1950's Centerville, Ohio.
He said he could get our stove, so we pulled out our wallet to pay for it.
He said no, we would take care of that when it arrived. We did not get a computer printed invoice confirming our order, he wrote our name and number on a piece of scratch paper and laid it on the desk.
We were told the range would arrive in about a week.
So, a week came and went. I called the store and some other gentleman answered and said that the range was on "back order" and should arrive around September 29th. (Interesting, because both Home Depot and Lowe's websites indicated they could get it in about 3-5 business days, but we are not in the appliance business, so we didn't know whether to believe the "back order" story. Who knows?)
Well, you guessed it - the 29th came and went. I called the store again on October 1st, another gentleman answered and said that Mr. Ruddy told him we would be looking at the following Tuesday. I got a voicemail from a woman at the store saying that our stove was in a couple days later.
So I called my wife to go down and pay for it. When my wife showed up at the store, she was told there had been a mistake and that our stove was in a warehouse in LA waiting on a "truck to be full enough to make a load to Visalia" and I was probably looking at October 6th.
I called the store when I heard this and I told Mr Ruddy that I would give him until the end of the week to come up with our stove or we would cancel the whole order.
At this point, I was glad we didn't pay up front. So....October 6th came and Mr Ruddy himself called and said "Good news, we have your stove". So I had my wife go down there again and pay for it.
Because my wife is so damn smart, she asked me to send her the webpage from GE with the model number to make sure she was paying for the right unit, since they don't seem to use computers at this place.
So she paid for the stove, she got a handwritten invoice with the company name on it, complete with model number GGF500PVWW on it.
She was told we were looking at today (October 7th) for delivery and installation.
I contacted my mother in law to be available to let them in to do the installation, as we were told "late morning", and I had told them that she is my son's ride to and from school, so she would need to plan accordingly.
So they called her and they agreed on 3:30.
Meanwhile my wife comes through the door and sees that they are installing a STAINLESS STEEL range.
She promptly called them and was told "It said white on the box, we're sorry" so my wife told them to take it back and bring back our old range.
She called the store and told Mr Ruddy to issue a refund, she was told to go down tomorrow and he would write her a check.
I am worried about this and I told her she should immediately take that check to the bank it's drawn on and CASH it immediately.
Bottom line, if they have something on their sales floor that you want and you have cash and a pickup truck, you can get a great deal there on some scratch-and-dent appliances. We have bought a washer and a dryer from them like that.
But if you want to order something, go to Home Depot, Lowe's or Best Buy.
Ruddy's basically wasted an entire month of our time. I don't think they are crooked or deceitful, they are all very nice people.
They lack organization, communication and professionalism. A computer to place and fulfill orders instead of a piece of scratch paper might help.
UPDATE:
We went to Home Depot on Demaree / Caldwell on Sunday, October 11th.
Our new range was installed October 14th. Amazing things, these new-fangled, space-aged modern conveniences called computers and printers.
First phonographs, then telephones, then aero planes, now COMPUTERS? WHAT WILL THEY THINK OF NEXT?!?! read more
