Last week I'm standing in my kitchen preheating the oven, prepping veggies for dinner, and basically minding my own business when I hear a startling *POP!*, and then an unnerving *wheeeee*. I turn around to see green sparks shooting up through the back of my range, and the bake element burning like a sparkler through the oven door. Being the level-headed, generally collected person that I am, I shriek, flap my hands, and scream for husband to come STAT to rescue me from this errant appliance.
And then I call Pops.
He's an old-fashioned, do-it-yourself kind of guy whom I vividly recall replacing, redoing, and renovating just about everything from kitchen cabinetry to plumbing in our old Colonial Revival when I was small. So I know when I see that the bake element has basically burned itself through, I need some replacement advice. "Call Trible's," he says. "They have every replacement part for any appliance you can think of." Of course he wouldn't recommend checking Amazon for appliance parts.
So I jot down (what I think is) the range's model number and call Trible's from work the following day. I speak with Kathy, lay out the problem, and began rattling off my model number. Kathy gently cuts me off and explains -- without a hint of condescension -- that model number I have can't be the right one. She tells me exactly where I can find the model number on my specific appliance and asks that I call back from home so she can best assist me. That afternoon from home I end up talking to Greg instead, who is equally helpful and efficient. The part isn't in-stock, but Greg orders it and says he'll call as soon as it's ready. "Great," I say. "Can I replace this part myself?" Yes, Greg says. "It looks like I just need pliers...or...a wrench...?" "Um, actually, a one-quarter inch nut driver," Greg says. And he doesn't even laugh. Right, right. Of course. A quarter inch nut driver. That's what I meant.
Two days and $57 later, we are back in business (you kind of don't even realize how much you use your oven until you can't use your oven).
Was Trible's cheaper than Amazon? No, Amazon was about half the price. Was it cheaper, even, than ordering through GE itself? No, it was about the same. Do I feel like I'm following in Pops' handy footsteps, becoming a savvier home-owner, and putting money into a family-run business and my local economy? Absolutely. read more