Ook-tober Mini-rants

[commasense]

You may have heard of the big storm that hit the Northeast US last week?

Our house is about 100 feet from the ocean on the North Shore of Boston, and after four or five days of heavy winds and rain, the “main” storm hit us on Saturday.

We have mini-split heat pump AC/heating units, with two compressors, one on each side of the house. The one on the west side is mounted on the exterior wall, and weighs over 100 lbs. It looks something like this:

Early on Saturday afternoon, with the storm raging, I happened to notice that the compressor was dangling off the wall at an angle, hanging on by the electrical cable, which unlike the picture, was connected from above. I went down to examine it, and the mounting bracket had completely rusted away. It was only being held to the wall by the stubs of the bracket. I dashed to get a couple of boards to prop it up vertically and flipped off the breaker powering it.

I called the company that installed the system about five years ago, and the emergency contact said they’d have someone call me back about coming out on Monday to look at it. I explained it was likely to fall off the wall any time, and could they get someone out sooner?

I didn’t hear anything from them all day Saturday or Sunday. A few hours after I called, it fell off the wall, despite my props. I texted the emergency contact a picture of it lying on the ground. (click to see the entire image)

Monday morning at about 10:30 they texted me to ask if they could send someone out, and I said of course, and explained that it had fallen off the wall and they’d need at least two people to put it back up and a new stainless steel bracket.

You can see how badly rusted the bracket was, and it was our position that they should never have installed that one, we should obviously have gotten a stainless steel one from the beginning. Therefore, the repairs shouldn’t cost us anything, even though it was installed five years ago.

Although the technician who came out was sympathetic, he said the owner of the company said that their warranty was for one year and that they had installed the same brackets in the area many times and they had never failed.

They are charging us $350 for to remount the unit with a new stainless bracket, plus a couple hundred bucks more for a “maintenance call” to address any repairs related to its fall off the wall.

For me, this is just another example of US companies enshittifying our lives because they can. If the owner were a decent human being he would look at this and say, This is definitely our responsibility, no charge. But he doesn’t have to be a decent human being. He can charge us because we have no alternative. We can’t go to one of his competitors and get a free repair.

Also, their customer service sucked. The emergency contact said that two people would be in touch, and no one was until Monday. If they had called to say that all their techs were out on other calls, or give some other reason why they couldn’t come out immediately, we would have felt better.

[wolfpup]

A rant about some little steel pegs, but not as trivial as it may seem. I’m moving, and in huge distress over it. The beautiful medium-oak IKEA bookshelves with glass and wooden doors that I used in the previous house are missing some of the pegs used to hold the shelves. Another IKEA bookshelf formerly used in my son’s bedroom has no pegs at all in it, though they may be packed away someplace.

After lots of research, I found a source for those exact pegs. Yes, I know I could probably get them free from the IKEA service counter but that’s a major hassle, plus, I need many of them. I found what I need at a local furniture manufacturer which illustrates the pegs in the form of professional mechanical drawings giving exact dimensions and composition.

These guys are geared to commercial transactions and deal in huge quantities. So here’s what I ended up with to replace some missing pegs:

• 200 pegs: $7
• Extra cost for expedited shipping: $4
• Shipping and handling: $89

Note the bolded part. This is not some rip-off operation on eBay. It’s a wholesale business geared to high-volume orders. These guys clearly are not interested in individual retail customers, but dammit, I need those pegs! And no, I can’t find them on Amazon or anywhere else. For all I know, this international company might even be the original suppliers to IKEA.

[Beckdawrek]

There’s a cripple in my house. And it’s NOT me.

Mr. Wrek had his knee operated on, Monday He’s not a good patient. He hates being indoors(err, not fishing at the lake). He has trouble with the crutches. His shoulders are mostly shot. Steps are a big issue.

Today he started his PT. I dread him coming back from that. He’s gonna be thoroughly pissed and probably in pain.

Thankfully I got my schedule with dialysis squared away. So I’m not in any jinx, for this moment.

Seriously, our play house has been broken up.

[commasense]

Having put together numerous IKEA items, and saved a lot of leftover hardware, I may have some of those pegs. If you post or send me a link to the exact pegs you found, I’ll check my inventory. How many do you need?

[Atamasama]

@wolfpup

These guys are geared to commercial transactions and deal in huge quantities. So here’s what I ended up with to replace some missing pegs:

• 200 pegs: $7
• Extra cost for expedited shipping: $4
• Shipping and handling: $89

The Uber delivery guy has to drive from Sweden so that’s to be expected.

[Mean_Mr.Mustard]

@Atamasama

The Uber delivery guy has to drive from Sweden so that’s to be expected.

He also has to first assemble his vehicle before hitting the road.

mmm

[Ulf_the_Unwashed]

Oh man, he’ll never make it.

[Spice_Weasel]

Carried over from September.

@LSLGuy

Good point I’d not considered.

I’m not from that kind of family, so the following never occurred to me. But …

There are extended families where intra-family obligations run deep. You can’t say “No” to any even remotely plausible request, reasonable or otherwise. And doubly so if it comes from an earlier generation.

I’m honestly not sure how much shit this is going to stir up. My husband is super pissed right now. He’s like, “He’s cost us $3,000!” Which is true. The appraisal was done at the end of July and the place still isn’t listed.

The cousin in question is actually the husband of his cousin, so cousin-in-law.

We originally asked his actual cousin to do it - a highly competent woman - and she said she would do it and then gave it to her husband to do.

I really like the cousin, she’s great. So I hope it doesn’t cause any bad blood. But she regularly states that her husband is incompetent and she doesn’t trust him.

I dunno, it’s a shitty situation.

[MagicEyes]

@wolfpup

A rant about some little steel pegs, but not as trivial as it may seem. I’m moving, and in huge distress over it. The beautiful medium-oak IKEA bookshelves with glass and wooden doors that I used in the previous house are missing some of the pegs used to hold the shelves. Another

Have you checked any hardware stores? I found these pegs for a much better price at Lowes, so they’re probably also at other hardware stores. They were in little bins with other small items.

[LSLGuy]

@Spice_Weasel

…
We originally asked his actual cousin to do it - a highly competent woman - and she said she would do it and then gave it to her husband to do.
…
But she regularly states that her husband is incompetent and she doesn’t trust him.

As they say on Sesame Street: One of these things is not like the other.

I’m sorry you’re trapped in the middle of this.

[wolfpup]

@commasense

Having put together numerous IKEA items, and saved a lot of leftover hardware, I may have some of those pegs. If you post or send me a link to the exact pegs you found, I’ll check my inventory. How many do you need?

It’s very kind of you to offer, but I’m sure I’ll need many more than you may have. Just for starters, enough for one entire bookcase, and probably at least a dozen more for the others. In any case they’re arriving by courier tomorrow.

@MagicEyes

Have you checked any hardware stores? I found these pegs for a much better price at Lowes, so they’re probably also at other hardware stores.

I did. No one seems to have an exact match. One problem is that the majority of those pins have 5 mm inserts, and these are 3 mm. And the commonly available pins with 3 mm inserts are different on the shelf end – they either are flattened or have a larger diameter on the shelf end. The IKEA ones are 3 mm straight across, 15 mm long, with a central collar. If it’s not an exact match on the shelf end, I’d have to replace all of them.

[needscoffee]

@wolfpup

I did. No one seems to have an exact match.

That’s a shame. My local Ace Hardware has a little section for Ikea assembly hardware, but it’s not all-inclusive.

[Spoons]

Some of you may recall my September mini-rant about commercials in French interrupting my viewing of YouTube videos. Well, YouTube (or, more likely, its algorithm) has decided that even though I only watch English-language videos, I’m going to get commercials in French. Actually, it seems that 90% of the commercials I get are in French.

Not really a big deal, as I indicated previously, but having been exposed to them a lot, I can only say that some of them are an absolute hoot. In many cases, the French ads use a narrator, and French words displayed on screen (makeup, cars and trucks (“Blablabla Chevy Silverado blablabla …”), Canadian government ads for services, etc.), but the ones that were filmed originally in English and dubbed in French are hilarious!

“Steve, blablablabla?”
“Non, John, blablabla.”
“Ahhh. Blablabla, Lavazzo *cafe! Blablabla!”

Meanwhile, it’s like watching a cheesy Kung-Fu movie. The dubbing does not line up with the lip movements of the actors, who, of course, were originally speaking English during filming. I halfway expect to hear, “Huh! You have dishonoured my coffee! Huh! Prepare to die!” because there is no way that what I hear lines up with what I see.

Hey, if I have to see ads in French, I’m making the best of a not-too-bad situation, and I am being entertained by them. Years ago, my buddy and I used to love cheesy, badly-dubbed Kung-Fu movies, and we would howl with laughter at the bad dubbing. Today, I’m laughing at the bad dubbing of French ads.

[pullin]

More effing jury duty. I really hate being forced downtown to sit in horribly uncomfortable seating and go through the whole bullshit again. Just barely past the exemption period and I get tagged again. And of course, I somehow pass voir dire (sp?) and end up on the jury. Except this time they’ve improved things by dropping the free bus pass (for jurors) and closing the jury parking lot. So I had to navigate a fucking parking garage in which my truck cannot fit! Attention city morons – this is FORT WORTH TEXAS. You just might see a pickup truck or two here, and oh I dunno, maybe build your fucking garage so that one of the most commonly used vehicles in the state can fit in it?

Anyway, at least this time it wasn’t a horrible criminal trial, just a lawsuit against a corporation so the decision was pretty easy. Customers were forced to sign a document acknowledging that the corporation was both amoral and incompetent (one of those hold-harmless release of liability clauses). During deliberations, we agreed that the presence one of those clauses makes the entire contract bullshit, so we (literally) tossed it in the trash and found for the plaintiff.

@commasense

this is just another example of US companies enshittifying our lives because they can. If the owner were a decent human being he would look at this and say, This is definitely our responsibility

This was our opinion too, but this time we forced responsibility where it belonged. The aforementioned corporation failed to correctly install and maintain some equipment and the customer ended up with multiple compound fractures, along with a year in rehab. To the extent* we could, we made sure customer’s past and future medical bills were covered, and future lifestyle limitations were covered/paid as well.

*Judge’s instructions impose some limits on what a jury can do. We can’t just pull a big number of the air and write it down. At least in this case, a lot of our decisions needed categorized and justified.

[WolfpackJeep]

Jesus effin’ Christ Walmart, is it too much to ask of your drivers to learn how to navigate a roundabout? This one even has nice fresh paint and big signs telling you well in advance which lane you need to be in to go in which direction. And yet I found myself suddenly sharing the through lane with one of your tractor trailers this morning. The driver even had his right turn signal on…for a maneuver that involved turning left.

[Atamasama]

@WolfpackJeep

And yet I found myself suddenly sharing the through lane with one of your tractor trailers this morning. The driver even had his right turn signal on…for a maneuver that involved turning left.

A few months ago, my wife and I were traveling to an appointment and for the first time spotted someone going in an roundabout the wrong direction. That was fucking scary. The last thing I thought I had to worry about was a head-on collision in one.

[Spice_Weasel]

@pullin

This was our opinion too, but this time we forced responsibility where it belonged.

That hopefully made your frustrations worth it. It’s not every day we get to stick it to the man.

@LSLGuy

I’m sorry you’re trapped in the middle of this.

He just posted the listing on Zillow but I think we have to approve it before it goes live. The pictures he took were horrible.

My husband talked to the competent real estate agent who said it’s not true the home can’t be posted on MLS and a slew of other things he told us that were inaccurate. She said, “I’m really concerned about his lack of knowledge.”

No shit?

Listen we’ve got to rip off this bandaid. There’s a family wedding tonight (I’m not going! Wahoo!) so we can’t fire him until tomorrow. Whatever the family fallout, well, I’m positive people have done worse things to each other.

[Jasmine]

@Beckdawrek

He has trouble with the crutches. His shoulders are mostly shot. Steps are a big issue.

I’m concerned he might fall or something, and I’m thinking it would be very hard physically for you to handle such an occurrence. Do you have at least part time daily assistance or someone who could come on short notice?

[Dr.Drake]

I see that all the time in tiny neighbourhood ones, for people making left turns. Saves going around the roundabout, and is infuriatingly irresponsible

[Atamasama]

@Dr.Drake

I see that all the time in tiny neighbourhood ones, for people making left turns.

It’s no different than going the wrong way down a one-way street as a “shortcut”.

That’s how people get killed.