# Ook-tober Mini-rants **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** monthly-mini-rant\ **Created:** [October 1, 2026, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ook-tober-mini-rants/1033511 "2026-10-01T14:18:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ook-tober-mini-rants/1033511/1 "2026-10-01T14:18:47Z")
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: [![](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/18/a6/b0/18a6b0a89fdce3c39ac666eff25b2691.jpg) ](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/18/a6/b0/18a6b0a89fdce3c39ac666eff25b2691.jpg) 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) [![Google Photos](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AP1GczNj_AdH2qY38PDr3upbempjk2o99JY8dq5Ukxv39qfrLnb6FtD50LXIAmuKhuvlrOV5CbNAwkUYg6H7w-B2dKoH3ytAT5mM7odEG2gQ2uiXMvit7IsM=w600-h315-p-k "New photo · Sunday, Sep 27 📸") ](https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOZy2dXK8fSoVQTo7nB-Slc2juYNH7cQ_yoaepkwVhrRRXJVWNI3wW70pf3tRc25A?key=d21zaGVQM2xyTllsdVoxT0hQYVJrd3FBMjBoeGxn) 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. 😡 😡 😡 ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ook-tober-mini-rants/1033511/2 "2026-10-01T14:31:48Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ook-tober-mini-rants/1033511/3 "2026-10-01T16:07:13Z")
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.