Black Friday shopping

[judy]

What a great deal Gayle!!! It's good that you were able to order it online too! Lesson learned, I guess. I do find that online shopping is much quicker and, if all goes well, easier.

The only thing is 1) I don't often get to see the product and 2) You would have lost out getting hailed on in Texas!

Good luck with the delivery!

Here's my online shopping story for the month: I have been looking for a nice wall cabinet for my living room. Going to town (Kingston) to search the stores doesn't pay because the department stores are small and not well stocked, especially with furniture. Homegoods has great stuff, but they don't deliver. I can handle bringing home an end table, but not a big piece of furniture.

I found a piece I liked at CSN.com, with free shipping. Ordered it, and got a delivery call from UPS telling me that they don't bring things down steps. My house is down a hill, and there are a lot of steps! I called CSN, they arranged inside delivery for an extra $40, got another call from UPS telling me that they will not bring it down the steps, a call from CSN asking me if I wanted cancel, and I canceled the order. I found another online store that advertised inside delivery for free and ordered it from them, for about the same price. Delivery company called, no problem with the steps, all set! Of course, when the delivery guy came, his papers said curbside deliver! Finally, I told him that I would give him a nice tip if he brought it inside for me. Inside it came, and he helped me open the box to inspect it. Whew!

CSN's customer service rep who I had been speaking to about this disappeared off the face of the earth when I requested my $40 delivery charge back. Another rep told me I would be responsible for the shipping of the furniture from UPS back to CSN. No way! I put in a claim with my credit card, faxed them some papers, and got a refund yesterday.

So, which is better...waiting online to be told there are no more, or online shopping with it's precarious endings?