Emotional Buyer

I am what I would call an emotional buyer. It takes me far too long to make even the simplest purchasing decisions (which is why I sometimes wander the store I'm in for over an hour). And when I do make a purchase, it is on my mind forever. I wonder if I should've (is should've not a word?? this is not passing spellcheck) just not bought what I did and then I go through another internal decision process regarding returning the item. I'm working on this because it is ridiculous. I try to make quick decisions and if I opt to buy something, I try to forget about what it cost and know that in a few months I'll forget I even had a dilemma. Obviously, the more expensive something gets, the more difficult this is and the more emotionally invested I am in my decision.

Rewind my life a few weeks ago. My trusty little freezer died.

It was a good freezer. It was given to me and I thought it was about 10 years old. I noticed the inside tag told a different story. Holy Cow! This thing lasted nearly 17 years. Anyway, I didn't want to spend the money on a new freezer. But it is SO hard going from having one to not. I'm guessing it's like a cell phone. If you never have one, you don't really know the convenience you're missing out on so you are not phased by the absence of it. On the other hand, after relying for years on a cell phone, I can hardly imagine having to live life without it (pathetic, I know). Such is the case with my freezer. Not to mention my savings in one year from buying in bulk and shopping sales is about what a freezer costs.

Saturday night I asked my mom if she'd go look at Spencer's with me. I love Spencer's. The sales atmosphere is a bit annoying, but in the end I've always felt like the service is great and the prices are the best. We've bought every appliance and bed we own from there. I also like supporting local businesses. Anyway, they really didn't have much of an option. Basically I had six choices: three different sizes and in each size I could either get frost free or manual defrost. After about 45 minutes of asking the salesman questions, getting the price lowered a smidgen, asking my mom questions and calling Jason, I decided I'd buy one. (I called Jason and asked him if I should buy one. I knew what he'd say, but his reasoning? "Yes, I don't want a crazy wife anymore"... hmmm). On Tuesday, they delivered my new freezer. It was pretty dirty and I noticed a dent along the back, but I was trying really hard not to be too obnoxious. I said, "Was this not in the box?" And one of the delivery dudes seemed a little irritated. He said with a rude laugh, "Yeah, I just took it out." Okay, I thought, I'll do a thorough inspection after you leave, jerk.

There were a few other nicks and lots of dirt, but knowing new things can't stay new forever, I decided to try to not let it bother me. I'm one of the most anal people I know so it takes a mental effort to try to find a happy medium between me and the average person. Jason came home and I wanted him to look at it knowing he'd probably say something to lessen the irritation (for some reason when people say things with the voice of reason, it calms my emotional upheavals). Things were fine until he pointed out the top of the freezer. I got on his car and saw this. Oh my my, I was furious! After all the time spent deciding on what to buy, emotionally preparing to make a big purchase and then questioning the condition when it was delivered and this is what I get! Part of my irritation was that I just paid a ton for something "new" and it looked worse than the floor model (PS I tried to get the salesman to sale me the floor model for a lower price, which makes this even more ironic). I was emotionally prepared to spend the money under the condition that I got what I expected. The other part, possibly the bigger part, was being lied to. The freezer is not new out of the box and for me to ask that question and be told it was (okay, maybe it was "out of the box" but it wasn't new, so they weren't totally lying, just deceiving me... which is the same in my book) just makes me want to scream. I hate it when people try to take advantage of me (trust me, I have a long list of these types of stories).

This morning I called Spencer's to complain and my salesman was busy, but I was told he'd call back. At the end of the day, still no call. So I called again and my guy was the one to answer the phone. He didn't ask questions, just told me they'd replace it or give me cash back, whatever I wanted. He offered $40, but I was like, no way, I want a new one. So then, like a good salesman, asked what I wanted for me to keep it. I said $100. $100 it was. Theoretically, I should be happy. But because I'm an emotional buyer, the $100 doesn't make me feel better because I'd already prepared to spend what it originally was to cost, for what I originally imagined I would get. I didn't spend 45 minutes deciding if I wanted a scratch and dent freezer for $100 less, so now I feel like I am stuck with an outcome I didn't adequately (or emotionally) prepare for. I know it's stupid, but that's how my head works people. By the way, if someone offered me $100 to come put dents in my freezer, I'd be happy to oblige. I know, so it doesn't make sense from a financial standpoint, it's all about the emotions. Now I just wonder if the guy knew he was giving me a beat up freezer and was trying to get away with it and that's why they were happy to meet my demand or if it was customer satisfaction at it's finest. I guess is the part where I'm supposed to be a good person and give him the benefit of the doubt.