I remember the first home we purchased. We had the usual emotions and feelings about owning our first home.
As you know, there are reasons they are "first homes." One of the features of this home was the 1 car garage.
I could pull our Mazda GLC into the garage but then I couldn't open the door. If I wanted the car in the garage I would have to pop the hatch & crawl out.
When we bought our second home we were much smarter. We found a home with a "2 car" garage with an overhead door opener. Woohoo!
We were so excited the first time we came home from the grocery store while it was raining. We stayed in the minivan and pushed a button. The garage door opened like magic. We drove into the garage and got out completely dry. :)
Now we are in a different home that can actually fit 2 vehicles in the garage and each has its' own door with opener.
A few months back 1 of the openers quit working. :( I fiddled with it thinking I could get it to work but I was unsuccessful.
I thought about replacing it and I thought about calling a repairman but like the freecreditreport.com commercial, I was too lazy - (saw their ads on my TV . . .)
A friend came over to help me on another project and ended up looking at the garage door opener. He discovered that the motor wasn't put in correctly (my fault). Now it seems to be working properly
But wait . . .
In the few months the opener wasn't working, the stop limiter had pulled away from the wire and needed to be replaced & I had lost the gear cover that held the thingamabob in place.
No problem. All I had to do was go the parts store & I would be done in just a few minutes.
But wait . . .
None of the local home improvement stores or hardware stores had the parts I needed. I had to order them on-line from the manufacturer.
I ordered the parts and waited ever so patiently. When the parts arrived on Friday you would have thought it was my birthday. I was so pumped that I - repeating "I" - was going to fix this and my garage door opener was going to work again.
But wait . . .
The stop limiter was the wrong one. I also ordered a "washer type gadget" that I thought I needed for the cover. However the cover I ordered included the "washer type gadget" resulting in an extra part that I did not need.
I went back on-line and ordered the correct stop limiter. I thought about leaving it at that and just keeping the parts. But I hate leaving money on the table.
I boxed up the wrong stop limiter and the extra part. I drove across town to have the stuff returned to the manufacturer. I paid to have it shipped.
Wrong stop limiter: $11.79
Extra part: $5.00
Total in wrong parts: $16.79
Cost in shipping the wrong parts back to the manufacturer: $7.49
Total back to me: $9.30
Now I could keep going with this thing factoring in the cost of gasoline etc. but you get the point. I went to a lot of effort for at best $9.30.
Here are a few things I am reminded through this experience:
•Ø I may shop on-line, but I need personal service to get the best value
•Ø Unnecessarily delaying a project will usually cost me more money
•Ø I may be able to pinch a penny but lose more in the long run
•Ø A good friend makes life better
Hope you sell something today and make a new friend.
Rick Trowe and I'm Standing Up.
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