check before you buy

[ohiofarmer 3,470]

   After 50 years of marriage, my wife's iron finally gave up the ghost. It was a good iron, made in Germany and she kept it looking new. Her former boss gifted it to her as it was on the list for things we needed. Sadly, the same company makes them in China now. More sadly when she opened the box the 100 dollar iron was not in there, but an old used iron was taking its place.  Now we need to open the box at the counter before we buy stuff, I suppose.   We try to avoid clothes that require ironing these days, but that iron is used primarily to make NICU  {neonatal intensive Care Unit]  blankets for newborn babies .  There is a constant need for them as a certain number have to be discarded as not all of them can be washed.  She does this at church as they cut out bolts of fabric and she brings the pieces home to sew and it takes an iron to seam them. 

 

   I tested the iron and the cord had continuity, but it did not pass through to the innards of the iron.  i will take it down further to investigate

[davem1111 2,320]

Yeah, it seems like more and more we have to practice extreme diligence to avoid getting ripped off.The jungle site is getting worse, have to read the reviews and research things, and even then you may end up with a piece of junk and the hassle of trying to return it. I recently bought a 1-to-4 garden hose splitter with cutoff valves. Dang thing leaks in 2 places.  We're trying to use that site less and buy from smaller businesses when possible.

 

To your point, even if buying something in person you have to be careful and double-check. Just because it's in a sealed box doesn't guarantee anything.

[ri702bill 12,867]

Yep - a few years back, I purchased an 8 or so piece set of T handled Metric Allen Wrenches from the "Jungle Site". They arrived in a sealed box the next day. To my surprize, the common 4, 5, & 6MM wrenches were missing - in their place were some remnants of broken plactic decorations! Before I initiated the return, I called their 800 Customer Service number to notify them of this bogus issue & asked for a bit of guidance. I offered a digital picture of what arrived & was told that it was not necessary. Seems they have seen this type of nonsense before....

Edited 4 hours ago by ri702bill

[squonk 47,926]

It would be nice to "avoid" the jungle site but stores just don't seem to have what we ( I ) need most of the time. Lowes and Walmart near us packed with stuff but when we need something and check the website it has to be ordered. Even though the last time I bought it it was in stock on the shelf. Doesn't matter what. Shampoo we like? Nope! Furnace filter in the size we have? NADA even though they sold 100 of them last month they aren't a stocked item anymore. 

 

What really burnt my noggin was NAPA of all places. I wanted a spare sparkplug for my generator. Asian engine so I wanted NGK. I looked it up. They had Champion's in stock and NGK was a next day item. So Wednesday  night I order it on my Prolink account. They get the order when they open and I ASSumed it would be on the afternoon truck. So I go to the store Thursday. " No not here yet."  I go Friday. "Not here." I say it shouldn't take 2 days to get a spark plug stocked at the distribution center. They tell me they are getting it from their Remsen NY store and they haven't sent it. 

 

So Monday morning I go in to get something else and the plug still isn't there. I go  "5 days for a spark plug! Is anybody here   smart enough to pick up the phone and call this store and ask when the  are they going to send this plug?

 

I went home and later decided I would call my store and if they hadn't called the other store yet, I would call them myself. I grabbed my phone and it rang. My plug was in. They must have heard me! I worked in that store for 10 years and I would have been on the phone and gotten things handled on the first day. I could have gotten that plug on the Jungle next day Prime delivery. I would have paid $3 more but saved that in gas and aggravation! 

[Wayne0 1,626]

This reminds me of the "Mr. Coffee" I bought at Wallyworld. I opened the box to unpack it. All the packing was there, but the unit was used! The filter was still wet!

Some one bought a new one, put the old one in the box ( from the bottom) and returned it. They got a new one free.

Similar thing happened at HD. I was looking for a new well pressure tank. Saw one on a pallet, in the box. When I pulled it out, the bottom of the box was wet.

On inspection, the tank was used and returned.

Some people are real dirt bags!

Edited Tuesday at 05:31 PM by Wayne0

[davem1111 2,320]

On 9/15/2026 at 1:29 PM, Wayne0 said:

This reminds me of the "Mr. Coffee" I bought at Wallyworld. I opened the box to unpack it. All the packing was there, but the unit was used! The filter was still wet!

Some one bought a new one, put the old one in the box ( from the bottom) and returned it. They got a new one free.

Similar thing happened at HD. I was looking for a new well pressure tank. Saw one on a pallet, in the box. When I pulled it out, the bottom of the box was wet.

On inspection, the tank was used and returned.

Some people are real dirt bags!

 

Yes.  I carefully inspect any "new" underwear I buy....  

[SylvanLakeWH 32,209]

3 hours ago, davem1111 said:

 

Yes.  I carefully inspect any "new" underwear I buy....  

 

[Beap52 2,440]

Only took four air conditioner compressors purchased through local auto parts.  They were either used (dirt in threads) already opened (no pressure released when removed the sealing plugs), or had metal shavings inside (when mechanic poured out the oil to be sure the right amount was inside the compressor. 

[adsm08 5,033]

On 9/15/2026 at 1:29 PM, Wayne0 said:

This reminds me of the "Mr. Coffee" I bought at Wallyworld. I opened the box to unpack it. All the packing was there, but the unit was used! The filter was still wet!

Some one bought a new one, put the old one in the box ( from the bottom) and returned it. They got a new one free.

 

I had a similar experience one as well. I went to buy a Mr. Fusion for my Ranger, got it home, and there were still banana peels, coffee grounds, and some old beer in the bottom.

 

 

 

We had people try to pull this crap all the time when I worked at Advance. One guy would come in a few times a year with trash bags full of parts, wanting to return all of it, no receipts for any of it, half of it was house brands from other stores, and he'd threaten to call the district manager and complain if you tried to argue with him at all.

 

 

Edited 16 hours ago by adsm08

[953 nut 68,654]

On 9/15/2026 at 1:22 PM, squonk said:

NGK. I looked it up. They had Champion's in stock and NGK was a next day item. So Wednesday  night I order it on my Prolink account. They get the order when they open and I ASSumed it would be on the afternoon truck. So I go to the store Thursday. " No not here yet."  I go Friday. "Not here." I say it shouldn't take 2 days to get a spark plug stocked at the distribution center. They tell me they are getting it from their Remsen NY store and they haven't sent it. 

 

So Monday morning I go in to get something else and the plug still isn't there. I go  "5 days for a spark plug! Is anybody here   smart enough to pick up the phone and call this store and ask when the  are they going to send this plug?

MIKE, calm down, check your blood pressure;     You should have known that  @pfrederi bought up all the NGKs and all that was left was Champions.

[squonk 47,926]

22 minutes ago, 953 nut said:

MIKE, calm down, check your blood pressure;     You should have known that  @pfrederi bought up all the NGKs and all that was left was Champions.

I've fired more than 1 vendor in my time. We had a chiller at the hospital that hadn't run right from the day I went back to work 4 years ago. Had the OEM service dept there over and over. I won't mention them by name but they haul a lot of goods on rails. Every time they came back it was thousands and thousands. I kept all of the invoices. It was close to $200 grand. When I decided to retire and it still wasn't fixed I called the district manager and said he needed to come down to my office. Showed him everything I had. It was finally fixed just before I left without any additional cost. sometime ya gotta be the bad guy or they will walk all over ya. Complaining about it to your neighbor ain't gonna fix it. 

[ri702bill 12,867]

3 minutes ago, squonk said:

Complaining about it to your neighbor ain't gonna fix it. 

"The squeeky wheel gets the grease"... or the Boot!