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Last week it was the fuel pump in my car.  This week it was the dryer in the basement, which meant a two-day research project  into the minutiae of home appliances, with an emphasis on energy efficiency.   For the most part, prices on these things are the same at every store.   The variable was in attitudes and levels of customer service among potential vendors.

"Home" Appliances courtesy Geddy Bruschi

Research started on ConsumerReports.org, where I indentified the top brands (LG, Bosch and Frigidaire) then quickly moved on to the usual suspects:  Home Depot (Woburn), Lowe’s (Woburn), and Yale Appliance & Lighting in Dorchester.

Home Depot was up first.   Overall very good experience, the salesperson was friendly and knowledgeable, no pressure, quick to point out the pros and cons of different models with no bias or preference.   Very matter of fact  – the dude was honest, seemed genuinely interested in what this consumer’s needs were and how Home Depot could meet them.   Leading contender at the end of the visit was an LG middle-of-the-line gas-powered model for about $610.  (Gas Dryers run about $50-$100 more than the corresponding electric models, but gas will save $ on energy costs over time)

Next stop was Lowe’s.    First enquired about how much more the gas version of a Samsung model I was interested in would run, the salesperson spent about 10 minutes rooting through their databases to no avail.   Finally she asked one of her colleagues who instantly told her $80, which was a little surprising – as if he memorized these types of numbers.   From that point the experience at Lowe’s went straight downhill.   Aside from coming across as uninterested in general, the pair of salespeople tried to steer me towards a Whirlpool, saying it was “the highest rated brand”.  Really?  According to Consumer Reports, that would have been LG.   In all my online research, which was quite extensive, not once did I see any mention of Whirpool as “highly rated”, so who knows where that came from.     To summarize, the Lowe’s experience was lame.   Seemed like they didn’t care, didn’t provide accurate or honest information.

Yale Appliance and Lighting in Dorchester was the wild card.   I passed by this place hundreds of times on my commute so thought it was worth a look, especially after checking out their reviews on Yelp.  Bottom line is that Yale Appliance is in a completely different league than Home Depot and Lowe’s.   The entire experience was refreshing – no pressure, very informative, practically every detail of this experience was perfect.

Upon arrival, I was greeted by a concierge who asked if I needed any help from a salesperson.   At that point I was just looking around, so I declined and was told politely that if I did need a salesperson to just come back to the concierge desk.   After checking out the merch, decided that talking to a salesperson would be a good idea.  Went back to the concierge and was given a restaurant-style pager and was told it would notify me when a salesperson was available to answer questions.   After about 20 minutes, it went off and the pitch got underway.    First of all, Mark (the Yale salesperson) provided an overview of the differences in types of dryers, pointed out that often there are incentives for buying a washer at the same time, not all of which include pricing.   At the end of the process, I was provided with three written price quotes for 3 different dryers as well corresponding washer/dryer combos, which are good for 30 days.   Mark also included printouts of the product pages for each unit from their respective manufacturer web sites (Bosch and 2 Frigidaire models) as well as his business card, noting the reference numbers on each.

As of today I am still doing research, and haven’t made up my mind aside from knowing that I won’t be buying anything at Lowe’s.   However, the customer service experience at Yale Appliance was so exceptional that I just had to blog about it.

This past weekend my car coughed up a hairball on Storrow Drive, stalling out in heavy traffic near Copley Square while doing last minute Christmas shopping. I coasted off the exit and was able to get restarted, making a beeline

for Boston’s go-to auto repair shop: The Car Zone in Kendall Square, where it would be in good hands with Murph, one of the finest mechanics in the city. So by now you are probably thinking “why am I reading this, and why is he blogging about such a mundane topic???”

Turns out this latest car problem highlighted -

a) Why Murph is *the man* when it comes to honest, fast, affordable car repair Boston

b) How the web is a price – buster as it always pays to shop around for auto parts.

Here’s how it went down: I dropped it off with Murph on Christmas Eve, knowing he wouldn’t get to it until after the weekend. As it turns out, the East Coast got slammed with a major blizzard on the 26th/27th – so instead of having to dig out from 18″ of wet, heavy snow my wheels were stashed safely indoors at The Car Zone. Just by virtue of that I dodged a major bullet.

On Tuesday morning, just after 8:00 AM, Murph called to let me know that the culprit was a faulty fuel pump. He had contacted a dealer about the part, and was quoted $349. Knowing that price was too high, Murph demurred and asked if I had any ideas. Unfortunately our go-to used parts store, Nissenbaum’s did not have one in stock, so I did some quick research, and found a plethora of options, ranging from $251 at The Auto Zone in Somerville to $35 from a shop in Calgary which while very cheap would have taken up to 10 days to ship. The solution turned out to be J & S Auto Salvage in Flint, Michigan – which offered a reconditioned fuel pump in “A grade” condition for $55, with another $15 for two – day shipping.

Bottom line is that by going to Murph and shopping around, I saved myself from having to shovel out from the worst storm of the year, while also realizing a $280 savings for the necessary part. You can’t go wrong with the Car Zone! Also major props to Randy at J & S in Flint, who called me back with a tracking number within 30 minutes of placing the order.