Stock Tip: Dump Frigidaire

Now, I’m the last person to ask about getting a stock tip. But I’m fairly confident in recommending that you dump any Electrolux/Frigidaire stock. I haven’t run any P&E analysis. I haven’t made any bar graphs. But I did notice one thing: They pretty much refuse to allow me to give them money.

Seems to me that the first rule of business is to take money when customers give it to you.

We decided to get a new fridge a month ago. Went to ApplianceSmart (as always) and managed to find a Fridge with all the features we wanted that would actually fit into our small kitchen. We were thrilled (well, as thrilled as one gets over a fridge…damn, we’re getting old…). We ordered it and started our 7-10 day wait. During that wait, we figured we’d donate the old fridge to my wife’s job and we’ll replace the kitchen floor while we’re at it.

Well, 3 weeks later, we still had no fridge. Living in 2006 as a family of four out of a mini bar-fridge is tough.

OK, no problem, I just need to call ApplianceSmart and I’m sure they can log into the Frigidaire B2B inventory tracking system and give me an answer.

Nope.

Damn. Well, we need a fridge. So I spend another week calling around…

Reseller one: Looks like a discontinued model.

Reseller two: Looks like a brand new model…I can’t order it yet.

Reseller three: It’s on backorder. Could take a couple of weeks.

Reseller four: It’s on backorder, will probably take 3-4 months.

Reseller five: They had a flood in their distribution center. So they aren’t shipping anything.

Reseller six: They’ve moved distribution centers, so we’re not sure where anything is.

Reseller seven (now venturing out to Chicago): Hmm…we have no clue.

During this time, I’m sending emails to Frigidaire asking them simply ‘please tell me where to buy the fridge you have for sale on your web site’. Not a single answer. Not even an insincere automated reply.
I end up calling Frigidaire asking to talk to someone in distribution who can tell me where their products are. According to them, Fridigidaire doesn’t have a distribution department. Well, I guess that explains a lot.

Now, I’m not sure why Frigidaire doesn’t want to sell me a fridge. But it seems like a poor way to stay in business.

Tip to Frigidaire: Invest in a little handy bit of technology called a “database” that you could then put on the “internet” to track your product where your resellers could “help customers give you money”.

Also, get a distribution department.