Admitting you made a mistake

We got a new oven a couple of weeks ago (the last of the appliances we had to replace after The Incident involving the installation of our new floor in June). Last night, I finally admitted to myself - and to Brock - that I hate it. I HATE IT.

The oven in question is a Premier 36-in. gas range. It replaced our dead Tappan 36-in. gas range because that model, when we went to replace it, had gone up in price $200 from when we bought it four years ago, and we had to buy a fridge, dryer, microwave and toaster all in the last four months. (I know toasters and microwaves aren't expensive, but it's the principle of the thing.) It just seemed like too much money. So we decided to try something new.

Did I mention I HATE IT?

It started at delivery: a weird, very faint gas smell emanating from the range. We had them come fix it, no problem. Also, the griddle cover that came with it was all beat-up and peeling, which was weird, so we called the store and asked them to send a replacement. No problem.

So, then we used the stove. The burners are really touchy, and there's not much room between High and Off. Hmm. Guess we can learn to deal with that.

Then we used the oven. It took more than 30 minutes for it to reach 350 degrees, which seemed a bit excessive. Also, the entire oven got so hot; I mean, you could very easily burn your hand on the outside of the door. This made us both very nervous about having Hannah even in the kitchen while we were cooking. We've always kept her away from the oven, anyway, but our old one didn't get hot on the outside, to the point where you thought it might start melting things nearby. Hmm. Pretty annoying.

Thursday night, I made taco casserole. I turned the oven on at 5:50. By 6:20, it hadn't reached the desired temperature yet. Hmm. Still annoying.

Yesterday, the replacement griddle cover came. It was just as beat-up and awful-looking as the first one. So I called the store again and told them the story. I talked to a nice guy in the parts department who ended up being the same person I talked to when I ordered the replacement. He said he had to call Premier to get it, and they said the peeling white stuff was actually just a cover. It was supposed to come off. I told him, "Okay, what's under the peeling white cover is silver. My oven is white. That makes absolutely no sense. Either this part doesn't come in white, which is stupid, or somebody is lying to you." He told me I should call Premier myself and explain the situation, that maybe they'd just shipped the wrong thing - twice (once with the oven, and once separately). He said they were probably closed for the weekend, but I tried the number he gave me anyway. It was a cell phone.

And that's when something snapped in my brain. I did not want this oven. I wanted this oven gone.

I called Brock at work (it was early evening, and he wasn't home yet) and told him what was going on, and how stupid it all was, and how I wished we'd just sucked it up and bought the other oven because I really didn't like this one. He said, "I wonder what their return policy is."

So I called the store back and asked. They said 30 days, and it didn't matter if you'd used the appliance.

I called Brock again. I said, "I'm still mad, and we can return this stupid oven and get a different one. Let's go tomorrow and do it." He said okay. I would have gone right then if I could (I'm one of those people who finally makes up her mind to do something and then can't stand waiting to do it), but Hannah needed dinner and it just wasn't practical.

Then I called my mom and complained about the oven some more. Brock came home. We called his mom and I complained about the oven even more. I really hate this oven. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone - ever - and if anyone from Premier happens to get this on their Google blog alerts, I sincerely hope they think to question why they're even selling an oven that gets so hot on the outside it could send you to the emergency room if you weren't careful.

We bought our ovens - all three of them, now - from Abt Electronics. As much as I hate this Premier oven, I LOVE Abt. Everyone should go there and buy appliances. They have free, fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies on Saturdays and Sundays. Their salespeople are helpful and know what they're talking about. They have a ridiculously huge selection of just about anything that plugs in. And today, when I walked up to the customer service counter and said, "We got this oven, and we're not very happy with it, and we want to exchange it for a different one," they didn't question me at all. Our original sales guy came back to help us and just said, "No problem, we'll get it taken care of." I didn't have to give a lengthy explanation (as I have here) about why I hate the oven. He just wrote, "Customer doesn't like oven" in the account notes, put in the order for our new oven, and handed us the receipt to take to the checkout. No questions asked. The best part was that the new-new oven was on sale, so we actually, in the long run, saved a couple hundred bucks by buying the wrong oven first, then going back to get this one. Hooray for Abt! Buy stuff there. They treat you right.

Our new-new oven is coming on Saturday. It's an exact replacement of our original one, so I anticipate being happy with it. And then, maybe, I'll make cookies. :)