Delivery, I got ya' delivery right here!
I admit it. I am a lazy bastard when it comes to physical labor. Anything I can do to get out of it, around it, or over it I will do it. So imagine my delight when I ordered my 42 in. Plasma from ButterflyPhoto and they offered "White Glove" service. This slightly fascist sounding service would require that a two man delivery team would bring my TV into my apartment, un-box it, and place it wherever my pea-peckin' heart wished.
Sounded pretty ducky to me. Afterall anything that keeps myspinal column away from a 100 pound television is worth the extra $100.00 Even if the shipper, Manna Distribution, is a company I had never heard of. Well, I soon learned that sometimes you don't always get what you pay for, and sometimes you also have to pay even more to get what you paid for.
I started to grow suspicious when I was contacted by Manna's Delivery department to schedule a delivery. They set up a delivery with a six hour window. Yes, six hours. My $2,500 tv would probably arrive somewhere between 11am and 4pm. You'd think if we can drop a bomb down a chimney and keep Keith Richards alive that you can narrow down the delivery of a TV to an hour or so. I mean, christ, what is this, cable tv?
Four and a half hours rolled by and just as my delivery window was about to be slammed shut on my fingers the delivery truck parked in front of my building. Well, it wasn't a delivery truck, it was a moving van from United Van Lines. Whether it was a rental or whether it was a local affiliate of United Van Lines I couldn't say, but what I discovered from a bit of poking around on the internet was that Manna Distribution is not really a delivery company in the traditional sense, like FEDEX and UPS. Nope, they don't own their own trucks, or have their own drivers. They simply dump the heavy lifting off onto one sub-contractor in whatever city somebody's tv. Apparently Manna's affiliate here is a member of the Mexican mafia.
I walked out onto the front porch to flag down the delivery truck (which had gotten lost even though I happen to live a block from one of the busiest sections in Los Angeles) I was confronted by the ugly visage of this driver with a heavy Chicano accent who sauntered like a gangbanger from "Training Day". After a brief exchange shouted from the doorway to confirm my address, I heard the words that made my stomach drop, "Hey, where you want it Man-g? We don't do stares no mo' Man-g."
Yes, apparently along with being a generally un-friendly, ugly motherfucker, this motherfucker also hated carrying large objects up stairs. Hey, who can blame him? I mean, who ever heard of a delivery man having to carry anything. The nerve. Yes, even though this was advertissed as "White Glove" service, my TV couldn't be carried up a single flight of stairs.
Visions of waiting at the bottom of my stairs, waiting until one of my friends to get home so I could pester them for a favor, I descended the stairs like Norma Desmond searching for her close up, fearing that if I didn't at least appear to take possesion of my TV it would soon disappears in the back of one of there guy's lowriders. They wheeled the carton over to the front of my stairs and here is where the plot thickened. The driver declared, "Hey, man-g, what you gonna do? You can't carry this TV up those stairs! I know you paid a lot for this TV, and I know you saved a lot too. SO if you can take care of us, we'll, you know, take care of you."
Ah, yes, apparently this was all my mistake. When I requested "White GLove" Service, I actually got Velvet Fist service. It was a devil's bargain, but what are you going to do? They have your TV and they are keenly aware you cannot move it. So I struck a bargain and paid the Eses $100.00 Cash to bring my TV upstairs. Of course, they did offer to help me set it up. There idea of setting it up is taking my plasma out of the box, spreading the parts for the stand everywhere, and then bailing out saying they had another delivery to make.
Yup, so afterall this 'White Glove Service", the task of setting up this 100 pound, thin and flat monster was left to me and my Girlfriend. Luckily the TV came out unscathed, my wallet and my Girlfriend's squashed hand can't say the same.
Of course, its partly my fault. I could've saved the money and recruited my friends ahead of time to help me set it up, but no I got greedy. I dared ask for a little customer service after dropping $2,500.00 on a television. I can't put a lot of blame on ButterflyPhoto directly; they held up their end of the bargain and got me my TV at a good price. As for the lovely company, Manna Distribution, all I can say is, Never Again.
I do not care how much money I can save, if I ever here that Manna is XYZ's solution to shipping Plasma TV I will run screaming towards the Sales Monkey's at Best Buy.
Keep it Sexy, America.
Sounded pretty ducky to me. Afterall anything that keeps myspinal column away from a 100 pound television is worth the extra $100.00 Even if the shipper, Manna Distribution, is a company I had never heard of. Well, I soon learned that sometimes you don't always get what you pay for, and sometimes you also have to pay even more to get what you paid for.
I started to grow suspicious when I was contacted by Manna's Delivery department to schedule a delivery. They set up a delivery with a six hour window. Yes, six hours. My $2,500 tv would probably arrive somewhere between 11am and 4pm. You'd think if we can drop a bomb down a chimney and keep Keith Richards alive that you can narrow down the delivery of a TV to an hour or so. I mean, christ, what is this, cable tv?
Four and a half hours rolled by and just as my delivery window was about to be slammed shut on my fingers the delivery truck parked in front of my building. Well, it wasn't a delivery truck, it was a moving van from United Van Lines. Whether it was a rental or whether it was a local affiliate of United Van Lines I couldn't say, but what I discovered from a bit of poking around on the internet was that Manna Distribution is not really a delivery company in the traditional sense, like FEDEX and UPS. Nope, they don't own their own trucks, or have their own drivers. They simply dump the heavy lifting off onto one sub-contractor in whatever city somebody's tv. Apparently Manna's affiliate here is a member of the Mexican mafia.
I walked out onto the front porch to flag down the delivery truck (which had gotten lost even though I happen to live a block from one of the busiest sections in Los Angeles) I was confronted by the ugly visage of this driver with a heavy Chicano accent who sauntered like a gangbanger from "Training Day". After a brief exchange shouted from the doorway to confirm my address, I heard the words that made my stomach drop, "Hey, where you want it Man-g? We don't do stares no mo' Man-g."
Yes, apparently along with being a generally un-friendly, ugly motherfucker, this motherfucker also hated carrying large objects up stairs. Hey, who can blame him? I mean, who ever heard of a delivery man having to carry anything. The nerve. Yes, even though this was advertissed as "White Glove" service, my TV couldn't be carried up a single flight of stairs.
Visions of waiting at the bottom of my stairs, waiting until one of my friends to get home so I could pester them for a favor, I descended the stairs like Norma Desmond searching for her close up, fearing that if I didn't at least appear to take possesion of my TV it would soon disappears in the back of one of there guy's lowriders. They wheeled the carton over to the front of my stairs and here is where the plot thickened. The driver declared, "Hey, man-g, what you gonna do? You can't carry this TV up those stairs! I know you paid a lot for this TV, and I know you saved a lot too. SO if you can take care of us, we'll, you know, take care of you."
Ah, yes, apparently this was all my mistake. When I requested "White GLove" Service, I actually got Velvet Fist service. It was a devil's bargain, but what are you going to do? They have your TV and they are keenly aware you cannot move it. So I struck a bargain and paid the Eses $100.00 Cash to bring my TV upstairs. Of course, they did offer to help me set it up. There idea of setting it up is taking my plasma out of the box, spreading the parts for the stand everywhere, and then bailing out saying they had another delivery to make.
Yup, so afterall this 'White Glove Service", the task of setting up this 100 pound, thin and flat monster was left to me and my Girlfriend. Luckily the TV came out unscathed, my wallet and my Girlfriend's squashed hand can't say the same.
Of course, its partly my fault. I could've saved the money and recruited my friends ahead of time to help me set it up, but no I got greedy. I dared ask for a little customer service after dropping $2,500.00 on a television. I can't put a lot of blame on ButterflyPhoto directly; they held up their end of the bargain and got me my TV at a good price. As for the lovely company, Manna Distribution, all I can say is, Never Again.
I do not care how much money I can save, if I ever here that Manna is XYZ's solution to shipping Plasma TV I will run screaming towards the Sales Monkey's at Best Buy.
Keep it Sexy, America.
