In an effort to better inform new customers, we asked one of our existing customers to offer a first hand account of their own delivery experience. We hope the following detailed story, written by Heather B. of Chapel Hill, North Carolina (a first time customer herself), will help answer any questions you may have regarding the delivery of your new fireplace. Thanks again Heather!
Dear Direct Vent Fireplace Store,
I'll try to provide a full chronological sequence of events below, hopefully I don't miss anything, here goes...
I called in and placed my order on a Monday following an unusually cold weekend here in Chapel Hill. Your staff was very helpful in determining which fireplace would best fit my family's needs, and I was informed that my order would ship the following day, Tuesday.
On Thursday of the SAME WEEK, I received a call from the freight company, informing me that my fireplace had reached the distribution terminal for Chapel Hill, and they wanted to schedule an appointment for delivery. They offered to come out the following day (Friday) between 8am-12noon, and wanted to make sure I was going to be home to sign for the delivery. I gave it a quick thought and realized that I could not possibly take time off from work to be home. I asked the freight company if I could get one of my neighbors to come over and house-sit from 8am to 12noon, and sign in my place. They informed me that as long as the individual signing for the delivery was over 18, it would be OK. I asked the freight company to kindly hold a minute while I called a few neighbors on my cell phone. Unfortunately, no one was available during that full window of time.
I resumed my conversation with the freight company and asked if they could come to the house on Saturday or Sunday, however no luck there either. They offered to schedule the delivery the following week at a more convenient time for me, however I really wanted to get the new fireplace hooked up by the weekend. Suddenly I had a thought... My work was just 1 mile down the road from my house, and if I could coordinate with the driver, I could easily meet him at the house, sign for the delivery, and get back to work in a reasonable period of time. I asked the freight company if they could make an exception and have the driver call me when he was getting close to the house, giving me the opportunity to drive right over to meet him. The freight company thankfully agreed, and that's exactly what happened.
I was waiting at the house no more than 5 minutes when the truck arrived. The driver quickly lowered the pallet from the back of his truck using a powered platform and wheeled it over to the garage. Aware of my right to inspect the packages, I made sure that I opened each box and checked thoroughly for ANY potential damage. While the outside packaging looked intact, I still wanted to make sure that there wasn't concealed damage. The driver did seem a bit pressed for time, as I am sure he had many more deliveries to get to, however I simply informed him that this was an expensive pruchase, and I did not want to be on the hook should there be hidden damage. Satisfied with my inspection, I signed the delivery receipt, and headed back to work with a smile from ear to ear.
My husband and his brother (a licensed plumber) installed the fireplace that Friday evening, and the rest is history. While the delivery process was a bit of a juggle, we couldn't be happier and everything worked out great. Hopefully this story will help your customers know what to expect for their own fireplace delivery.
Thanks,
Heather
