It would appear that one of the hardest things to do is replace a screen door.
Not the actual installation of said screen door but actually getting one.
And one that works.
So the adventure started just over a week ago at 8:00 AM when I found a screen door that I wanted for our garage. This was to replace the one the previous owners had installed, a velcro/magnetic thing that was old, tired and torn. There was no packaging size listed other than the size of the door, 36 inches by 80 inches. As our vehicle has no roof rack and the odds of it fitting inside were nil, I opted to order it for delivery from our "local", and by local I mean about 20 miles away, for the tiny sum of $79 with delivery in two days. This is from a place that has home in the name. After I placed the order I got the confirmation email and just glanced at it and forwarded it to the wife for her records and she noticed what I had missed, the delivery date was now one week later than when the two day delivery was supposed to occur.
Nope, not gonna work for me.
So after a few phone calls to the order support and being disconnected twice after a four way call went south, I have learned a few things.
1) The online order support works out of three call centers. 2) They have no way of calling you back should the call get disconnected. 3) They have no way of connecting you to the person you were talking to. 4) Eleanor was really awesome but we also got disconnected on the third call. 5) Having to explain your issue this many times gets old real quick. 6) I will never be ordering online from them ever again, this is the second major issue I have had with them, there are no third strike your out.
So I got someone in the store on the phone and had them physically measure the package size so I could find out if it would actually fit. Yes it would. I canceled the online order and went to the "local" store that supposedly had five in stock. I say supposedly because the nice person who helped me took about 45 minutes looking for the inventory they supposedly had. He and a few other could not find any. I then called the other "local" store on the other side of town to find out if they could actually put hands on one of these doors and yes they could. I drive across town and get one of these seemingly rare and hard to find doors and I am able to get it inside the vehicle just fine.
I have finally gotten back home around 2:00 PM with my new door.
Six hours to procure a screen door.
WTF?
So now the "fun" part, assembly and installation.
Four parts and six screws, how hard can it be?
Now for reference, it is not quite your normal screen door that opens and closes like a normal outside door, it is a retractable screen door.
That has a spring in it that should roll up the screen into one of the sides.
Should.
Another couple of calls to the screen door company because of crappy/dropped connections and I finally get someone that can help me.
I was not aware but screen doors have serial numbers, I know now.
So after describing my issue and providing my serial number I am told a replacement side (the one with the spring that has sprung) will be shipped out for delivery in about ten days.
Ten Days?
Nope, not gonna work for me. I have spent all day trying to order, find and procure said screen door, I am not going to wait a week for a replacement part, find a way to expedite it.
I will be getting the replacement part in about 3 days including a weekend, so much better.
Just for kicks I looked up the part they were sending me on their website and the replacement part costs the same as what I paid for the entire door!
In fact, to order the four major parts that make up the door as replacements cost almost double what the whole door costs.
Time drifts by...
The replacement part arrived on the day it was to arrive but a little too late for me to work on it so tomorrow I will have a functional screen door?
Yes!
I unboxed the part and checked to make sure it actually retracted as it should and then uninstalled the door, replaced the side and reinstalled the door. It might sound like a lot but it was only about ten minutes.
Functional Door!!!!
It only took about a week and countless hours and a multitude of phone calls for it to happen.
But what about the broken part?
Well, I fixed that.
It looks like when the spring tension was set it was over done a little.
And by a little I mean a lot.
Enough that it collapsed it to the center and then broke it.
So the spring is now about an inch shorter but it still seems to work and the most "breakable" part, I have a spare one should it fail once out of warranty or due to other non warranty issues.
I will have a few more of these stories, one involving 600 gallons of toilet water and another one with some lawn mowers.