okay, so it's not quite over...

...but it's farcical rather than problematic.

Remember how I'd thought I'd talked to someone at Sears on Sunday afternoon who put through an order for installation, only to be told later that night when I called back that no such order existed? Then that person actually gave me a price and I said no and said to cancel any existing requests for installation.

Well, I just got this:

Dear Sears Customer,

Thank you for shopping at Sears. The price for installation does not include the permit fee required in your area. The permit fee in your area is a $51.00 gas permit fee and is required in addition to the estimated install fee of $179.99.

Please respond to this e-mail within five days by e-mailing us at install@searshc.com or call 1-800-349-4358 to accept the additional charges to the credit card. Once the extra fees charge has been approved, your order will be processed.


This is AWESOME. It's from out of nowhere, or, rather, resurrected from no-man's land, and it's right before I leave the country for over a week. I LOVE it. I'm so glad my dryer was already installed (for less, at my convenience, and not by Sears).

***
Here's an even better customer service model.

Some interesting thoughts on civilian-military roles in the Post.

The Times had a great Quote of the Day by a Mr. Paul Poast: “When you take away the threat of nuclear annihilation that helps things.”