Or, more accurately, the Evil Empire. The Evil Empire in this case being a very popular store that shall not be named, just to cma.
Two years ago, the day AFTER Christmas, I went to the Evil Empire and bought a pre-lit Christmas tree for $50. This was half of its normal price of $100. I promptly took it home, set it up and plugged it in to make sure all the lights worked. They did, so I eventually took it down and stored it away.
Last year, I set it up, and had one section decide to not light up. No matter what I did or how many lights I replaced, nothing worked. I just turned the tree around so that section was in the back and ignored it. I think I finally figured out which one it was after about 4 days of messing with it.
This year, same tree, I had TWO sections out, the one from last year, again, and one at the top, going all the way around, and totally NOT disguisable. So after three days of trying to figure out which bulb needed replacing, I head off to the Evil Empire to get some more replacement lights since I ran out of the ones that came with the tree.
They don't have any. The gentleman working in the area tried to help, and finally told me to just bring the tree back and exchange it. I even told him I didn't have a receipt or anything, he said it didn't matter.
So after making a trip to Target to make sure they didn't have any lights that would work, I took the tree down, packed it in the box and schlepped the family back to the Evil Empire's exchange desk.
Damn, that lady was PISSED. Apparently, the Evil Empire now has a 90-day exchange policy (that they've never had before, and there are no signs speaking of this, unlike at Target), but she has to honor the exchange because the gentleman told me I could return it!
She refunded me the entire $100 plus tax. It was on a gift card, but it was still $50 more than I paid for the tree. So we went to the back, bought an un-lit tree and 10 boxes of lights. The total came out to 2 pennies more than what was on the gift card. I only used 6 boxes of the lights, so I'll probably be returning the rest in the next day or two.
My tree is finally up and decorated, and it looks very pretty. Eventually I'll get pictures posted, but that requires uploading the pictures from the camera, so it may be a few days.
2 comments:
I hung a green branch looking garland on the mantel. Calling it good! If I put a tree up the cats & dogs would probably have it down in no time flat.
This is why I avoid the lure of the pre-lits. They may *seem* cool and handy and nifty at the time, but what a headache, eh? I saw all the replacement light thingies they had a Target the other day when I was shopping for a new wreath, and was about to suggest that in the comments, so I'm glad you mentioned that you checked there before you wrapped the tree up and returned it and everything.
I haven't finished decorating the tree at our house, yet. Leo is surprisingly bah-humbug when it comes to decorating, so I have to do it by myself. I hate doing it by myself!
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