Hey, Hey, My, My

There’s a lyric in a song I like very much that goes: “They give you this but you pay for that.” Recognize it? It’s from “Hey, Hey, My, My” by Neil Young. Although my preferred rendition of the song is the cover by the modern band Battleme. And in their version the line goes: “You pay for this and they give you that.” Either way, it means the same thing: you didn’t get what you paid for. It’s meant metaphorically, of course, but it’s true enough during any exchange of goods and services at times. But sometimes you actually get MORE than you paid for. One instance just happened to me with a Home Depot purchase.

Coming from a family of contractors, I’m pretty handy. I’m not a professional (that title goes to my brother, cousins, and uncle…and my father who’s basically a master woodworker), but I can tackle most projects on my own. Two years ago, I remodeled my deck. Last year my porch. This year I renovated my garage. I’ve built a number of furniture pieces for my house and there’s nary a home repair I can’t do. But I hate painting. I mean I really hate painting. But for all my quasi-skill and tool prowess, I flinched at the task of installing storm doors on my front and back door.

We’ve wanted storm doors (for different reasons) on both doors since we moved in eight years ago but always held off because our exterior doors are oversized (36×96) and their storm-door companions have to be custom ordered and are quite expensive…for storm doors, at least. But after eight years of weighing the cost-benefit, we decided to throw them into the order for my garage renovation to help “hide” the expense.

I regretted the purchase almost immediately.

After thinking about it more, I wasn’t happy with the color choice for the front door, I wasn’t thrilled about the possible modifications needed to the door frames to get everything to fit properly, and was NOT happy with the price (my modest garage renovation wasn’t thick enough to pad the sticker price apparently.

With the return window closing, I called Home Depot one morning to schedule a return pickup (they do this, by the way, for larger items) and was transferred to someone who talked me into at least having one of their installers come out to take measurements. This was after explained my concerns and after she explained that to have the doors picked up and after restocking fees, the return was going to cost me around $300. Yes, I’d be getting most of my money back, but that’s an expensive return, so I figured I’d entertain the idea of having them professionally installed. The only caveat was the installation was going to cost about…guess…$300.

A few days later, someone came out, measured my doors and frames, and the day after that, I got a call from Home Depot and was surprised with the good news that they were running a special on storm door-installation for 50% off and my installation would cost around $180.

Okay, let’s do it, I said, and paid for the install over the phone, feeling not great but better about the purchase.

The next morning, I woke to a voicemail from the first person I spoke with there (who persuaded me to have the measurements taken). In the message, this person was full of laughter over some more good news and I was to call back the store soon as I could. So I did and found out there’s some policy on tax and storm-door installations and I’d be getting a refund of over $100 for the install, bringing my new total down to $69 for the two doors.

Honestly, I was a little taken aback, seeing that I had a case of buyer’s remorse and was irritated about losing a possible $300 any which way I looked at it.

So I guess Neil Young (and Battleme) are right, “Out of the blue and into the black. They give you this and you pay for that.”

My overall point is not to celebrate a minor dose of good fortune but share an experience where sometimes you get more than you bargained for and it’s not always a bad thing. You hear that 2020!

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