Valentine’s Day was coming around again, and Dexter Firkins wanted to surprise his sweetie, Henrietta Zoodbury with something romantic. He thought of many different options, but he knew Henrietta loved to cuddle next to a fire, so he thought, Why not get a gas fireplace put in my house so we can cuddle by the fire? That would tickle her fancy.
Dexter did a search on the Internet and found a local fireplace vendor named Offenbachers.He went to their showroom, and it was certainly impressive. He was seduced by all the bright lights and gleaming surfaces, and yet their prices were the most seductive of all.
They had very scanty prices! Dexter signed a contract and went home with a smile on his face!
Things seemed to go swimmingly at first. The installer came, and in no time Dexter’s gas fireplace was up and running. He loved looking at the gas flames dancing over the fire logs, and the whole scene gave him a warm feeling inside.
When Valentine’s Day came, he and Henrietta sat contentedly on the couch and cuddled to their heart’s content. Dexter was in love with his new fireplace and used it a lot, but it wasn’t long before his love affair went sour. The fireplace started having problems — it didn’t always light right away, the flame got weaker and weaker, and sometimes it would just flicker and go out.
Dexter called Offenbachers for service. The company took its time responding to his calls, and it was weeks before they scheduled a service technician to come out and see what the problem was.
When he finally came out, he was an unshaven guy with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, and he took hours to diagnose and fix the problem, then charged Dexter a ton of money for the call (and left the area around the fireplace a mess).
But the worst part was, the problems didn’t go away. Dexter’s fireplace kept sputtering and flickering out, and he had to keep calling Offenbachers for more service visits.
Each time a technician would come out, spend hours working on the fireplace, then tell Dexter the problem was fixed (after handing him a huge bill).
And each time, the fireplace would work fine for a few days or weeks, then start acting up again.
It was a bad situation. Dexter would invite Henrietta over for some cuddling, but half the time the fireplace would sputter out, and they’d be left staring at a cold, empty hole in the wall instead of a warm, cozy fire.
What was he to do?
He had to fix this fireplace situation. Dexter did another Internet search, and this time he found Nice Heating & Air in Springfield VA. He went to their store and found helpful employees who wanted to make him happy.
They had a selection of models that was eye-catching and worked like a charm.
Their prices were a bit higher than other suppliers, but Dexter could tell they made up for it by excellent, caring customer service.
He bought a fireplace from them and was impressed by how professional the installer was, how quickly the job was done, and how reliably the fireplace worked.
The new fireplace was ready just in time for the next Valentine’s Day, and Dexter tried it out with Henrietta by his side. They sat for hours on the couch cuddling in front of the warm, cozy fire, and for them, it was love at first sight.
Dexter learned a valuable lesson — that if you hold out for quality, it’s better than being seduced by a low price!