Playset Envy: The Story of Our Swingset

So, we did it. We bought a swingset. It's funny that when you're in the market for one, you start checking out other people's sets like you check out cars. You compare, contrast, stop & stare. It's pretty sick, actually. I think Mark and I have both almost wrecked while checking out someone else's swingset...


So we checked around and decided to go with Lowe's. We first went to Home Depot because I found one online that I liked that was $870. It's a lot, but you know it's worth it not to have to drag everyone out of the house, load up the car and go to a park with the baby...oh, and a 2 year-old who'd much rather get 40 vaccines in a day than listen to anything Mommy tells her to do. So we get there only to find out that this price doesn't include a SLIDE (???) or the support beams needed to complete the assembly. Who the EFF thought of this one? I mean, when you buy a KIT for a swingset, you would THINK it would include the things you need to put the damn thing together, right? Anyway, after making my case to the manager about why this was the most misleading and ridiculous thing I've ever seen, she basically said that she's not the company who makes the kit, and so she's not responsible. So off to Lowe's we went!


Our first trip was to the one over on Shadeland. We were directed to the right aisle by a super nice guy...GREAT start! I looked and immediately fell in love with the most expensive one (DAMMIT)...I mean,
it has a BRIDGE, people!

So I decided we had to have it, and I needed to speak with the manager so we could get a deal on it. As soon as I saw this character, I knew I wasn't going to get anywhere with him, but I gave it a go anyway. I told him I wanted 10% off, and he asked me WHY? I told him that I knew I didn't have to pay full price, and that was that. He told me I needed to "work with" him in order for him to work with me. Ridiculous, right? I mean, *I* am the customer. *I* am the one who is either going to drop the cash or walk out of your store with nada. Well, he chose to let me walk out...and right over to the store on Post instead. I walked directly to the customer service desk and told the assistant manager that I wanted the swingset, and I wanted 10% off. He said "no problem." So we bought it right then. How exciting! We set up delivery for the following Friday because this thing is the size of a CAR, and we'd have no way of getting it to our house.


So I get a call Friday around lunch time that the delivery guy cannot find the swingset, and he asked me how I'd like to proceed. Um, how about you find my damn swingset that I paid well over $1K for and drive it on over to my house?! I had to practically hold this guy's hand and explain how to problem solve...hilarious. I asked if they could get it from a different store (preferrably the Shadeland location!), and he said he'd try to get his hands on one and give me a call back. So he calls back a few hours later to tell me they found mine in HIS store. He said it was "hiding." Really??? HIDING?! Like how you stash a doorbuster deal on Black Friday? I can totally see some lady doing that with this thing. Anyway, I held back my laughter and told him that was great. So we reset delivery for the following day.


It was the most ridiculous circus I've ever seen. It came on a flatbed semi, and he had to get it off using a forklift. Well, the box is longer than it is wide, so he had to pick the pallet up so that it was much wider than it was long. He wanted us to move BOTH vehicles out of our garage in order to get it in...UM, NO. So I explained to Mark that it was ridiculous that he couldn't figure out that he could drop it in the driveway and then use the forklift to PUSH it into the garage long-ways, rather than lifting it in and taking up the entire garage. I went inside to take a few deep breaths, and amazingly, my plan worked!

So now we're just waiting for my dad to come down to put the thing together. I promise to post more pictures of the entire charade once we're all done!


Til next time...