solarbird | oh black and decker how you do annoy me

So the filter and the thing that holds the filter in place on Paul's 7.2V rechargeable wet/dry dustbuster vacuum went on walkabout, and Paul bought a entire replacement unit, but of course I hate throwing perfectly good things out that just need parts, so I poked around on Black and Decker's website until I gave up trying to find parts ordering and contacted email costumer service, which kindly sent me back a phone number and a link to a parts-ordering website, the latter of which had been domain-squatted.

Well done.

So I call the phone number, and the first thing the phone answering system does is direct me to a different parts-ordering website, only this one actually works! And it knows the device and lists the parts.

90508160   WET DEFLECTOR   $0.73  In Stock. Limited Quantities
90508842   FOAM FILTER     $2.30  In Stock. Limited Quantities

So I go "yay!" and add them to my shopping cart where I get:

Subtotal       $ 3.03
Shipping       $10.50
               ------
Total          $13.53

These vacuums, new, on Amazon, are $20... and I don't even need one. Paul bought a replacement.

I hate you, Black and Decker.

eta: Anybody local want this? Free? U-haul. Or I can drop it by if I'm already going somewhere. Motor, charger, battery all work fine.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's frustrating to me, too, and supply-chain management is what I do for a living. But the problem is understandable, in a way. Now in fact, the shipping they should use wouldn't cost $10.50 -- probably more like $5 -- but they're almost certainly using an automated system that has a minimum shipping charge by one of the Big Three (UPS/FexEx/USPS). In situations like this, the only way to make it worthwhile is to buy a bunch of the parts so that the minimum shipping charge isn't more than the part costs.

I have an electric razor that uses disposable lather cartridges. The ones I want are difficult to find in stores. I used to be able to buy a case of them (twelve boxes, five cartridges/box) at a good price, and without the shipping being prohibitively more than the product, with the case lasting about a year. The vendor has stopped selling them by the case and now only sells them individually, which makes them much more expensive and not worth my effort. I've stopped using their cartridges and am just using soap even though the gel cartridges were easier on my face. (Fair skin, coarse black hair; not a nice combination.) Grumble.

oh black and decker how you do annoy me

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