38/365 : Thirty Minutes Later

Andy and I took the bus into Bolton because he was offered a job this morning (YAY!!) and he wanted to buy some new clothes for work and he starts on Monday.

About a week and a half ago I bought a curling iron that was on sale at Boots. It's the kind that has the heated rod and you can change out the type of curling barrel and it had several sizes and even a flat iron option. Anyway, a couple of days after I brought it home I tried it out for the first time and was very disappointed. To me the iron never got hot enough to really curl my hair. I was using the largest curling barrel and I let it stay on for around 15-20 minutes and yes it was hot but I put my finger on it for a good 2 seconds and it did not burn me.. that is not hot enough! I even did the sizzle test... you know when you lick your finger and touch the barrel and it sizzles.. yeah it never did that!

Anyway I called Boots before we left and explained the situation and the lady on the phone said there was no problem just bring it back in with my receipt and off I went. When I got there I stood in line with my return and again explained everything to the counter girl, she took the box and told me she would be right back. She then came back after about 5 minutes and asked me to follow her over to where the curling irons are. She had the iron plugged in and continued to explain to me that the iron is in fact getting hot and she burnt her fingers on it. I look down at it and it was just the heated rod that was exposed. Okay, sorry for the lack of a better explanation the stupid girl had plugged it in and tried to grab a hold of the heated rod without putting any of the actual barrels on. I grabbed the barrel I was trying before and attached it. After a few minutes I told her as I was saying before it does not get hot. She threw up her hands and said "I'm not touching it again it has already burnt me once" and then went over to a manager and told her I needed help and she walked away.

The manager comes over and I go into my full spill yet again... She then explains to me that the kind that change out never get as hot as the ones that are just by themselves. I tell her it does not say that anywhere on the box so she pulls out the instructions to see if it says anywhere, and of course it does not.

Now mind you.. the iron has been plugged in and on now for at least 15 minutes and she tells me that we need to wait a bit longer to see how hot it gets... It was at this point when I ask her if there is a problem with me returning this item so that I can buy a stand alone curling iron and she says no there is not a problem as long as there is a default in the item. I told her the fact that it has been been heating up for 15-20 minutes now and I can still touch the barrel with my fingers shows it has a default. She said again "Well it is getting hot it's just that these type of irons do not get as hot as the others". I ask her how I am supposed to know that in the store the only way I can tell is if I take it home and try it. She then points out where it is now plugged in and says that is why they have these plugs here. Andy then said "So customers can try things out before buying them? Because there is no sign saying that?" and she says "OH NO I mean this is for us to try the product if the customer says it is faulty, we can't just let customers bring back anything they want.. a company would not stay in business". It was at this point when I told her that I was form the United States and you can pretty much return anything for any reason to any store, and Andy said yeah and those stores are doing just fine.

Finally I told her "Look if you are not going to let me return it I'll just contact the manufacturer directly". She then said she is not saying that if I wanted to get a new one that would be fine.

What did I just spend 30 minutes doing exactly?

Long story short (too late) she let me exchange it for a new curling iron and this one is sizzle hot within 2 minutes, if that. I will make sure from now on I am 100% positive in all of my purchases because I am not going thru that again!