Put in a new Genie garage door opener today.

[Gomez Adams]

The old Craftsman finally bit the dust. I had installed it about a month or two after we bought the house in 2003. It finally gave up the ghost so I replaced it with a belt driven Genie. Some observations:

Costs:
Craftsman - $99.00
Genie - $180.00

Horsepower:
Craftsman - .5
Genie - .75

Noise level:
Craftsman - not that loud but somewhat annoying.
Genie - virtually silent. You can hear the door moving but not really the motor.

Build quality:

I will honestly be surprised if the Genie last half as long as the Craftsman did. It's a night and day difference. The Craftsman was put together like a battleship. The Genie was so flimsy I was afraid I was going to break it getting it installed.

In fact, I wore myself out trying to break the Craftsman back down again to get rid of it. It's easily twice as heavy as the Genie.

You pay twice as much for half the quality these days it seems.

 

[Zeedox]

Let the games begin.

 

[Hugo Stiglitz]

In my limited life experience one saying always seems to be true. They don't make them like they used to. Shit just keeps getting cheaper and cheaper. Flimsier and flimsier. Everything is disposable now. We've got an old GE refrigerator out in the main barn that my grandfather bought back in the 1950's or 60's. Fucking thing still works. The freezer gets all iced up and you had to defrost it every year or two but other than that and being dirty as hell there's not a damn thing wrong with it.

I've had to deal with Samsung over my mother's refridgerator she bought two years ago three damn times already. If it isn't the compressor fucking up its the electronics in it or something. Two grand she paid for that damn thing. I wouldn't give you 10 bucks for it.

 

[Gomez Adams]

I still have the first thing I ever bought with a credit card.

Back when I was 20, a credit card was something you had to prove you didn't need before they'd give you one. Needless to say, I didn't qualify.

Well, there was this girl that had the hots for me that lived in my apartment building that worked at Sears at the mall. She came over one afternoon and told me that they were going to be having a a big sale on Dockers. It was something like 20% off. But she said if you fill out a credit card application you get an extra 15% off on top of that.

So I went over that weekend the when the sale was on, filled out the application and walked out with a couple pairs of pants I desperately needed and some other odds and ends.

A few weeks later, I got my first credit card. A Sears card. A friends father who had taken an interest in me told me to buy one thing with it and pay it off, then rinse repeat and that would build my credit. Never carry a balance he said.

So that's what I did. I bought a pair of new Pioneer Tower Speakers for my stereo. 34 years later, I still have them to this day. They still look and sound brand new. (well, they are dusty as they're in the basement, but they clean up brand new.)

They truly do not make them like that anymore.

 

[Grimhogun]

I've had to deal with Samsung over my mother's refridgerator she bought two years ago three damn times already. If it isn't the compressor fucking up its the electronics in it or something. Two grand she paid for that damn thing. I wouldn't give you 10 bucks for it.

I bought one for my uncle. A couple months after I moved in and got a job and got some cash back in the bank I figured I'd replace his old GE fridge as a thank you. I think it's from the 80's or so. Anyway I bought a new Samsung that has the doulbe doors up top for the fridge and the freezer on the bottom. Really nice. Paid 1800 bucks for it. They've been out to fix that damn thing 4 times. The last time was last year and it's been fine since then but still. Brand fucking new and just issue after issue.

My uncle even screws with me over the whole thing. When the new fridge showed up rather than haul the old one off he had them put it in the carport outside in the storage area. He keeps his beer in there and wine and stuff. So back when the issues with the new one were going on he'd yell at the top of his lungs so I'd be sure to hear it, "I'm going out to the old, cold GE to get a cold beer! You need anything while I'm out there?" He's given me non-stop shit over buying a japanese fridge.

 

[Gomez Adams]

Your uncle sounds a bit like me. I'd do the same thing.