Have You Had These Problems Buying a Christmas Tree?

Here are my 18 NOT so easy steps to buying a Christmas Tree and the emotional rollercoaster ride that we all experience a this time of the year.

1. Go to Kmart and search the store for Christmas trees. Feeling Good 😄
2. Can’t find the trees so ask for help.
3. Directed by unhelpful staff to the door (I walked right past them – duh!, felling a little embarrassed 😳)
4. Decided that you don’t want to spend that much for a tree that you don’t love and leave. (Note that the only tree you kind of like is the last one of its kind. Feel a little unsure 😕)
5. Go to The Warehouse and check out their selection of Christmas trees.
6. Decide they are way too expensive for what they look like and decide that maybe the one at Kmart was a good deal after all. Feeling surprised 😲
7. Drive back to Kmart to purchase the tree only to find it was gone. Feeling Sad 😟
8. Have a discussion with a really helpful young man who helps you find the same Christmas tree on the Kmart Online Store so we order it right there and then using my phone (don’t you love technology).
9. Christmas Tree is In Stock, order is complete so go home and wait for expected delivery in 3 days, feeling confident all is good 😎.
10. Four days go by and Christmas tree hasn’t arrived, feeling concerned 😟. In fact no shipping information has been received so search online for Kmart’s customer service phone number.
11. Call Kmart’s customer service number and wait on hold for some time, starting to feel frustrated 😣.
12. Speak with a very helpful young woman who tells you your order has been cancelled – doesn’t know why you didn’t get notification, now I'm angry 😡.
13. Ask her if there are any others in the country, she informs you there are, feeling great again 😃. But Kmart will not ship them to you because they are ‘outside your shipping area’.  Apparently, Kmart only ships within your region – Hamilton and Whangarei are too far for them to ship from, back to feeling angry again 😡.
14. Get upset with the nice woman who handles it very well and refunds your money and apologizes and tells you it’s a stupid system and there’s nothing she can do for you.
15. Search online for Christmas trees in local area – don’t want to order another one online just in case. Find two –at Briscoes and Ezibuy. Getting a bit worried now 😟.
16. Call Ezibuy to confirm they are in stock – they don’t have the one you want but they do have another, prelit with lights. Ask them to hold it until tomorrow. No problem and feeling good again 🙂.
17. Arrive at Ezibuy at 11am on Saturday morning – they are busy.  Very helpful woman hauls out the large box that contains the Christmas tree.  You say that you were offered a discount over the phone.  She honours that, in fact, she goes one better and gives you the tree for the same price at the one you had ordered at Kmart.
18. Leave the store one very happy customer 😃.

Well done Ezibuy – excellent customer service.  We are very grateful for this beautiful tree. So, that's my story. I'd love to hear yours. Have you had any problems buying a Christmas tree? Leave a comment and tell me your story.