you go, abt!

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i always knew that abt was awesome, but i never had the proof until now… i had been debating tv’s for the past few months (or year, depending on who you talk to) and finally made my decision. the search was over — i picked the samsung HL-S5088W, which is the 50” 1080p samsung DLP. sweet tv, but prices were all over the place. abt was good — not the best, but certainly not the worst.

the other item i needed was a stand. easy — the BDI deploy 9634 was the perfect fit for my back room, and for the new tv. but the problem wasn’t picking out the stand, it was finding it in chicago. sure, i could’ve ordered it online and waited a few weeks, but i wanted instant gratification… not to mention something that we could watch the superbowl on. so on a saturday i started calling around town. 15 calls later, no one had it in stock, and delivery quotes ranged from 2-8 weeks. then i remembered that abt also carried BDI stands, so i gave them a ring. abt had them in stock, and not just one, but five! even better, it was on sale. i checked on the tv, and they had that in stock and on sale, too. damn, everything was working out nicely. now all i had to do was find time to borrow a big car, drive up and get it, and carry it up 4 flights of stairs. but once again i got off easy: free delivery. it was almost too good to be true…

we scheduled delivery for monday afternoon, since i had some client meetings in the morning. “anytime after 1pm” i said, and they marked it down in the delivery instructions. i woke up feeling good, until i got a call from the delivery guy at 8am saying he’d be by at 11am. “um, i won’t be here until after 1pm” i said, reminding him that delivery had been requested in the afternoon. of course, he told me the request was just that — not a guarantee. i asked him to do his best, since there was no way i’d be there before 1pm. i talked to him a couple more times throughout the morning, but i wasn’t getting a good vibe i’d be seeing my tv.

i took the train home after my meetings, and as i walked around the corner, i saw a big abt delivery truck. my truck. the guys were cool, and helped me get everything up into my back room. somehow, everything just came together with plenty of time to clean up before the big game.

now if only the bears could have delivered as well as abt…