Evidence Of Things Not Seen

Evidence of Things Not Seen

Job 23:1-9, 16-17

October 15, 2006

Right after we were married, we bought our first couch. A really cheap couch. Had a wooden frame, cloth straps instead of springs, and cushions that never stayed in one place for very long.

After I had been out of seminary for three or four years, we decided that it was time to buy a new couch. So we went to Sears and picked one out. It was a pretty good couch because we kept it until we moved here back in 2004. Before we moved, we gave it to Goodwill.

But I remember the day they delivered it. This was a day for which we had been waiting for a long time. The guys on the truck got it into the living room and took off the plastic cover…and I noticed that there was a huge tear in the back. They apologized, took it back out to their truck, and told me that they would deliver another couch the next week.

The next week came, the same truck with the same guys arrived at out door. They took the couch off the truck, carried it into the living room, took off the plastic cover, and discovered that there was a huge tear in the back. They apologized again, took the couch back, and said they would be back the next week.

The next week came and they drove up to our house. Now, you are going to think that I am making this up, but I’m not. I went out and climbed into the back of the truck to inspect the couch. You guessed it. There was a huge tear in the back.

Toni and I headed off to Sears…to talk to the Furniture Department manager. I’m usually fairly timid with guys like this, but this time, I was hot. I told him that I couldn’t believe that they sent three couches to us and all three were damaged. I wondered what sort of outfit they were running.

The manager said that they would try again. I remember saying that if I were him; I would personally get on the delivery truck and show up at my door with our new couch.

He said that that wasn’t going to happen.

I said that we had just purchased our last furniture from Sears, which, as it has turned out so far, was a true statement. He said, “Do you know how many times I hear that?” I said, “If you hear it all the time, maybe that ought to tell you something about your product or your service.”

The end of the story is this. The next Tuesday, the manager of the Furniture Department at Sears in Glenbrook Mall knocked on our door. We were living in Huntington at the time. He told us that he had our couch. He had personally inspected it and this one was not torn. And I felt really good. Sometimes your complaints are heard.

My daughter spent the summer at home. She came home one evening and told me that she was going to get a free overnight stay at some resort. I asked her how she managed that, and she told me that she just signed up for it. There was some guy who was going to give her a call and come over to make some sort of presentation or something. She had no idea what it was about.

She had the name of a company which I never heard of, so I called the Better Business Bureau to find out what was going on. I gave the name to the lady on the phone and she said, “Vacuum Cleaners.” She told me that their home demonstrations usually lasted between two and two and a half hours. I said “thank you,” hung up, and went to find Dominique. She had no idea what she had signed up for and wasn’t too happy about having to spend so much of a Saturday afternoon with a vacuum cleaner salesman.

Have you ever been ripped off by a business? Have you ever had trouble with a product that didn’t live up to its advertising? Has any company treated you unfairly? Has a large corporation ever refused to listen to your complaints? Has a small business ever tried to get away with some shady deal?

If so, there is a website for you. You can log on to www.ripoffreport.com. This is a worldwide consumer reporting website for consumers who want to be able to file and document complaints about companies who ripoff their customers.

Unlike the Better Business Bureau which keeps track of successful negotiations and satisfactory outcomes, this website never reports those things, but does keep complaints forever.

Have you ever had a complaint about God? I have. You all know that I played in the high school band. I loved music. Concert Band, jazz band, pep band, marching band…that is what got me through high school. I love all kinds of music. I think that I’ve told you this before, but if you were to go through my CD collection you would find classic rock, country, folk, jazz, movie sound tracks, classical, Contemporary Christian. I have The Who, The Beatles, Jimi Hendricks, George Strait, Tony Bennett, Amy Grant, The Notre Dame Folk Choir, Peter Paul and Mary, the soundtrack from RENT, The London Philharmonic Orchestra, and so much more. I think that I know music pretty well. I’ve been around it all my life.