My decade old GE started leaking on the floor after the bearings went out – it howled like a banshee. I went to Lowe’s and bought a new Maytag and the salesdroid wanted me to pay $40 to have the old one hauled away. I said no thanks, I’ll get rid of it. But I did save a hundred bucks by signing up for the Lowe’s credit card. So with everything it was about $530.
So I pulled the old one outside and it was behind the car barely visible to the street.
I was scheduled for a four hour delivery window, 11:30 AM to 3:30 PM. The delivery guys called at 11:30, said they would be here in 20 to 30 mins. They called again and said they were ten minutes away. They showed up at ten minutes to noon and installed the new one and were gone by noon.
But here’s the interesting part. Less than an hour after that, an appliance collector knocked on the door. He offered to take the old one away. So he somehow knew that the delivery had been done at my home. He wasn’t just driving around neighborhoods collecting old appliances – those scrap collectors have old pickups with a jury rigged stake bed in back. This appliance collector had a big appliance delivery truck with a bobtail lift and an appliance dolly. So somehow he knew my address and delivery date and time.
So it looks to me like Lowe’s collects the $40 and pockets the whole thing. The appliance collector gets to make money from the scrap, and the customer loses forty bucks if he pays for the haul away. So the best advice is never pay to have your appliance hauled away. Just put a FREE sign on it at the curb and someone will take care of it. The trash collecting company will also collect appliances a few times a year if you contact them.