During the swelter season retailers' orders for refrigeration equipment generally triple. It seems that few plan ahead. The clapped-out cooler with integral motor will struggle once the temperature goes over 25C and peg out at the most inconvenient moment possible. At this point the retailer turns to the classified pages of his trade magazines. To his delight, there are all sorts of special deals for good-looking fridges and freezers on offer which come complete with free stock. He places the order and will often be asked to pay up-front. You can imagine the disappointment when the equipment company also struggles to meet the deadline (I need it yesterday!). The best advice here is to pay by credit card and don't pay it off immediately because then, if the company does not manage to supply you as promised ­ and I have communications from retailers to show that quite a few have been let down this summer ­ you can hand the problem over to the credit card company. {{GROCER CLUB }}