Last summer I was so excited to finally get rid of the cheap old builder's grade dishwasher that came with our house when we built it 17 years ago. I wanted a cool new stainless steel dishwasher, and my old, uncool, white one was finally (!) on it's last leg. I searched Consumer Reports and every dishwasher rating site I could find, and with my husband's price limit of $850.00, chose a Whirlpool 3600XTVY2. We shopped around and found the best price on it, and the next thing I knew, it was installed in my kitchen! Yipee!
Bummer number 1: It has a door mounted untensil rack. That translates to the utensils better be clean before they go in, because they won't get washed, just heat sanitized.
The real bummer: one year and three weeks after gracing my kitchen with it's beautiful presence, the thermostat went out. Or at least, that's when I noticed it. One lovely morning in early August, I was up before the rest of my summer vacationing family, and decided to unload the dishwasher. When I opened it up, one of the dinner knives still had butter on it. Double take. Who got up this early and buttered their toast, I wondered. No one. The dishes all appeared clean, so I took the knife out, washed it, and put everything away.
A day or two later, I opened the door to find mayonaisse on a knife. The thought crossed my mind that there might be a hidden camera and some secret capturing my reaction. But I know better than that! No, my 55 week-old dishwasher was already broken! Three weeks out of warranty and it's washing with cold water.
One, brief, phone call to Whirlpool confirmed that I was out of luck, no warranty, no help whatsoever. "Hey, sucker, wanna buy an oven to match that dishwasher?" But here my non-ficiton story turns to fantasy. A caped crusader called "Am Ex". I paid for that lousy dishwasher with my American Express card, and they have a FREE extended warranty program! Fifteen minutes later I had a claim number and an email thanking me for using "the card". And, instructions on how to get American Express to pay for the repair. I still had the original receipt, the Am Ex bill with the charge, and a copy of Whirlpool's warranty. All I needed was an estimate to repair the thing.
I made a phone call to my favorite repair service and made an appointment. A few days later good old Bob (who had previously repaired both my washer and my dryer) came out. No luck, couldn't repair it on the spot, it needed a new thermostat and .... a computer panel! He gave me an estimate, and I FAXed it off to AM Ex, who quickly okayed the estimated charge of just under $350.00. Almost half of the original purchase price. Oh well. If that's what if takes.
A couple of weeks later, my dishpan hands picked up the ringing phone, and I scheduled Bob's return. I should have bought stock in Lubriderm, because I'm keeping them in business trying to keep the skin from falling off of my hands.
But I'd made a fabulous discovery. Did you know that a broken dishwasher is also the world's largest, and most expensive dish drainer? Yep! Wash those puppies, rinse 'em off, and then they all fit in the dishwasher. Even the non-stick pans and butcher knife. I didn't even have to sort out the utensils : this one up, next one down. Pretty cool. How many people do you know with a stainless steel dish drainer that rolls back under the counter to dry? Fancy!
Bob came and Bob left. After two hours the darn thing still wouldn't heat the water. Bob wanted to take it in to the shop. "It must be the wiring", he said. Hmmmf! A few days later he was back with a dolly and I waved goodbye to my dish drainer.
One more week and Bob was back. Yippee skippy, no more dishpan hands! No more hole in my kitchen cupboard.
Two days later there was butter on the table knife in the morning. Again. That afternoon I turned the thing on and waited an hour before I opened it up and felt the water. Cold. Closed it up, hit resume and waited another hour. Cold.
Why does a dishwasher need a computer panel? So that as soon as it is out of warranty it can tell some random part to go "pouf" and stop working? My parents have lived in the same house for over 40 years, and have replaced their dishwashers twice. Once was for a remodel twenty four years ago. It's true. They remodeled their kitchen the year before I got married, and still have the same cherry wood paneled dishwasher. I wonder what brand it is?
Today I called Whirlpool back to see if they had any ideas about what I might do. I'm not allowed to talk to their technicians, only licensed repairmen can do that. All I get is Customer Service, which says, "would you like to make an appointment with a Whirlpool authorized repairman?" Who are they kidding? No thanks! It's not under warranty, so I'll get the priviledge of paying top dollar all over again. How do I know if I got faulty repair parts or if Bob misdiagnosed the problem. Remember, I've never had any problem with Bob and his parts before. GE and Maytag were simple fixes.
So what's the next step? American Express said to get good old Bob to FAX them a note saying that the dishwasher can't be fixed. Then, if I'm lucky, they'll reimburse me the remaining $500.00 for my dishwasher and I get to go buy another new one.
This time it won't be "Made in America", because that's the kiss of death for consumer products. Mr. Obama, do you want to know what's really killing the American economy? The poor quality of our products. I need to replace my American made van, and I'm looking at Japanese SUV's. And for the dishwasher, I'm thinking European.
Anything but Whirlpool.
