I love my appliances. When I moved to Winterpast three years ago, the appliances were new. Bright, shiny stainless, all. Stove, frig, microwave, dishwasher and garbage disposal, washer and dryer. Everything brand new to avoid troubles. When I moved into Winterpast, heaven knows I had enough troubles, having lost VST just 17 days before.
For the past three years, every morning, after a small breakfast, I rinse the dishes, placing them in the dishwasher. Unless I have company, it takes two days to fill, at which time I run a load. I’m one old widow woman. Not a family of four, cooking three meals a day.
When I selected my dishwasher, I was in for some training. Here’s the deal. If you want the quietest dishwasher, it has no food grinder. That’s why they are so quiet. Get it? If you want the most energy efficient one, it has no heating element. That’s why less energy is used.
Now, I really didn’t want a metal box that sprays water and calls it good. That would be the quietest and most energy efficient. I had to scratch my head on that one. My dishwasher is a upper mid-priced Chinese produced General Electric model that has both heat and a food grinder. It’s still pretty quiet.
Last week, it became really quiet when the pump stopped working. It just hummed, while excess water pooled in the bottom of the unit. Not good. Only three years old and already broken while there is only one old widow woman using it. Of course this happened right before the party for 40 people. Of course.
So, for the last two weeks, I’ve been washing my few dishes by hand. Last Friday, I finally called the Home Warranty Company. Now, I know Home Warranty Companies SAY they will cover Air Conditioning units. Trust me. In my area, in the hottest part of summer, they may say the will cover everything, but no AC company deals with them. I ended up getting ripped off with no service. The new AC was $10,500 replacement price. That’s a heart stopper. I was hoping it would be different for dishwashers.
When I went online to set up a service call for the dishwasher, I was told the NEW service fee was $125. My contracted fee was $75. There are so many ways to rip off the widow. After many calls, the service fee was finally reduced to ZERO. Best advice? Don’t mess with the widow. After the call, I’ll be deciding if I stay with the warranty company or not.
As a widow, there are so many things that are beyond my knowledge and ability. Top of the list is air and heating. But dishwasher repairs are right up there. The company I used did have a nice feature in which I could troubleshoot a few things to make sure I really had a problem that needed fixing. Indeed, I do.
As it turns out, my 3 year old GE dishwasher has two fried mother-boards. Parts will be ordered. Once installed, it should work just fine. Gone are the days that appliances worked for a decade plus. General Electric products are produced in China now, along with most other affordable products. How sad.
A very informative technician told me that he does this all day long. It appears it might even be by design. Planned failures built into the units. He can literally plan an entire day in a new housing unit going from house to house to replace fried mother boards. The scary thing is that it isn’t just the dishwashers that are going out, and not just General Electric either. Unless you are lucky enough to have bought German, it will probably happen to you, too.
Gone are the days that a young couple got their first Kenmore set lasting them 20 years. If you get three years without a problem, you are pretty darn lucky.
Whatever you do today, appreciate working appliances. In this crazy world, it’s something to cheer about. Considering the information shared by my repairman, Elijah, a home warranty is a really good thing to have. New, failing appliances keep his repair company in business. If you have experienced appliances, try your best to have them fixed. You won’t be very happy with the new versions.
For now, it’s dishpan hands for me. Calgon, take me away!
More tomorrow.