Laundry Woes

When we purchased our washer and dryer, John and I agreed that it would be a very good idea to spend the extra money through Sears so that we would have an extended warranty and that if any problems were to arise, Sears Service Personnel would happily come to our house to either fix or replace the problem. We are VERY thankful we did that, as we aren't generally a very nice family to appliances.

We began having problems a while ago with the door-lock mechanism. Basically, the washer wouldn't start, and instead would flash a DL symbol that I later had deciphered as "Door Lock". A very nice gentleman came out a couple of weeks ago to give me that information, shake the wires around a bit and tell me that he hoped the problem was solved, but if it acts up again, they'll come back out and replace the part.

I was happy enough just to have my washer back, so I took it for granted that the problem would NOT come back. But, it did. And knowing that it was really a wire that wasn't connecting - I did my best to beat the machine (and door) into submission. It worked for a while, but pretty soon, nothing kicked it into gear....and upon further inspection I discovered the hinge was cracked as well as the latch. "Maybe they'll just replace the whole thing", I optimistically hoped.

While I'm happy that these guys that service our washer have both been nice and friendly - the inconvenience of having someone come out "sometime between 8 and 4" is a little crazy. I was pleased that they at least told us they'd call us about 15 minutes prior..... The first time the guy came out, it was around 5 pm, the time yesterday was around 8:45 am......

The diagnosis: Yes, our washer is sick. It's very sick. TWELVE different parts are being shipped to our house and the "surgery", er, I mean, repair will take at least three hours. No, they won't just replace the washing machine, I guess they rarely do it, despite how much more cost effective it might end up being for them. And, the clencher - the parts won't come in or repair happen until NEXT Friday.... the 8th of August.

That would be a time span of 12 days without the use of washing machine. Despite the fact that there are only 4 of us, we go through a LOT of laundry, so this is not good. The timing, however, is significant as we are leaving today and not returning until Sunday. Great, in that we won't be using the washer during that time, very bad in that we are camping and when we return, we won't be able to throw the clothes back in the dresser.... I might be taking an overnight trip to Michele's just to run at least 5 loads of laundry........

So, think of me this weekend when you run that next load - and I'll be back to posting this Sunday..... Have a good one! (And thanks again, Stephie, for letting me catch up before we leave with your washing machine.....!)