Missives from the 6th Floor

The other night I found the washer owners manual, and hit Whirlpools website to see about arranging service. I scheduled a service call online, and once I had the confirmation number, called the service firm - A&E Factory Service - to describe the problem so they could bring the right parts when they came out.

This morning the tech shows up during the scheduled window, looks at the washer, says "yup, the porcelain's flaking" - it'll cost you $200 to repair (labor isn't covered by the warranty, which I knew), I don't have the part, that'll be $60 for the diagnostic please."

At no point did either Whirlpool, or the service company when I called them after scheduling the visit, say that the initial visit was going to cost me $60 for zero value.

As far as "$60 for the diagnostic" goes, it would be fine if I said "my washers broke, tell me what's wrong with it" but I told them what was wrong with it - so I expected them either to arrive with the part in hand, or call me to reschedule.

So I called A&E to complain - and they pointed the finger squarely at Whirlpool, stressing that Whirlpool should have informed me of the process when I scheduled the service call.

So I called Whirlpool, who listened very nicely and then asked why I chose this particular service company.

"I didn't," I replied, "your system did, when I requested service. It didn't give me an option, it didn't tell me that I'd owe the technician money on the spot, and it didn't tell me that I have to waste half my day waiting for him to show up, tell me something I already knew, and charge me $60 for that 'service'."

The end result is I'm out $60, and I've told the service company that I'm never using them again, and I've told Whirlpool that I'm unlikely to purchase any Whirlpool appliances in our upcoming kitchen remodel.

To top it all off, I - as a consumer - can't get the part from Whirlpool under warranty - 'cause I'm not an "authorized service center," even now that an "authorized service center" has confirmed the problem to be covered under warranty.

I found a couple other local authorized service outfits - and despite A&E's assertion that any other service company "would charge me the same diagnostic fee" I've found two of them who are more than happy not to make or charge me for two trips.

So at this point, I'll either pay someone else to repair it, or just ignore the problem 'till it's actually a problem (the drum starts to rust) and then replace the washer.