Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Why is it....

that after building a new house with new appliances I have had more things break than when we rented? Even our first house that was almost 20 years old had less issues than this house. In the 4 1/2 years that we have lived here I have had the ice maker fixed 6 times. Well, it wasn't actually fixed 6 times. It has broken twice and the first time it took 4 repairmen to come out on four seperate occasions before it was fixed. It broke again recently and it took 2 repairmen. Luckily it is under warranty. My dryer has broken once and my dishwasher twice. My dishwasher is broken right now as a matter of fact and has been broken since before Thanksgiving. It isn't fixed yet because: 1) It is not under warranty. 2) I don't actually need a dishwasher, though it is really convenient. 3)I hate waiting around for the repairmen, especially during the holidays. (I don't technically consider the holidays over until after Dom's birthday at the end of February.) Yes, I am a SAHM but I still am quite busy and spend a lot of time in the car. (I'd be really annoyed if I had to take all that time off from a job to have the ice make fixed!)
I am dealing with Sears and they will give me a day that they will come out and they could show up anytime between 8:00am and 5:00pm. It really annoys me that they can't at least narrow it down to a morning or afternoon. Even the cable company does that. At least they call before they show up to make sure that you are home. And you know that they are going to call when I am picking up Becca from school.
So on Sunday we suddenly have no hot water. Okay it wasn't suddenly. The hot water heater started making a weird noise and shortly thereafter we had no hot water. Okay actually it had been making a weird noise off and on for about a week........ So anyway, Dom thought maybe the pump that circulates the water may have broke. So we spent most of Sunday without hot water. Not a huge deal but it meant no hot water for showers and doing dishes. So we called the repairman first thing Monday morning and they came right out. It wasn't the pump just air in the pipes. So he bled the pipes and replaced the valve and we soon had hot water again!

So in short they don't make things like they used to. It's all a big scam by the appliance companies. My parents had a freezer that lasted like 50 years! My ice maker lasted one.
The greedy appliance makers weren't making enough money so now they make appliances that don't last long, need constant repairs and convince you to buy service agreements, all so they can screw you out of more money. 'Nuff said!

4 comments:

Pink Pixel Princess said...

Yeah don't they have a lemon law in NH? or maybe thats just for cars.. I feel for you.. in the last four years we have bought a washer and dryer, vaccum and a hotwater heater and most recently an oven.. actually all from Sears. Sean won't pay for the warranties so he gets the parts from Sears and fixes it himself. Hang in there ;)

Jennifer said...

Knock on wood.... we haven't had to replace a major appilance yet. However, we do go through vaccum cleaners every six months. I know it odd, but my husband vaccums almost every day. We really should invest in Hoover

Lisa said...

You said it sister! They don't make things like they use too. What ever happened to customer service and making the customer "happy". That is just not the case anymore. If you want to stay happy with a $500 appliance you have to buy a darn service agreement.

Jennifer...if you ever buy another vacuum I highly recommend a dyson. Especially with dogs...it sucks the dog hair right up.

Ice Makers said...

Great post..............