OK, here we go again.
The Sears repair man is to be out on the 29th, bright and early. We had talked and he said 8AM and I liked that idea, get it fixed and get some washing done.
The Sears Service Center calls on the 28th and says a repair man will be here between 8AM and 12 noon. This is a standard call they make. I like that.
So I am doing normal stuff all AM around the house but really do need to go out to get some things at the grocery store. We like to eat as well as wear clean clothes.
It is getting close to noon and no repair man. Now these guys are great, they call when they are about 20 minutes from being here. It gives us a heads up so if we need to go potty etc, we can be done.
It is noon, no call. OK he is running late. They get lunch from noon to 1 and I can understand that so not a problem although I would like to get to the grocery store.
I do a few more things around the house, read some e-mails and delete them or send them on, see a new cobweb that needs to be removed, just every day stuff.
I do love the wood stove my son got me for Christmas but I sure see the cobwebs easier now. It seems they grow over night now when it use to take a week before I would see them.
A friend calls and we are on the phone for a long time but I have call waiting so not a problem and the Sears people also have my cell phone number so if I don't answer one phone, I might the other.
I finally realize it is now 2:30 and no call from Sears. I call the 1-800 number and get the lovely sweet female computer voice. She asked me what I would like to do. I tell her schedule an appointment. To which she replies I have an appointment scheduled for the 29th between 8:00 AM and 12:00 noon. And wouldn't you know it, the computer thanks me for doing business with Sears and hangs up on me! I call again but this time I tell it repair so she asked what needs to be repaired. I tell her washer. I get the lovely organ music again but this time it isn't so bad as the last time, not as static as it was in the past.
At last I speak with an Indian sounding lady. I tell her I want to know when the repair man will be out. She tells me between 8 and noon. I know that but I want to know if he is coming at all today. To this she again tells me between 8 and noon. I tell her it is now almost 2:45 so he is really late and I want to know when he will be here. How much longer will it be? She can't tell me that so I told her I would like to speak with someone who can help me, maybe her supervisor? To my surprise I don't have to listen to organ music to long, maybe less than a minute. By now they most likely have my name on their "Don't Blow Her Off" list.
Ah, the Indianish supervisor who can't tell me any thing. I tell him to call the repair man and find out. He puts me on hold - more organ music - and after a few minutes he tells me the man is on his way and will be at my house within 10-15 minutes. Now I am thinking this is not right, he would call me 20 minutes out. But OK, if he says so.
Well the 10-15 minutes drag on and on. It is now after 3:30 and at last the phone rings. The repair man will be here in about 20 minutes. I clock him and 17 minutes later he pulls in.
Now this is the man who has always come out to fix my washer. He knows the machine. He is an expert with Calypso machines. They break a lot. Sears does not sell them any longer.
He looks at the boxes on the washer, sees there is the 1st pump that was ordered by him has finally come and there is the control panel box. He wants to know why the control panel was ordered so I tell him the last man that was out on the 24th said he could not get it to light up so it too was bad and ordered it.
Now this guy on the 24th was here forever and a day. He was making calls to people, he had no clue as to how to fix my machine. He had never seen a Calypso. He then tells me the control panel is bad, he can't get any thing to work on the touch screen so he has to order a new one. Hence the Good and Bad News, The Bad: your machine isn't working yet but the Good is when done, your machine will be like a new one except for the frame work etc.
The nice Calypso fixer guy takes a look at it and tells me the other guy unplugged some wires from the circuits. Well duh, that would make it not work. The lights were on just fine and have been all this time. The nice Calypso guy hooks it up, plugs it into the wall and BINGO, I have lights and it goes through a very short wash cycle to make sure the switches and pump are working. He is done in less than 30 minutes. Nice guy, I like him, I have his ID number and he said to ask for him the next time it breaks and that could be in a few days to maybe a year from now. But mark my typing, it will break, I know it will!
A word to all the wise out there. If you should ever buy an expensive item and you can get a protection plan on it, do so. This machine was well over $1500. I bought the plan and in the over eight years I have had it, it has been broken every year. I have had switches, pumps, control panels, computers etc. replaced. Each time the repair man comes out I get the bill that I just sign saying he has been here but it tells me how much it would have cost. This last repair would have cost me over $1000 alone. I have a package deal with Sears, all my appliances are from them. For just over $300 I have a protection plan that covers all six of them for five years. They will come out once a year and test each one to make sure they are running like they should. They have cleaned coils etc. To me for the $10+ per appliance per year, it is worth it. It has more than paid for itself on the washer alone.
