Surreal Borg Experience

[Steve Turner]

I like this one too:

[Larry Jaques]

On Wed, 30 Dec 2009 08:41:19 -0600, the infamous Swingman scrawled the following:

Sorry, I couldn't help myself. Don't you have keyboard condoms and visqueen over the monitor for Usenet? They're a must!

No, I didn't. (scurrying off to check) Ahhh, read the PUD and I'm happy now. He's back to "work" after 3 weeks off and is now running stop signs internationally. Ole!

-- It's a shallow life that doesn't give a person a few scars. -- Garrison Keillor

[Larry Jaques]

On Wed, 30 Dec 2009 09:24:09 -0600, the infamous Steve Turner scrawled the following:

Jork, Asia? Tendjewberrymud and Jewelcome.

-- It's a shallow life that doesn't give a person a few scars. -- Garrison Keillor

[krw]

But that's the whole point. If you're pushed to the pissed point, you

*must* think that they're doing something important. No one would piss the public off for no good reason, right? The laughter they got last weekend did wake a few up though. I say, keep it up until they actually *do* something.

[Mark & Juanita]

From my experience with DirecPC, I do know that they are really good at apologizing. They are sorry up and down about making you wait, about the fact that they can't actually fix your problem, about the fact that it will take 5 days for a technician to be scheduled, etc. They are polite and apologetic to a T. Problem is, after you hang up, you still have the same problem you started with when you called them 2 hours ago and they haven't done a thing to solve it. Yep, you're right, not satisfied with the experience.

No, that's true, but at least there's a hoomin bean close by where, if I'm really unsatisfied, I can go and physically talk to their manager and get more than "I'm sorry about you having to wait ...."

/soapbox off -- had a very unsatisfying day with Maytag and a brand spanking new (less than 1 day) dishwasher that only worked when the installers put it in. Soonest they can get to is is January 6 (?!). My phone support happiness is not at a very high ebb right now.

[Mark & Juanita]

... snip

LOL

[Leon]

Maygtag, isn't that suppose to be a good Washing machine??? Exchange it for a Whirlpool Dish washer. LOL.

We have had a Whirlpool/Kenmore DW and it lasted 14 years with no breaks from daily heavy wash circles. Trays started to rust. Replaced with KitchenAid kept for a few months and exchanged for another Whirlpool/Kenmore and could not be happier. BTY we take the bones off the plates before they go in the DW but little else.

[Robatoy]

3aHWnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]...

Year 10 for an all stainless Kitchenaid, not a single problem Washes stuff clean, clean, clean. Prior to that, a single-knobbed Maytag which, by best estimate, was about 20 years old. Was replaced for cosmetic and acoustic reasons.

[Lew Hodgett]

================================= Question?

Wasn't the Maytag Corp recently sold?

Think the Chinese expressed an interest.

Lew

[Swingman]

I buy a lot of appliances and Kitchenaid used to be on the top of the list, but just the last few years I've really been disappointed in their construction, and the number of service calls after we sell a house lately.

I hate having to deal with callbacks and problems, so the last seven or eight years been buying all our appliances for new homes from Sears, catch the sales the top of the line units, and maybe buy two to four of each appliance at a time. Sears will hold delivery/warehouse for months on end, delivery and install is a flat $50, and so far we've been able to have the warranties kick in from the day of installation, not purchase.

Their dual fuel Kenmore stoves have been real popular in our kitchens.

[Leon]

Year 10 for an all stainless Kitchenaid, not a single problem Washes stuff clean, clean, clean. Prior to that, a single-knobbed Maytag which, by best estimate, was about 20 years old. Was replaced for cosmetic and acoustic reasons.

Yeah our KitchenAid was a top of the line $1200 unit but it simply left the dishes dirty, with a film on them. When we went back to the Whirlpool we got clean dishes again.

We work our DW pretty hard, it always at least goes through the pot scrubber cycle or higher and there is not any such thing as prerinse in our house.

[Mark & Juanita]

Leon wrote:

Yeah, Maytag is supposed to be good. I can't say if it was the dishwasher or the goobers who brought it in to set it up. I'm not sure, but I pretty much remember that turning the box upside down and letting the water from the factory testing flood the interior of the dishwasher [and my floor] in not standard setup procedure. It's very likely that their action got water in the controls and screwed something up. Or it's possible this is an infant failure. Phone calls to both Maytag and the HD delivery number were highly unsatisfying -- Maytag said they'd get to it Jan 6, HD delivery folks could send someone out Jan 7. Called the local HD who sold it and spoke to the manager there, she was much better at listening and agreed that this was not right. Given that I called within a 48 hour window of installation, she made arrangements to have the dishwasher replaced. However, that won't happen until the 7'th either. In the meantime, as I pondered my options looking at how much effort would be required to uninstall and just return the darned thing, I found the schematic and troubleshooting guide on the inner side of the kick panel. You should never give an electrical engineer a schematic. :-) I found the part that talked about "blinking lights", followed the troubleshooting guide and opened the console, reseating the connector for the control box. After plugging in the dishwasher, no more blinking lights. I was able to get it to run and at least get the load out of the dishwasher. Told the HD manager this when she called me to tell me she was going to get a replacement for us. I also told her I was not comfortable that this was *the* solution -- she agreed and agreed that replacement is still a good idea. Good news is that we aren't going to be handwashing dishes for the next week while they get their act together. Also told her I don't want the same bozos delivering this time that did the original one and told her why. She agreed to work with the delivery company to make sure that doesn't happen. In addition to turning the thing on its head, they left a mess from both the old and new dishwasher drips. I just stopped one of them from running the old dishwasher on his handtruck, dripping water and leaving black wheel marks across my living room carpet and got him turned around to go through the garage, a mere 10 feet from the dishwasher location.

IMO, this whole thing was and is, completely unacceptable. I understand having staff booked up. But if you screw something up and it fails to work, it is NOT acceptable that a 1 week delay with additional inconvenience for the customer be incurred. That becomes your problem and remedying it NOW is your highest priority -- you need to figure out how to fix it ASAP, not when it fits in the schedule. Needless to say, this customer is not delighted.

/whoa. Rant off

This replaced a GE dishwasher that was probably close to 20 years old (it was in the house when we bought it 10 years ago and appears to have been the original DW. The GE had its motor replaced about 4 years ago but other parts were falling apart. The door counterbalance cables had come broken and the upper rack mechanisms were breaking. It was time to be replaced.

[Tim Douglass]

Well, if you can open some of those clamshells with a set of car keys you are a better man than I am! I had the privilege of trying to open a flashlight from Costco on Christmas. I tried getting through the plastic with my pocketknife - a very nice high-end knife with an ats-34 blade sharpened to a shaving sharp - and I could barely force the point through the plastic. After messing around with it for a while until I started worrying about slipping and removing limbs I finally went to the shop for the aircraft snips. That stuff was so tough it would have snapped any car key you tried to force through it.

Clamshell packaging is of the devil, I say!

Tim Douglass

laptop knows me too well - it just announced "your battery is low!"

[Mark & Juanita]

... snip

To be fair, Harley has had problems for years, going back at least to the

60's (70's) when they were owned by AMF and were put on showroom floors with drip pans to catch the leaking oil from new bikes. It didn't earn the appellation, "Hardly Ableson" for nothing. At one point, the employees bought out the company and rescued it. Don' know where they are now as far as quality; they sure seem to have high price sewn up. Just not something that interests me -- I'm more into antique tractors and that kind of thing than motorcycle leather and bugs in my teeth.

[Mark & Juanita]

Karl, you are a perfect person to ask. If one of your customers encountered a problem with something not working in one of the houses you built, would you consider a 1 week turnaround to come look at it as an acceptable response time? I'm trying to calibrate myself to whether I'm just an impatient person or not.

[Swingman]

What is it?

Rarely would it be over an hour before I would be there to see if there is anything that I personally could do, and to make arrangements for whoever sold us the appliance or itme to make a service call.

(ON MY FREAKING CELL PHONE!! ... for you anti-cellphone luddites ...) :)

For major appliance I have no control over getting service departments to come "today", and really prefer to let the homeowner schedule these at their convenience for obvious reasons, but always after making a personal appearance and insuring that they know that I can stand in for them if necessary ... even then I will generally stop by myself during the service call just to make sure the job is done to my satisfaction.

One of the reasons I use Sears appliances is they are excellent in this regard.

For other items like light fixtures, ceiling fans, etc., I don't bother with repair ... it's immediate replacement with equal or greater product ... and I usually offer to upgrade for the inconvenience.

For each house we sell I do a "House Book", which is big binder which has all the appliance, lighting, plumbing, electrical, etc. info, from installation instructions to warranty information, as well the business contacts for all the trades and major subcontractor who worked on the job. That way if something happens, and in the unlikely event I'm not available, the homeowner has access to the same resources I do.

For other problems, I have a couple of carpenters on call, and if necessary, I can do most anything they can.

I also have a "nuclear option" ... you simply do NOT tell SWMBO that you can't do something. Since she negotiates the deals on appliances, and most all the electrical and plumbing fixtures herself based on the budget I give her, she establishes a relationship with from whom she buys, at the top, and thus goes straight to them if there are any problems. This women would get through to the Prez if she took it into mind to do so, all the while with a smile on her face.

[Ed Pawlowski]

I'm curious as to what item you are referring to.

Answering as a consumer, not a builder: In the case of appliances, I'd call the manufacturer or his dealer or authorized service center, not the builder.

If a door was not working properly, I'd call the builder.

Refrigerator or heater, I'd expect same day or next day service. Dishwasher or non critical appliance, 3 to 5 days. Other problems, such as the door sticking or window not going up, a week would be acceptable. Same with one toilet in a four bathroom house, but if it is the only toilet, get here NOW!.

If I was having a house built, I'd be choosing the appliances anyway, not the builder. I can assure you 99% of builders would not choose what I'd want installed.

[Lee Michaels]

"Swingman" wrote

Damn! You play dirty pool. Turn the missus loose on them?? Have you no mercy??

LOL

[Lee Michaels]

"Swingman" wrote

Good to know.

There is a Sears appliance outlet center not far from me. Do you know anything about the outlet appliances. I know they are good prices there. I assume that the quality would be the same as the other appliances, right? Any way, I thought I would ask. Maybe you heard something.

[Robatoy]

In the countertop business, I deal a lot with plumbers and electricians (Cooktops, garberators).

If it is a retrofit, my mantra is : "Breakfast on the old countertop, dinner on the new one." That means that all my stuff is in place as the plumber walks in. (My insurance company prefers I use a licensed plumber, and I'm happy the keep the extra premium in my pocket.) Liability can be pretty serious as a leak can take out a guy's electronics if his man-cave happens to be below the kitchen, etc., etc. Sometimes, although seldom, something can happen. I say seldom because I have worked with the same plumbers for well over 25 years. IF something happens...like a dishwasher leaking, like Swing, I am there within the hour and then I call the plumber.........:

personal appearance and insuring that they know that I can stand in for them if necessary ... even then I will generally stop by myself during the service call just to make sure the job is done to my satisfaction.