The dishwasher is FIXED!!!
Late this summer, the side arm of our dishwasher started to break. We nursed it along because frankly, I didn't have time to sit at home waiting for the repair guy. Two weeks ago, it gave up the ghost and there was nothing left to do but wave the white calendar page in surrender.
We have always had good luck with Sears repair services. This time...not so much. We were given an "appointment" of "Wednesday 11/14, from 8 until 5." Joy.
So I took the kids to school early, so I could hopefully be back by 8. I pulled in my driveway at 8:03. There was a note on our door "Sorry we missed you! Call to reschedule." I was LIVID. Really?
So I called Sears at 8:05 to express my displeasure. The tag that was on the kitchen door was timestamped 8:00. Firstly, if you knock on my back door (where there is no bell) and the kitchen door is shut, odds are good nobody will hear you. (Ask my husband -- he has often texted me, "Open the kitchen door!" while standing at it.) Secondly, it takes almost 2 minutes to get out of my driveway, so he couldn't have been her more than 60 seconds! I know I wasn't here at *exactly* 8:00, but for the half-harted attempt of the tech, I could have easily been here and "missed" him. The service rep apologized, and assured me they'd have the tech call me and then send him back, since it was within minutes - so I settled in to wait...and wait...by 5:20, nobody came back, nor did I get a phone call.
So I called Sears back...and got a not-so-helpful rep, with an attitude and a complete unwillingness to take responsibility for the situation. Finally, I said I wanted a supervisor. In a snide voice, she said I'd have to wait on hold -- I said I'd wait. After several minutes, she came back on the line with a "message from the supervisor." I said I wasn't playing whisper down the lane, and I wanted to be connected with a supervisor IMMEDIATELY. The answer was "I'll have to put you back on hold." Ok, then...bring on the muzak.
In hindsight, I do feel bad for the lady who next picked up the phone. I was not the most pleasant person at the start. First thing I asked if she was a supervisor -- she wasn't. Grr. She did explain that she was the intermediate step...I warned her, "OK, I'll complain to you, too, but understand you're neither what I asked for nor was told." I pointed out I had waited 10 days for the service call to start with, had rearranged several appointments, taken my kids to (and paid for) both before and after care at school, etc. I was given a NINE hour window, and this guy could not have been here more than 90 seconds. I was promised he'd come back since it was only moments since he had left -- and it didn't happen. I was not happy. In the end, Connie turned out to be the nicest person of the day. She actually apologized for the issue, and said the tech should have been there at least 5 minutes (and found a door with a doorbell). She offered me a $50 gift card for our aggravation. Not really what I wanted -- I wanted my dishwasher working -- but hey, I'm not stupid. Yes, I'll accept it. She also found a schedule slot to have the tech come back as soon as Friday. We already had two duPont appointments (one made 9 months ago!) so that wasn't going to work, so she found us a Saturday tech. OK, then.
So our buddy Randy appeared on our (kitchen) doorstep this afternoon. (He's been here before...as awesome as our Kenmore dishwasher is, I don't think ANY top rack is meant to be used as a monkeybar...) He had it fixed in about 12 minutes -- less time than I had been on hold waiting for Connie to come on the line. I'm not happy about having spend two days of my life waiting for somebody to (not) show up, but $50 covers the costs for the kids, and let's face it, at some point, somebody will need pants or socks or something.
Tonight I went to make myself a cup of coffee, and get a packet of Sweet & Low out of the cabinet. When I opened the door, an (unopened) bottle of balsamic vinegar fell out and the bottle shattered. Vinegar dripped behind the door and then all over the inside of our "Tupperware cabinet," and we had a sinkful of containers that now needed to be washed. I'm extra thankful the dishwasher has both racks functioning again!!
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