Our dishwasher was
not a youngster by any stretch of the imagination. (She replaced her
predecessor almost 15 years ago.) She began showing her age about a year ago.
With a little surgery, we managed to keep poor Bessy running a little longer.
But, starting a few weeks ago, I began noticing that Bessy wasn’t cleaning my
dishes like she used to. The last 2 loads, she quit running mid-cycle. On
Saturday she went DOA. No amount of CPR or other drastic measures were going to
resuscitate her. So on Sunday, following an online search, my daughter and I
went to purchase a new dishwasher.
Now,
I have nothing against technology and gadgets. I have learned a lot about
technology in my life – enough to set up 2 computers with the latest versions
of Windows, learn new (to me) programs at work, use a digital camera, upload
photos to my desktop, and do a little tweaking with Photoshop. It’s just that
when it comes to doing basic chores, like laundry and dishes, the technology does
not need to be high tech. Too many selections about water temperatures,
cycle lengths, and load types (fine china, heavy duty, stuck on food, temps by
5 degree increments, multiple cycle lengths …..), do not make the chore
easier. All I need is a simple machine
with a few basic choices. I rinse the
dishes, put them in the dishwasher, add the Cascade, close her up, and hit
start. That’s all I need.
We arrive
into the store prepared to purchase the most basic, most bottom of the line,
least expensive, all white dishwasher. The male appliance salesman saw 2 female
shoppers in the appliance section and immediately had us pegged as a couple of
female home improvement freaks who could easily be talked into upgrading everything.
Everyone loves stainless steel
appliance these days, for a mere $250 more, we could upgrade the same model
dishwasher from old, boring white to shiny, new stainless steel. Let’s see, my
fridge is white, my stove is almond, and my oven is black. Stainless steel
really isn’t a selling point here. All I need is a working dishwasher, so I
stuck to my guns and insisted on saving money on the boring white one.
Look
at those racks inside. They’re PVC coated (white plastic), which means they
won’t last very long. For $75 more, you can have these same racks with the new
coating that lasts 15 year longer. Plus they come in a complimentary faux “stainless
steel” color. Well, the white coating on Bessy’s racks lasted just fine for the
nearly 15 years we had her, and why do I need a coating that’s going to outlast
the dishwasher? Oh, because it matches the stainless steel appliances that are
so popular with people doing renovations. Hmm! Well stainless steel racks don’t
match the white dishwasher we’re buying. Besides, I’m not going to be opening
the dishwasher to show visitors my expensive new “stainless steel” dish racks
that don’t match anything else in my kitchen, so I think we’ll stick with
boring, white.
Oh,
but the white dishwasher has a higher noise level. In fact, the decibel level
is quite a bit higher than this high end, stainless steel dishwasher that’s not
on sale for Veteran’s Day. It’s a steal at $750, and it’ll run much quieter
than the bottom of the line, boring white one that’s on sale. Well, the boring white one can’t be any louder
than Bessie, We’ll stick with the boring white dishwasher that’s $500 less than
the stainless steel one.
Not
to be outsmarted by a couple of girls who seem intent on pinching pennies, the
salesman pitches the warranty. The dishwasher comes with the usual 1 year
warranty. For an additional $100 you can make it a 2 year warranty. Better yet
for another $250, you can buy into the 5 year warranty that covers every nut
and bolt and every electronic part, everything including the kitchen sink and the labor. Well, let’s see. Our
current dishwasher lasted almost 15 years and needed no repairs until a year
ago, so that 5 year warranty isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. And since
you’ll be trying to sell me the same warranty plans on all your dishwashers,
does this mean all your dishwashers are so bad that they’ll fall apart that
fast? I look at the guy and say: “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”
By
this time, he’s pretty well figured out he’d been bested by the original
cheapskates and wasn’t getting much of a commission off this sale. He offers to
bring the dishwasher from the storeroom out to our car so we could take it home
and install it ourselves. We wouldn’t mind that; we’ve done plumbing repairs
before. Surely, these 2 skinflint girls can unhook Bessy and install the new
dishwasher all by ourselves. Piece of cake. There’s only a couple of problems:
1. That dishwasher won't fit into the back of my daughter's Toyota Matrix or my Subaru Forester, and we have no other way to get it home.
2. Even
if those big strong guys at the store manage to squeeze it into the back of
one of our cars, there is no way the two of us can unload it and drag it
into the house.
3. Once
we got the dishwasher replaced, we are faced with the problem of trying to
figure out what to do with Bessy.
a. If
we could find a way to haul her out to the curb, it’s possible the trash
pickers will take her for the money they’d get from metal scrapping.
b. But
if they didn’t take her, then she’ll
sit on the curb until the next heavy trash pick-up a week later.
c.If
the regular trash pick-up won’t take her, then we’ll have to pay someone to
haul her off and give her a decent burial.
d. All this time, we’re
racking up demerits with the HOA
We
decided to throw the poor salesman a bone. I told him we’d be willing to pay
the additional $150 to have them deliver the new dishwasher, install it, and
give Bessie a good Catholic burial. He took that bone and ran with it.
Delivery
was supposed to happen between 2 and 5 PM today (Tuesday), they finally
showed up at 5:15 PM. One of the guys was new on the job, still learning the
ins and outs of dishwasher installation. The first thing he points out is that
the hose the salesman gave us, was too short and we’d have to go to the store
and buy a new one, then have the salesmen arrange for another installation date
later in the week. (They’ll leave the dishwasher right there in the living room
till they get back.) The more experienced installer went back to the truck and
located an extra hose the right length.
So,
they set to work. Two hours later the dishwasher was installed, however,
they pointed out that the valve feeding water to the new dishwasher has
developed a leak and will need replacing before we can use it. This is a
plumbing fix beyond the skills of the fix-it girls. Yeah, we saved money on the
dishwasher and only to spend those savings on a plumber. So we’re in the market
for a plumber we can afford.
