June 08, 2008

Death of a Washing Machine

It appears that laundry problems are going around.

A little over a week ago my less-than-a-year-old washing machine died what appeared to be a relatively undramatic death. The spin cycle ceased to work, prompting a call to an appliance repairman. I hoped for a belt replacement or the like, but after a relatively short inspection, it was declaired that the machine's computer had died and it would be at least $450 to repair with labor. Considering the fact that I had paid less than that for the entire machine just a short time ago, replacement, rather than repair sounded like the better option.

Frinklin and I hit up the Sears Outlet off of Sixth Ave to find a (hopefully) inexpensive replacement. There was very little to choose from in our price range, and after a pushy salesman pushed a little too hard, we walked out without anything.

What I really wanted was to find the man that sold me my original washing machine three years ago. He refurbishes old washing machines and dryers and when we moved to Washington and needed something cheap and fast we found his number in the paper and bought an old (15 years plus) machine for very little.

While I was on vacation in San Diego over the last week Frinklin spent time doing laundry at a local laundromat. Things went fine until the last day when he took in our 8-year-old feather bed that exploded in a washing machine and left a huge pile of feathers behind - enough to fill an entire laundry basket. The owner of the laundromat was less than happy with him.

It was time for us to find a washing machine - pronto.

Luck was on our side. After a couple of phone calls to numbers in the News Tribune, we found Bill, the gentleman we had bought our original washing machine from years ago. After some assistance moving out our old machine from Mr. Freitas, we picked up a brand new machine in Lakewood, its only problem being a punctured cabinet from a forklift accident that has since been replaced. Bill gave us $50 for our old machine (Yay! No lawn ornament!) and a one year parts, labor, or exchange warranty. Kevin was once again on hand to move the machine upstairs, I connected the water hookups, and everything was a go.

Our new washing machine is fantastic. It's much better balanced than our last and hasn't balked at taking on our king sized comforter or a couple of massive dog beds. If anyone needs a good place to buy a washer or dryer, I highly recommend Bill in Lakewood.

Posted by: Ensie at 08:11 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 Congrats! Our dryer broke down recently (likely just the belt, but we'd been wanting to get a stackable, and here was our excuse). We had similar over-pushy sales folks at the Comb Depot who told us that not only could we not leave with our new dryer then and there, but that we likely needed a new washing machine (ours is, what, maybe 2 years old) because we wanted a stackable and the new ones weren't the right size. So hubby dear wandered over to the "we fix things and sell them cheap" place on center street and picked up a 9-year-old refurbished stackable dryer for $150 that fits just fine on top of our newer washing machine. Saved us at least $400 just for the machine, and more than $1,000 should we have listened to the pushy sales folks who didn't like our mix and match agenda ...

Posted by: tacomachickadee at June 08, 2008 09:14 PM (nWV/l)

2 Yeah. I have less and less patience for pushy sales people. Glad to hear that you found what you were looking for as well!

Posted by: ensie at June 08, 2008 11:12 PM (yNgp+)

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