As the Dishwasher Turns

[Winchester]

Rick's only complaint is that it doesn't have a built-in dryer. The dishes on the bottom rack are fairly dry. The dishes on the middle rack.....not so much. The silverware on the top rack is fairly dry. But the dishwasher itself is wet, even in the morning, after running a load of dishes the night before. He's not real happy about that. But it is quiet, very much so (it's supposed to be 44 decibals, which is one of the lowest on the market). We ran it last night while Rick was watching tv. I was reading back in the bedroom and I heard the television in the living room, but not the dishwasher. So I can see why the little red light shines on the floor; you really don't think the dishwasher is working properly. That red light tells you that everything is fine. I think it will be OK, we just have to get used to it. And as Dear Richard said this morning.....it certainly beats hand-washing any day. 

 The whole cycle takes 2.5 hours.....that's long to wash dishes. I think it's because it uses so little water, something like that. 

And now the bedroom windows. The contractor called me last night. He's coming in Friday morning to do the windows. They're not replacement windows (I don't like replacement windows at all); they're regular construction windows, so he's going to have to remove some of the siding on the house, get the windows out, and put the new ones in. He said it won't take too long to get them done.

And then? Bedroom flooring! 

It never stops. 

 

[larussa]

 
Rick's only complaint is that it doesn't have a built-in dryer.

I didn't realize there was no dryer.  I thought all dishwashers automatically came with built in dryers, that's how much I know.  My GE has a dryer but I just didn't realize some do not.  Like you said, you will get used to it.

 

[kathyfromcanada]

Good luck Pam

Good vibes coming your way.

 

[parsleysage]

Pam! 

 I just love the title of this post and the way that you wrote up the saga. I have very bad words to say about the people at Lowes (and Sears for that matter) - but besides that, one thing you may or may not know is that all of their installers are contractors, they don't actually work for the company. Same with Home Depot. So I am not surprised at all that they threw him under the bus, what do they care? But I'm glad he turned out to be a good guy and I love the story of the kids "helping" him with the install!

Have you considered writing a blog or something similar? I love reading your posts.

 

[Winchester]

Bless you, Anna! I always figure that I'm boring everybody silly, but that's pretty much how I do posts and such. I think I write like I talk. I don't plan on chapters, but that's how they come out. Thank you for enjoying my posts. 

Actually, yes, I do think about blogging sometimes. Lord knows, the furkids give me enough to write about as does Dear Richard (sometimes good, sometimes not so great). And, of course, cooking and baking. Day to day stuff. But I wouldn't know what to title it or anything like that. And I don't know if people would actually read it. The furkids do have their own web page, although it hasn't been kept up properly in years, not since Banshee passed away, about six years ago, and needs a major overhaul. I have tons of space on their domain to write all kinds of stuff! So yes, it's been on my mind from time to time. 

 

[jcat]

Both German dishwashers I've had were without dryers (the residual heat is supposed to dry the dishes; if you use a low-temperature setting half the dishes are damp) and both ran a long time because they didn't have a hot water hook-up, but heated cold water. The normal setting for the current one is about 90 minutes; the energy-saving cycle is well over two hours. The energy-saving washers are worse. Some settings run 4 hours!

 

[Winchester]

Yeah, we set it for Sanitize and Extra-Shine on Thursday night and it took the cycle up to 3 hours. But, except for a few plastic things, everything was fairly dry by Friday morning. When I'm finished taking the dishes out of the dishwasher, I give the inside of the door a quick wipe-down with my dish towel.

As an aside, we never did get the $35 back. We ran down to Lowes last night with our paperwork. It took a good 20 minutes or so (the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing), but they finally gave it back to us.

I called corporate on Thursday afternoon. Of course, they were very sorry to hear my tale of woe. They said they would get back to me within 24 hours. That never happened. Not that I thought it would. I'm not done. Writing my letter this weekend. I wanted to wait to see if we got our money back.

 

[larussa]

, but they finally gave it back to us.

Well I'm glad you that that money back, at least they kept their word on that.

 

[Winchester]

Rick did our rebates. There were two. One was from Bosch, for 10% of the purchase price back in the form of a Visa card (which is fine by us). So that's $80. The other rebate was to get our installation fee back. $159 there. That will help with bedroom reno expenses.

I'm using half vinegar, half Jet Dry instead of all Jet Dry. We were a little concerned about the smell there for a while, but I think that was just from the dishwasher being new. Now that we've been using it, the smell has pretty much dissipated.

And so far, we are extremely pleased with the Bosch. I really like the third rack for all the silverware. Everything is very clean. Although it's not even been a week (so it's way too early to tell), it seems like a good dishwasher.

Although as Dear Richard says, I'm just happy that I'm not having to hand-wash dishes anymore. 

 

 

[Columbine]

So glad you're happy with your choice Great that you got those rebates too. Remodeling is always more expensive than you intend it to be, in my experience anyway :lol3: Just think how nice it will be when everything is finally done!

 

[stewball]

I've never heard of a washing machine not drying. Mind you I'm not very knowledgeable about them. My German machine dries everything and takes about 1-1/2 hours. I've had this machine for about 19 years. So far. I hope I haven't put the evil eye on it!!!!!!

 

[Winchester]

Interestingly, I received a phone call from our Lowes store yesterday (I had called corporate last Thursday afternoon). They were very sorry for the problems getting our dishwasher. He was quite courteous and he apologized profusely. He said that he had heard from corporate and he immediately went back to the appliance department to talk to the people there. They pretty much admitted they screwed up every way from Thursday. There were new people in the department who had no clue whatsoever as to what was going on.

Not only did the installer call in to the store immediately after walking out of our house that Friday afternoon (just like he showed me on his phone), but our file was laying right by the service desk in the appliance dept!! All they had to do was look around a little bit. Whoever took the phone call from the installer that afternoon didn't bother to put it in the computer. And.....did I mention that the whole time we were trying to buy the dishwasher, our file was LAYING RIGHT BY THE SERVICE DESK! I told the guy, "Well, that makes it ever worse!! You people have no idea what's going on in that store." He admitted as much and said the blame should be with him. I don't think he liked it very much when I agreed and said that, as the manager, it's up to him to ensure that people are trained properly to do the jobs they are hired to do. How many other times has this happened to other people, who simply either bought at another store or just dealt with it?

And the installer? Well, after leaving our house on Tuesday afternoon, he went right down to the store and raised heck. Those idiots directly threw that man under the bus. Lied through their teeth when they said he had never called it in. And let me remind you.....our file? LAYING RIGHT BY THE SERVICE DESK if anybody would have flippin' bothered to check. Instead everybody stood there saying, "Oh, sorry. The installer didn't call it in. You're Pending." Idiots.

The manager was surprised to learn that we had had the installer come in to measure. I told him that was because we were told we needed a 36-inch height. He was dumbfounded when I told him that. He said he couldn't believe it. Me: "Exactly...your people haven't a clue." And then when he found out that we had to go in yet again to get our $35 back, well, he was speechless. Finally he said, "I didn't know that!" I told him who the Customer Service rep was and the name of the department manager who had to come to the Customer Service desk to sign the slip for us to get our money. He asked me if I knew who the guy was who told us we needed 36 inches and I said, "You know, I don't. Had I known this fiasco was going to occur, however, I would have written his name down AND taken the guy's picture!" I also told him that had Rick not bought the dishwasher on Sunday morning, I was fully prepared to hit our local store on Monday during lunch. He didn't particularly care for that, but it is what it is. I admitted it would have cost us more money, but also said, "But we would have gotten some service."

He asked me what he could do to make me happy and I told him I'd be happy if I could walk into the appliance department and have somebody there who knew what they were doing in the department. In other words, train the people properly. That's all I ask. There was absolutely no excuse for such shoddy treatment. I am not a happy camper and, even though, yes we did get the dishwasher earlier than we anticipated, it was still later than we wanted. It took us two weeks to buy a darn dishwasher. Two weeks. I was not amused and he knew it.

Oh, and the people he spoke with in the department did tell him that Rick was not happy on Sunday. He never raised his voice, he never cursed, other than to tell him that we were getting a BS treatment and he wanted it stopped. He also told them that he was the calm one and they could be glad that his wife was not along. (I was not particularly amused by that. But he's also right...unfortunately.)

So it's over. Dishwasher is here. Somebody actually got back to me. And I seriously hope that some heads rolled after our conversation. Esp the head of the idiot who said we needed a 36-inch height.

 

[Kat0121]

Wow. I wish I could say I was surprised by this. The big box stores are the worst though. I refer to them as necessary evils. I would have told him that I want a gift card for my troubles.... to another store. 

 

[larussa]

Originally Posted by Wincheste AND taken the guy's picture!"

Taken his picture??? not that's funny

 

[Columbine]

:jaw: That story sounds like something from a french farce, Pam. Did you at least get an apology?

(I agree with Kat0121 - I'd have asked for a gift card or monetary compensation for the appalling service.)

 

[Winchester]

Oh, he couldn't apologize enough; that was all he did. 

I didn't ask for a gift card or anything like that. It's not about money; it's about service. As a customer, I felt that we deserved better.

We're going down to Lowes tonight to get more paint stripper for the front door. I'm sure the clerks will see us coming and will run the other way! 

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

Interestingly, I received a phone call from our Lowes store yesterday (I had called corporate last Thursday afternoon). They were very sorry for the problems getting our dishwasher. He was quite courteous and he apologized profusely. He said that he had heard from corporate and he immediately went back to the appliance department to talk to the people there. They pretty much admitted they screwed up every way from Thursday. There were new people in the department who had no clue whatsoever as to what was going on.

Not only did the installer call in to the store immediately after walking out of our house that Friday afternoon (just like he showed me on his phone), but our file was laying right by the service desk in the appliance dept!! All they had to do was look around a little bit. Whoever took the phone call from the installer that afternoon didn't bother to put it in the computer. And.....did I mention that the whole time we were trying to buy the dishwasher, our file was LAYING RIGHT BY THE SERVICE DESK! I told the guy, "Well, that makes it ever worse!! You people have no idea what's going on in that store." He admitted as much and said the blame should be with him. I don't think he liked it very much when I agreed and said that, as the manager, it's up to him to ensure that people are trained properly to do the jobs they are hired to do. How many other times has this happened to other people, who simply either bought at another store or just dealt with it?

And the installer? Well, after leaving our house on Tuesday afternoon, he went right down to the store and raised heck. Those idiots directly threw that man under the bus. Lied through their teeth when they said he had never called it in. And let me remind you.....our file? LAYING RIGHT BY THE SERVICE DESK if anybody would have flippin' bothered to check. Instead everybody stood there saying, "Oh, sorry. The installer didn't call it in. You're Pending." Idiots.

The manager was surprised to learn that we had had the installer come in to measure. I told him that was because we were told we needed a 36-inch height. He was dumbfounded when I told him that. He said he couldn't believe it. Me: "Exactly...your people haven't a clue." And then when he found out that we had to go in yet again to get our $35 back, well, he was speechless. Finally he said, "I didn't know that!" I told him who the Customer Service rep was and the name of the department manager who had to come to the Customer Service desk to sign the slip for us to get our money. He asked me if I knew who the guy was who told us we needed 36 inches and I said, "You know, I don't. Had I known this fiasco was going to occur, however, I would have written his name down AND taken the guy's picture!" I also told him that had Rick not bought the dishwasher on Sunday morning, I was fully prepared to hit our local store on Monday during lunch. He didn't particularly care for that, but it is what it is. I admitted it would have cost us more money, but also said, "But we would have gotten some service."

He asked me what he could do to make me happy and I told him I'd be happy if I could walk into the appliance department and have somebody there who knew what they were doing in the department. In other words, train the people properly. That's all I ask. There was absolutely no excuse for such shoddy treatment. I am not a happy camper and, even though, yes we did get the dishwasher earlier than we anticipated, it was still later than we wanted. It took us two weeks to buy a darn dishwasher. Two weeks. I was not amused and he knew it.

Oh, and the people he spoke with in the department did tell him that Rick was not happy on Sunday. He never raised his voice, he never cursed, other than to tell him that we were getting a BS treatment and he wanted it stopped. He also told them that he was the calm one and they could be glad that his wife was not along. (I was not particularly amused by that. But he's also right...unfortunately.)

So it's over. Dishwasher is here. Somebody actually got back to me. And I seriously hope that some heads rolled after our conversation. Esp the head of the idiot who said we needed a 36-inch height.

It is becoming this way more and more everywhere you go. Customer service is an unknown word. :lol3:

 

[stewball]

When you used the word 'flippin'.you reminded me of my dad. That was one of his limited 'curse' words. Any case you reminded me of my dad long gone.