So the Phoenix area’s actual, real employee of Bosch showed up to inspect the ailing dishwasher. He managed to moot the service call charge by changing out the control panel on a recall (which already had been done, but we won’t mention that…). He thought the late, great repairman’s scheme to “solder the connections” in said control panel — don’t think I told you about that refinement, it being too absurd even to discuss — was pretty hilarious.
However, he did agree that the thing needed a $350 repair: not to fix a spurious “impeller” but to replace the circulation pump. Further research in the Giant Encyclopedia of the Internet (i.e., Google) appears to confirm that.
This guy said he did not feel it’s worth putting $350 into a nine-year-old washer. Because, said he, the cost of dishwashers has dropped since I bought the one in the kitchen. Retail price for a perfectly fine machine of any brand is around $500, but he thought I could find one for significantly less at Sears or Lowe’s. He added that machine’s three pumps have approximately the same lifetime, so when one has to be replaced, there’s a good chance another one will die soon — to the tune of a similar repair bill. He also said his company would be happy to sell and install a new one, but he recommended looking at local retailers, which usually do better on the price.
And he’s right: Sears is advertising a comparable Bosch, online, for a little under that price — absent the usual array of discounts and scams you can extract from that outfit. Soooo…tomorrow I’ll have to traipse to the Sears Outlet, where sometimes one can score a true smokin’ deal (sometimes not), and then if they don’t have what I want, trudge around the city in search of a new washer.
Like I have nothing else to do with my time and money. 🙄
We just replaced our dryer for much the same reason — a new model wasn’t too much more expensive than a repair. The perks of mass production, I suppose.
Or the (enforced) lure of planned obsolescence…
Hmmmm. ….to encounter not one but two fairly honest and truthful individuals in the appliance business in the same week…a true rarity. Might want to check out Lowes, don’t know if they carry Bosch but they have a pretty good selection. In my neck of the woods the Sears is somewhat dated and so is the inventory. And the sales force brings to mind buying a used car…LOL. You can do a lot of the research on line and show up with the print out and tell the guy at Lowes…”show me this”…and cut the deal. Know you’re happy with the Bosch guys BUT I have a GE dishwasher in my kitchen that in about 18 months will be legal to buy alcohol in “the Free State” (21 yrs.old). True it does have a problem with “incontinence” at times but the fact remains that it still…”runs and drives”….
Times have changed, though. Twenty-one years ago, GE was a great product. Today…not so much. This morning I’ll post the results of an entire back-spavining evening spent in front of the computer digging up some facts about these contraptions.
If you can hold out for 2-3 weeks, you could probably find something “on special” for Black Friday or Cyber Monday. And NO–you don’t have to go to the store. Order online and have the thing delivered!
Two to three weeks could be permanent. I’m actually thinking about not buying a new unit at all, at least not for quite some time. Harvey the Hayward Pool Cleaner needs replacing — that’s a $300 hit. And it’s Christmas, so I’ve got to buy a gift for my son. Really…all I need to do is shop-vac the residual water out of the bottom of the thing and use it as a gigantic dish-draining rack. It’s not THAT hard to wash the dishes by hand.
It’s crazy how a new item is the same if not cheaper than fixing it. I guess machines must wear out but it’s kind of sad. At least you’ll be getting a working dishwasher again soon!