The Trip - It Comes Tomorrow!

Shortly after I got home from Texas, I loaded the dishwasher and turned the knob to fire it up. It made noise, but not enough noise and not the right kind of noise. No water happened inside. I tried several times, just in case. Nothing.

There are two routes I could have taken. First, I could call a repairman, pay lots of money for him to show up and look at it, then pay more for him to (hopefully) fix it, and by the time it would be over it would have cost as much as a brand new, but cheap, dishwasher. Second, I could (or might be forced to, after the repairman arrived) just go and buy a new one. I opted for the second route.

Last Tuesday (over a week ago) I called my mom, because she gets Consumer Reports, and she found the dishwasher issue and told me what they picked as the CR Best Buy: Whirlpool, Hotpoint, Maytag, and Kenmore.

At Best Buy, I checked prices and features, then went over to Sears to look at the Kenmore and compare prices to Best Buy. They had a sign that guaranteed "next day installation," which was perfect for getting it in time for Thanksgiving, but the salesman assured me that didn't apply to the holiday season. Bummer. It turns out their "next day installation" only applies to non-built-in appliances, like freestanding stoves and refrigerators. Definitely not dishwashers.

I picked a basic (inexpensive) model, since that's what was in the house already, and had to laugh a little when the salesman asked me if I wanted the extended warranty. I had already explained that my house was for sale, so I told him again before declining the offer. He said the dishwasher wouldn't even be in the warehouse for the installers to pick up until Friday, and then the installers would call me to arrange installation.

They called me the next day to tell me that the soonest they could bring it out was the 29th, and (I asked) they didn't give priority to people with broken ones over people who just wanted a newer one. This afternoon they called with my installation window: tomorrow between 2:00 and 5:00.

I can't (but must) wait! I've been doing dishes by hand since I got home. Nobody should have to suffer such a fate, especially with the Thanksgiving dishes.

So tomorrow I'll be sure to dirty some dishes so I can put the new dishwasher through its paces. I'm more than ready for it to get here.

Update (Thursday 6:00 pm):

I have a new dishwasher and it works! What a great day.