Sears: The only lemon I don't want

My bout with the flu was thankfully short and though I never felt horrible, just crummy, I am feeling better today. Just in time for my semi-annual visit from the Sears repair man to fix my dishwasher, yet again and my ongoing battle to have them replace this lemon.

My dishwasher is not new as in, "this is the first month I've had it" but it's not old, as in, "sorry they haven't made parts for this since Nixon administration". The dishwasher came to us on the tidal wave of our 2005 Remodel, or as I like to call it, "It's gonna cost how much?"

When you are replacing all of the three majors in the kitchen it's easier to go to one store and purchase them and since Sears had the refrigerator I wanted they were the lucky recipient of my business. I also paid extra for the extended warranty for all three and glad I did because just a short year after we finished the GE refrigerator crapped out to the tune of 900 bucks. Not actually a tune more like a friggin' opera. This, you might ask; but sorry after you do, is the lemon I'm referring to? Oh no, I have a much larger problem with the dishwasher.

It started last year with a broken door hinge. Scenario: Call to Sears, they apologize for the inconvenience and send their best to fix it. Wait for the repair man; if lucky you get a four-hour window. He orders the part and reschedules an appointment to fix it. The part comes in the mail, the repair man fixes it and we are once again, in business. Until a month later when something else happens.

Return to Scenario, and do it three more times. It has cost Sears over 900 bucks in parts and labor. Not me because I got the extended warranty but someone had to pay it. Granted, they would charge me more than what it actually cost them, hey, someone has got to make some money here. It has cost me time and aggravation. It has given the repair guys a job, wait that isn't so bad but it has made me lose hope in Sears.

After arguing with "customer service" for near an hour they agreed to have the tech evaluate the dishwasher to see if it qualifies as a lemon and give me a new one. Jeeeze, I'm not sure I want another Sears product but what I finally told them is "… just saying your sorry about my inconvenience is NOT customer service; doing something is."

Ah, and the warranty? It doesn't expire until October 2010. Imagine how much more money I could rack up in another year.

Update after the lying MAMF repair moron was here:

The tech was supposed to evaluate the problem and call his main office. I gave him my case number and the name and phone number of the customer service person on the case. I stepped out of the room to answer the phone and when I returned he said, "They said to order the part and fix it." Can't get much plainer than that. I was not happy and when he left called the number myself and he had never called them. After 30 minutes of going over my problems, why ever do they give you a case number, the rep said he would forward this on to the committee to decided if I have a lemon and it should be replaced and, hey, gave me a new case number. Sure.

So while they decide I'm looking a very lovely looking dishwasher that doesn't work and causes me aggravation. Sears will sell you the extended warranty but just give you so much grief it makes you want to NOT SHOP AT SEARS EVER AGAIN!

Who works this long on a shower?

I've drifted far from blogging these days and can't say why. I'd love to say I've been so productive but that would be a big fat lie. I've not done much outside of a small amount of reading, some cooking and helping Dan tile the bathroom shower. Yes, we are still working on bathroom number one. This project is being brought to you by two people who, before retirement, would have stayed up nights just to get it finished yet now are quite complacient with this progress. It does amaze me that we've taken so long, not troubled but amazed.

We are to the ordering-the-custom-shower-door stage which is causing some concern. We've measured six ways to Sunday but Dan still wants to have a friend come by and doulbe check what we've done. These glass shower enclosers are not cheap so I understand his concern. My concern is will we ever get to shower in this room?

I don't know why I'm in a hurry because when we finish this one we'll start on bathroom number two. This sometimes keeps me up nights but I must get over it. We'll need to "gut" which is such an ugly word, bathroom number two right down to the bare walls. That means, lots of dust and mess and back to one toilet again. How I've been accustomed to two bathrooms. My step-mother was raised with ten in her family and growing up they only had one bathroom. The horror! Which brings to mind, I didn't have the pleasure of an extra bath until I moved to this house but growing up there were four of us so that wasn't as bad. I do remember at times, the agony of one toilet and a father with the new Reader's Digest.

If I were smart I'd take this in-between time to do something different like a small vacation. I think I'll start working on Dan, the smell from the grout sometimes makes him light-headed.

Home improvement for fun and profit

I've been very lax with my postings, must be I've got other things a doin'. Before Thanksgiving Dan and I started the master bathroom tile project. We'd gotten more than one bid over two grand, just for the labor, so we decided to give it a try. Tile isn't that difficult if you take your time and since we'd tiled two bathroom floors in my house in Bakersfield we thought we were pros. I'm glad to say we are doing a great job, albeit slow. We took off a week plus to celebrate Thanksgiving and entertain a friend visiting from the Pacific Northwest. Here is what we accomplished before our short hiatus.

photos

Ya gotta spend a grand to look grand

The granite came yesterday, much earlier than expected but we did not tell them no. The grief of working with plywood counter tops can only be measured in the number of splinters so I was more than thrilled to get the granite.

The kitchen isn't big but my plan was for more than enough counter space. Not that I have much out, I evaluate each item on it's "counter worthiness" before it finds a permanent home. When I cook I spread out and this will be a great kitchen to move around in. The big deep sink will hold all those pots, dishes and pans I like to dirty and the trash is close to the prep area.

The granite was a tight fit and needed some modification. I felt sorry for the installers because what they thought would be a quick job turned into six hours. I wasn't in labor that long though you thought they might be birthing something the way they grunted and groaned. This stuff is heavy, even the small pieces.

When they left I noticed a not-so-much-of-crack but a fissure. After a call to the salesman I was relieved to know this was no problem, happens from time to time and someone would be there to "heal" this fissure. I wasn't all that sure and I spent the rest of the evening going back to look at it. Nothing I could do, maybe I thought it would heal itself spontaneously.

They arrived at about 2:00 p.m., sanded, polished, filled, polished some more and in an hour they were gone. You can't see it and only I know it's there and now everyone that's reading my blog but I dare anyone to find it. Hey, that could be a party game for my open house. My big concern was what would it look like in ten years but everyone assured me the joints are stronger than the actual granite so nothing to worry about. Being a somewhat trusting soul I believe them. What else can I do.

I am thrilled, so far, with the granite and if anyone is looking to invest a bit in your kitchen, go for it, it does look grand.

Hell no, we won't go

Remodeling has come to a grinding halt. The cabinet that was to take four weeks is now sliding into the fifth week with no new delivery date in sight. A call from the maker said it never made it on the truck. Well, does that mean they are letting it decided for itself whether to travel? Who's running that business. It's my fear that the woodwork has taken the people hostage and are planning so sort of revolt or at the very least, a protest. Take heed little cabinet, homeland security might not take kindly to a protest and as liberal as I am I feel you need to take your rightful place in my kitchen.

So this is what it feels like to be the oppressor, I think I need a shower.

Syntax: Something the religious right would die for

If tile setting is an art, which it is, we were lucky enough to get the Michaelangeo of the trade, Martin. Martin, pronounced Marteen, came to us though the carpet store and we were so lucky to have him on the job. He's a perfectionist with a wonderful sense of pride and a quirky way with English but we had no problems understanding each other.

"Your husband says to me, if I hurry and get the kitchen tiled he'll put the stove back and you'll cook us a well breakfast. Do you want me to hurry?" I told him no, I'd rather he take his time and breakfast could wait.

He brought Carlos, his helper and I don't speak much Spanish but I got the idea he was his apprentice. He would patiently explain what he was doing then end with, "capicsi" which is Italian for "you understand?" Carlos did most of the "dirty" work like mixing the cement, cutting the tiles and supplying Martin as he did his job. He seemed to have a lot of respect for his "hefe" and I never heard Martin raise his voice.

On the fourth day the job was finished except for cleaning the floor. I ran out to get donuts while Dan made a fresh pot of coffee. Martin was pleased to stop and have some with us. I don't think Carlos' english was good enough for him to chat because he stayed away and cleaned up.

Over coffee Martin talked about his country, Mexico. He was from Guadalajara, the old colonial capital and was quite proud of "his city." He came to the US because most of his family was here. His grandparents came in the forties but when old enough, their children, Martin's parents, returned to Mexico only to return after all their children were born. He was the youngest and came to study in the states and decided to stay. His father had always told him, don't be poor and marry someone just to make them poor, too. He took that advice "to his heart." Martin never married until one December, when a bit lonely around the holidays, he found the telephone number of a girl he'd dated in Mexico when he was in school. He decided to call and she was still there, still unmarried and they rekindled their relationship. After many trips to Guadalajara he convinced her to marry him and come to the US. He finally could marry her and not make her life worse.

Martin says he's forty and I thought his wife was a bit old to be single in Mexico. When I asked my friend Di if that was normal she said she probably lived with her parents and they had candles burning to an assortment of santos, saint's statues, to bring their daughter a good man. And, if at the end of the year this plea was not answered the statues were hung upside down. I knew a catholic women, not hispanic, who buried a statue of St Anthony upside down in her yard to sell her house. She said it worked, I think she probably turned a few shovels of dirt and made the yard look better.

I guess the Catholics never got over the Inquisition.

Hang on, it's gonna be a bumpy ride

On this bumpy road to a new kitchen we've come to a roadblock. Not the sirens-flashing cops-with-guns type of roadblock, more of a bump like those bumps in parking lots. One of the upper cabinets came damaged and can't be installed. It's the corner, needs to be installed first and the other cabinet will also have to wait. Who knew cabinetry was so familial. Problem is it might take a while to get a new cabinet but we drove carefully over this roadblock on to the next.

Phil and Dan call me on my cell and ask me to come home, there was a problem. Ye gads, what now? I was only a block away and was home in a flash.

Background: There are three, separate but joined together, wall cabinets all with glass doors for me to display my things that are pretty enough to show.

"Do you want a light in each cabinet, or just the center one?"

This has got to be a "man" question because I wouldn't have spent the extra money for glass doors if I didn't care if anyone could see in. Sigh.

You sold the family cow for what?

Holy cow! I just found out what the granite counter tops will cost. I think I'll just glue twenties to the counter and be done with it.

I've always been a pragmatic soul buying name brands when it made sense (except for those designer sandals a few summer back but they were red--who doesn't want a pair of red Italian sandals) but just as happy with a bargain if it made more sense so why am I willing to fork out that kind of dough. Have I been seduced by the media to think I really need this stuff? I love to bake but could I roll pastry on a plastic sheet over tile and be happy? How to decide?

Pssssssssstttt: did you hear something?

Last week we received eleventy-thousand dollars worth of cardboard boxes. I hope there are cabinets inside but I'm leaving them for Mr Heckendorf, the contractor, to open. He says it will only take two days to get them installed, three if Dan helps.

Honestly, Dan really has been a help, he's a plumber-electrician-dry-wall-guy that doesn't mind cleaning up. He added dry wall to his title just last week when he watched the kitchen get finished. He's taken that knowledge and is finishing the walls in the master bath.

The sink was removed and will go back after the cabinets are in but only temporarily because it will have to come out again for the counters. Dan is great to put it back in for me. He's done it so many times he could do install it in his sleep. That hasn't been to inconvenient but this has been a busy week and no time to cook anyway.

Word of advice. Don't let your sense of beauty over take your budget. I almost ordered the most wonderful tile for the bathroom at more than twice what I had budgeted. Always take a deep breath an then decide. It if is something you can't live without then find something to cut elsewhere. Just think of your budget like gas trying to escape from a box and it's your job to keep it all contained.

Got to go, I think Dan found another leak.

Stick 'em up!

We had to get rid of our old stove and I found a company that would pick it up for ten dollars. I called and scheduled a pick-up and they gave me very specific instructions. It had to be in front of our fence but not at the curb. The ten dollars MUST be in the form of a check or the appliance would not be taken without it. They would pick-up on Tuesday before noon.

Dan and I were diligent with the instructions and had it in place Tuesday at 7:00 am, just in case they came early. When some guys came an hour later they loaded the stove and Dan tried to give them the check and they said, no, they needed cash. I was surprised but gave them the ten bucks in cash and off they went. Dan and I had other things to do so we left and when we returned had a voice mail asking where the appliance was. Evidently our stove was stolen and we paid them ten dollars to do it!

Life goes on.

Five across

What's a seven letter word for anguish, extravagance, sweat, tears, joy, divorce, compromise and satisfaction?

REMODEL

We decided not to move from our 40 year-old-house, not with the prices in Southern California, and remodel what we had. First, let me tell anyone doing this to plan, plan, plan some more, and then stuff those plans in the trash and start over because that is exactly what we did. Our remodel when through so many stages I think I'm going to be surprised once it's finished.

Second piece of advice is make a budget and be realistic. Hey, things cost a lot these days, especially the things that go in kitchens and baths. When you start be ready for the worst case of sibling rivalry you've ever experienced. If you get new floor then the walls get jealous, pout and, by the time they get their way, you've got Venetian plaster and crown moulding. If the dishwasher sees you've brought in a new range it packs its little racks and leaves--so of course--now a new dishwasher has to be added. You think car engines are expensive to keep running, try feeding fuel to the remodel engine. We make about eight trips to Home Depot a week averaging at least $100 a trip--well, you do the math--I could be taking a nice vacation where Sven would be massaging my tired feet.