Speaking of dishwashers

[sudsmaster]

As some of us may know, Bosch has issued a recall for many dishwashers made in the past five or ten years. Mine fell into the recall, which was voluntary on Bosch's part. I called the 800 number and was told they'd send me the part, but that Sears would have to do the install.

Fine, I thought. I could do it myself but would rather have it done officially just in case something goes wrong with the new part.

Sears repair (A&E) arrives well on time (in the middle of the four hour estimate). Fellow is clean and polite. I work in the other room on some classwork. I hear a lot of fumbling in the kitchen. He's having problems freeing the connectors from the old controller.

I ask: "Have you done this before?". He says yes, and I leave him alone.

20 minutes later, he's fumbling trying to stick the new controller back into the metal frame. He asks me to hold the door for him, which I do.

10 minutes later he's got it all buttoned up, and starts to read the instructions on how to program the codes into the controller. It doesn't seem to work, so I give him a hand. We kind of sort of get it to work, except now the Quick Wash is taking 58 minutes instead of 30 minutes. He says it's the way the new controller is supposed to work.

I sign the receipt and he's on his way. He leaves the old controller and all the instructions. I note immediately that in order to program the control codes, it needs to be done BEFORE putting the control panel back together, because a fifth button is hidden from view after it's put together, and that button must be pressed along with three others to program the codes. So I get out my Torx set and re-open the control panel. In about 10 minutes I figure it out (the LED display shows the code instead of a pattern of lights above the buttons). Get the right code set and the machine now displays about 30 minutes for the Quick wash, just like it's supposed to.

I button it up and run a full cycle. No problems. I wonder if the 58 minute mistake was for a gentle cycle (different model). Oh, well, I like having the Quick cycle better. Beside, after pushing the right buttons, I couldn't get the 58 minute time back, instead it showed up as 85 minutes. Quicker than the 105 for the normal cycle, but definitely not quick enough.

Yes I did cuss out the repairman after he left, but then I figured I got to do it myself after all. While maintaining whatever warranty might accompany the recall repair.

And so it goes.

I wonder how many other dishwashers this guy is going to foul up before he reads the instructions, lol...

 

[alr2903]

Suds i imagine many folks would never notice the difference in "run" time, as long as they have clean dishes the next morning. The real truth in my way of thinking, if it hadn't been a warranty job, it would of been the "might think about a new one" speech from the "tech". arthur

 

[toggleswitch2]

Forgive them Lawd for they know not what they do.

I had to have my little Sears "world-washer" style portable repaired in that the controller board had partially failed such that the agitator was moving only in one direction.

The machine has a DC motor that changes direction with the agitator, but no tranny. There is a separate water pump and motor.

Anyhoo... Mr. Repairperson decides to hold the fabric softener dispenser (located in the agitator a la Maytag style) stationary whle the tub was in "spin". Long story short, he got the two pieces of plastic to mold themselves together from the heat generated.

I caught this as he was leaving, so he was able to get me new pieces that arrived with the controller board.

90% +/- of illnesses are iatrogenic (caused by doctors). I wonder if such a high percentage of reapirs is attribuatable to quack repairmen.

 

[favorit]

Electrolux repairmen ...

seem to be like that, at least the one who repaired my AEG DW.
He changed the washing pump and ran as a test the 30 minutes cycle with the machine out of the worktop.

Talkin about the pipe (WITHOUT ANY ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR) that feeds the nozzle above the upper rack, he said it is a "turbidity sensor". Well, my dishwasher has NO "automatic" programs ( it doesn't cut/add any prewash or interim rinse) so it is clear it hasn't any sensor ....... I didn't answer cause it wasn't worth

Anyway the rare times I had to do with Miele repairsmen they proved to know very well the stuff, probably because they are well trained

 

[favorit]

Electrolux repairmen ...

seem to be like that, at least the one who repaired my AEG DW.
He changed the washing pump and ran as a test the 30 minutes cycle with the machine out of the worktop.

Talkin about the pipe (WITHOUT ANY ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR) that feeds the nozzle above the upper rack, he said it is a "turbidity sensor". Well, my dishwasher has NO "automatic" programs ( it doesn't cut/add any prewash or interim rinse) so it is clear it hasn't such a sensor....... I didn't answer cause it wasn't worth

Anyway the rare times I had to do with Miele repairsmen they proved to know very well the stuff, probably because they are well trained

 

[favorit]

sorry

for the double post

 

[Cybrvanr]

The crazy thing about this whole thing is that my Hobart Kitchenaid KDS 18 runs about 26 minutes through an entire full length cycle!

 

[sudsmaster]

Yes, the older dishwashers use higher water consumption and higher water pressure to accomplish what the euro washers do in 2 to 3 a long a time. But I do appreciate that I can put most plastic things in the lower rack of the Bosch without having to worry about a heating element melting them.

The older KA's like the 18 have heating elements immersed in the sump, so they are probably safer than those with exposed heating elements. Still, I've had a soft plastic lid melt in my KD-2P. It got thrown around the bottom rack and wedged in between the hot air inlet and the cutlery tray. Hot enough to make it pretty much usuable after that, but the same type lid fares just fine in the Bosch.

 

[j2400]

Repair people who make it worse

"90% +/- of illnesses are iatrogenic (caused by doctors). I wonder if such a high percentage of reapirs is attribuatable to quack repairmen."

I've been wondering that recently. A few weeks ago, I went to get an oil change. For various reasons, I had to go to a real mechanic. And the car ran poorly warm coming out of his shop. Cold, it was hard to start and keep running.

A little poking around, and I discovered a vacuum line had been disconnected near the oil filter. Accident during the oil change? Or intentional to get me back in a hurry? You be the judge.

 

[sudsmaster]

Probably an accident

A real mechanic probably has better, more interesting things to do besides a routine oil change. Or he had a less than skilled underling do the job.

You could go back and let him know about the problem. If anything he'd probably take better care of your vehicle on the next visit. He might even comp you on something. Otherwise he might never know that his shop made the error in the first place.

These days car mechanics are going to be pretty busy. People are opting to keep their older cars instead of buying new ones. That means there will be increased business servicing older machines, which by nature tend to break down more than younger equipment. So the car mechanics would have little need to manufacture problems.

 

[redcarpetdrew]

I agree about repaimen who make it worse. In my field, I encounter techs (and I use that loosely...) who do not give the job their best due largely to three main factors.
1)Lack of time. These poor souls have 15-20 calls a day or are so spread out that they can only give a few mins of attention a call (such as Sears and A&E).
2)Lack on knowledge. These people are poorly trained and must get their learning from a hastily watched video (usually in the van in front of the cust's house) or from a trainer who's been trained by another trainer who's been trained by yet another trainer who was trained by a factory trainer such as you see in the Sears and other large service organizations. Sometimes, due to a shortage of the people trained on the actual product, a tech trained on refrigerators will be sent out on washers to fill in gaps in service areas.
3)Lack of caring! These guys(and gals) are only working to get a check and do not really care about doing the job right. they'd rather be home, doing some other job, or just don't have their hearts in their work. As I've always said: "If you don't care enough to do the job right the first time and give the customer your 'A' game, find another line of work!"

I hate going on a call to clean up after any of the three above examples as the customer usually greets me with one of those wary, unwelcoming looks or with outright hostility as the last guy did something that caused actual damage to the appliance or the house or BOTH! They expect that I'll be just like the last one and make it worse as 'we are all alike'...

Sorry for the rant! This is just another one of those "sore spot' topics.

RCD