First things first: New Clean Sweep.
Now then, dishwasher. On 07/16/2011 we have purchased a dishwasher. It was a GE dishwasher, new model, and we paid $500 for it during one of the big sales Home Depot was having. We assumed that a $500 appliance would last longer than 18 months. Haha! We were wrong.
The dishwasher quits cold turkey Friday before Christmas, December 21st. We have a tech come out, he looks at it for fifteen minutes, and says, “Bad news, your pump is shot. Good news, if you bought extended warranty, it should be covered.”
Why, we did buy te warranty. Here it is right here. After calling the number and being transfered three times, I get to the right department and they tell me, “We’ll send tech on Christmas Eve.”
Me, “Okay.”
Christmas Eve – no tech. This part actually didn’t bother me too much, because I wouldn’t want to work on Christmas Eve.
Tech shows up the day after Christmas. He is surly. He screws with dishwasher for over an hour. “Your pump needs to be replaced.”
Us, “Aha.”
“They have to mail the pump. We’ll put the order in. Five days it will be here.”
January 2nd (5 business days, 13 days without dishwasher) No part.
January 8th (9 business days, 19 days without dishwasher) Part arrives. We call the tech. They tells us, “Eeeh. January 12.”
At this point I’m grinding my teeth, because if I wanted not to have a dishwasher, through Christmas, New Year, and my birthday, and winter break with a large number of teenagers in the house, I wouldn’t have bought one.
January 12, tech comes, complains about the installation, complains about screws being stripped, but dishwasher is fixed. Put a towel by it – it might leak a little.
January 14th, dishwasher runs for the first time. Water is observed on the kitchen floor. No obvious leak. Towel is removed.
January 15th, dishwasher ran for the second time. Water. Where is the water coming from? Kids, did you spill water? Nope, we didn’t. Walk on the floor, oh no, water is coming from under the laminate.
Current state of said floor: puffy. Those swirls you see? Not part of the design. That’s where the floor suffered water damage and puffed up.
January 17th, calling back to Home Depot. Given run around. Finally “we will send tech out Monday.”
Monday = 30 days without a working dishwasher.
At this point I turned into Joe Peshi.
And then I bitched and moaned and vented to Jeaniene Frost, which apparently sounded somewhat like this:
%^%$# $$%()* &&^^%% **&^^% dishwasher! ##$@!44% %^^%%$ &*()*&^%% floor!
They will fix my damn dishwasher. And when I am rich and famous, I will buy a new dishwasher from Somewhere Else. In fact, I will be purchasing most of my appliance at NOT-Home-Depot store from now on. Because we will have to replace the floor or we run the risk of having mold grow under the laminate.
So in the interests of not ending things on a sour note, I decided to show you a picture of a cute cat tree.
The cat tree is taller than both of us. It came in a box and we put it together in about 20 minutes with no fuss.
The cats love it. Best thing about it? It was a hundred bucks on Amazon.
Oliver is closing on 20lbs and he has no problem draping himself over the top towers. The tree does shake a bit when they jump from tower to tower, but no more than an outside tree branch would shake if a twenty pound cat landed on it.
The younger cats really dig it.
Cat tree looks almost identical to the one Miss Reese enjoys and taunts the dog from. She doesn’t have the lower little kitty house though, just a platform leading to those stairs.
Same issue of slight shake when she jumps, excuse me, leaps from four feet away onto it.
Sorry to hear about that had the same problem except my was an Stove that stopped working at thanksgiving.and is still not working. Home depot special too…. Now looking for a new one somewhere else… Interesting note now can cook meal for family on outdoor grill and electric frying pan even in 10 inches of snow…lol
We cooked in a cast iron pan over our outdoor grill when the power was out due to Sandy. My hubby is an Eagle Scout and loved getting to use all his wilderness knowledge!
Hope you get the stove situation worked out with minimal frustration.
My little sister dragged her gas barbeque into the house during the floods here 2 years ago so she could cook indoors while the power was out.
Can you link the cat tree you bought? I’ve been looking for a good one for my cats and I have a cat that’s heavy like Oliver.
It was this one http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003BYQ18M/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00 came in a giant box that Oliver, the grey cat, kept jumping into.
Thanks!
I now have cat tree envy!
I hope you got a good deal from a appliance store and kicked HD to the curb.
Your warranty should cover the floor repair, since the leak was caused by their “fix.” I’d raise hell until it did.
I have to have our dishwasher looked at, because it makes a weird ticking noise during the dry cycle. Between you and another friend, who also had a terrible dishwasher repair experience, I’m not looking forward to it. Let’s see if Best Buy is better than Home Depot…
I totally agree! Home Depot should pay for ALL repairs. I hate making a scene or pitching a fit but in this case I would go all out.
I agree! Home Depot is responsible for messing up your flooring. They should definitely fix it. Report them to BBB.
I’ve had great luck with sears on my dishwasher & washer – not only do they send somebody out fast they also get the part within a couple of days. Best of all they come out once a year to clean things that get really filthy (I was reallyhappy when kids switched from brownies to cherries but pits in the pump intake are not helpful.) full disclosure – I have absolutely no relation with sears other than buying appliances there.
Actually, I had worse problems with Sears. It got so bad I seriously considered renting a truck, taking my broken dishwasher back, dumping it in the middle of the store and complaining till someone actually *fixed* the thing. (It took almost 3 months, 5 repairmen and 2 escalations before I finally got a working replacement.) I have since decided never to buy anything from Sears that won’t fit in my car.
I agree with Liz. We had TERRIBLE problems with Sears, so much so that we gave up trying to have them fix our clothes washer and went out and bought a new one because we’d lost so much time out of work waiting for repairmen that never showed up. I was somewhat amused to note that if you google “sears sucks” you can get a litany of similar complaints.
One clarification – sears will perform the annual maintenance but you have to remember to schedule it.
I believe with Sears it all depends on where you are as they often use independent repair co.
I’m sorry about your dishwasher. That really sucks. We had no clothes washer last summer and when we got it replaced (with a brand new one top line from Sears) it was a huge deal involving several visits from rude repair men (to be fair, the first was lovely, the rest were useless) and ended up having my dad fix all that was wrong. Still having issues with it. So I can empathize.
If the floor is leaking and Home Depot put the dishwasher in, I’m pretty sure they are responsible to cover floor costs. That was one problem we ran into with the clothes washer- we needed something special with the hook-up to water and Sears wouldn’t do it because then they’d be liable for the plumbing. So, I’d look into that if I were you. It’s doubtful that it would save you any aggravation, but it might save you some money.
I just started reading clean sweep last week. I was waiting for there to be a good amount of it up because patience is not my virtue and I knew I’d go crazy waiting. Well, I loved it! Thank you for sharing this with us! Now I’m off to read this weeks offering. Yay!
PS- love the cat tree. I’m envious of your cats- both that you have them (hubs is allergic) and that they have that awesome tree!
Yeesh, sorry about your floor. Will avoid Home De-Pot from now on. Your cat tree looks great – wish I could be a cat and try it out!
We have the same cat tree! We put it in the living room near the window so our 2 furries can look outside. They really like to climb up to the top and taunt the dog from a safe distance.
That mini cat on the cat tree is too cute to exist. It will cause a massive distortion in space time to compensate for the obvious imbalance of cute.
Will Home Depot do anything about your floor? It’s their fault that it’s leaking and causing damage.
Sorry for dishwater nightmare…
Cat tree looks great, but cats are just adorable!
OMG… our fridge is doing the same thing. Leaking SOMEWHERE and when you step on THE DAMN TILE it squishes out water. We think the freezer is defrosting somehow somewhere… plumber is coming Tuesday. Woopie.
THAT CAT TREE! I MUST HAVE IT! We got a new kitten (for the husband) and the 2 cats are battling for the current cat Tower of Power. There are 2 slots but apparently the TOP ONE is the one to be on. My cat screams bloody murder each time the new guy jumps up and I have to go “rescue” her. It’s hilarious… the first time. At the 200th I want to beat them both senseless and make boots out of their fur. However THAT UBER TOWER OF CAT POWER could possibly satisfy both of them. Possibly.
Best Buy – same experience with our dishwasher, except we have ceramic tile. Not sure where we can all safely go to buy our $500 appliances anymore.
We have been lucky with our Best Buy. Bought an HD washing machine and an extended warranty- had some major problems a few years later- all covered and addressed with no problem with one phone call. We then bought another warranty on the same washing machine. Six years out it had more problems, every time they came out they noticed something new. After 4 visist and one month- they surprised us by giving us a voucher number for a ‘replacement value’ washing machine! When we asked they said they had a 30 day lemon rule- if they cannot fix it in 30 days they will replace it with a like machine. We got a brand new HD washing machine (got a different make since the first one had lots of problems) and we are very happy. When we were ordering the replacement they told us washing machines last an average of 7 years now. And on a final happy note, they shipped it, installed it and hauled the old one away at no charge. They asked if we had a way to wash our clothes and when we said no they made sure we got the new one installed in 3 days. Would definitely purchase from our Best Buy again.
As a last resort, I’m pretty sure you can file a claim with your home owners insurance for the floor damage. Their lawyers will go after Homie D to honor the warranty and get reimbursed.
I agree with Kelley. File a claim through your insurance company, document everything and let them do the work for you. It may not make you feel better, but it should help you get a working dishwasher faster. You also may want to file a complaint with the BBB and send a certified letter to Home Depot’s corporate office consumer affairs department detailing your horrible HD experience. Large companies usually respond fairly quickly to these types of complaints to avoid bad publicity.
Good luck!
We bought a four floor cat tree from Costco at Christmas. We call it Tesla towers since he used it to jump in and out of the tree. He loves it. I’m afraid he is going to tip it over and bust the living room window but techie boy says it will last.
Is that a new cat on the third floor? I know Oliver and Salem and Batty by sight and this looks like a new denizen of Chez Andrews.
Yes, who is that above Oliver? The fluffy one that looks like a Himalayan or Ragdoll?
Home Depot should pay for the damage to your floors! Their incompetence led to the damage, they should fix it.
You win,….. for now. I thought I was experiencing hell with my dishwasher. But you have me beat….for now.
December 3, 2012 I moved into my new house. I purchased brand new in the box from Brandsmart a Fridgeaire Gallery stove, LG over range microwave, and a Fridgeaire Gallery dishwasher. The tech came and installed the Microwave and dishwasher on 12/05/12. For the Christmas Holidays I had assorted friends and relatives with a multitude of kids in my house for breakfast through late night snacking. I decided to use dishes instead of paper plates, because new house, new stuff (showing off) you know. Well as i loaded the first of maybe four full loads that needed to be washed the dishwasher gave up the ghost. That stupid thing was lit up but would not wash any dishes. So I had to hand wash every pot, pan and dish on Christmas and New Years. I called for a tech….it’s the holidays so I have an appointment set for a few days after Christmas. The dishwasher needs a new panel board. The tech says it happens often with these new computerized applances. (yeah… then why dont your punk a**, got one in that darn truck). He stated he would have to order the panel and he would do it rush….well he called me last night to let me know that he would be at my house on Monday morning he final got the part in. REALLY!!!!!!! mean while my 12 has decided to poison us with her lack of skill handwashing. Per her, if she washes it and all the food doesn’t come off the dish is still considered clean. (and yeah she will put them away dirty)… I Can not wait for monday.!!!!!!
That is definately the Versailles of cat trees – especially as there is no kitty litter pan in view
! Good luck with the plumbers and thanks for taking the time to post the new Clean Sweep in the midst of all the angst.
It almost makes me wish I had a cat.
Ah the wonderful world of planned obsolescence where once durable goods are now consumer items. Just gone through 2 dishwashers in 6 months myself. Unfortunately ‘average’ lifespan means that there will be plenty of lemons.
Pooey! I spit on Home Depot for you! Good luck with all the fighting and fixing.
We’ve had good luck with Lowe’s so far. Bought two washers, a dryer, and a fridge from them. Usually the biggest problem with all the big retailers is that they outsource installation and warranty contracts. Yes, you bought it from Home Depot, but they sold it to another company so now that you have a problem you are caught in a hellish place in between them.
Important note: You can send a letter and/or file a complaint with your state Attorney General for free to have them investigate the business. In this case the case would be fraud for failing to live up to the contractual warranty. The AG office will only assist if you have not engaged a lawyer. If you engage a lawyer, they will step aside. It’s free to you and even receiving a letter from a state Attorney General can be very motivational to companies in getting your issues resolved. The AG is interested b/c if a company is committing fraud on a large scale basis, they will sue on behalf of all the citizens in Texas who bought warranties. No retailer wants the potential bad reputation or the possible payout.
The frustration in this post came through so vividly, I feel like I just saw a movie. But I definitely know what you mean. I have made it my life goal to have enough children and have them master each craft needed in the house. In this way, I make my own little team
All the best,
Iulian
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The servicer should, by law, have liability insurance to cover the damage. Call HD customer service (not local store, but main headquarters) ask to be transferred to a supervisor, as many times as needed until you get the answer you want and stay calm (lol) and firm. Write a letter (stamps to the rescue!) to whatever address they give you because complaints in writing actually carry as much-if not more- weight than calling in. Rinse and repeat until they pressure the service company to pay the damages. The burden of responsibility to prove all of this is on you, so keep a record of every call, every email, pictures of the subfloor once they rip up the floor, the estimate for the damages, the bill once you have it replaced, etc. They will settle out of court without lawyers but you just have to be persistent. How do I know? Sadly, its my job to tell people like you and Gordon “No” everyday. Any time I can help someone hear “Yes”, especially people who happen to be my FAVORITE authors, I do. Good Luck!
If you have home insurance, they may cover it. My parents have had several appliances go bad (washer, dryer, and fridge) and the insurers sent out their own repair technicians. As for a new place to buy appliances, my parents have always bought theirs from Sears, and the service has been satisfactory. They usually show up in a decent amount of time, and they usually fix the problem first try. Good luck with getting your washing machine fixed.
See, that’s why you guys need the home improvement store that I work at down there. We’re just so much more awesome than Lowes or Home Depot. xD
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We were just looking into buying that same cat tree
Are you happy you got it? Now that you have it anything you would change in your decision?
First – the cat tree, awesome!! If I was a cat I would be on it all the time.
Second – Home Depot should pay to replace the floor. You didn’t have the damage before the repair and it was probably a faulty part that caused the leak. If they whine about it, you might be able to take them to Small Claims. In CA the limit is $10,000. It’s their fault. Good Luck
So cute! I wish I owned cats.
Love your cat tree…Wish we had room for something that in our living room. That really sucks about the dishwasher…best of luck dealing with HD. I too would recommend to escalate this as high as you can and not give up!
Thanks for the great Clean Sweep snippet, it made my sick day better.
You know, if you hung plants from that cat tree, it would look like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Then you would have to take a picture really quick, then remove the plants before the cats knocked them all down.
For the last 40 years I’ve bought all of my appliances from Sears. We’ve always had good luck with them.
Love the cat tree! Wish I could get one for my 2 twits. My husband won’t let me. Plus, there’s no place to put it!
So here’s my question. What language is more satisfying to swear in?
At least they’re pretty swirls…
Going to suggest the cat tree to my parents. Our younger two cats would love it. The older one, unfortunately, probably has too much arthritis and excess fat to enjoy it much.
Wouldn’t the laminate be covered under your home insurance?
I’ve had a recent/on-going run in with Orange – they keep transferring me and telling me the person before told me the wrong thing; communications my ass!
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What I find fascinating is the distinct Russian accent I heard in my head when I read the justifiably angry dishwasher post. How did you do that???
Oh good. Someone else heard it too.
Me too! lol
Everything Emry said is great and will work. Also take this to Twitter….because guess what HD has a Twitter account – if you bitch moan and groan on there ….they will pay attention- especially because you have a fairly large number of followers -
OOH! I have the same cat tree in blue though. My cats love it. When we bought it, it was called the “cat condo”. Oddly, the cats still like boring boxes more than this tree at times.
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I have cat tree envy and I don’t even have cats!!! Likewise have had trouble with Home Depot. When it all works, it’s great. But when it doesn’t…. We’ve been shopping from recommendations on Angie’s list and so far so good.
That is a good cat tree. My mom has that one for her the cats and I just bought one for mine. For what you’re getting I couldn’t find a cheaper price than on amazon.
We get a lot of problem asking for technical assistance here in Brazil. When it’s about Internet they have to be fast because of laws that states it, but when it comes to equipaments that needs repair it takes a lifelong time to a tech come in and do what’s need.
My cats need something tree like this to play. It would be wonderful to them having one. I want also a cat the same breed the new one you got—it’s so pretty and cute!
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I think I put “thing” in the “some” of the second paragraph without even seeing it was wrong. Maybe my ‘writing’ English is just crap.
Home Depot is definitely responsible for the floor. If you use your homeowners insurance you will have to pay the deductible. Call corporate and go up the food chain until it’s taken care of, of and write down the name and title of everyone you speak to. AG is probably good advice. Lawyers and homeowners insurance will cost, so try free options first. Give them he’ll, Hell and mention you have a blog. Some businesses are figuring out how much trouble a bad review can be.
Sorry to hear your dishwasher woes. Have you thought of forwarding this blog post to HD? Sort of like the singer (Dave Carol, I think) with the song “United Breaks Guitars”. United now uses that case in customer service training of what NOT to do.
Lessons for large companies:
If you offer bad customer service to a singer, he may write a song about it that THOUSANDS of people hear.
If you offer bad customer service to a writer, she may WRITE about it on the internet, on her very popular blog. Probably not a good idea for the company.
Also, love the cat tree. We built our own nearly 18 years ago when we got a new kitten. He still uses it, but shares it with the newest “kittens” who are now nearly 5 yrs old. The latest modification was to make one of the beds heated, so he spends most of his time there.
What a disgrace. Out of curiosity and a little perversity, I shared your tale on Home Depot’s FB page. Within minutes got this reply, ” Karla, Please email me at your contact information to teamsocial@homedepot.com. I’d like to help. -Chris” I’m pretty sure they didn’t read past the “Don’t buy extended warranty” part. I’m old enough to remember real customer service and I miss it. Living in a small town I still receive it from the few small businesses that have survived. Sorry for your floor. Was that the one you just installed recently? That sucks!
HD just deleted the share from FB. That sure didn’t take long.
Agree with anon. above As Winnie Churchill said,” Never,Never give up” and all good luck.
Well, that really sucks. But Happy Belated Birthday!
Sorry to hear about your dishwasher problems. I agree that Home Depot should have to pay to have your floor fixed. Sometimes if you tell them you plan on calling the Better Business Bureau you get better results.
I worked for Home Depot for over 13 years and they will cover the floor repair. Call the store manager where you bought the dishwasher and explain the situation. They will help you because the last thing they want is for you to call the corporate office. It should be handled with just a call or two and not much fuss at all, especially if you let them know you will call corporate. Good luck!!
Sorry to hear about about the dishwasher
But happy to hear about cat tower
Shadow, the cat that allows me to live with him, came to sit in my lap as I was reading this. I’m sure it was pure coincidence that he started patting the picture of the cat tree, but then again maybe not . . .