… About Getting Our New Washer

Spoiler alert: It took a while but we finally got it!

A couple weeks ago our clothes washer died unexpectedly. I guess when something breaks it’s almost always unexpected, but it’s always weird when something works fine one minute and then just stops functioning. This was the washer/dryer combo that came with house but we only used the washer part of it, so that’s all we needed to replace. Simple, right?

Well, our main problem (which we knew going into it) was that the door into the room where the hook-ups are is barely 24″ wide, and it’s only that big after taking off the door and a couple pieces of wood trim. Most washers are 26″+ wide, and those two inches make the price of a washer go from $400-500 (we didn’t need a fancy one) to $800-$1,000. We found one at HomeDepot.com that was advertised as 23 5/8″ wide, so on Wednesday (5/23) we ordered it online. The delivery was scheduled for Friday (5/25), and we got a call on Thursday setting up the delivery for between 9 and 12.

But then I got a call from the delivery people on Friday at 11 a.m. or so and I was told “the truck” with our washer hadn’t arrived as expected so they wouldn’t be delivering it that day. I wasn’t happy, but things happen. Then I was told the earliest they could deliver it was Tuesday (5/29) because Saturday was booked and they don’t deliver on Sundays and holidays (Monday was Memorial Day). I’ll admit this was the point I got a little irate, so I called the order assistance number and told them if I couldn’t get the washer before Tuesday I was canceling the order. I wasn’t trying to play hardball — I just didn’t want to take another trip to the laundromat.

With its “mouth” open you can almost hear it saying “Take me to your leader!”

When the person I was speaking with mentioned he could give me a $75 Home depot card if I didn’t cancel the order, I started to settle down a little. The laundromat mat we go to isn’t that bad — it’s clean, not too crowded and there’s a Comfy Cow ice cream store across the street (yum!). So I decided the delay was worth the $75 and agreed to the rescheduled delivery on Tuesday.

So Tuesday comes and the delivery guys arrive with the washer. Rob was with them at the truck when they unboxed it, and the next thing I know he’s telling me it’s damaged. I go to check it out and we’re not just talking about a scratch — there was a big dent in the back that more than likely caused some internal damage. So they leave with the washer and I make another phone call.

My technique of not going off on the customer service person on the other end of the phone was to just relate the story start-to-finish and see if she agreed that things were getting a bit ridiculous. Luckily (for both of us) she did agree — and that’s when she mentioned that GE would be giving me some sort of “compensation” once we actually had a successful delivery and installation. But then she said they had to reorder the washer and the earliest it could be delivered was Saturday (6/2). We usually don’t do much on the weekends (or ever) but of course we had plans for that Sat. — a friend’s party in Lexington that started at 6 p.m., so we had to leave the house by 4:30 p.m. We couldn’t cancel the trip, but we didn’t want to wait until Monday to have the washer delivered. I just decided to risk it and OKed the Sat. delivery.

The tub is designed to hypnotize you (that’s part of its evil robot plan).

When the delivery people called on Thursday to let me know the delivery window was between 1-4 p.m., I started getting nervous. I told the guy that we HAD to be out of the house by 4:30 p.m. and he said: “That won’t be a problem.” Easy for him to say… So after stressing for the next couple of days you can imagine my surprise when the delivery people called around 12:30 p.m. and asked if they could come early! The delivery was nearly problem-free — the washer was wider that the specs said and was so close of a fit that if it had been even a millimeter wider I don’t think it would have fit. And the guys had to pick it up to get it over and past a sink so I’m sure that was fun for them, but they were very friendly and didn’t complain a bit (at least not within earshot).

So eight days after it was originally supposed to be delivered we finally had our new washer! It’s a GE Space-Saving 2.7 Cu. Ft. Stationary Washer, and as far as we’re considered it’s practically a robot! No agitator, lots of automatic things, a digital control pad and it even plays a song when the load is finished. I think it looks like a giant rice cooker or breadmaker and I’ve joked I’m afraid it’s going to come get us in the middle of the night and drown us — but lucky for us it’s “trapped” and could never get itself out the door!

In the end, all the “issues” we had were outweighed by both the quality of the washer (we pretty much had to chose it because it fit, so at least it’s a nice one that works well, too) and the price we ended up paying after you deduct all the “compensation” and deals we ended up getting. Here’s the tally:

$849 Home Depot regular price
– $84.90 (10% sale, which included free delivery)
– $20 (MyPoints coupon)
= $744.10
– $75 (Home Depot card for issues with first delivery)
– $75 (check from GE for issues with first delivery)
= $596.10
– $50 (MyPoints offer for Home Depot purchase was worth 8,440 points — I can get a $50 Amazon gift card for 7,500 points)
= $546.10

So altogether we ended up saving slightly more than $300 — not too shabby! Of course some of those “savings” didn’t come easy, but problems can always happen — so at least we got “paid” for the frustration.