About 3 weeks ago, our front-load LG washer (purchased new in 2008) started to dribble out the front during a wash cycle; we made sure that the door was free of trapped clothing, debris, etc. The rubber door gasket looked to be slightly deformed at the point of the leak. We were assigned Authorized Appliance by Fry's Electronics as part of an extended warranty repair and was told they would be in touch. After a week of no follow-up, we contacted Fry's and was told to contact Authorized Appliance ourselves since Fry's home office had already established a work order number and therefore had done their part of the extended warranty service. Upon contacting Authorized Appliance, they denied having received a work order from Fry's and were unable to assist at this time.
I understand things can be misplaced, so we re-initiated a service call through Fry's and was again assigned Authorized Appliance (AA) about two weeks later. We live up in NE Scottsdale, and was flatly advised by AA that they do not set appointments after 3:00 pm, and only work Monday through Friday. So, I ended up staying home from work on a Friday to accommodate the service appointment scheduled from 9 to noon.
Technician arrived at 9:30 - however, I did not received so much as an introduction, acknowledgement, flash of the name tag, anythingjust a despondent, "I'm here for the washer." I later learned from the business card left behind that the technician's name was Garry.
Garry no sooner made it into the hallway leading into the washing machine when he proclaimed, "It's probably because you use too much soap I see these things all the time." Less than impressed that he managed to diagnose the issue without having seen the machine (perhaps his toolbox yielded a crystal ball?), I mockingly suggested that perhaps for the past 4 years we have been doing laundry wrong this entire time and the washer finally gave up the ghost three weeks ago due to overzealous soap use. He was only able to mutter "probably" and that he has been doing this for 27 years and it's always due to using too much detergent.
"Yep that's the problem," Garry proclaimed as he acknowledged the staining from beneath the door and down the front of the machine. He then placed the machine into a tub cleaning cycle and was able to generate an insignificant amount of suds in the reservoir of water. "Yeah see that water should be totally clear." I remarked that a machine that was introduced to detergents throughout its service life is likely to have some residual detergent and that I could probably reproduce the same effect in my kitchen sink if I agitated the water enough. He was adamant I was wrong and again stated his 27 years of expertise in the business.
I was instructed not to use more than a teaspoon of detergent, to which I replied we use the lowest line in the detergent reservoir (later measured to be about 35 mL which is about 7 teaspoonsful) his response was that was way too much and contributing to the gasket failure. It was at this time I pointed out that if someone uses a machine in a manner prescribed within the product documentation and it fails (i.e. leaks) then that should fall in the warrantable repair' bucket. Apparently not; nor was he able to observe the same deformation in the gasket that was obvious to me.
I had asked that if, by chance, he brought another gasket with him since I had fully described the problem to the receptionist that scheduled the appointment a few days earlier and had been provided the make and model of washer of course not! I pointed out the coincidence that he was not able to identify a product failure after driving out to the home on a Friday afternoon without the repair part in hand; he just shrugged and reiterated that we should use only a teaspoon of detergent and let the washer finish its cleaning cycle.
Garry left, and it was no surprise that upon completion of the cleaning cycle the washer door continued to leak. Since I sacrificed the day waiting for Authorized Appliance in lieu of working, I again set the washer to a tub cleaning cycle and came back several times throughout the next hour. This time, however, it's like a Christmas Miracle! It actually, oh wait, still leaks. Weird. You mean Garry's sage advice about using 1/7th the manufacturer's suggested amount of detergent was not the panacea to what ails my washer? How about one more cleaning cycle before the wife comes home. No? That didn't fix it, either?
Maybe I can ask Fry's to send me a Costco-sized pack of handtowels to stuff under the washer because that would be more effective than what AA was able to do for us at this time. In the end, the washer still works with a slight nuisance dribble) and I was able to enjoy about 8 minutes of the technicians time, during which I learned that I will never a) purchase an extended warranty for an appliance, and b) recommend or receive services from Authorized Appliance.
RESPONSE FROM Authorized Appliance Repair Company:
According to LG, you should only use one tablespoon of detergent per load and Garry is correct, there should be no suds present. As far a changing a component, with an extended warranty, we have to get approval from his warranty company before we can move forward. I am sorry for his frustrations, but we do what we can to accomodate customers. We only schedule Monday through Friday and must work within a window of time and not after 4. At times the repairs may land after that time, but not necessarily. We do call customer's ahead of time and if he could have left work, we could have called thirty minutes ahead.
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