Pocketables

Trying to get something repaired

This is just a story about trying and failing to reach an appliance repair anything in Nashville. In case you wonder why Pocketables content is a little light this past week, it’s this and a tenant dying and dealing with insurance and the family and moving a department at work. Fun stuff.

TL;DR – head meet desk.

I’ve got an old LG Tromm washing machine and it’s stopped draining. It’s the sort of thing a month or two ago I would have attempted to tackle but some medication I’m on has basically turned me into someone who cannot get on my knees, lift heavy items, or stay awake more than 5 hours at a shot without a 10 minute nap. It’s temporary, but I can’t move a 130 lb washer, disassemble it in my basement and work on it. Add in cramped space and it’s just completely undoable for me at the moment.

I mean, I will be able to in about a month, and I would have been able to about a month ago, but yeah, my body is crap.

The issue is it doesn’t drain. The drain hose to the left of the filter also doesn’t drain. If I let water sit in it long enough the pump pumps it out fine. There’s nothing in the filter. I highly suspect something like chap-stick / lip gloss got in the wash, melted on one side of the filter, and congealed on the other. I suspect this because I pulled 5 tubes of chap stick out of it one day and the filter was mostly clean.

Failing that, it’s some obstruction because the little drain hose doesn’t drain, but opening the filter floods my basement. Either way – clog or pump, it’s not rocket surgery and I just need someone to manhandle a 130 pound washer around and bend down without faceplanting, stand up without seeing stars, and that’s not me at the moment.

So I called my old appliance repair guy. The phone picked up immediately and I heard snoring and mumbling…. ok… call got disconnected shortly after that… decided to text him, and check his page out just in case the number had changed… oh, he’s got 1 star on Yelp now and people have mentioned his helper casing their houses… and my very long ordeal with a glass stove top replacement happened to three other people? Yeah going to skip him this time around.

So I called the first business I’ve ever seen that said “Guaranteed by Google” – that was a new one on me and evidently involves some vetting and a guarantee by Alphabet that the business is legit and they’re going to do the job.

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So I called this business thinking that it’s pretty interesting that google does that and the very obvious cell phone goes straight to voicemail, and the mailbox is full and it stays this way for the rest of the day. And the next. Good ad spend there guys.

I called a highly rated veteran owned business and left my phone number. They called back the number I called from (work desk phone,) rather than the number I left (personal cell phone) and left a long voicemail. Wished me luck, but refused to work on LG machines because they’re all computery… yeah, don’t think a clog on a 17 year old washer is going to require much computer expertise but whatever. I didn’t get the message until the next day because where I called from that’s not a number I check the voicemail on.

So I called some place claiming to be a local Nashville repair center… but it’s a number that asks your zip code and connects you to an operator on a very obvious VoIP line going criscross country attempting to seem very local. I told her what the issue was and how I was wondering if they could show with a pump or were they going to have to come out here, look, say the pump ain’t pumping, and go and order and come back another day. Just was wondering… she said they could come out with a pump but needed the model number… ok, I said I’d call back in 5 minutes with it because stupid me I didn’t have it.

Their phone routing went out. The rest of the day I could call in and it asked for the zip code but wouldn’t reach anyone. Calls just dropped. I tried five times on Monday…

I called two more highly rated places on Yelp… abandoning Google searching, and one was out of business and the other I left a message and no call backs.

This stinks

Tuesday rolls around and I’m dealing with the deceased renter and meeting the family and an office move and a whole bunch of things with laundry piling up and decide that LG Tromm washer is 17 years old, maybe it’s time to take everything above as a sign that I’m not going to get it repaired and even if I did get the $40 pump and the minimum of $80 service call done (probably a $160 by the time they pull it apart and go “yup, it’s a bad or clogged pump”) chances are something is going to go south in the next few weeks… maybe it’s time for a new washer.

I checked Home Depot and Lowes online and was surprised very few in stock washers, but I did find two that fit my criteria at Home Depot but had an odd listing… they were on display, and available for pickup, but something was off… HD is only a couple of miles from me so going was not a huge issue, got there and discovered that while they had these on display, and they were available for pickup at that store, there were none in the store other than display models. You might already know this, but the last time I shopped for a washing machine was 2004/2005.

So I checked Lowes which listed the same machines I was interested in for a slightly better price, said they had them in stock, had a number they had in stock, said they were available for in store pickup, and yeah! Friend of mine with a truck went down in rush hour traffic to grab the machine, paid for the unit, got hit up for the extended warranty, waited around for a while as they had to get it from a shelf or the back, and was finally told they did not have it, and it could be shipped and show up in a couple of weeks. They refunded the charge. Site still says they have the unit I want in stock and it can be picked up.

You’ll never guess what two above mentioned stores I couldn’t reach anyone by phone prior to showing up.

And that is where I’m at. The most work I’ve ever invested in either attempting to repair or purchase an appliance. At this point going to put that washing machine to the side, launder at a laundromat, and hope the fun effects of some medication will wear down soon enough that I can once again manhandle a washing machine and look and see what is up in the pump/drain hose area.

Replacing the pump isn’t rocket surgery, but not waking up on the concrete is something I have to consider… rassafrassa.

OK, I fixed it

Picked up a $20 water pump same day delivery on Amazon and replaced it. Freaking medicine knocked me down, but took me about an hour to do a ten minute pump replacement job. Rassafrassa…

Did laundry from 2pm until 3am last night

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Paul E King

Paul King started with GoodAndEVO in 2011, which merged with Pocketables, and as of 2018 he's evidently the owner. He lives in Nashville, works at a film production company, is married with two kids. Facebook | Twitter | Donate | More posts by Paul | Subscribe to Paul's posts

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