Living in the boonies, customer service can be a real issue. We live between about 4 towns that have appliance stores and no really wants to send a repair man this way in a punctual fashion. We have bought appliances from several different stores…same results…waiting a week or the denial that anything could be wrong. When the dryer acted up last week I just cringed.
The dryer is old. We have LONG ago given up getting a repair man from the place where we purchased it….so hubby to the rescue. He decided to take it apart and see what it wrong with it. While he was doing that, we decided that we would be willing to spend $100 on it to fix it. We don’t use the dryer a lot. I use my drying rack or I use my outdoors clothesline. Sometimes, it’s just nice to have to a dryer…those solid colored shirts that collect lint, Kalissa’s work uniform…those rainy days…yes we still need a dryer.
After taking it apart, he found the problem. We started the debate. Which appliance store would we try…..then I asked, “Do you suppose they sell them online?” After investigating…Yes, they do sell parts on line. I checked the first place…$107. UGH. That’s over the $100 repair budget. I checked another place $79. Once I added shipping on, it was real close to the $100 repair budget too. Oh decisions….I tried one more place online…$25…WOW. With shipping $35.
Now we were skeptical. Would the piece fit our dryer? Why such a big price difference between the sites? I emailed customer service giving them the make and model information I had and yes…it would fit. We ordered it and now the dryer is working again!! Here is the company website just in case you ever find yourself in this situation.
I love having a handy hubby….
Even after waiting a couple days for hubby to take it apart, waiting for the delivery and waiting for hubby to have an evening off to fix it, I still got the best service….all fixed in 6 days.
I didn’t understand the value when my MIL told me before I married my DH that he was able to keep all of their appliances running smoothly! Over the years I’ve told our 7 daughters that while the old cliche was that it was as easy to fall for a rich man as a poor one, that MY advice would be: Money comes and money goes, but HANDY skills last forever!!! Of course, then we also made sure our daughters (and sons) learned those “handy” skills themselves too!! lol!
Jo,
My hubby is handy too, our friends are always in awe of his abilities!
My late husband was my Mr. Fixit for just about everything. I have rental properties in addition to my own home, and since his passing I have had to cultivate a contractor, plumber, electrician, lawn maintenance/repair guy, septic repair company, well repair company and of course small appliance repair person. That gets expensive!!
I also love your hubby.
Kewl Beans! :)
I know what you mean about getting repair service out in the boonies. We are also located in the center of several larger towns, kind of like the hub on a wheel. We had a terrible time to get the copier repair service to come to the library, even though we had a service contract. They were always on the way from Norfolk or Neligh to O’Neill. Or from O’Neill to Verdigre or Creighton and we just weren’t on the way. It took some serious explaining for them to understand that unless they were going somewhere on Hwy 20 we were NEVER going to be on their way and they’d just have to detour a little bit.
I had a father, and 2 handy brothers and my husband #1 were all HANDY. I thought men just came that way — NOT. LOL In my second life it was ME who became the HANDY one. Can’t tell you how many times I solved some problem by being somewhat clever and able to adjust something to solve a household issue. Husband has other attributes – he’s a whiz at budgeting, something that my father and brothers and husband #1 didn’t know about. 8-)))