The Great Washer/Dryer Saga

Our story begins on the MA state tax-free weekend back on August 13 & 14, 2011. We’d just closed on our house two days prior and couldn’t wait to buy some tax-free furnishings. John and I pre-ordered a lovely GE washer and dryer from Home Depot and eagerly awaited its delivery.

Three weeks later (yup, the backlog after tax free weekend was huge, who knew?) delivery day came – new, shiny, yay! Our hopes were dashed when the GE guys told us the whole set was too big to fit in our laundry closet (the pre-designated space in the condo outfitted with all the water/electric hookups). It measured fine in the store however the stacking kit that attached the two machines together added like 3 inches. Frick. We had to refuse the delivery, go back to Home Depot, and exchange it for a smaller model. We ended up with a tinier, but just as nice, Maytag washer and dryer.

The following Saturday was delivery day round 2! All good except that the washing machine was mysterious busted. John informed me that while I was installing our backsplash he watched the Maytag delivery people drop our washing machine off the truck and break it. Jerks! They delivered the dryer only and we rescheduled a new washing machine for a week later.

Delivery day round 3! I waited and waited and waited…and waited. They never showed up. Thanks guys! John later called the delivery headquarters and cussed out an unapologetic “manager” who did nothing for us except reschedule our appointment for the following Saturday. This is now four Saturdays out of our life, if you were counting.

The next Saturday rolls around and the washing machine was delivered unbroken and stacked on top of the dryer. However, the Maytag team refused to install our dryer because apparently the exhaust vent in the wall was improperly installed (long explanation here, trust me it was bad). They advised us to get it fixed and then call them to hook up the washer/dryer. Grrrrreat.

So I contact the building contractor who did the whole renovation on our condo and who holds the one year warranty on our house (thank god for warranties, you guys). We went back and forth for two weeks about when they could come by and take a look. Finally he agreed to swing by last Saturday. And by “swing by” I mean he literally came over, barely looked at the venting, fake apologized, and told me his team would be by on Monday at 7AM to fix the whole thing. Great, fine, see ya Monday.

Monday comes. 7AM, 8AM, 9AM…they never show up. We call, email, leave messages. Nothing. Two hours later the guy emails me and tells me they forgot they were supposed to come by and can they come by on Tuesday. I say no and tell the guy I can’t be late to work two days in a row, duh. We agree on Thursday at 7AM. Fine.

In the meantime we contact our lawyer because, quite frankly, this is crap. We have a warranty, this is making us crazy, and the contractors are idiots.

Tuesday morning I’m in the car driving to work when John calls me and tells me the guys are at our house. WTF. Don’t these people talk to each other?! Apparently not. He turns them away reminding them that our appointment is on Thursday.

(See if this one sounds familiar). Thursday comes. 7AM, 8AM, 9AM…they never show up. We call, email, leave messages. Nothing. I am livid. I immediately contact our lawyer letting her know they no-showed again. She agrees to contact their lawyer and shake them down a bit. We don’t hear back from the contractor until later that night. His “phone broke” and he couldn’t get back to us. Dude, I was born at night but not last night. He promises they will be there Friday at 7AM and our lawyer closes the loop with their lawyer, saying they’ll be here. Despite being grateful for her help, I’ll believe it when I see it.

The guys arrive Friday morning at 7:45AM. (Do I need to remind everyone of the date at this point? October 7th. Almost 3 months later. Just sayin’) They take almost two hours between a Home Depot run and smoke breaks, but they showed up, fixed the venting, installed the whole set up, and now it works perfectly.

I couldn’t have made all of this up if I tried. I can’t believe what a spectacular failure this whole thing was at every level. It shouldn’t take having to be nasty and threatening legal action to get what is rightfully yours, and that you paid an awful lot of money for. It’s sad really.

Our complaints with the contractors are well documented and we know now not to bother with them in the future. We also contacted Home Depot customer service to let them know how awful our experience with Maytag was. They were gracious and said they’ve gotten similar complaints a few times a month since they started doing business with them. Shocking!

I guess the thing that matters now is that it’s here, it works perfectly, and we can end the annoying trips to the laundromat. We’ve already done several loads of laundry since Friday and the frustrating rage that we felt for 3 months is slowly fading.

The finished set up/laundry closet: