This blog is gradually turning into a serial drama. In the last installment, Sears wanted to sell me a C$ 249 assembly to repair a 5 cent broken part. I reported that I had subsequently found a subassembly for C$ 35 on the web. Not!
The mysterious part 17.
I had entered the exact model number of my dishwasher at PartSelect.com. The diagram displayed was correct. Obviously, I needed to replace “part 17”. I scrolled down to part 17 and found a part number. The VISA card practically jumped out of my wallet by itself. The order went in on Friday and Purolator had it in my hands by Tuesday. It couldn’t have worked any better.
There was just one little problem. The part number was different from the one I had ordered. The part didn’t look the same as on the picture; and, worst of all, the screw holes would not line up. The part was totally useless.
I called PartSelect and got to talk with another nice lady. “Yes”, she said, “Maytag is now owned by Whirlpool. They don’t make those parts anymore, but Whirlpool recommends to replace it with this other part instead” . “But, but”, I pleaded, “the part doesn’t fit the rest of the machine. It can’t be attached!”. “OK”, she replied, “but Whirlpool never claimed, it would!”
I shouldn’t be totally ungrateful, however. PartSelect allows me to return the wrong part 17. I will still have to pay shipping cost both ways. It has practically come to the point where you have to expect to be ripped off when dealing with Big Business.