Are We To Choke On Our Own Shortsightedness (Dishwasher Parts 'Extortion')?
- From: "ballstoyourpartner" <balls69bc@xxxxxxxx>
- Date: 28 Feb 2006 14:08:06 -0800
Back on Jan. 31/06, I sent the following in an email to Frigidaire
(owned by Electrolux) Customer Service. As I have yet to receive any
type of reply (not even an acknowlegement), I felt it important to get
a discussion going here so that we may find a solution to this type of
short-term thinking and systemic 'madness'. We need to impress upon all
manufacturers that we want to save our money, conserve our relatively
scarce resources and minimize the amount of unnecessary material which
gets dumped into our landfills. Shareholder gain should NOT be the only
determining factor in corporate decision-making. Everything today has
been made disposable but we can put a stop to it if we band together!
"In early December, by Mom and Dad's White-Westinghouse dishwasher
stopped being able to adequately clean the dishes placed in it. Upon
having a service technician from a local appliance repair company
(White Rock, British Columbia, CANADA) come and have a look at it, it
was his opinion that it was something in the wash pump/motor circuit
which was not functioning properly. He also said that, while it said
White-Westinghouse on the unit, it was actually built by Frigidaire. He
then said that it would cost about $230, in addition to the $60 for the
diagnostic service call, to affect the repairs. Given that high price,
he suggested that maybe they should consider buying a new dishwasher.
However, to his credit, he did not offer to sell her a new one and take
the old one away (a potential scam).
Upon speaking to my Mom about it, I told her that I would have a look
at it the next time I was able to make the 4-hour trip to visit them.
In the meantime, I committed to doing some research on the Internet to
better understand the problem, its remedies and decision factors. After
gathering this information, I suspected that it was either the pump
motor or the wash pump impeller which had failed. Therefore, I
investigated local sources for these two parts and found that, while
the impeller was available as a separate piece, the motor had to be
purchased as part of a complete assembly - thinking this very strange,
I hoped that it was the impeller which had failed.
Upon disassembling the wash pump/motor assembly, I quickly isolated the
problem. A small plastic fitting into which the metal shaft of the
motor fit, and which subsequently fit inside the impeller (with a small
screw in the end to keep the impeller on) had been worn smooth inside
(it used to have a series of 'ribs) allowing the motor shift to spin
without turning the impeller - ergo, no wash water was being pumped. No
problem, I thought, being as the impeller costs only about $8, this
can't possibly cost more than $5! On once again calling the local parts
supplier (Reliable Parts), I found that, as part of the wash pump/motor
assembly, this small, plastic part was only available with the whole
unit, at a cost of $139. Ridiculous! Not prepared to pay that kind of
money for such a simple fix, I tried solving the problem by putting a
vinyl 'shim' inside the plastic fitting but found that, over a few wash
cycles, the rapid acceleration of the motor on starting essentially
vapourized the 'shim'. Therefore, we were now placed in a position of
having to buy the complete assembly (or a new dishwasher). I was
definitely not pleased but my Mom needed a working dishwasher!
When I went to pick up the complete unit (P/N 154473001), the counter
representative came back with a large box and, upon opening it up, we
found a different-looking wash pump/motor assembly, along with two
sumps and a wiring harness. Turns out that you have, for some reason,
changed the motor design and its mounting to the sump and, in order to
have a 'universal' kit (for single and dual wash arm dishwashers), you
needed to include both sumps. What started out being the replacement of
a small, plastic part had quickly escalated to a whole 'room full of
parts'. After completing the replacement, we now had a used but
functioning wash motor, a pump whose only problem is the worn plastic
fitting, one used but still good sump and a completely new sump. While
your approach to providing replacement parts may be good for your
shareholders, I hardly think it is good for the consumer or the
environment. What would you have us do with all of these extra parts
that we had to buy but didn't need - throw them into the landfill? I
find this to not only be expensive for the consumer but a very poor use
of our limited resources. Certainly, if we had decided to replace the
dishwasher (which would have been outrageous - replacing the whole
dishwasher for the want of a $5 part), you can be assured that we would
not have considered any of the Frigidaire line. While practices such as
this are apparently 'normal' for the industry, I would be looking for a
company which takes their environmental responsibilty seriously and
actively seeks to stem this tide of 'disposability' sweeping North
America."
How does everyone else feel about this increasingly pervasive
situation? How do we get the manufacturers to change their 'wasteful'
policies?
Balls
.
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