The Dishwasher Saga continues, and ends, we hope.

A couple of days ago I wrote the first episode of the dishwasher saga:

My new dishwasher had a problem. Something had burned and as it turned out several things had burned on the bottom in error. One was a pair of chopsticks that I placed flat on a top shelf. These were wood chopsticks, a pair that came with my carry out lunch and I was going to save. The truth is we have hundreds of pairs so it was stupid to try and save them anyway and I could use them in the garden or somewhere eventually as short sticks. The other and much more important one was the round plastic disk that covers the rinse agent holder, an article that may have no real reason for being, and could be saved if the manufacturers would hang it as most car manufacturers do with the gas tank lids.
This little press in place lid had about a 2” diameter and looks a little like a diaphragm with a large rubber ring around one side. In this day and age of the pill, a diaphragm may only be a descriptor if you are over 50. However, it fell out of its hiding place next to the soap dispenser and went down into the bottom where the heat element lives. It burned and warped and is no good no more to no one.
I called Sears repair and asked if they would send out a new one and they told me that I had to have a technician come out to inspect in order to assess the damage. This would mean missing half a day of work for my wife or me and that seemed stupid. I decided to just order one. I mean, said I, “How much could the little thing cost?” These are always the famous last words before the fall of everything holy.
I called parts and a very nice woman commiserated with me, and told me everyone loses these and it’s very common. She herself had lost one. I gave her the model number and off she went.
She came back and explained she was having a problem but I should hold.
The problem was my model did not have such a part listed, as its part of a multi hundred dollar dispensing system. However, she figured they were mainly the same for all models and she did her best to measure and figures she will send me a different model one and it should fit.
She has done a good job and hopefully it will work. The $2 part costs $24 and shipping is $8.95. I will wait and see if it works. If it does not, I will call the technician back and demand service. They may argue in the end that we loosened it and didn‘t tighten it back up and therefore, technically, it is not a system fault, and they will be correct but I won’t admit that as I have never used the thing. It will cost at least one visit if not two, where the part gets ordered, delivered to the technician, and he come back to install it.
The other option is to go to the store and steal the thing from a floor model. No one ever watches the big appliances for theft of a little part; they may stop you if you steal the whole machine.
I have written before about the removal of a button from a coat or a shoelace from shoes and how you can find these items on clearance sale late in the season waiting for you who has secreted the missing part at home. I have never condoned such behavior, just mentioned it in passing.
The upshot was, the replacement part does not fit! I went to Sears to return it and steal a new one, but they had no model there to steal it from. The salesperson tried to help but to no avail, it would fit the models on the floor, but not mine. Also, the store does not return these things and it must be sent back using an 800 number. You can buy anything 24/7 but you can’t return parts except during business hours.
I went to a different Sears store on Friday evening and was unable to find the part on their machines as well but as luck would have it, the upper left hand track fell off the dishwasher on Friday morning so now I needed the track replaced as well as the new part! The salesperson at Sears was no help with either the part or the track although she tried and I had nothing to steal!
On Saturday, my neighbor suggested we call the original salesman and ask him the questions. He suggested that we come in and he would help us. We went in, and as he had time to try, he figured out how to replace the track and understood the problem. He had additional rinse agent plugs as well, but they didn’t fit because of the same problem we encountered. He thought a while and realized that the Kitchenaid machine was a new model, and because it’s built by Whirlpool, he looked on a new model Whirlpool machine and found the part, and he stole it himself and gave it to us! He was a great help and all seems well with the dish washer as of now, and I will attempt for a part return on Monday.
When my washer and dryer die, as they surely will be doing soon, I will go back to the same salesman who was so helpful in restoring my happy home life.