Friday, January 15, 2010

Planned Obsolescence


314/365
Talk about a funny coincidence. My friend Ann & I both bought new KitchenAid dishwashers at Sears on December 14, 2004. (That's not the funny part.) This week, both appliances stopped working. For the same reason. Turns out, they both need new heaters and control boards. Both were just a month past the expiration of the 5 year warranty. Both of us are looking at repair bills in the $400 range.

Hilarious, right?

10 comments:

toyfoto said...

That happend to a friend and us with super-expensive coffee makers. Only the part that was bad on the thing went after a year. Not funny.

Ruprecht said...

Side Note: This is called "The Ford Mentality".

Wherein parts and boards and components are planned to fail at a predetermined date.

Trust Rupe: It's not a coincidence. It's been formulated, graphed, plotted out in management meetings and implemented to a "T".

Welcome, one and all, to corporate perpetual motion .....

Milkayphoto said...

That is incredible! Sounds to me like you both deserve new dishwashers! I love my very quiet and efficient Siemens....I'm just saying...:-)

Stephanie said...

Seems to be a better idea to buy new ones instead of repairing your current ones. Too bad it happened a day later after the warranty expired.

Lisa said...

How did it happen that you and your friend bought dishwashers on the same day? I usually shop for clothes with my friends.

Ms Mgt said...

Scraps, Ann & I have a funny "separated at birth" thing going on, wherein we often find ourselves thinking - and acting- along the same lines. This is just one more example... we didn't even shop together, we just shopped at the same time...! :)

Anton Nielsen said...

Ann & Chris also live in the same cold Northeast region of the country. And both probably neglect to run the hot water prior to running the dishwasher. And both dishwashers have a water temp sensor that alerts when the dishwasher's own water heater is unable to heat the water sufficiently. When that happens, the control board flashes the little LED 7 times indicating there is a problem with the heating element. But really, it's just cold water. But how to fix? First, you need to reset the control board. To reset a Kitchenaid Dishwasher control board (e.g. model kudso1flss6) press the following buttons in this order:
Energy Saver Dry > High Temp Scrub > Energy Saver Dry > High Temp Scrub > Energy Saver Dry

(Note: Your button labels may vary. Just use whatever is closest to those labels.)

At this point all the lights will come on. Click Cancel twice. Then RUN THE HOT WATER IN THE SINK until it gets warm. Wash as usual.

That will be $400 please.

Mr. CM

PG said...

Laughing very loudly!

great stuff Mr. CM!

Attie's Mom said...

Mr. CM - are you saying for all dishwashers that we should run the hot water before we run the dishwasher?

Nora said...

My parents and I have two DaeWoo cars that are the same make, model, and year. Fairly maintenance free for years and now one week the alternator will go on one and then the next week it will go on the other...