The Washing Machine Saga....

Our washing machine packed in last Wednesday. It was stuck on the end of its cycle and all the lights were flashing like a Christmas tree. The only way we could stop it was to switch it off at the socket.

We phoned Indesit to see if they would send someone to fix it. They could come on Good Friday. 'Fine,' we said 'but don't come before 10am, no one will be in.' 'Fine,' they said. On Thursday afternoon a text arrived saying they would arrive between 9 and 12. We phoned and said no one will be in before 10. 'Fine,' they said. On Friday they arrived at 9.17! We know because there was a card on the hall floor accusing us of not being in!

There were then a series of phone calls to a call centre which would make the basis of a good comedy/drama...plunged into a call centre dark hole....20 minutes on hold only for the call to fail as soon as a human being came on the line....possibly the rudest person ever in the history of call centres who asked if we could fix it ourselves....one who tried to sell us anti limescale products....another threatened us with extra charges if it was something that could be sorted out by us....and so on...

Eventually we got through to a guy who actually knew what he was doing and he arranged for an engineer to come round today. We did discover that if you want an afternoon call, claim to have young children who need to be dropped off at school. We did this and, even though every school in the UK is closed at the moment for the Easter break, it worked.

The FIRST engineer arrived this afternoon, read his notes, asked a few questions and linked up the washing machine to his laptop. I had no idea that our washing machine had a mini computer in it but it does. He did a few tests and things and muttered about 'motherboards' and the like. I knew about this because I'd put the washing machine's ailments into GOOGLE and had found some YouTube videos that showed you how to fix it. Thank goodness I'd not been tempted to try. It's kind of like how you put your own ailments into the computer before going to see the doctor to diagnose yourself. Dangerous!

I like watching people work but an hour later I was bored so wandered off to listen to The Archers and The Afternoon Play. Both came and went and he was still fiddling. Then I heard him on the phone to his bud who he called over to see what was going on. The SECOND engineer arrived (I'll call him The Washer/Dryer Whisperer). TW/DW passed his hands over the machine, muttered at it and said ' burnt out door lock control with associated wires', and so it was. He had it fully functioning in ten minutes and we were all sat round the kitchen table drinking NESPRESSO coffee and eating Jaffa Cakes. He likes good coffee and I caught him eyeing our NESPRESSO machine and it's always good to look after good workmen and not insult them with third rate instant coffee. You never know when you might need them again....