This is the running saga of a brand new LG dryer that I bought 4 months ago after coming home with all the laundry from a trip and having our former LG dryer die mid-load.
We are no longer surprised at mishaps and disasters on trips with our family. We have forgotten to check our passport expiry dates, I’ve left my laptop in a hotel safe, we’ve double-booked our hotel room over the years and we’ve usually come out of these things okay. So when we came home and our dryer broke we simply rebought the same LG washer and dryer we already had and went with a local company that could get them to us ASAP. These appliances had good reviews, we had used similar models for the past 10-ish years and I didn’t even need the washer but I figured it was easier to replace them both at the same time rather than waiting until the washer broke down too.
PS you can’t return a new dryer, even if it isn’t working right
In hindsight I’m wondering if maybe we should have tried to fix our original dryer because we’ve now had a laundry saga that has lasted WAY too long. You would think that if you buy a new dryer it should act like a new dryer, right? But it turns out if a new dryer arrives and it is defective you can’t just return it and get a new one. You have to get it serviced, and re-serviced and re-serviced again. I know there is such a thing as a lemon law for cars, but I’m wondering now if there is a lemon law for big home appliances? I always thought that if something didn’t work you could always take it back or exchange it for a new one but this apparently is not the case with my LG dryer. In hindsight maybe I should have weighed how much time and money I might save instead by doing my laundry at the local laundromat or just throwing out my clothing and rebuying new ones.
In order to get the dryer delivered ASAP I had to get separate deliveries for the washer and dryer but I was desperate so I agreed. Two days later when my new LG dryer arrived and was installed we started doing laundry from our trip. Right away we noticed a strange whirring sound when we used the dryer for the first time. We phoned the appliance store and were told the installers would check it when they arrived to install the washer.
Sure enough the installers noticed the sound when they brought my new washer a week later and said they would start the process for someone to come out and see what they could do. Notice that at this point I’m into two installation windows that have cost me about 6 hours of my life in between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
I didn’t hear from the appliance store during the Christmas break and although the dryer was noisy it was still working so I called them in the New Year. And this might sound like it was a decade later on paper, but it was only a matter of weeks. I was told how to setup an appointment with someone certified to fix the LG dryer with their warrantee and that this was the only option I had even though the dryer was new.
This is when I was schooled with some religious education along with getting my dryer fixed. First I had to wait during a 4 hour window until almost the end for two elderly gentleman to show up. They work on my dryer for a bit and tell me they found a loose or missing screw and I cheer as the drier stops making the noise.
And then we make small talk as they had towards the door to leave and one of the guys looks at me and asks “Are you Christian?”
“I like all religions” I say
“But do you pray with your kids?”
I try to ignore it. There is an awkward silence.
“YOU ARE NOT A GOOD MOTHER IF YOU DON’T PRAY WITH YOUR KIDS”
I open the door
“Thank you for fixing my dryer” and I usher them out.
And I think I’m done with this ordeal until a couple days later the noise starts again, about 10 minutes into the cycle now. Maybe I could let this go, but it’s a new dryer and now I’ve invested a ton of time trying to get this right.
I email the guy at our appliance store that my new LG dryer is still causing me problems even though someone came to fix it. Who has time for phone calls these days? And I have spent SO much time on the phone for this dryer. A few days later I haven’t heard back. But then as I get on an airplane for a trip, I get an email reply: we will get someone else to come out ASAP he messages. Sure I say. I’m now in the Grand Canyon where there is barely any internet and it is the weekend. I get a text that someone is coming the next day. Frantically I look for wifi and move the appointment that I didn’t make on a day that I can’t afford a four hour window to a day where I have a bit more flexibility with time.
That new day was yesterday. I knew it was yesterday because I got a phone call that there would be an appointment the night before. Except 3 hours and 30 minutes into my 4 hour window I hadn’t received the customary 30 minute warning call and I knew something might not be going right.
I called the number and found out the repair person had called in sick. I’m rescheduled. There is someone coming in a few weeks now. They tried to call me by texting my landline. (This landline we have as a formality now and for some reason it only receives calls for Diane, the lady of the house, people trying to tell me that my computer isn’t working and the kid’s public school.)
So this is my life now.
My new LG dryer that doesn’t work like a new LG dryer runs my life. And because this process seems to be designed to make me give up and just live with the noise for the next 10-ish years if this new dryer dares to last as long as my old one, I decided this dryer needs it’s own diary which you’ll find here. I’ll update it as the story unfolds. Have you ever had an appliance like this? I’m sure 99% of all the other new LG dryers work just fine, but my new LG dryer is not the one you want.
(PS if you have a name for this new household appliance that is running may life, I’d love to hear it. I am not the most friendly to this dryer right now so I don’t think I’m the right person to give it a name. He has a brother that is a washer. You can name him too if you want.)
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)
Oh man, this is all around awful. I’m so sorry 😕.
This sounds so terrible!!