Washing Woes

Yesterday HDW blogged about her problems with a certain department store and their customer service. It made me think of our experience there the other day.

A couple of weeks ago our dryer died. We debated a while about spending a bit more on a dryer and leaving the washing machine be (because holy crikey are they expensive). However, we finally decided to go the distance and get both.

While we were shopping, we went to a ton of places looking for information and deals. At the store mentioned above we were looking at the washing machines and the salesperson came over. My first questions was, "What is the main difference between this $1600 washer and the $800 over there?"

His answer? "Well, this one is $1600..." (that's actually a direct quote). I was actually stunned for a second. I replied with "I could see that from the price tag." and awaited more information. After a few moments of looking at each other, he finally started listing differences.

My favorite reason it's twice the cost? The hinges, that's right apparently the hinges on this machine actually, dramatic pause, allow you to open the door!!! He literally spent 5 minutes talking about the frelling hinges.

Another amazing difference? "This one is high efficiency, you use a fraction of the water and power."

"Isn't the $800 washer over there high efficiency too?", I asked.

"Well, yes." This was followed by another long moment of us looking at each other.

At this point I was done with this mental giant, but he felt he needed to explain more differences. I can't really say what they were because I had stopped listening.

Come see the stupid side of Sears...