Electrolux Extended Warranty and A&E Factory Service

In 2002 I purchased a used Gibson stacking

front-loading washer and dryer.

I called Electrolux for a manual and they encouraged

me to sign up for an extended warranty, which I did.

A year later, the washing machine began to have a

problem with the door lock. We needed to push gently

on the door for the washer to operate, and a heavy

item (like a quilt) sometimes bumped the door slightly

out of position while spinning, causing the washer to

stop until we noticed & pushed on the door.

Another 11 months later (March 29 2006), having

procrastinated about calling, we realized that the

extended warranty was up for renewal in a month (April

29 2006), and finally called Electrolux to request

service.

They recommended A&E as the best service in our area,

so we called them (note: more recently they said that

A&E was at the bottom of their list and asked why I

chose them instead of someone else). The first

appointment available with A&E was Apr 8 2006. The

morning of the appointment, nobody showed. When I

called the 800 number they told me that all the techs

were sick and nobody would be coming.

I told A&E that time was crucial as we were

considering not renewing our extended warranty, and

was assured that the service would be covered

regardless because the ticket was opened while the

warranty was in effect.

We finally got a tech out to our house on April 15th.

It was clear he didn't know what he was doing and had

never worked on a Gibson front-loading washer before.

He ordered a bunch of parts and left.

We continued having appointments every week or two,

where the tech would do a little more work and then

order more parts. At one point he was totally

frustrated about there being no electricity, and I had

to remind him (having already mentioned it) that the

electrical outlet was GFC. He really was that

clueless.

Finally on May 19 he decided that he had fixed the

washer and he closed the ticket. We ran the washer

after he left because we had six weeks of laundry to

do. During the first load, the washer was making a

horrible (and new) grinding noise, then quit before

the final spin, still full of water.

But because the tech closed out the ticket, Electrolux

wouldn't reopen it. Because we hadn't renewed our

extended warranty, they wouldn't replace the washer.

Instead they claimed that the situation was now A&E's

responsibility. Of course A&E claimed the opposite,

and we're caught in the middle.

At this point I'm considering small claims court. But

for the time being I've told A&E that we want the

washer back the way it was -- working with a minor

door problem -- at the minimum. We've continued to

have repair appointments through yesterday Aug 5th and

have another planned for Aug 17th.

Each time we take all our mountains of laundry to the

laundromat (about once a month) it costs around $35

just to do the washing.

But it's come down to an endurance contest. Will we

get tired of all the hassle, or will A&E get tired of

the expense of sending techs? We're determined that it

will be A&E.

But so far, for spending $180 on two years of extended

warranty, the only tangible benefit we've received is

a lot of wasted Saturdays (yesterday the tech was

scheduled for 8am, first in route -- but he arrived at

6:30pm!), the hassle and expense of going to the

laundromat, and the pleasure of many pointless phone

calls to supervisors at Electrolux and A&E.