The dishwasher saga continues...

For those of you unfamiliar with the situation with our replacement dishwasher, I will provide
a quick overview:

On September 16, 2005 we contacted KitchenAid via email to inquire about possibly repairing our dishwasher. It seemed so wrong to replace the thing as it was barely 6 months old at the time of Katrina and according to the waterline apparent on the face of the thing it had to contend with only about nine inches of salt water. Our reasoning was that perhaps replacing the pump and motor would still be less than an entire new machine. Two days later the Sears repairman appeared at our front door and looked over my shoulder at the missing drywall. He shook his head and said simply, "Flood?" He told me then that there was no point in looking - the dishwasher could not be repaired. September 20, 2005 we went to Sears to purchase a new dishwasher. We immediately found our model - minus a few extra bells and whistles which lessened the price a bit - and contacted a sales associate to make the purchase. She clucked at us and informed us that the price that was listed on the unit was not actually for the stainless steel model -- that would cost $400 more. Irritated by this point I didn't care anymore -- and told her to order it. Then she informed us that it was not available for several months and wanted to know if we'd be interested in some other model on the floor. We said thanks and left. On the way home I explained to Dave that our dishwasher did not come in any color other than stainless steel and that for some reason she didn't want to sell us that model. Two days later he purchased the dishwasher online for the price listed on the sales floor. It was set for delivery and installation on October 18, 2005.

October 17, 2005 we received a phone call verifying that someone would be home when the dishwasher would be installed. Yes I will be home - I don't have a car. October 18, 2005 - no one showed up. No one called. No dishwasher. October 19, 2005 - we called Sears and were told they didn't handle installation. For five days we called all over the creation and heard conflicting reports until someone finally settled on a story about an installer who was sick with a burst appendix and a backlog of undelivered appliances -- in addition we were told that we did not request installation but only delivery. More days of phone calls followed until someone told us that we had to come in to put installation on our order before anyone could install it. We made the trip to Sears and did so. Two days later we got a phone call from installation telling us they would be out the next day to put in our new dishwasher.

The next day arrived and the phone rang early in the morning. It was the dishwasher installer person. He said he had a simple question. "Do you have the dishwasher there at your home?" he asked. No. We have no dishwasher. It was never delivered. "Ah that's what we were trying to find out. I don't know where your dishwasher is. Let me make some calls and I'll call you back."

Of course he never called back and we never got the dishwasher. Another week of phone calls led to a new story: the dishwasher wasn't delivered and the delivery people never told Sears that they didn't get around to delivering it. Instead the dishwasher was shipped back to a warehouse in Gulfport, MS. They promised that they would go get the dishwasher from Gulfport and deliver and install it within the week.

Within the week came and went and we called again - this time the dishwasher was no longer in Gulfport and they said they would have to reorder it from the main warehouse and they would be in touch.

Yesterday, November 25, 2005 - we made the drive to Sears in Gautier, MS after several days of never getting an answer when we called the store. We were told that the dishwasher was there in the store and an excited young man asked if we'd like to pick it up ourselves. Sure we would! But our truck is flooded and sitting in the driveway at home.... We left with a promise that someone would call on Monday to set up a delivery time.

We're not holding our breath.... We should cancel this order. We know that.. But now we're determined. We don't want another dishwasher. We hardly want a dishwasher anymore... It's the principle of the thing, I think.

To be continued...