In the Fall 2006 issue of our newsletter, Appliantology, I talked about the Staber washer and the typical happy Staber owner. I mentioned that, “If you’re not a DIYer and expect to call for service, get a commercially available washer from your favorite appliance dealer. Some good ones are Whirlpool Duet, Miele, Asko and Fisher-Paykel.”
Rickie, a frequent reader of these hallowed pages, disagreed vehemently with my mentioning Asko as a suitable brand to consider. In the interest of equal time, I am including her comments here:
MESSAGE SENT THROUGH YOUR WEBSITE
This form was submitted: Sep 14 2006 / 13:58:19
by a visitor with this IP Address: 4.252.98.112
name = Rickie ****
email = ********
country = USAI have to take issue with your endorsement of Asko washers and dryers. I paid $1000 each for 2 units in 2000, and had NOTHING but trouble with both of them. I got a run around with the 800 number, and the regional rep didn’t return my calls. My washer and dryer had something like 8 service calls each in the first 4 years (I gave them away with my house when I sold it last year–that’s how little I valued them), and I mean for serious stuff that required hours of service and complete tear-downs. I called the company I purchased them from wilthin the first year and wanted to return my lemons, but they wouldn’t deal with me and only referred me to the above mentioned rep and 800#. I went sometimes months without using the units because I couldn’t afford the service charges. I would no more recommend an Asko appliance than I would jump off a cliff. I searched the internet for comments after I had so much trouble (I had done my research before, too, and found good stuff to recommend Asko), but after, I came across forums where people had the same complaints as I, so I know it was not just my units. The company is just plain unworkable. I will never never never use or recommend an Asko anything ever again.
–Rickie ****
Rickie’s saga is a perfect illustration of why you should buy a Staber!
Look, one of the big missions of this website is to empower you, average Joe or Jane appliance owner, to become appliance self-sufficient. That means learning how to fix your own appliances so you’re not at the mercy of know-nothing parts-changing monkeys, jive-turkey “repair” men, or manufacturer bureaucracy. And the simple fact is that if you’re not a do-it-yourselfer, you ARE at the mercy of other people and organizations!
“Ok, Mr. Samurai Cyclops, wouldn’t I still be at the mercy of Staber Industries if I bought a Staber, just like I would any other brand?”
Listen, bubble-boy, if you buy anything from anyone, you are entering into a relationship with that person or company. You are trading Federal Reserve Notes (mistakenly referred to as “Dollars”) for a product or service which you are having to trust is what you are expecting. The only way to avoid this is to live on a deserted island, alone, just you and your coconut.
See, it’s all matter of degree of dependancy. What you’re getting when you buy a Staber is a washer that is designed to be serviced by you, Average Joe or Jane appliance owner. And they help you do that by making available to you, the Staber owner, all the free service information and free manuals you need to repair the washer yourself. Staber offers excellent, free service support to owners– they’ve made it easy for you to have a low energy, low water-consuming, high-efficiency washing machine and be able to maintain it yourself.
That’s why Staber washers and dryers are such a home run with the self-reliant crowd, those living off the grid, and folks like Rickie who are sick and tired of being taken for a ride by manufacturers who could care less that you got stuck with a lemon. As far as they’re concerned, you’re one of the ignorant helpless bastards who expects to call for service every time your machine breaks so you get whatever they damn-well feel like giving you because they know you don’t have a choice. That’s also why I have 10,000 grasshoppers a day visiting this website seeking pearls of appliance repair wisdom to avoid having to call Cheeky the repairclown or 1-800-GE-CARES and then pressing “2” for English and waiting 45 minutes for the corporate bureaucrat to come back from her smoke break and pick up the damn phone.
So, the advice I gave is quite accurate, “If you’re not a DIYer and expect to call for service, get a commercially available washer from your favorite appliance dealer. Some good ones are Whirlpool Duet, Miele, Asko and Fisher-Paykel.” And, as far as the store-bought brands, that, sadly, is about as good as it gets. The corollary to this is, “Why in the world would you NOT want to be a do-it-yourselfer?”
Presumably, if you’re reading this, you have some interest in learning to repair your own appliances. Well, you’ve come to the right place because the Samurai makes it easy for you to do that. With over 3,000 pages of free detailed help, the world-famous Samurai Appliance Repair Forum, a Live Help subscription service for real-time, personal help, and convenient parts ordering, Fixitnow.com Samurai Appliance Repair Man has everything you need to become appliance self-sufficient.
