Category Archives: General Appliance Wisdom

Samurai Appliance Repair Apprenticeships

Everyday, my inbox is jammed with thousands of emails from hopeful souls all over the world pleading and begging for an apprenticeship opportunity with the Samurai. The reason is obvious: a successful apprenticeship with the Fermented Grand Master of Appliantology and the world’s one and only 33rd-degree black belt in Fixite Do is a sure ticket to a successful and lucrative career as a certifiable appliance repair technician. However, due to time constraints, I can only accept two apprentices at any one time.

Currently, my two Samurai Apprentices are Zoltan (age 12) and Osama bin Fahrtin (age 10). And since they’re also my spawn, they’ll be apprenticing with me for the next six to eight years. However, they’ve prepared the following progress reports to give you, the abnormally hopeful candidate, a taste of the magic and glory of apprenticing with the Samurai.

Samurai Apprentice Zoltan offers this summary of his apprenticeship:

Konnichiwa, I will now tell you the great honor of working with the Samurai.

First, you must train yourself in tool-to-hand combat, or in other words you must know where his tools are, and when to hand them to him.

Secondly, the tool-bearer must keep the Samurai’s tools clean and in their place, for the Samurai does not tolerate fools.

Thirdly, you must be able to deal with customers. Some customers are honored to have the Samurai in their humble abode; some treat him like a parts changing monkey.

So you must always be ready for battle when the Samurai gets a call from someone who wants him to lay on dirty floors and fix stinking appliances. Now I must go, for my master needs a socket wrench. Sayonara.

And Samurai Apprentice Osama bin Fahrtin offers this troika of haikus about the types of customers he’s met while on service calls with the Samurai:

Some people are weird:
creepy, dirty, scary like
Tales from the Dark Side.”

A few are cheesedorks,
Complaining about his fee.
They shall taste his blade!

Cheerful and friendly:
This is the best customer,
They do not complain.

Appliance Deconstruction Techniques Illustrated

Appliance deconstruction is a technique sometimes used in the ancient martial art of Fixite Do. Since deconstruction is terminal for the appliance, it is only used as a last resort.

An Apprentice Appliantologist at the repair forums posted a nice demonstration of appliance deconstruction using the Impact Technique. One thing to notice in this demonstration is that the washer has an electronic user interface board, which has been a troublemaker on this model and which was the problem in this case. It’s not surprising that it ended up in deconstruction since this washer model violates the 5th Law of the Prophecy.

The Percussion Technique is another method which is quicker and more thorough but requires a larger work area and some specialized appliance deconstruction tools.

Adventures of a New Appliance Technician

Appliance Tech, Grizzly, a new brother-at-arms in the ancient martial art of Fixite Do, shared some of his more vivid experiences and observations of his first few months of practicing the craft of Appliantology.

Interesting (well, not really) observations I’ve made in the larval stage of my appliantology career. Five months may not be long enough to have a truly mature and time tested opinion on stuff, but here goes anyway….

Observation 1. As a profession, servicers are treated by customers with somewhat more suspicion than I was expecting. I’d say the average customer is more guarded with me than they would be with, say, a census taker or perhaps a meter reader. Having said that, I haven’t received much in the way of the immediate cold shoulder and scornful treatment with which, say, an ambulance chasing trial attorney has likely become used to. I’m thinking a spectral analysis of professions would peg appliance servicers several notches up the scale from car salesman, but lagging a few rungs south of dental hygienists.

Observation 2. The plural form of servicer is not present in the OpenOffice.org spell check, whereas the singular form is.

Observation 3. Appliances, like most consumer products, have a sweet spot at which the best long term value can be derived by purchasing items towards the middle of the price scale. Sure don’t see many catastrophically expensive repairs with 600 to 1000 dollar Whirlpool washers. Can’t say the same about Sam’s Club spec GE appliances nor for many uh dem der fancy pants Yourapeen brands.

Observation 1 reprise. Some customers seem to have an over simplified view of the profession and are pre conditioned to think that anyone who works with their hands must have a Forest Gump level IQ. Here’s some quotes I’ve heard so far:

From a passively aggressive/somewhat condescending dishwasher customer, I think she must have thought she was talking to her 8 year old: “now, I know the dishwasher water goes into my garbage disposal, so if you need to get under the sink to look at it, you will need to be careful, there are c-h-e-m-i-c-a-l-s down there, like Comet and Dawn, those can harm you, so please be careful”. I felt like playing along by dawning a puzzled expression and telling her “Oh, yessum mam, dey done told us in skoo dat Comet ain’t duh same ting as sugar. You can’t eat Comet, you can only clean stuff wit it. But sugar, dats ok to eat, my momma puts sugar on her grits and she’s as fit as a possum. My cousin Billy once ate a whole can of Comet, and his pee smelled good for a month, but I ain’t gonna eat none of your Comet, I like tha yellow smell my pee has better anyhow.”

Or how about this quote from a dryer customer, “what do you mean you need the wiring diagram? I read my owner’s manual this morning, and it doesn’t say anything about wiring diagrams, so you must be trying to make this more difficult than it needs to be so you can charge me more”.

Observation 4. This work involves a perfect blend of both mental and physical skill. After sitting at a desk all day for eight years programming mainframes, the actual act of getting to move about is quite a refreshing change, but the one thing about programming that I actually enjoyed (solving logical problems) is present here too! Very similar approach to the problem solving and analysis, just a different subject matter.

Observation 5. This work is freaking fun! For the first time in years, I no longer dread going to work each day. Hell, when 5:30 comes around, most days, I don’t want to leave the shop.

Love Means Never Having to Say Goodbye… to Your Appliances

It’s the ultimate First World problem: how to stay in touch with your appliances even if you’re away from home. Well, Pilgrim, you git down on yer knees and thank the Lord Fixus because now you can do just that! Daf right, Nappy– Whirlpool, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Panasonic and Procter & Gamble are all test marketing this in Hotlanta even as you feast your bloodshot peepers on these hallowed photons. Read on…

Having completed a pilot program that tested how an Internet- connected kitchen can ease meal preparation, the Internet Home Alliance (IHA) is shifting its attention to the laundry room. IHA’s Laundry Time study, like the earlier Mealtime study, will investigate how “Smart Home” technologies can simplify and shorten the time required to wash and dry clothes in an average household. Consumer attitudes toward remote access and control of home laundry appliances also will be probed.

A test home in the Atlanta area will be equipped with devices that link washers and dryers to a home network that will enable owners to receive text messages on the progress of the laundering process through computers, cellphones or TV receivers. For in- stance, a family member can put a load in the washer and watch TV. When the load is completed, a “Wash Complete” alert pops up on the screen, instructing the person to move the load to the dryer and perhaps put a new load in the washer. A similar alert will appear when the drying cycle is finished.

Through instant messaging on computers, cellphones or TVs, consumers also will be alerted to possible problems with their laundry appliances. If the problem is that they failed to activate the machine, a remote access system enables the appliances to be turned on without walking to the laundry room. This latter feature also can be used while out of the home (through cellphone or computer) to activate a washer or dryer so the load will be completed upon arrival home. If the return home is delayed, the dryer can be instructed to fluff the load again to eliminate potential wrinkles.

Participating in the study are Whirlpool, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Panasonic and Procter & Gamble. Whirlpool is provid- ing each test home with front-loading regular-capacity washers and dryers, while Microsoft is providing the “Smart House” and remote-access control systems.

Results of the study will be published early next year by IHA, a home research group based in Boston.

Thermador and Other High-End Brands are Less Reliable than Mid-Range Appliances

For years, I’ve been saying that many of the high-end brands are overpriced junk. Finally, Consumer Reports has caught on to this (or Thermador and Viking are no longer able to pay their bribes to Consumer Reports), and is reporting this sad but very real truth. Moral of the story: You don’t always get what you pay for and spending more doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting better quality.

I wonder how long it’ll take ’em to figure out that Sub-(standard)-Zero is also a ripoff brand?

Washington, DC: A new survey by Consumer Reports shows that mid-range appliance brands are often more reliable than many high-end brands such as Thermador and Viking.

On Monday, Consumer Reports released highlights from its “Annual Products Reliability Survey.” The full survey will be published in the magazine’s May issue.

Thermador gas rangesHigh-End Brand No Guarantee
Interestingly, Consumer Reports found that high-end brands of major kitchen appliance are more prone to need repair early in their life-span. Thermador, Dacor, Viking and Jenn-Air rank among the least reliable brands of major cooking appliances as identified by Consumer Reports readers.

Consumer Reports found that 33% of consumers’ Viking gas ranges and at least 15% of Thermador, Dacor and Viking gas cook tops were repaired or had an unrepairable problem between 2002 and 2006.

According to the report, Whirlpool, Kenmore and GE “prove to be safe bets for major appliance shoppers,” having relatively low repair rates across a variety of appliances, including electric and gas ranges, ovens, refrigerators, washers and driers.

Results are based on more than 950,000 Consumer Reports reader responses to the magazine’s online and paper survey. Because consumers own more than one type of product in the same category, the entire Consumer Reports study contains more than 5.1 million product reports.

Thermador: A Host of Problems
There are reports that some Thermador Gas Ranges PRG366US are defective due to problems with the patented simmer control potentiometer, igniter switch and motherboard, which could result in safety hazards. Owners of Thermador gas ranges have reported to consumeraffairs.com that they have also had difficulty getting replacement parts through the company.

In 2002, BSH Home Appliance Corp. voluntarily recalled 2,460 Thermador gas ranges. The recall was initiated because of a burn hazard to customers caused by the venting of hot air below the small oven, which caused the metal surface of the door to heat up.

The Cost to Consumers
A new Thermador unit can cost more than $5,000. Range repair costs can be as high as $400, and units may require repeated repairs. Some repair services have advised consumers to purchase an extended warranty for their Thermador units – at an additional cost of $450-$500.

While the Consumer Reports verdict is clear, many consumers will probably continue to buy high-end appliances because of their status. As Laura Ries, principal in the Ries & Ries branding consultancy told Marketing Daily: “McDonald’s coffee came out better than Starbucks in another Consumer Reports survey – but the perception of Starbucks as superior is so firmly entrenched that McDonald’s would find it extremely difficult to overcome.”

By Anne Borden

Original article posted here.

Meet the Appliantology Masters

Need help with an appliance problem? The Samurai Appliance Repair Forum is where you’ll get it. And not just from other appliance repair virgins like yourself. Nay, nay, young Grasshopper, perish the thought! At the Samurai Appliance Repair Forum, you’ll get expert, personalized help from real-life Master Appliantologists. Come, meet some of them. Then join the forum and suckle the pure milk of appliance repair wisdom like a lame calf at your mother’s swollen teat!

Where Have All the Tradesmen Gone?

When was the last time you tried to hire a skilled and competent tradesman? Seems you either can’t get anyone to call you back or the ones that you can reach you wished you hadn’t. Why is that, Capt. Ron? As usual, the Samurai has the answer. Open your skull and let the light of wisdom shine inside that empty space betwixt your ears.

I’ve been saying for years that there are just too many over-indulged, pampered progeny going to college. The ample supply of easily-available, low-interest, government-backed student loans has spawned hordes of puffy little cherubs trotting off to college ostensibly for “higher learning” but who actually spend most of their time in laboratory studies of intemperance and concupiscence. This is when “college” becomes “collitch.”

As Charles Murray, at the American Enterprise Institute (a group usually too neo-connish for my tastes), correctly points out:

Government policy contributes to the problem by making college scholarships and loans too easy to get, but its role is ancillary. The demand for college is market-driven, because a college degree does, in fact, open up access to jobs that are closed to people without one. The fault lies in the false premium that our culture has put on a college degree.

For a few occupations, a college degree still certifies a qualification. For example, employers appropriately treat a bachelor’s degree in engineering as a requirement for hiring engineers. But a bachelor’s degree in a field such as sociology, psychology, economics, history or literature certifies nothing. It is a screening device for employers. The college you got into says a lot about your ability, and that you stuck it out for four years says something about your perseverance. But the degree itself does not qualify the graduate for anything. There are better, faster and more efficient ways for young people to acquire credentials to provide to employers.

The “over-educated idiot” is a cliché in our overindulged society. We all know people who went to collitch, graduated with a degree in something like African Percussion Interpretation but, hmmm, just can’t seem to find a job. Either that or they hate their job and feel stuck working for Da Man and so lash out by voting to take Da Man’s money through taxation, government-mandated minimum wage increases, or various other hare-brained wealth-redistribution schemes right out of Marx’s imbecilic Manifesto.

So why aren’t kids going into these trades? Simple: pretend you’re an overindulged 18 year-old snot-nosed punk with no clear vision of what you want to do with your life or what you would even study in collitch. In your 18-year old brain, your impression of working in the trades is to work for someone like Cheeky the Repairclown (or, worse yet, to end up like Cheeky!). And suppose that you had the choice of working for Cheeky or enjoying four years of drinking and carousing in collitch on someone else’s dime (i.e., low-interest, government-backed student loans, Mommy and Daddy, grants, etc.). Which would you choose?

Another problem is that parents have this goofy notion that their spawn has a “right” to go to collitch and, by God, to collitch they will go! Nevermind that the only thing this kid has any intention of studying is the bottom of his beer mug and his girlfriend’s chest.

The result is that the poor kid will struggle through collitch (in between parties) and then, if he’s lucky, end up in some miserable Dilbert job on a cubicle farm wishing he’d gone to work as an apprentice for Uncle Joe, a Master Electrician. He would have had his own Master Electrician license by now and been in a position to either buy Uncle Joe’s bidness or start his own. Guess that degree in Underwater Basketweaving wasn’t such a good investment afterall. Go figure.

But, despite not learning very much that matters during his collitch career, the kid will certainly pick up the usual collectivist claptrap from the last remaining Marxists on the planet, the collitch faculty, about how more gubmint is the answer to all our problems from global warming to jock itch. In most cases, collitch of today has devolved into nothing more than a factory cranking out swarms of government-loving, liberty-hating voters who don’t understand the free market and are actually scared to death of it. These are the people who will vote themselves, along with the rest of us, into slavery.

I have always maintained that these misguided souls would be much happier and wealthier learning a trade. Instead of all this spite, envy, and disgruntlement, these very same people could be living the good life as successful entrepreneurs running their own trade bidness and getting a taste of the Ameedican Dream.

What, exactly, is this Ameedican Dream of which I speak? It is running your own life the way you choose and controlling your own destiny. It’s having a work situation where the amount of moola you earn is dependent on your efforts and not on Da Man counting out the beans and saying, “You can have this many, the rest are mine.” In the Ameedican Dream, YOU Da Man! In today’s economy, the easiest way to get there is by running a bidness in one of the skilled trades.

According to my state-of-the-art prognostications, here are some of the trades I see as the most viable and valuable both now and in the forseeable future (in no particular order):

  • Plumber
  • Electrician
  • Nurse
  • Carpenter (rough and finish)
  • Mason
  • Pest Control
  • Diesel Engine Mechanic
  • Auto Technician
  • Industrial Equipment Technician

You may have noticed the conspicuous absence of appliance repair technician. I don’t consider appliance repair to be one of the long-term viable trades because the mega-trend for appliance repair techs has diminishing opportunities for an in-home service bidness; the shining exception will be servicing high-end appliances.

So, if you’re a collitch student majoring in Effing-Up, do the world and yourself a favor by dropping out and learning a trade instead. You’ll thank me in a few years.

Staber Washer Fan Mail

Thank you Thank you. We love our Staber washer. We’ll be getting a dryer as soon as ours breks. Thank you for the direction. I’ve tried to wear it out and now I understand why there are no used Stabers for sale out there. I wish I’d known about them when I was 20…I WAS 20 once. lol.

_______________________________
The above message was sent when you were offline, via your Timpani site.

Message sent from IP: 165.201.90.70

Interested in a Staber washer? You can check out all the stuff I’ve written about Staber washers and even our podcast episode comparing them to other washers. For purchase information, check out Samurai’s Staber Store.

Mega-trends in Appliance Repair

I can’t remember the last time the major news media deigned to spill a little ink on us humble, hardworking (but damn good-looking) appliance repair guys. But the Washington Times recently ran an article about interesting trends in the appliance repair trade. And it wasn’t in the Obituary section, either! One of the outstanding features of this article is that it features some quotes by yours so very truly:

“It’s a dying trade,” said Scott Brown, Webmaster of www.fixitnow.com and self-proclaimed “Samurai Appliance Repairman.

”The reason for this is twofold,” Mr. Brown said, “The cost of appliances is coming down because of cheap overseas labor and improved manufacturing techniques, and repairmen are literally dying off.”

This is true as far as it goes, but he omitted the other side of the equation here, which is people’s perception of appliance repair technicians. Perception is important because if a person doesn’t trust the appliance servicer, then he will opt to buy a new appliance simply to avoid getting slimed by what he believes to be a sleazy servicer. To quote from my widely-acclaimed screed, Appliance Repair: A Dying Trade

Appliance techs are already behind the eight ball the moment they walk in the customer’s house. Most people have been conditioned by 60 Minutes and other tabloid TV shows to view appliance repair techs as morally deficient cretins whose main objective in a service call is to screw the customer.

Granted, there are lots of charlatans and cretins out there, like this jive-turkey from Sears A&E. I get horror stories everyday by email or in the repair forum. But most independent appliance servicers are conscientious and highly skilled tradesmen who’ve invested thousands of hours learning the basic skills, keeping up with the new models, and honing their craft in the field.

The Washington Times article includes some interesting and revealing quotes from appliance service companies:

“Nowadays appliances are cheap, so people are just getting new ones,” said Paul Singh, a manager at the Appliance Service Depot, a repair shop in Northwest. “As a result, business has slowed down a lot.”

“The average repair cost for a household appliance is $50 to $350,” said Shahid Rana, a service technician at Rana Refrigeration, a repair shop in Capitol Heights. “If the repair is going to cost more than that, we usually tell the customer to go out and buy a new one.”

But wait! This is only true for cheap appliances! What if the customer has a $4,000 Dacor wall oven or a $3,000 Sub-Zero refrigerator? In these cases, even if the repair costs $700, you’re still better off repairing than buying a new one. Granted, you won’t be happy about it, but that’s the simple, economic reality. The mistake the Wash Times article makes is in not recognizing that low-end appliances and high-end appliances are two different worlds. In the former case, the trend is going exclusively to replace or DIY repairs; in the latter, there are ample opportunities to build a profitable service business provided your business is located in an area with lots of high-end appliances.

Appliance service companies who place absolute dollar limits on the cost of a repair without regard to the type of appliance being repaired deserve to go out of business. And building a service business around repairing lower-end appliances is a recipe for bankruptcy– these companies will go the way of the dinosaur and the VCR repair company. And they should. That’s why the free-market is so efficient at delivering goods and services– losers get pruned from the money tree. That’s another reason I recommend that service companies focus on servicing high-end appliances and leave the bottom-feeders to DIYers.

What we’re really seeing here is a stratification of the customer base: there are those who buy only the cheapest products and there are those who are willing to pay more. If you choose to buy lower-end appliances, plan on doing your own repairs because it simply won’t be cost-effective to have a professional technician repair it for you. That’s where Fixitnow.com comes in!

But suppose you pay $4,000 for a Miele or Dacor wall oven and it needs a repair after two or three years. In this case, throwing it out and getting a new one is simply not a reasonable option. And often, finding skilled technicians who work on the high-end brands can be difficult and will doubtless be more expensive. Once again, Samurai Appliance Repair Man gallops to the rescue by helping you fix it yourself. In addition to saving big bucks, fixing it yourself often results in a more timely, better quality repair than if you had hired a professional. How ‘bout them apples?

The Wash Times article continues:

It’s not uncommon for today’s repairmen to condemn an appliance instead of fixing it for the sake of their customers’ wallets.

If they decide to repair an appliance that is likely to break down again, repairmen are criticized by their customers and often lose business because of a damaged reputation.

Mr. Jones said he based his repair decisions on the 50 percent rule: “If the cost of service costs more than 50 percent of the price of a new machine, I’ll tell my customers to get a new one.”

More silliness. Mr. Jones’ rule-of-thumb fails to take into account the age of the appliance. If you have a two year old washing machine that cost $400 new and the repair costs $200, how does it make sense to junk it and buy a new $400 machine? Not only are you spending $200 more than you would for the repair, but what makes you think the new washer will last any longer than your existing one? Buying a new appliance in this situation is like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

The proper framework in which to think about the repair vs. replace question is by thinking in terms of Appliance Half-life®:

Appliance half-life is defined as the number of years after which it would not be cost-effective to repair half of the appliances in the group. For example, if the half-life of all dryers is 13 years, this means that in a group of 10 dryers, all 13-years old, it would be cost-effective to repair only five of them. The other five would be too badly deteriorated from abuse, poor quality, heavy use…whatever, to cost-effectively repair them. I have repaired dozens of 25-year old Whirlpool dryers that only needed minor repairs. I’ve also seen 10-year old Whirlpool dryers that were so far gone and would have needed such extensive repairs that I recommended the customer buy a new one. By the way, I’ve also seen 4-year old GE dryers that were ready for the trash heap the day they were built.

(For a more detailed explanation of Appliance Half-Life®, see this article.)

Continuing with the Wash Times article:

Mr. Brown acknowledged this trend. “Lower-end appliances which you can buy for $200 to $300 are basically throwaway appliances,” he said. “They are so inexpensive that you shouldn’t pay to get them repaired.”

He accurately quoted what I said you should not do in this case, but he omitted what I said you should do: fix it yourself! Doing the repair yourself definitely tilts the entire repair vs. replace question squarely into the repair camp, even for low-end, bottom-feeder brands and models. You can save hundreds of dollars doing your own repairs and that’s exactly what Fixitnow.com is all about.

Modern, energy-efficient refrigerators can cost as much as $5,000 to $10,000, and with such a hefty price tag, throwing one away is not an option.

In some cases, repairmen can help consumers reduce the amount of aggravation that a broken appliance will cause.

Consider the time and effort it takes to shop for a new appliance, wait for its delivery, remove the old one and get the new one installed.

In addition, certain appliances such as ovens and washing machines can be a bigger hassle to replace because they are connected to gas and water lines.

“It takes your time, it takes your effort, and if you don’t install the new appliance, you’ll have to hire a service technician to install it anyways,” Mr. Brown said.

I label this cost as “aggra-dollars.” That is, the aggravation and time spent that goes along with shopping for a new appliance, having it delivered, getting it installed, and disposing of your old one. If you’ve not experienced this joy recently, you’ll realize that the aggra-dollar factor can be a very significant cost.

Interestingly, the Reason.com blog picked up on this story and posted a commentary on it. I’m usually impressed with Reason’s analysis of economic issues and am squarely in the small-L libertarian camp on all issues, social and economic. But, in this case, Reason’s Nick Gillespie missed the bigger picture:

Every revolution has its casualties, and this fascinating Wash Times article points to a quiet, barely-noticed increase in the quality and longevity of household appliances.

Hello? This statement makes me wonder if Mr. Gillespie really owns any appliances! The reality is that, for appliances built today, you’ll be doing some type of repair on them every two to four years, regardless of brand. This is an industry average across all brands so some models will require more frequent repairs and others less. The real variable among brands is how severe that repair will be. For example, will you be replacing the motor in your dryer ($100 part) vs. just the thermal fuse ($25 part). Anyone who’s purchased a new appliance in the last ten years has experienced this first-hand. And we professional appliantologists have been seeing this trend for about ten years now.

So, tip o’ the hat to Bryce Baschuk at the Washington Times for starting a serious conversation on this topic. Also, the few times I’ve seen appliance techs discussed in Big Media was for the sole purpose of portraying us as a bunch of slimey, thieving cretins out to screw the customer. Kudos to Bryce for bucking that trend and portraying us techs in a sympathetic, if not positive, light.

Magic Serial Number Decoder for GE Appliances

If you are one of the millions of victims who own GE appliances, then at some point you may need to know when they were manufactured. Fun fact to know and tell: the year of manufacture is not the same as the model year of the model number. GE does it this way to help confuse and befuddle you when you’re trying to find information about your appliance… such as how old it is.

Fret not, my leetle grasshopper; as always, the Samurai is here to illumine your steps and make straight your path.

Magic GE Serial Number Decoder - click for larger viewThe serial number consists of two letters followed by six digits. The two prefix letters indicate the month and year the appliance was manufactured. Look up the two-letter serial number prefix in the magic serial number decoder, shown here– click it so you can actually read it, Homer.

Notice that the code sequence repeats every 12 years as an occult message to the Illuminati, Skull and Bones, and other secret societies about the emergence of the Anti-Christ. Either that or they just ran out of code combinations. But the occult message scenario is much more interesting.

Broken Information Appliance

Just want to access the forum … link keeps trying to open Netscape, I use IE, so can’t seem to get kernected … Jeff

_______________________________
The above message was sent when you were offline, via your Timpani site.

Message sent from IP: 68.43.28.244

Ahh, Grasshoppah, the problem you describe pertains to the default browser settings in your PC. Neither the repair forum nor the activation link sent by the forum have any effect whatsoever on how your browser handles links.

I have written the following haiku, in traditional 5-7-5 meter, just for you in this, your hour of appliance peril; let it lead you to the enlightenment you seek. To use the haiku effectively, read it aloud, slowly, under soft lighting while burning incense. Continue doing this until Satori hits you like a bolt of lightening in the night and deep inner wisdom is revealed.

Windoze won’t behave,
links are screwy, all mixed up.
One word: Macintosh.

After experiencing the profound enlightenment embodied in the haiku, come post your appliance problem in the repair forum. Or, if you wish to experience other haikus about appliance repair, come and enter the dragon.

Appliantology Newsletter, Winter 2006

At long last, the wait is over: the Winter 2006 issue of our newsletter, Appliantology, has hit the streets, face-first and screaming! You can download the newsletter from the following link:

http://fixitnow.com/documents/appliantology-winter-2006.pdf

In this issue:

  • The Samurai visits RepairClinic… and likes what he sees!
  • Changes in the repair forum to serve you mo’ bettah.
  • Talk to the Samurai in Live Chat… and he may even talk back.
  • A Samurai Select™ appliance repair tip.

Hurry and download it now before it gets all used up!

If you’d like to subscribe to Appliantology so you can feast your bloodshot squinties upon it the moment it hits the Web, come hither. And you can read past issues at this link.

It’s Cold Outside and the Furnace in My House Just Died!

ShiverWinter is no time for your furnace to shi’ite the bed. If your furnace (or other heating appliance) is down and you need to save money on the repair, we can help you fix it in the Samurai Appliance Repair Forum.

For example, in this topic, Master Appliantologists guide an apprentice through the troubleshooting and repair of his Amana furnace using diagrams, explanations, and finally, a link to the part he needed to get it fixed. Note: in order to view the attachments in the forum, you’ll need to become an Apprentice Appliantologistlearn how.