Nothing can ever just be simple.

I called Sears this morning to make an appointment to fix my washing machine. I tried to set an appointment online, because that's how I like to do things - online with no actual human contact. But the website didn't want to give me an appointment.

Apparently, the Sears folks don't want to actually have to do their jobs. They wanted me to just call for a "phone consultation" so they could talk me through a repair over the phone. Ummmmm...no. Am I a Sears repairman? No, I am not. Do I want to be a Sears repairmen? No, I do not. You are the Sears repairman and coming to fix my stuff is your job, so just come over and fix it.

I'm going to guess it's because I answered that the appliance is still under warranty. This means they won't make any money on my repair, so they'd like to avoid coming out and doing it. Tough she-shitsky, as my Mom says. You should've sold me an appliance that works.

I actually think the problem is going to be traced back to setup with the drain line, because this EXACT same problem plagued my last washer - that's why I got rid of it, probably needlessly if we determine that I'm right about the problem. But I had something like 3 servicemen out in a year's time and none of them figured that out, so I don't blame myself if that's the case. I blame the idiots who couldn't figure out the problem when that's what they get paid to do.

But my boyfriend, who is NOT a Sears repairman and does NOT get paid to figure these things out, came up with this theory about the drain line, so I'm going to let him be present for the repair so that he can discuss his theory with the technician. Let the menfolk discuss the mechanical items amongst themselves. I ain't good at such-a thangs.

The real point of this post, though, was that I had to call the phone number and get a live person on the line to force them to give me a appointment with a repairman. After wading through the voice-prompt system (which I HATE - I HATE having to talk to a machine. Everyone around you can tell what you're doing, too: "Repair." "Yes." "Washer." "Correct." Aaargh) and waiting on hold for about 15 minutes, I got a live person, and she again tried to troubleshoot with me on the phone. I had to tell her straight out that I didn't want a phone consultation - I just wanted someone to come out. She dropped it and set an appointment, which was good, but then she started trying to upsell me on other products and services. I was polite, but after the first two upsells, when she started a third I had to tell her that I was really sorry, but I had to go to a meeting (which was true - I was 5 minutes late), so if we were done setting my appointment, I needed to move on.

I'm sure that's another reason the website didn't want to give me an appointment. It's probably harder to upsell people online. Grrrr. Just come fix my washer.