Friday, August 24, 2012

Technology Sometimes Tricks You.

     Three years ago we bought a fancy schmancy top load clothes washer. We had mixed feelings about the purchase as the previous washer was bought in 1970 so lasted almost 40 years. We are some what technically challenged so you want to keep it simple.

     We read the manual very carefully and got comfortable with the new machine. It was a water saver and supposed to clean clothes better with less wear and tear on the clothes. It did these things.

    One thing my wife washed once a year was all winter jackets. This was highly successful in the two previous years. Now I'm going to remind you that she has read the manual over and over again. This year she thought there was something different. The amber lights on the options did not come on. She checked the book and sure enough there is a diagram showing that amber lights should come on. She was puzzled as she couldn't remember clearly from the last year. She tried to set the washer and it wouldn't go. She read the manual again and found the same thing. 

     So it's it's under warranty and she phoned the company. She told them the problem and they read the book and they said , "Yes, the circuit board is shot."  They would call a repairman to replace the circuit board. 

    Today the technician arrived. He checked the washer. He said I don't think there are amber lights at all and he explained the process. However, he said I have the part so let's put it in and see what happens. Of course, you guessed it , "No amber lights with the new circuit board. "

    What my wife found is that there were two completely different sets of instructions in two different places in the manual. Therefore she was right to look for amber lights even though there weren't any. She was also correct in starting the machine by the instructions and it wouldn't go.

    So maybe it wasn't technology that did the trick to us but it sure fooled the people who wrote the manual.

    We were a little embarrassed when we called a technician and there was nothing wrong. The technician could see how we got into the problem and was not at all perturbed that he had been called.

   Our manual has now been corrected so that mix up doesn't happen again..