Awesome!!!

Cute picture too.

I'm suprised Currys gave her a new one. I never shop there. It's a crap shoot to find an employee who knows what is going on.

In the UK you pretty much have to resort to these measures to receive any kind of service.

I just buy appliances that don't require repair in the first place.

So why wasn't the manufacturer covering it? Why did the retailer have to make the replacement?

@moore850: Where do you find these mythical appliances, and what engineering school did the R&D department of the manufacturers go to?

Thats quite a precedent to set.

@speedwell, avatar of snark: Maybe he does his laundry with a washing board, or on the rocks in the river, and dries it on a clothes line, or by running around in circles with it tied 'round his head?

@Jakuub: I approve of this methodology. Additionally, there's a chance he "Billy Mays' it" by just soaking laundry in a glass bowl full of Oxi-Clean.

Good God, I can't see wanting to have a Sear's repair person locked in my house... more reasonably I would lock them out!

My Sears clothes dryer broke it's drive belt two months ago. I called Sears to get the part as it is a really easy install. No problem, part ordered, credit card transaction completed... an oh by the way that part is back ordered... No delivery date available. Frack!... OK, thanks. I walk into a local appliance shop tell the parts staff what I want and give them the dead belt... "ok, this is a 97568423654B, just a second" says the parts guru... a minute later I am paying for the exact belt to fix the dryer... I don't cancel the Sears part though because I am interested in how long it will take and it doesn't hurt to have a spare if they are only going to last a few years... Delivery time a month... and the final cost from Sears is 3 times what I paid for the generic exact match.

Inexpensive lesson learned... Time to cut up the Sears Card!

This sounds like a scene out of Terry Gilliam's "Brazil."

she did something that everyone wishes they could do. You go girl!

@Ash78:

It's called the Sale Of Goods Act - the seller, not the manufacturer, is responsible if goods aren't as described or fit for purpose.

http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/consumers/fact-sheets/page38311.html

Regardless of service, false imprisonment of somebody who is most likely under constraint from corporate hell is just taking the "scream at the minimum wage clerk" to a whole new level. Rewarding this behavior is sickening, there are complaints and proper methods to deal with this without resorting to criminal measures.

@Saydur: +1 to your comment.

I mean, let's put ourselves in the shoes of that repairman. Sure, it was innocuous enough, as it turns out; she was only a little crazy, such that she relented once the bobbies were on their way. But what if she wasn't? What if she had intentions like Kathy Bates from Misery?

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you; I would be very concerned if I were that guy, in that situation. Her behavior should not have been rewarded.

@GreatWhiteNorth:

We have a new Kenmore fridge and the water filter gave us the 'replace me' warning. Off to Sears we go and they want $50 for the filter! I'm going to the local hardware store and pick up a generic for probably 1/4 of the price.

Don't mess with the pissed-off consumer.

@Saydur: Maybe he was cute?

Perhaps she just wanted to re-play the "Repairman and the Housewife who's misplaced her Warranty Card" game.

Reminds me of that lady who went into a comcast with a hammer and just started smashing shit with it. Wrong thing to do, sure, but in a way, a hero to us all.

@Saydur: Totally unacceptable in any case. I'm seeing a huge double standard emerge from some of the comments on this site: "Customer detains serviceman" = "You go girl!!" while "Store detains customer for receipt check" = OUTRAGE!!!11 EECB!!!111

Regardless of who does it, it's not the right thing to do. There's a difference between advocating consumer rights and blindly siding with the consumer in every scenario.

@supercereal: @supercereal: In complete agreement. Holding someone hostage is never the answer, people.

@IverBassus: That is the stupidest law I have ever heard. That's requiring the middle man to certify the quality of something that he has little to no control over. If every manufacturer of a particular item decides that they are going to stop paying for Quality Assurance, then suddenly salesmen of that item all over the UK will start losing money because they have no choice of what to do...

Thinking back on that... I guess it's just as possible for the same thing to happen when the manufacturer is on the hook... And customer service at the sales floor would be a lot better because they don't want people returning stuff to the store in that case (since it means a lot bigger losses than when the manufacturer is on the hook for it).

Allow myself to stand corrected ... by myself...
I guess it isn't stupid... just different.

@RStui: What about when you're on wheel of fortune and the board reads "H__D_N_ SO_E__E H_ST__E" and the clue is "Al Queda"?

@Saydur: Ditto.

I'll bet that police department is just as corrupt as Blackwater. No charges? Apparently, false imprisonment isn't in the local vocabulary. For once, I hope that repairman files a civil suit against the crazy broad.

People, don't take your frustrations out on the lowly worker. Sure, I'll bet much of the time they don't consider their paycheck applicable compensation for the crap they take. However, more often than that, they are slaves to

1. Limited resources due to outsourcing or budget cuts.

2. "Company policy".

3. Corporate/management/supervisor runaround.

I'm sure many workers low on the totem pole would LIKE to help, but they simply just can't. Even during my limited experiences with HP's customer "support", I want to rip their throats out. But by actually analyzing the situation, I realize it's "company policy", not the phone jockey's fault.

@Jakuub: I would still get an extended warranty for the river rocks, just in case.

@Nixi: Apparently Curry's is aware of how damaging bad customer service is. At least when it comes down to the story being in the paper.

"fixed her washer"? Sounds like a cougar attack to me...

@Photo: "I can haz fabrik softenr?"

@MyPetFly: I wish Robert Di Nero would come service *my* washer.

@Optimus: The seller has recourse against the manufacturer, too.

It makes sense in a way; consumer can get money back from highly accessible seller, seller's legal department can hassle manufacturer.

@Robert Synnott: Yes, indeed... manufacturer is more likely to listen to and work with who, the one-off purchaser, or the thousand-item-quantity purchaser?

@lannister80: "Service my washer?" Wow, they come up with a new euphemism every day, seems like :D

Could have been worse- the guy before him was locked in the basement and raped daily by Snuggles.

Really, no "Bad Consumer" tag? Just because she did what we all want to doesn't mean it's okay.

@winstonthorne: I had to reduce a rep at a call center to tears once to get help.

What kind of message is this sending to consumers? "Oh, if the repairman tries to screw you over, Lock him into your mudroom! Then you'll get a free replacement washer."

That's ridiculous.

@Starfury: I mean you no offence, but filters for most fridges do run around 45 bucks, they cost most local stores around $36, so it's not a gouge on their part - if you already have a filter system in the house or have very pure water, you can always get a filter bypass for around $25 and be done with it.

Also, most filters will easily last a year (unless you just installed the waterline with the fridge, the first filter then usually lasts around 6 months) , so just reset the filter reminder the first time it goes off and you'll be fine.

@bluewyvern: Totally agree! I just scrolled through the comments looking for one someone to note this (and also double-checking that there is actually no "Bad Consumer" tag on this one).

This really isn't excusable behavior. Consumer rights =/= consumers are always right.

@winstonthorne:

It's the Dead Parrot Sketch, "If you want anything done in this country you have to complain until your blue in the face."

@Optimus: I think that's part of the problem facing stores, no faith in the product they sell. It used to be you'd only sell products you had faith in. Aside from being good business sense, who do you think the customer will be mad at? The guy they can personally see of course. This is why Please Buy and Circuit Shitty are constantly ramming service plans down our throats, they know the crap won't last too long.

That's my cat w00t!

@Nixi: Could be worse, could be Comet - now there's a shop I'd never ever ever consdider revisiting even fifteen years after they pissed me off.