Bread and Plumbing: Part Two

A Slow Failure

So our range started failing.

It wasn’t that old, but it was apparently not the highest quality despite it’s well-known brand name.

It was one of those dual fuel things: a gas cooktop sitting on top of an electric oven. We had chosen that specifically because we had become convinced that gas was superior for cooking in terms of efficiency and heat output. So, after our previous electric cooktop ran its course, we opted to replace it for the dual fuel variety.

The gas burners were amazing: instant heat and a lot less costly to run, if not the easiest to clean. And for much of its life, the range’s oven was suitable for roasting, making casseroles, broiling garlic toast, baking pizza and doing just about everything else. It usually ran about 15 degrees cooler than what it promised but otherwise performed adequately.

Until it didn’t.

At first, there was the random failure of unknown error. This happened if the oven control touch screen was ever splattered with spaghetti sauce or splotched by simmering stir-fry. It would simply beep and display the ominous warning: “Call for service”. This happened frequently as this touch screen was inlaid on the top of the front panel, in close proximity to whatever might be boiling or sizzling on one of the front burners. Fortunately it didn’t take much more than a quick wipe down of the touch screen to clear this error.

The range would also frequently warn of “low fan speed” as the oven’s convection fan began to fail. I learned that we could get around this error by just not using the oven in convection mode. But it wasn’t too much later that even this solid strategy failed to keep the errors and warnings at bay.

The range was just plain giving out. After fewer than five years of use.

Because we had smartly purchased (that is, we were talked into) an extended warranty from our trusted local dealer, I called them to request service. Since I had all the documents with me, I knew that the warranty was still very much active for our purchase, and I expected them to say something along the lines of “Oh, yes sir! We’ll have a technician out immediately with the proper parts and we’ll get your range back in tip-top condition.”

But after an eternity of looking up our purchase and the exact terms of our warranty, the gal on the other end of the phone merrily chirped that they were unable to cover this as a warranty service. Apparently, the extended warranty did not include the parts involved. Seems like a rather convenient omission. What else would need to be covered? It’s made of parts. Parts that wear out.

She went on to offer us a very minute discount on a brand new range if purchased from their store within the next three months.

I said, in words that I could not proudly broadcast here, “heck no,” and hung up.

We decided that we wouldn’t be patronizing this particular dealer any longer, and instead would be visiting some of the other appliance shops in the area.