Muse
Lifer
- Jul 11, 2001
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That IS bizarre! I save my quarters for one purpose - laundry! Well, actually, [BRAG], I did finally install a washing machine in my house a few months back, and won't be visiting any of my local laundromats for the foreseeable future [MOAN: The last time I did my laundry in a laundromat, some slimeball came in off the street and stole my backpack off the folding table. Didn't realize it until I was ready to leave]. I'll be trading my quarter collection for bills at my branch of Washington Mutual, so they have no excuse to not give them to you. It's amazingly great to be able to do a load of laundry any damn time I please without having to leave the house. Installing the machine was a major hassle:Originally posted by: FunkierThanU
I did say _most_ things.
I did have one of their branches in Oakland not want to sell me a roll of quarters once when I had to do laundry! I couldn't believe it.
Originally posted by: Muse
My bank, Washington Mutual is pretty good on most things.
Speaking of that bank, I guess I have to add my own personal moan:
In Y2000, I bought my house. Applied with Washington Mutual for a loan and the bank manager and loan officer (same guy) told me it was a lock after the appraisal. I told him the house didn't have central heating, and he said that didn't matter, they'd approve. It rarely gets below freezing here, so I can live with occasional space heaters until I install central heating. I asked him before I signed if I'd get my deposit back ($250) if the loan wasn't approved. He said "yes."
Turns out higher-ups in his organization nixed the loan because the house didn't have central heating and I had to scramble to close the deal (that's another story). I never got my $250 deposit back. I implored the manager/loan officer I dealt with, but it was useless. If I didn't basically like the guy, I guess I may have taken him to small claims court. Also, I've never been in small claims court and don't like the idea of doing it. I DO bank there now (they had the best features on a checking account when I shopped for one) - try not to hold a grudge, but that didn't sit well. When I see all the Washington Mutual mortgage ads on TV, I have to groan and moan and think they are basically a lot of BS.:disgust:
I thought, what's there to it? See that drain pipe? You just hang that hose over it, plug in the machine, connect the hot and cold water hoses and do your laundry! Piece of cake. Not! [read on]
Problem:
1. The hot and cold water connections in back of the machine hadn't been used in decades and once opened, they wouldn't close or they leaked out of the spigot. Solution - replace both spigots.
2. The cold water pipe's water was filthy? No biggie, run the water a while and it's clear, right? Sure, but the flow was only 1/4 the flow of the hot water, so I had to start removing and clean and/or replace sections of the pipe until I finally got far enough back to where the major clogs were.
3. The cold water piping joints leaked, and I had to buy another pipe wrench and crank and crank until the leak was finally so slow that it didn't matter.
4. Needed to buy parts and assemble a trap for the drain pipe, first needing to disassemble a 2 inch elbow that was attached to the drain pipe.
5. We're go, right? Not! Ran the machine and the drain water backed up out of the drain for some reason all over the floor. I mopped up the mess and did some research in alt.home.repair. Borrowed a drain snake fro the tool lending library in Berkeley and cleaned that sucker as far back as the snake would allow (a feat). Then the machine drained OK, but I realized that it was just a matter of time until it clogged up again so I went to Home Depot to see if they had a laundry sink that would fit in my pretty tiny laundry room. They did, but barely - 1/4 inch wider and it wouldn't have fit. I bought it, installed it. That required removing the trap I'd just installed and throwing it away and buying new parts and assembling a new trap and extending it with a special "no hub" connector. Wow! Now I had the thing installed foolproof. I'm so stoked, I do my laundry every time I have enough clothes. This is going to revolutionize the way I dress I guess.