June 2023

Last month our six-year-old LG dishwasher died. For a week or two it would randomly beep as though it had been turned on; then it failed completely. It was probably the UI board, which lives in the top of the dishwasher door and for which a replacement part costs $120, but I don’t like working on appliances. (And I couldn’t find a way to disassemble the door to get at it.)

A couple of years ago I zigged to avoid tripping over the cat and I kicked the corner of the open dishwasher door and broke the plastic cover loose. I think that’s what let water or steam in over time, and that’s what killed it.

I called a repair service. They told me they don’t fix dishwashers because the cost is close to the price of a new one.

We shopped around and decided on a Bosch dishwasher from Lowe’s for $800. Went to the store on Saturday, May 27, to buy it. Delivery, installation, and haulaway of the old one was another $219, and I briefly considered installing it myself despite what I said above about not liking working on appliances. But then the Lowe’s person said there’s a rebate on all of that, so this made the decision.

It didn’t get delivered and installed until three weeks later, Saturday, June 17. At first the unit wasn’t in stock, then it was but the junction box wasn’t and apparently that’s specific to Bosch so they needed it. We got really tired of washing dishes by hand. Then we got scheduled for Friday, but right before our scheduled time the guy called and said he had a family emergency, so we talked him into coming on Saturday. Everything went fine and now we have a working dishwasher, yay. (Weird feature: there are no lights on the front panel, and it’s exceedingly quiet, so to let us know it’s on it shines a red light on the floor.)

A week later, I got an email survey asking our experience with the purchase and rebate experience. It was only then that I remembered we were supposed to have gotten rebate-ed. I filled out the survey, then went to boschlowesrebates.com and provided all the information. The site was nicely done, and it was an easy experience!

… except that, at the end of the experience, it told me that our purchase wasn’t eligible for a refund and that I needed to call Lowe’s. And of course that phone number wasn’t active on the weekend. So, first thing this (Monday) morning, I gave the Lowe’s rebate department a call.

1. “You know, that rebate isn’t working for anybody. I get so many complaints about it. You need to call Bosch and they can work it out for you.”
2. Called Bosch. In the queue for 25 minutes, then: “I’m sorry, this is only Bosch customer service. You need to call the Lowe’s rebate department. Here’s a different phone number you should use for them. If they can’t help you, call us back and we’ll put you through to the Bosch rebate department. I can’t transfer you to that department until you’ve called that Lowe’s number first. No, there isn’t an external phone number for it to call directly.”
3. Called that Lowe’s number. A recording of an exasperated-sounding man said “No routes found” over and over again.
4. Called Bosch back again. In the queue for 31 minutes, then: “Yes, we know that Lowe’s number isn’t working. We have a service ticket open on it. I can’t transfer you to the rebate department, but here’s the external phone number. Call it directly.”
5. Called that number (888-771-8345) for the Bosch rebate department. In the queue for 43 minutes, then the woman there gave the answer right away.

And the answer was: in addition to entering my dishwasher purchase on the online rebate form, I also had to add a second product, type “InstallationCost”, serial number “installation”. I put all the prices in the right places and the form was accepted. Now I’m in the system while my rebate is being processed. “Everything should be fine from here on,” she said.

Pardon me if I have my doubts.