Some more
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did a a dishwasher repair in a mental hospital where you walk in they lock the doors behind you Shocked to protect you from the patients done the job no problem they asked me if i could take a look at the dryer so i said ok they then locked me in the laundry room Shocked switched on the dryer to see what was going on it tripped the rcd thought ok i will just reset it to find that the consumer unit was locked in a another room which only the caretaker had the key for then the nurse said oh sxxx next thing i know the fire alarm has sounded because apparantly they had a system where if anything trips out or anybody messes with the electricity supply and the thing is not reset within a set period of time the bloody fire alarm screams the place down next thing i know there is hundreds of mental health patients running everywere and the whole place like nothing i have ever seen before or want to see again and because they have got a direct line to the fire brigade 3 fire enginees turned up Embarassed Embarassed Embarassed Embarassed so anybody ever asks if i could just take a quick look now the answer is NO
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this happened a few years ago,got a call from a panicky customer,can you send someone to fix my chest freezer plz everything is thawing iv got loads of food in it and i cant let it defrost,yes of course i saw someone can come round this afternoon, engineer turns up with a woman nearly in tears, soon diagnoses that compressor has gone and says to customer will b a few days before i can get back" NO she says cant ya do it today" then she goes on to explain that underneath the food was her dead pet great dane"he died a few years ago an i loved that dog, but i couldnt afford to get him stuffed so i put him in the freezer till i could" the engineer taking pity on her duly went and got said compressor and fixed it that evening thats got ta be the wierdest lol. also had a similar experience as to what was mentioned earlier about the lab, a blood factor 8 laboratory,dressing up in the gowns and shoes minus the showers tho lol
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Interesting true stories from my life as a washing machine repairman.
I needed to drain a washing machine full of water. My customer opened the back door and fetched a bucket from the yard. I popped it at the side of the washer and we both cringed at the sight of two fat and ugly slugs lounging about in the bottom.
Agreeing we didn't like slimy slugs I decided to evict them in the back garden but first, I needed to unhook the washing machine's drain hose from underneath the sink. It only took a minute and returning to the bucket I was surprised to find the slugs missing.
"What the…?" I exclaimed and my customer recoiled in horror …
… I lifted the bucket and there they were - gone. "I didn't realise they could be so fast", I said. My customer wasn't happy. She hated slimy slugs and two of them were loose in the kitchen. We scoured the floor but they had disappeared. I spent a few moments trapped in an illogical loop of looking inside the bucket, lifting it up, twisting it round and looking at the bottom but they were vanished.
A thought flashed into my mind and I responded by lifting up my trouser legs. "I hope they haven't scuttled up me trousers while I was lying on the floor" I remarked, half joking and half concerned. At this my customer became more agitated and she started a more serious search.
Eventually I found the blighters who had met an unfortunate end. As they'd slithered over the top of the bucket they had both took refuge under the small rim. When I'd picked up the bucket with its handle they had each been squashed by the leverage of the handle. If it wasn't for their tragic death, it would have been funny.
Over the years I've removed many household objects from washing machines - none of which had any right to be there. Pens, penknives watches, countless coins and of course, more socks than you could shake a wooden leg at. I even once had a nasty fright when a giant hairy-looking (toy) spider fell out of one. However, I've only ever removed one …
… condom. I was young, and alone with a female customer. I had the washing machine partially drained and tipped back against the wall so I could get underneath where the sump hose and pump were.
Armed with a towel and a washing up bowl, I had my head under the washing machine – tool in hand (oo-er) and proceeded to undo the sump hose. The customer stood expectantly (as they do) behind me. I pulled off the sump hose and the usual gush filled the bowl with a swirling pool of dirty water. A very large, elongated condom swirled round and round and I just stared at it. "Hmmm," I thought.
Although not very experienced, I could easily recognise an embarrassing situation despite receiving no training for them. I decided to remain under the washing machine for a while. Sliding the bowl out, with the condom by now floating menacingly still, I pushed it out toward the customer. "Here's your problem," I announced.
Shrieking "Oh my God!" she ran into the next room where she remained while I finished the repair.
I did wonder how it got into the machine in its unsheathed state, but didn't express my thoughts as I gave her the bill. I realized of course I'd not see this customer again. Despite my good service, it was highly likely she would remain too embarrassed over the incident to ever use me again
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Customer complaint: - Dishwasher leaking & smells!
On close inspection found the machine (next to the sink and on a suspended wooded floor that was a bit suspect) was indeed leaking underneath due to an overflowing metering tank fault.
However, on pulling the machine out I discovered on the lino of the very wonky floor underneath the machine, two frogs doing breast stroke in green slimy water full of frogsporn!
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Sold a F/F delivered it to a ground floor flat, old unit was outside and was asked to take it away, it was an old unit and dropped it straight of at the dump.
A few hours later got an irate phone call from the man of the house wanting it back told him it was dumped and he wouldn't beleive it, took him up the dump after a lot of abuse, and of course there it was all smashed.
He got inside it and removed about half a kilo of puff he thought we had taken it.
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A few years ago I was attending a D/W repair...got the kickplate off to find lots of the usual rubbish including a load of leaves (the machine happened to be right by the back door)...I saw a little movement in the leaves and noticed a little thin tail poking out from under one. I thought here we go again, another mouse getting free warmth and s. of food so I turned to the lady of the house and asked if she was squeamish. She replied "Ohhhh, not another bloody LIZZARD!!!!!"...sure enough there it was! First time I'd ever seen one in this country...apparently the cat prefers them to mice
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Once had a customer call me out to a Bosch integrated dishwasher.
Fault description was soap dispenser faulty.
Anyway turn up to job and the lady of the house was not in,just hubby.Asked him what was wrong,he says not sure but the missus reckons there is a problem with dispenser,but he doesn't know exactly what.
Inspected the dispenser,lid and spring ok.took door skin off,connections ok.So I turn it on sure enough a few minutes later 240v to ptc,pop the dispenser opens.Tells the guy I can't see anything wrong.
Just then his missus comes home.So I ask her what the problem is.She tells me she puts the tablet in dispenser and after a while there is a clunk noise.So she opened door and found tablet had fallen out of dispenser,she tried to put it back in but the lid wouldn't stay closed straight away so she waited for a few minutes until she could close the lid again.
She did this about 10 times then called us out.It gave me such a laugh that I couldn't charge her.
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Had an installation a couple of days ago, VERY nice young lady, and then her mum walks in (very nicer). So after the usual polite chat about previous appliance, and how they don't last like they used to, I got to work on one side of the machine undoing hoses while my mate attempted to unravel the mains lead under the sink. After a couple of minutes and requests for a length of string to pull the new lead back the customer sticks her head under the sink and asks, "Is there anything you'd like me to pull?" Surprised
Cue sound of heads hitting underside of worktops.
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After over 37 years, where do I start, unusual objects removed, false teeth, dog lead (minus dog) spoons, table knife, penknifes, tweezers, nail files, bottle openers, watches, assorted jewellry including a £500 solid gold bracklet, but the best ever was many years ago working for Hotpoint. I was called out to an old type 1400 twin tub, and was told, " there's something in the spinner" . Now unlike the later 1420 with the metal inner lid and the 1450/60 with the removable plastic rim it was not easy to gain access to the outer spin container, you had to remove the cabinet whole or, prise up those annoying clips all round the top and then you had just enough leeway on the spin outlet hose to revolve the top surround. Inside I found a Dinky toy, two batteries and the top from a torch and a large wooden spoon. It transpires that the womans son had dropped the car in whilst playing on the top, she shone a torch in to see and the top and the batteries fell in, the wooden spoon was her last attempt to retrieve the other articles but when she dropped that in as well she decided it was time for the experts.
I have had several 'fried mice' in washers and dryers but one really strange case was on an old Hotpoint Top loader with a Crouzet timer. I almost always opened up any timer or similar component that I had changed just to verify my initial diagnosis and was amazed to find that between the burnt out internal contacts of this timer was an earwig.
And on the "will not fill" theme, I did a CC2 ( under g/tee call) with a "not filling with cold" complaint. The machine had just been plumbed in so I did all the simple physical and electrical tests and could find no fault with the appliance. I removed the blue hose and turned on the tap, nothing, not even a drip although the tap appeared to function perfectly. I noticed the Hot, copper feed pipe came from under the sink whilst the Cold tap was fixed to a copper pipe than ran across the back of the machine. I traced this pipe to see if I could find another tap and followed it through the kitchen wall, round the skirting board and under the stairs where it terminated in a GAS METER. eek! It is fortunate that although the house had been harnessed for gas it was in fact not connected to the mains. To be honest I have long since given up on most kitchen fitters and plumbers, in my experience only around 10% of them do a decent job.
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Here's a nice one! Once upon a time, I when to a house where the people there had told me the washer wouldn't spin. On arrival, a lady answered the door. She pointed me toward the kitchen, but on the way, we passed her husband in the living room. He had his entire arm set in a cast that ran from the tips of his fingers, to the top of his shoulder.
Can you see were this is going?
He'd taken off the back panel of his machine, seen the pulley, and tried to help it spin by sticking his hand in there and giving it a little push. He'd put the machine on fast spin, and it should have been spinning. As soon as he pushed the pulley, the machine set off into full spin, taking his hand with it, breaking lots of bones in his hand, wrist and arm. It nearly ripped his arm off!
He'd had a segment missing on his armature. As soon as he pushed it past the missing segment, Crunch!
I can't imagine the pain
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