$65 to drive into my driveway and $82 to pull a sock out of one of the hoses. Labor for 15 minutes? I was tied into A & E because they are a warranty service provider and the washer was less than a year old. Ordinarily I support local businesses. A & E is based in Portland (240 miles from Grants Pass where I live). There is no way I would have paid any local business more than $50 for this call; although I could stretch to the initial $65. The rest of the fee was completely unfounded.

The tech was courteous, but he admitted that there was nothing on his menu that identified the work he had actually done, so he keyed in what he thought would be the least expensive "Pump - clean". And he left me a coupon for a preventative service for $39.99 (which entails more than he did) after he handed me the bad news. A new washer would have cost me less that this service call.

I called A & E to request a refund since the guy hadn't actually cleaned the pump - the phone techs were completely unwilling to even discuss an error in their billing practice. I also called the store where I purchased the washer a year ago and informed them of what had happened with the company they recommended of the warranty providers.

If I could find a way to lodge a complain with Whirlpool, I definitely would. In today's economy we all have to do our part - and they took unfair advantage of a function the general public cannot perform for themselves.