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For all that's holy, can you just leverage the web, please?

blog.tomayac.com

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Re: For all that's holy, can you just leverage the web, please?

#41

Post by toastal »

> Electrolux washing machine

I had to buy one a couple of years ago. Snarkily I asked the floor salesman if I could get the washer “without all the smart features”. He said “let me check”, which had me puzzled. He came back to inform me that they still had last year’s model which was before the “smart” features were rolled out. He said they can sell it on the same warranty, & since it was older I would get a significant discount. I cherish that machine for its dumbness.

…No such luck for TVs.

Re: For all that's holy, can you just leverage the web, please?

#43

Post by joaomacp »

The actual reason they tell you to register for warranty via a phone number is for a salesperson to pick up, and upsell you on "enhanced warranty" or "insurance". It's proven that people feel awkward saying no to a salesperson, and agree to pay extra much more often than they would do online (they'd just tick "no" on the enhanced warranty paid product).

That's also why the author went on a queue: the call-center is not for the washing-machine company, it's an insurance-selling center that works with multiple companies.

Re: For all that's holy, can you just leverage the web, please?

#44

Post by hedora »

semi-extrinsic wrote: post #33
crinkly wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rubbish. The sticker is still on my 14 year old washing machine. Hell I've got a 55 year old piece of electronic equipment here with the serial number sticker still on it.

I've got a 65 year old FM radio with manufacturer-supplied circuit diagram still inside the case.

I’ve got a tube based oscilloscope with a hand written sticker saying service is due in the ‘40s. The important info is stamped metal (model, serial number), or internal paper stickers (field manual).

It still worked last time I plugged it in. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to find someone to calibrate it when the 40’s roll around again. :-)

Re: For all that's holy, can you just leverage the web, please?

#45

Post by Printerisreal »

observationist wrote: post #26

The point isn't to make it easy to register warranty for a product. The point isn't to make it easy to talk with customer service. The point isn't to make it easy to communicate with the company. The point isn't to make it easy to obtain service or replacement parts. The point is to "technically", and therefore legally, offer those things and minimize the cost of offering those things. All of these things are working…

YES and I feel like "Planned obsolescence" needs to be taught to every engineer and web developer and tech people. They will understand why or how some corp. decisions are made and what is the aim.

Re: For all that's holy, can you just leverage the web, please?

#48

Post by hedora »

freedomben wrote: post #36
Nevermark wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As long as, and some suppliers seem to find this onerous, the sticker can be peeled off cleanly. (I once bought a grass rake with 2 or 3 dozen metal tines, and it arrived with a huge sticker across all the tines. Which when I attempted to peel off, left a scattered layers of paper hard glued to all the tines. Not happy. Same with a rolling hot dog cooker. Glued “temporary” sales sticker covering half the transparent…

Fender did this with my bass guitar. Trying to get the sticker off without scratching it was impossible, and even after using alcohol there's still some residue D-:

Goo Gone is your friend.

My usual flow chart: Nothing, water, alcohol, goo gone.

I’ve never ended up with a marred surface.

Re: For all that's holy, can you just leverage the web, please?

#49

Post by jorgen123 »

hn_throw_250903 wrote: post #9
Liftyee wrote: post #6

Not criticising the article or the decision to buy a new washing machine (20 years is a long time), but just noting that the old machine was likely fixable. If spare parts are even still available, that is. Whether it's deemed worth fixing is another matter. This must be the case for so many discarded appliances these days, especially underengineered ones with common issues. Also, not using the QR code protocols prop…

As someone who just replaced the bearings on a washing machine motor (carbon-commutator), I uhh… agree? The old machines are absolute workhorse beasts and they can work indefinitely as brand new with some maintenance here and there. However my expectation of people doing this are basically zero. So this is an anomalous post. By the time you write a blog post complaining about how a machine has a required IoT thing, y…

No need to go anonymous. I fondly remember my achievement of taking apart my washing machine to replace the drum bearing. Thanks to the interweb gods for making blogs and videos that helped me.

Re: For all that's holy, can you just leverage the web, please?

#50

Post by Printerisreal »

imgabe wrote: post #29
exabrial wrote: post #20

Why not just print a $.0001 sticker and stick it the machine listing all of the info needed to fix the machine... instead of building a $86million datacenter and burning through $100,000 of clean electricity every month that could have been used to power homes, but was instead used doing this?

The sticker will get lost, peel off, get scratched until it's unreadable and then the user has no way to get that information. Maybe if they are really on top of things they will take a picture of the sticker when they first get the machine and save it somewhere that they will remember 5 years later when they need it, but most people will not do that. And if you aren't the first owner of the machine, well then, you'r…

instead of sticker, they can just code something like dog tag, that is thing for century or more
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