"That doesn't sound good." That being said, I went about emptying the dishwasher while Mark disappeared to do whatever it was he was doing and the microwave kept buzzing.
You know that really distinct odor that signals that something electrical is "burning"? I could smell that. No smoke, no flames, just smell. I shut off the microwave and we heated the soup on the cooktop.
It didn't give us much in the way of warning, but that microwave had been installed in 2005, which made it 13 years old. Ancient in microwave years.
I automatically thought we needed to go get a new one. On the other hand, Mark thought we needed to see about getting that one repaired.
Repair. What a novel concept! I remember when people used to get things repaired. When I was a kid we were all on a first name basis with the TV repairman. Bill Klinect was probably at our house at least every other week repairing the TV.
I googled "microwave repair" and clicked the phone number on the first ad that came up. Three times I clicked it and nothing happened. They should probably get that fixed. No point paying to be first if your "call" link doesn't do anything.
I clicked the number on the next ad. "Please enter your zip code." Fair enough. "Please press one to be connected to a microwave repair company in your area." I pressed one and waited. It was Sears. (Remember Sears? They were the people who came in with the $27K bid on the replacement windows.)
I was informed that they charged a flat rate of $240 to repair a microwave, plus the parts. A brand new one was only going to cost about $260. Repair did not make economic sense. I thanked the young lady for her time and said I'd just buy another one.
Then she told me that I could pay $49.99 (aka $50) for a warranty and then an $80 copay to have the microwave repaired. Okay. We could talk about that. I learned that the $50 covered all your appliances and that if an appliance was beyond repair, you were given a $500 voucher toward the purchase of a new appliance.
That was fairly impressive. Most kitchen appliances cost well more than $500, particularly if you want something better than builder grade. (And I do.) But for a cost of $130 it seemed like a deal. Then Mark had me ask if the $50 was an annual fee.
And that's where it lost all appeal. The $50 was paid monthly not annually. Monthly!?! So they wanted me to pay $600 per year, plus $80 every time I needed a repair and I would get up to $500 on a replacement appliance if mine couldn't be fixed. I can buy several microwaves for that amount of money and if I did have an appliance die, I wouldn't even get back as much as I'd paid in. It would take at least two dead appliances in the same year to come out ahead on that one and imagine if you had no ailing appliances the entire year! $600 paid out for nothing.
No thank you. I can do basic math. There is no need for further discussion. I need to go buy a microwave.
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