great in theory, awful in practice
Written: Jul 23 '03
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Pros: nice IDEA for a socially-responsible product, looks cool
Cons: it breaks, TERRIBLE service, small, slow, wrinkles like you've never seen
The Bottom Line: good luck staying clean and green but don't make the same mistake i did!
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| doctorpete's Full Review: Equator EZ 3600 CEE Front Load All-in-One Washer /... |
EVEN WHEN IT’S WORKING, THE PRODUCT ITSELF IS A BIG
DISAPPOINTMENT. I did not think that I was the sort of person who cared about wrinkles in my clothes, but that’s because I’d never experienced anything like the sorry state in which even my polyester-blended clothes are left by the
Equator washer-dryer (i.e., despite all my best efforts to follow the company’s own instructions for what they apparently realize is an enormous problem). Specifically, their suggestions of not overloading the washer and using fabric softener do almost nothing to help matters. Instead, one has to remove everything other than underwear and jeans from the unit prior to the dryer cycle (which, as I knew when I bought the product, takes between 90 and 120 minutes to complete anyway) hang everything up, and then go over it with a professional steam cleaner, an item that I was forced to buy immediately after having bought the
washer/dryer so as to render it in any way useful. (Again, I want to stress that I’m not even talking about the few 100% cotton work shirts I just ended up giving to Good Will -- I’m talking about standard “office casual" clothing that would be totally wrinkle-free with any top-loading washing machine.)
The still bigger problem with the unit, however, is that it PROBABLY WILL BREAK AND VERY POSSIBLY FLOOD THE ROOM IT’S IN, as happened to me. (Luckily, in my case, well within the one-year period of warranty coverage included with the unit.) Here then, is where my real problems began:
As someone who used to work in Customer Service, I’m scrupulously nice to service reps, and, it should be said, Equator’s have always been pleasant in return. I should know, as I’ve already placed thirty or so calls to them in hopes of scheduling what we both seem to agree should be a routine repair visit (though, in fairness, only about ten of these calls have actually been directed to a live service rep – the remainder have simply been forwarded to their answering machine) . . . While I suppose it would be almost as awful to read about this process as it would be to live through it, and while some parts of my experience may not be representative (i.e., apparently the person originally assigned to my case got sick and then the person who everyone THOUGHT had taken it over hadn't REALLY taken it over, and then the day that I put in the most calls just HAPPENED to be the day when they were all busy in a meeting) suffice it to say that I've been trying to get a repair person out here for three weeks now (note, this shouldn't be hard, as I live in a major city) and it still just hasn't happened.
In sum, though I really wanted to like this company and the product, this is simply the worst product I've ever purchased. If you're interested in an environmentally-sound washer/dryer, as I was, my suggestion is that you wait a few years for the technology to improve, and, ideally, buy one from a different company.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 1000
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Epinions.com ID:
doctorpete
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Reviews written: 4
Trusted by: 1 member
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