Okay, first, full disclosure. I got this for free off of Craig's List, and I was told that the water pump was broken. I decided to take it anyway, confident in the belief that I could just pay someone to fix it.

I brought it home, and with the help of a few friends, I was able to get it up to my apartment. (On the second floor, with no elevator. This thing is heavy!) I decided to run a test load to find out exactly what the problem was. I hooked it up to my kitchen sink, which was very easy, and I set the drain hose in a large bucket. Much to my pleasant surprise, the first three loads went fine. On the fourth load, the dryer stopped working, but it still washed.

I set up an appointment for Sears to come out and look at it. A technician came out, poked around with a confused look on his face, said that he had never heard of an Equator, went back to his van to check things out, and said that Sears didn't service this model. (Fortunately, he didn't charge me for the visit.) Then I went to Equator's website. I clicked a link for their customer service, and there was a repair request form to fill out. I filled it out, complete with correct contact information, and patiently waited for them to call or e-mail me. That was 7 weeks ago, and I still have yet to hear from them. I hunted around the website and found a phone number, so I gave them a call. Nobody answered. I got a recording saying that my call was important to them. (If it was so important, they could have at least called me back 7 weeks ago!)

Frustrated with the inability to talk to a live human being at Equator, I opened the telephone book and started calling appliance repair shops. I live in a good sized city (200,000+, in a metro area of over 8 million), but nobody I talked to would service an Equator.

I finally decided to give it away on Craig's List, and I fear that it's going to become the fruitcake of the internet, passed from one person to another for all eternity.

Recommended: No