dodge - it was a friendly jab, nothing sinister. The goal of just about any business is to grow and drive out/ bury your competition thereby gaining a monopoly. It usually doesn't happen but that's the general idea. They don't employ UMRP, but they do control the pricing because there are no "dealers". As ,weissman says no one is forcing you to by an appliance from a company employing UMRP. As long as there is at least ONE manuf. of a DW, oven or whatever that doesn't have UMRP , the market remains free and flexible. Lets say you want a jet engine, who are you going to buy it from??? Your choices are pretty much GE and Rolls Royce, and their prices are pretty similar. Coincidence ??? I don't get all warm and fuzzy about UMRP - but I understand it's nature, and though I can't prove it I think it is better for consumers on the whole as it gives more people more access to products. Manuf. that can't control their distribution this way are just likely to not allow sales in the smaller hamlets and provinces and or those people would get overcharged if the price wasn't "fixed". those people would have to go to the big city on their own to get the fancy stuff. Rockefeller got broken up because if you wanted gas/oil there was no other choice to buy from - he controlled it all- this is bad and not a free market anymore. But Miele, Gaggenau, Wolf, ect.. are all separately owned and if you want a fridge or DW , you can buy one of thier's or another form a different company that is owned by other interests. Totally free market. Does it hurt the seasoned wheeler dealer that has lots of time and skill to grind down the sales weasels ? Sure, but if a majority of customers were of this type, the dealer and manuf. would get pinched and dream up some other mechanism to survive, probably lowering quality and shipping assembly to the pennies a day Asian copy mills so that the customer could then complain "brand X" sure ain't what it used to be AND they put all those poor midwesterners outa work. I'm sure we'll see 20k fridges - inflation will see to it. No $1000 bills, in fact paper money's days are numbered.

ghetterly, thanks for the plugged rinse-aid dispenser suggestion. I'll definitely mention that to the tech if he/she doesn't find something. It makes sense that it could affect drying and I hadn't thought of it. hidroman, thanks for the Turbo Dry recommendation. I have been using the Miele brand since I buy the tabs and salt from them. I am excited at the prospect of dry plastics...also thanks for the explanation of how the drying system works. It's easier to get/judge good service if you have a clue how something works! I haven't opened a new box of tabs in several weeks, so even a formula change doesn't account for this. I did change the filter...but that just doesn't seem related. More compelling to me is the idea that multiple things might give out and need replacing around the 4-year mark. I called Miele and the first thing they mentioned is that maybe I have hard water...I certainly do, but it hasn't changed dramatically over the last couple of weeks :) Anyway, they walked me through programming the machine to have a hotter rinse and longer drying time. It never occurred to me that I could get better drying performance, I feel pretty dumb. Anyway, I'm excited to see if the hotter water improves performance. After my actual problem is solved, that is :) I will see how just the programming fixes work out and then call for a service if they don't solve the problem. It's like being in the Twilight Zone, I know nothing has changed but the machine! It seems reasonable that after being run everyday for 4 years SOMETHING could go wrong, even in a well-built machine. Sigh. Hopefully they are open to the possibility that something is wrong with the machine so I can get it fixed...

I heard that at the appliance store as well. Miele prices are going up June 1st. Bought my induction cooktop last night.

I've been researching this machine as a possibility to purchase. Your concerns with the water levels on hot cycles are something I'm worried about as well. I wash cloth diapers so definitely need some serious washing and rinsing. I came across a way to get an extra rinse independent of the sensitive button which I know doesn't work on the extra white cycle. For cycles that do allow the sensitive button to be active, this would provide an extra rinse above the sensitive button extra rinse so 2 extra rinses. You have to select a spin speed of less than 700 RPM (so 600 RPM) which forces an extra rinse. On older Miele models, if you change the spin speed to the higher RPM you desire after the machine has started on the first rinse you can still get the extra rinse and have higher spin speeds. I don't know if this would work on your machine specifically. I'd be interested to hear how it works for you if you try it! Any further thoughts on the machine a few more months in?