Happy Holidays I purchased Whirlpool New Hybrid Dryer not requiring venting to outside, and matching front load washer with Steam. The washer gets cloths cleaner than any washer I’ve owned prior, I no longer use additives or bleach. Wash times are longer, but the machines are great quality, 10 year warranty on drum, etc. The dryer gets cloths dry, the set cost more than competitors but those who are buying Samsung or LG, remember they are manufactured in Korea or China, they may have technology, lower prices but when something goes wrong or breaks, parts come from there and often I’ve herd from others who own these appliances, parts are not readily available and they wait months to get the parts delivered and repairs completed. When I read some reviews bout Whirlpools new technologies, people were complaining about routine maintenance. I couldn’t understand why all the complaining, you get your car serviced, oil changed regularly, maintenance insures your appliance wii last. My phone parents still have the same appliances I grew up with, but manufactures cut cost by making the machines not built like they were in the past. I’m loyal Apple consumer, the products cost more, but when they have issues, it cost more to repair than buying new product. It angers me now that I’m retired, I can’t afford new every couple years, and for my loyalty, this is how they have such huge profits. Reality, that’s corporate America. I have learned to do the maintenance myself and repairs are easier going to you tube, watch a repairman show you how to do the repair. Whirlpool offered me a 5 year extended warranty, whirlpool uses qualified repairman to service your products. I pay $80.00 a month for 3 months for my extended warranty. It’s insurance should something major happen, peace of mind. I drove from Los Angeles 2 hours to Dana Point to purchase the set, Orange County Appliance Store offered better prices, I saved $400 on the set. Like all new technology, cost more in the beginning, but I suspect this new technology will become the norm, more manufacturing will follow, lowering prices. Whirlpool now owns Maytag, and Amana which are my kitchen appliances. Whirlpool is the largest manufacturer and made here in America. Americans still make quality products, if more Americans trusted American products above buying cheaper made in China, maybe the prices would be lower. Remember, you all want better salaries, better homes, better schools, multiple homes, new automobiles, yet why are you not supporting fellow Americans working to make you quality products? One last thing I like to mention, as a Veteran who Proudly served, I like it when people thank me for my service. If you really want to thank me, contact your representative and Senator and tell them to provide Veterans with benefits that are not below poverty living. It’s an insult to those who served. The majority of homeless here are Veterans. It’s bad enough we witness the corruption in Washington, but Veterans deserve better. If those serving now knew how they will be treated after serving and become disabled, left to live in poverty, I doubt that many would serve and give their life knowing that the country they fought for cared less about them later. Do your homework, learn all you can about everything in life, you’ll make wiser decisions and better choices! God Bless, good luck, and remember that this current crises we will all get through. In the 90’s, millions of men died from AIDS. The government did nothing for more than 4 years. Because it was Gay men dying. Only after Ryan White, and Rock Hudson died, Elizabeth Taylor was going around speaking out for those dying of AIDS, Ronald Reagan finally did something about getting help to those being infected. I’m sorry about the couple hundred thousand who have died, but millions of men who paid social security, who will never get benefits died. Social Security claims to be broke. Where is all the money they took from the millions who died and will never be given benefits. Like I said,the corruption in Washington, and I won’t mention the one who is fired and only became President to keep NY District Attorney for coming after him for all the crimes he had committed. He got into the White House so they couldn’t go after him! That’s life!

If we're lucky I may be your neighbor duluthinbloomz4 :) We really do love the place, but it needs some bucks put into it to be worth what she'd like for it unfortunately. We had great hope to raise our son and future child there and still do if it's priced fairly. I guess we'll see. There are good quality private schools in Duluth, and we'd probably go that route. We met with the golf club (a fabulous course) and absolutely loved it. I hear that the gardens at French house are currently quite lovely (I understand that the current owner is devoted to them) but not original. While DH's idea of wanting to see them restored is quite wonderful (he's learned so much about that houses history and features he probably knows more than the owner LOL) he really dosen't realize the unbelievable amount of work that would be required to complete that awesome task. I think it would actually be two or three life's work heh heh but wow would it be wonderful when complete ;) I only have those pictures unless we buy the house. I believe that when printed out I could see the LA's name...so let me see if I can do that again. As to a plant list...I'll try that after I get a food list done for another poster with a stuborn baby LOL

Being forced to use the Home Warranty's "authorized servicemen" is one of the main problems I've encountered. It seems to be a major issue with many of the complaints I've read, and in my own personal experiences as well.It appears this type of company has an excellent eye for picking from the bottom of the barrel when finding their service contractors. For instance: the authorized AC "engineer" who had been assigned to my home operates from 45 miles away and has either tried to dodge my phone calls, kept me in limbo, missed appointment times etc for the last few months. On August 16th, he finally found the time to drag himself down to my house to install my new outside unit that had been ready for pick-up since August 5th. When I arrived after he'd left, the unit was leaning at a 25 degree angle, was placed about 2" away from our house, one end on the dirt, and the other on the concrete pad, was connected to the fuse box without a cap and the bare split wires exposed, plus he'd used higher powered electrical wire (60) connected to two different size and much smaller fuses! There was no insulation on the connecting pipes, and several other major issues, plus the cardboard box, the wood pallet, and all wrapping debris was all over my yard. I knew enough that from what I saw that it looked all wrong. After taking numerous pictures, I contacted my City Inspectors and they came out and said it was in no way up to code and was dangerous. Come to find out, the "authorized" service tech hadn't even applied for a license in our City to do anything, and had no intentions of doing anything else until the next day (on 8/18 - two days later) - UNTIL - I told him that I was going to contact the State of Alabama Board of Heating & Airconditioner Contractors. The man was down in less than 30 minutes... I'm ill with these people now because they have been patching (they call repairing)this unit since May, and we have been without airconditioner all summer long. I'm hot, I'm old, and I'm not putting up with this foolishness any longer. Take good pictures of work these people do - before and after - call your city for license checks, check with your State to see if shoddy AC/electrical work can be reported -write or email the BBB and file a complaint and follow through, and make sure the work they do is up to code in your State. If the Home warrenty people continue to force "their authorized repairmen" down our throats then at least make sure these repairmen do it right. Here is a link that might be useful: www.hvac.alabama.gov

Cynic >This one has me confused though: "...my cell phone provider gouged me for 4 consecutive months of payments even though I was paying cash at their store." If you have auto-pay, why are you paying cash at the store? Something's missing or I'm not following something. I was paying my bill in cash at their store. I had already called the (cell phone provider) ahead of time and told them I would be doing this. Each month my bill would arrive, each month it kept reflecting an overpayment. I would call them and they said it would be corrected. This happened FOUR months in a row. I contacted the credit card company and told them to cancel the card. Same thing happened with them. They would say it would be canceled. The following month I would get a bill for the same incorrect amount. I finally spoke to someone at the CC co. who said until the cell phone provider notified them, I would continue to be responsible for the charges whether they were right or wrong. They never said ANYTHING about having to have a cancellation number. BOTH the cell phone provider and CC company neglected to inform me of this necessary requirement. I wonder why? Well the reason why, is because THEY were MAKING MONEY and didn't want it to stop. These companies do not make it easy. They don't fully inform you when you sign up, and they don't tell you what you really need to do in order to cancel this type of payment. I finally contacted a consumer newspaper reporter. She said she doesn't care for automatic payments for the same reason and gets many calls regarding this. She contacted the cell phone provider's publicity relations department. That worked. They must have called my CC company because everything was taken care of within the month and I didn't receive any more credit card bills. My cell phone bills are what they are supposed to be. I still pay in cash. I no longer have the credit card. They send me solicitations all the time. Thanks, but no thanks. Contacting the AG's office is a good idea. dadoes >dreamgarden probably thought if he/she paid cash, the autopay wouldn't trigger. That's not necessarily the case. I wonder what IS the case? Who at EITHER company, was supposed to tell me I needed a cancellation number in order to stop the autopay? Out of a total of seven calls, 4 to the cell phone provider and 3 to the CC company, not ONE person mentioned this. Don't they teach customer service reps this information? I no longer wanted auto-pay and told them this. I said I would be paying in cash from now on and to cancel auto-pay. I don't understand how I could have been any clearer. >I recall a couple cases where I work of customers having autopay set up through CheckFree. One fellow died, his wife had NO CLUE about any of their finances and the auto-pay kept coming, for MONTHS. She no longer wanted the service, but she didn't contact us or was even aware the service existed, so how are we to know that? "How are we to know that?". How did you find out that her husband died? How do you know the wife no longer wanted the service if she was never contacted? Was she on the account too? Doesn't your company have some policy regarding taking money from a deceased person's account? > The other case, the fellow changed his account services, but didn't change the monthly autopay amount. We contacted him, he still didn't change the amount. Built up a large credit that had to be refunded when he eventually closed the service. When the fellow called to change his account services, was he asked if the present autopay amount was ok? If he was changing his account services, this would seem to be a logical question to ask a customer. Was he notified by telephone or in writing? This is why I like to receive paper billing. Sometimes when a credit card company calls (and leaves a message), they don't always state the nature of their business. When I have called back, they try to sell me some service or item I'm not interested in. Now I don't return calls unless they leave a message telling me something is wrong, or needs to be corrected. I had them put this in my file. I don't want to be bothered with solicitations or irrelevant matters that aren't directly related to some kind of problem with my account. In my opinion the above examples are just more reason to pay as you go and not allow company's to have recurring access to your bank account.