Ok, so far some things in this thread are not true. I spoke with Miele about this two months ago before I got my Diamante. The 4 year extended warranty on the Miele dishwasher is $249, not $150. (Where did you get a $150 price from?) http://www.mieleusa.com/miele_care/miele_care_indepth.asp?nav=400&snav=490&tnav=492&oT=230&benefit=88&page=2&menu_id=30 If you have a non-Miele-Authorized installer do the work, you then get the 1 year standard warranty. Within that 1 year (12 months) you can then decide to buy the Miele 4 year extended at $249, but after the 12th month it can not be purchased. If you have a Miele-Authorized installer do the work, you get the 1 year standard warranty + an extra 1 year courtesy warranty (for a total of 2 years coverage). But here's the thing....you can still buy the 4 year extended warranty ($249) but it has to be purchased by the 12th month (not by the 24th month like someone else said). That means that during the 13th-24th month, both the courtesy warranty and extended warranty run together. My delivery and installation using a Miele authorized installer was $149, which means I get the 2nd year of courtesy coverage. I have within the first 12 months to decide if I want to buy the 4 year extended warranty. If I do, that means the 2nd year (13-24th month) it is covered by the courtesy warranty and extended warranty. But then on the 25th month (and for 3 years) it is covered by the extended warranty. So in this case, I'd really be spending $249 for 3 years of extra coverage, since I'd have 1 year standard and 1 year courtesy. Hopefully you were able to understand this. If not, call Miele and have them explain it, since you can ask them questions directly.

Oh, gdogni. I tried to make this short, but it can't be said in a few sound bites. Who was doing the jobs before the illegals came? They were being done. Have we been quick to buy the idea that Americans don't want to do these jobs because we, ourselves, wouldn't want to do them? Americans have done jobs for many years I wouldn't want to have to do. I would do anything I could do, if necessary, but I do have my 'druthers. I wish you could have talked with the young woman I just spent time with the other day. She was almost in tears because she was pretty sure she was going to loose her jobs because the company had just brought in a new group of illegals. She commuted 60 miles - one way - to work on the assembly line of a chicken processing plant. I've been just in the office of a processing plant and my stomach lurched from the smell. It's a job I don't want to have to do - but others have for many years. She said, in a shakey voice, 'I've just got to have this job.' The shocking thing she told me is, if this company lays someone off, not fired for reason, but laid off because of slowdowns, etc., they will only rehire you one time. That means you can be rehired, but if laid off again (because a batch of illegals come in) you are no longer 'qualified' to work for that company. By way of their hiring practices, they are creating 'unqualified' workers in the area. People know to not apply for the job again. So when the news media goes to the spokesman for that company he/she can say things like 'we just can't find qualified workers', or 'we just haven't had any applicants' or the old stand by 'no one wants to do these kinds of jobs'. Neither they nor the media are going to tell you they fixed the situation. When you see jobs being filled by illegals - the only thing that means is they have the job. It means absolutely nothing else. We don't know how many others applied for the job, and didn't get it. One thing you have to realize is that in many areas, people are aware that only illegals will be hired, and they don't even apply. I saw illegals building the houses that got built in the frenzy of the last few years. Can we assume that Americans no longer wanted to do carpentry, dry walling, electrical,plumbing, bricklaying?? I don't think so. I know a lot who wanted the jobs. They are a bargain to employers because the employers have no responsibility. They don't have to comply with overtime laws, collect and match taxes, worry about OSHA regulations, workman's comp. If one gets hurt, they are taken to the hospital and the taxpayers pay for it. The media and the politicians are not giving out the true story on this. Now the reason I mentioned illegals was the fact they are working here. Americans already are competing with them for jobs, and if things get bad, it will be even more so. There is nothing wrong with mowing lawns and bussing tables, but that is not the only jobs they are doing. We will be hampered by the fact employers will have to work within the labor laws when hiring Americans, so given the choice, they will take illegals. The illegals are also getting benefits that are going to be needed for American families who loose their jobs. Again, just because Americans aren't doing the jobs, don't assume they won't or don't want to - now - but especially in the future.

sue36: "There is no such thing as "unlicensed practice" here because there are no licenses. If they are not supposed to obvious find safety and code violations, what exactly are they looking for?" If there is no code enforcement via licensing, Im not clear on how code violations are determined at allcan you provide a bit more info? That said, even if ones state does not license HIs, it is very easy to determine what is and is not included in a home inspection in accordance with the nationally accepted standards of practice of the HI professional organizations. One can easily review the SOPs (and the COEs) of all of the major organizations on line..or call them to obtain a copy. Otherwise, it is impossible for a buyer to know what to look for in a contract if they have no clue what a home inspection includesor does not include, as the case may be...and this is exactly what leads to these apparently rampant misconceptions. If one reviews the ASHI SOPs for instance, it clearly states that the compliance with regulatory requirements (codes, regulations, laws, ordinances, etc.) is an exclusion.and one would therefore not assume the HI will be performing an inspection inclusive of such. Home inspection and Code Inspection are two separate and distinct professions. This however does not preclude a buyer from searching for an HI who is also a Code Inspector.however, as each code discipline is separateelectrical, plumbing, etc they would have to hire someone who has a proven track record in all. Im not sure how one does that in a state that does not license code officialsbut one could check on how the state determines that a code official is competent enough for hireand go from there. In addition, such an inspection would cost much, much more and take far more time than a home inspection, as much more is involved...and, because of how involved such an inspection would be, most code officials I know who also have an HI license do not perform code inspections for the public. They do so only for municipalities. As far as safety is concerned, a home inspection does include citing safety issues. However, in your state, since the profession is not regulated, the HI can pretty much call his own shots. It is up to the buyer to request the pre-inspection agreement before they hire, and read over what the HI is including in the inspection for the price. If he is not including the items that they expect, keep looking.and of course, check references. Most if not all HI contracts that I have seen waive liability. However, I have also known more than enough HIs who have been sued nonethelessand, if it was a valid caseand not just a buyer looking for home improvement funding, the buyer has won. However, if a buyer signs an agreement which specifically does not include the inspection of certain itemsor the exclusion of certina things...they will be hard pressed on winning a case regarding those issues....especially in a state without regulation. Last but not least, without seeing the contract regarding what was agreed to, and without seeing the report to see what may have been obscured or inaccessible on the day of inspection, it sounds as if the inspection was indeed the typical $250.00 job.

My love of reading probably came from my parents and my oldest brother who read out loud to me from my infancy. However, my other brother doesn't read books for entertainment though he received the same encouragement. Same with my sons: one reads as avidly as I do in many genres, but the other only enjoys instruction manuals, such as How to Maintain Your Airplane and A to Z Home Wiring, which he reads very, very well. I attribute my profound distaste of dystopian literature to high school reading -- my teachers seem to have all been bitten by the same dystopian bug. In three years I was assigned Nineteen Eighty-Four, Animal Farm, Brave New World, Brave New World Revisited, A Canticle for Leibowitz, Land Under England, and a couple I've mercifully forgotten. If I had read them in a more spread-out period and the teachers hadn't been such sheep, I might have enjoyed and got more out of them, but, as it was, I was soured forever. if you weren't an English Literature major, you probably weren't (or never would be) a serious reader of literature.Georgia, I ran across that sort of pickle-brained professor frequently.