Less than two years ago, in November of 2023 to be exact, we had to buy a new washer / dryer combo. The combo that was in the apartment had been purchased by the previous owners many years ago, and the dryer died on us. Because of the small space in the laundry room, a side by side washer and dryer were not an option. During the "Buen Fin" weekend of that November (a weekend of big sales that kicks off the Christmas shopping season) we found a combo at Sears that was on sale. It was manufactured by Mabe, the leading Mexican brand of appliances.
Two Saturdays ago, after our cleaning lady did a load of clothes, the washing machine started making noises after it was supposedly turned off, and the lid was locked shut. Later, after she had left, I tried the lid of the washer, and it opened. I threw in a couple pieces of clothing to test the machine. I washed the clothes and put the couple of items in the dryer. However, once again the washer began to make noises, and the lid locked.
I said to myself, "Great. It's less than two years old, and it has already gone haywire." I thought back to when I had to buy a new dryer at my old house in Ohio a few years before I made the permanent move to Mexico. I went to a nearby, independently owned appliance store. Since the washer, a Sears Kenmore, was more than 20 years old, I figured that I would go ahead and buy a new washer too. The owner of the store was incredibly honest, and said that if my old washer was still working, to hang on to it. "The washers that they make nowadays are a bunch of crap." So, that seemed to be proving true with my washer here in Mexico.
Fortunately, when we purchased the washer / dryer, we had also purchased a two-year service contract. Alejandro called Sears, and last Friday the repairman came to the apartment. He did an inspection and maintenance and said that there was nothing wrong with the washer. He said that our cleaning lady must have overloaded the machine, and that I definitely underloaded it. He said that in those cases the washer needs to restabilize itself. Hence the noises, and while doing so the lid is locked. Well, I did indeed underload the washer with just two items, but our cleaning lady said that she did not put in a load any heavier than usual and she had distributed the load evenly. In any event, she had no problems last Saturday when she did laundry. Hopefully, all is well with the machine.
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