@Spicoli43 you are going to love this.
Earlier when I said my dishwasher broke, what happened was it threw this error code that normally means the Waterwall (this is Samsung's idiotic linear version of a spray arm) was out of alignment. Only, I checked repeatedly and the Waterwall was installed properly, and nothing I did when following the troubleshooting instructions for that error code worked; at the end of this series Samsung (and other websites) indicated the problem is likely the motor.
Okay so I've been washing dishes by hand for our family of five every night. Each night it takes me about an hour, and that's even though we've temporarily switched to paper plates. (There's still kids' lunchboxes, pots and pans, utensils, coffee mugs, baby bottles, etc.) I was very excited for the repair guy to come out, and I calculated the price was going to be about half that of a new dishwasher.
Today the repair guy arrived, wearing a polo shirt with the Samsung logo on it. He walked in, scanned the S/N on the dishwasher, asked me what the problem was, and I told him the error code. He shone is flashlight inside the machine, looked in there for about 6 seconds, and started telling me what the code means. I indicated that I knew. He started telling me how the Waterwall works. I finished his sentence and he nodded his head, satisfied that I indeed knew this already. He started to point to where the motor is and I, having already watched a bunch of Youtube videos, once again indicated that I knew that's where the motor was.
He looked at me and said "I would have to replace that motor. That motor costs $500. This dishwasher costs $500. Do you see what I mean?"
I said yes, it means that I should just buy a new dishwasher. I asked him if he could expedite one from Samsung. He said it would be no faster or cheaper than if I just bought one on my own, and here's the part you'll love, Spicoli. He said:
"Get a Whirlpool. If they don't have Whirlpool, get an LG. And buy an extended warranty." He pointed at the logo on his shirt and said, "My shirt says Samsung. I am telling you, get a Whirlpool. If no Whirlpool, LG."
I immediately thought of you and laughed a whole lot (on the inside of course).
Then he found a way to enter the visit into his system so I got charged $0, and I thanked him and he left. That's gotta be the most honest repairman I have ever met.
Of course what I ended up doing was driving to the big box hardware store and finding out that a new dishwasher of any decent quality costs more like $700 to start with, with extra fees for delivery and installation on top of that, plus I'd have to wait two weeks!
So instead I found a scratch-and-dent that had only been returned because it didn't fit in the customer's house, a Frigidaire (same company as Whirlpool, I believe) that normally goes for $850 but was marked down to $200. Still has the styrofoam and protective tape on it. After a quick check with Youtube I confirmed that I could very easily install this thing myself, so I bought it, then went back with my wife's SUV to pick it up. It sits in my kitchen now and I will install it tomorrow. The $650 I saved is as good as an extended warranty in my eyes.
Plus who knows, maybe someone from Craigslist will take this old Samsung dishwasher off my hands for $50 or something.