By Bonnie Brown
Columnist

I’m sure you have had the same happen to you. Your car battery gives you concern when your car has to grind a moment before it starts. Of course, to be on the safe side, you purchase a replacement battery. It’s due. Big price tag these days compared to similar purchases not so long ago.  

Then, there is the ice maker in your refrigerator that goes on the blink. Of course, it’s a convenience that we have come to rely on and use frequently. Again, another repair.  

And I’m relieved when I ask the appliance repair technician if it will be cheaper to buy a new fridge than to replace the ice maker. He assures me that it is not, and a new ice maker is ordered for this appliance, which appealed to me based on its appearance.  I thought it to be the most wonderful refrigerator I’d ever seen.  

Little did I know that it lacks sufficient space for tall items and the said ice maker sounds like it is hurling a bowling ball down the stairs from a second story when dispensing ice.  

I’m holding my breath because there’s always a third “something” that goes on the fritz.  

My “new” washing machine that is now almost six years old is the next likely candidate.  

Why do I think so?  Because it has the most buttons and knobs delivering the most technology to the laundry scene.  Before we purchase anything, my detail-minded, Virgo husband thoroughly researches the product and reads the reviews.  

This was the case when our then 14-year-old washer had spun its last load.  Maytag emerged as the go-to appliance.  As I walked around the appliance department, I was struck by the sexy Maytag washer with the glass, top-load lid.  Wow!  I was sold.  

However, it has not been an easy relationship with this machine.  With my old machine, I knew how it functioned.  I didn’t worry that there wasn’t enough water in it to clean our clothes.  And I am still trying to figure out how to use all the buttons and knobs.  

This to say that these recent repairs and purchases are a lesson in customer service.  You see, according to Tech Target, a marketing company, the customer experience “is the sum total of customers’ perceptions and feelings resulting from interactions with a brand’s products and services.”  They go on to say that “Happy customers also can become brand ambassadors.”  

If I must go purchase another refrigerator or washing machine, will I choose another Samsung and another Maytag?  Hmmm.  These current appliances are still in the “breaking in” era as far as I’m concerned.  I want to think that my husband’s research was useful and that my attraction to these machines made them the best possible purchase.  Now will they hold up and garner my approval and expectations.  Only time will tell.  

I have come up with a new cleaning hack that I will share with y’all.  As I was preparing to wipe the glass lid on my sexy washing machine the other day as I was cleaning, I realized I didn’t have the window cleaner close at hand.  

Instead, I decided to take aim and spit across the surface of the machine.  I landed a perfect spray.  Just enough to wipe the glass clean.  And it gave me some degree of satisfaction.  That should keep the machine humble and working for several more years.