Sud’s Law (washerhelp.com)

Member Name: fruitcake

Product:	washerhelp.com
Date:	25/01/03 (1202 review reads)
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Advantages: The site offers an abundance of DIY machine repair information, laundry hints, safety tips and a whole lot more, from a man who very much knows his stuff.

Disadvantages: The sole payment option for spare parts (cheque) might seem risky to some users. There are others that might be investigated without using full-blown credit card handling facilities.

“Not again! I just *can’t* get these skid marks out!” sighed Wanda Lust, housewife extraordinaire and the kind of Working Girl who ‘did’ Pot Noodle. She paused and waited hopefully for a disembodied hand to emerge from the wall with a free bottle of Liquid GrimeGone. Nothing. “Oh bu…tter. Darn those misleading T.V commercials!” She reached under the sink for a packet of DirtCheapDirtAway powder, opened her washing machine door and was immediately assailed by the odour of curry. If her eating habits weren’t the death of her, they’d be the death of her machine. Realising that the exotic fragrance of Vindaloo would encourage nothing more than Pilau talk in her following, she immediately sought a solution on the web, and found www.washerhelp.com

Washerhelp is the work of Andy Trigg*, a washing machine repairman with twenty-five years experience of the trade. He specializes in Hoover and Hotpoint, but offers a wealth of advice relevant to all makes of machine on his site. It was here that Wanda discovered that adding detergent to an empty machine and running it through a ninety degree cycle should get rid of any lingering odours, and that her powder was probably every bit as good as something in liquid form. By now though, the only soap on her mind was Coronation Farm Hotel, and whether it’s hunky manager would accidentally sleep with his long-lost sheepdog.

As she settled into the chair before the programme, a startling image filled the screen – that of a washer repairman taking apart a machine in a launderette. Staring earnestly into the camera, he announced, “Limescale’s a REAL problem!” Wanda was alarmed. Her buildings and contents were insured, she’d made a will, even carried a spare pair of knickers in case of crisis, but had never considered the devastating impact of limescale upon herself and her loved ones. Perhaps Washerhelp could assist in avertin
g catastrophe?

The site was quick to load, and the clean rather than clinical white and blue colour scheme had Wanda almost smelling the soap powder. Less than tight copy in some very few places indicated that its owner wasn’t a full-time writer, but the advice offered was sound. Wanda considered a reverse scenario in which a spanner-wielding, frilly pink clad Barbara Cartland turned up on doorsteps to repair machines, and shuddered.

Just one click found her reading the information she sought, and it was with some relief that she abandoned plans for the construction of an underground bunker beneath the tiny Lust lawns. Far from being a real problem, a carefully researched argument demonstrated that limescale posed no more of a threat to her than headlice had done to Yul Brynner.

Keen now to expand her knowledge of all things laundry, Wanda browsed the site. She was a little disappointed to find that the ‘search the site’ link returned no results for the term ‘skid marks’, but the feeling soon turned to excitement when she discovered a whole host of stain removal tips, plus links to lots more. She read of the environmental aspects to consider when purchasing her next machine, of the precautions you can take to prevent your machine flooding the place (worth passing on to some daft bat of her acquaintance, best only referred to as ‘fruitcake’, who’d already managed to achieve this ‘rare’ drama twice in recent months), and even learned of ‘soap-free’ washing machines. She found the product recall page particularly reassuring – knowing full well that even washing your smalls could bring its own hazards, Wanda was a great believer in safe socks.

Chasing another link found her on the fascinating price comparison site ‘Kelkoo’, but Washerhelp had intrigued her. Andy Trigg’s warning against using ‘anyone who can come the quickest’ su
ggested that he was a man after her own heart – a man she could do business with. She hurried back to the site, and was thrilled to find that a sudden need to get down and dirty promised to be satisfied by advice on doing her own servicing.

Having handled many a tool in her time, she was undaunted by the prospect of tackling the equipment and couldn’t wait to get her hands on his parts, her excitement having escalated when she realised that this was possible by post. Her ecstasy merely abated slightly when she noticed that he was only willing to ‘do it the old-fashioned way’. Throwing caution to wind, she recklessly removed the spare pair of knickers from her bag - she *would* write a cheque! Prudence chose that moment to overcome her. Sadly replacing the knickers, she mused that Andy would find a PayPal or NoChex account easy enough to set up if he wanted to offer a payment option that Washerhelp users might find less risky.

She had questions though – lots of them. The chance of being supplied with a repair manual for her machine seemed a little overwhelming to her, but she figured the best place to find answers to her queries would be the Washerhelp forum, and start small. Although a fairly recent addition to the site, the forum was already showing signs of thriving, with evidence of much input from its owner, someone who was clearly as interested in saving others cash as he was of making some of his own. Wanda was particularly moved by his efforts to help a woman who had ‘no tumble’ as she herself had enjoyed many a tumble and was loathe to consider a life without one.

Registering her e-mail with the forum before posting her question (an important measure taken by the site owner to protect the querant should any safety issues come to light after matters were considered resolved), she was interrupted by the ‘phone. She’d be having a ‘guest’ tonight, but she was determined
to complete her mission at a later date.

So if you should ever visit Washerhelp (and I have no hesitation in recommending that you do), don’t be *too* surprised to find an answer to that age-old dilemma faced by housewives everywhere… “How *can* I get those skid marks out?!”


*I’ve met Andy Trigg, spoken to him many times and consider him a friend. Please feel free to weigh in this factor when deciding on the usefulness of this Opinion to you, although I have tried to be as fair and objective as possible in reviewing his site.

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