Lesson Learned

One of the first things that you are told when you call tech support is, "Make sure all cables and cords are plugged in tightly."  It is really surprising how often they loosen--and of course this causes all kinds of problems.

Way back when, there used to be TV repairmen who actually came to your house.  One day, a friend of The Mother's had just gone into the living room to watch her 'stories' but was unable to because the TV wouldn't turn on.  We were lucky to have a small TV store in our town and the repairman was able to get to her house within the hour.  He walked into the living room, went to the TV, plugged it into the outlet, and turned it on.  He then charged her $25.  She was NOT amused--and called the store owner to complain.  His answer:  "We fixed your TV, didn't we?"

Yesterday, I got out of bed and headed to the Bunn to make my coffee.  After I poured the water into the Bunn, I turned on the switch that starts the heating of the hot plate.  The light blinked on and off once, and refused to do anything else.  The coffee came out fine, but there was no heat to the hot plate AND the heating element didn't heat the water I had just poured in.  (With a Bunn, the water is heated and stored in the coffee maker until you pour a potful of cold water into the machine--and then THAT water is heated after your coffee is made.)  Great--ANOTHER Bunn bites the dust--and this one I only bought about three months ago.  At least I could return it.

First thing I had to do after drinking my first cup of caffeine, was look for the register slip to make sure I could still return the Bunn.  Sure enough, I had bought it on 26 May, so I was still in the time frame to return it--barely.  Next I went into the basement to find the original box it came in.  And it was gone.  After all these years, K has decided to try and organize the basement and the first thing he did was get rid of all of the cardboard boxes that we had down there--and one of them was the Bunn box.  I called the store where I had purchased the Bunn and they said it would be okay for me to return it in a paper bag.  AND they said I would get a full refund, as it was less than 90 days since I purchased it.  HOORAY!  Now I knew what I would be doing after dinner.

I started to clean the Bunn to a certain extent.  I rinsed and dried the carafe and started to move the Bunn so that I could empty out the water and the plug fell out of the outlet.  Oops.  Could this POSSIBLY be the source of the problem?  I plugged it back into the wall, turned on the switch--the light came on!!!!--and listened to see if the water would start warming.  Sure enough, after a few minutes I could actually feel the heated water through the sides of the coffee maker.  I didn't need to take it back for a refund, after all.

Obviously, if I EVER have a problem with something electrical/technical ever again, I will check all cords and cables and make sure it is fully powered.  Within the last two weeks, I have had TWO different instances where I thought something was broken and it just was a power issue.  I couldn't do a thing with the printer one day and was SURE I needed to go and buy a new one.  I fretted over this for most of the day and when I decided to move it to another room to try the power from another outlet, I noticed that it wasn't plugged into the power strip where it usually is.  OF COURSE it wouldn't work without power!!!!!  And a few days ago, I thought my NOOKcolor was completely bricked--possibly due to my turning it into a tablet--but NOOOOOOOOOO, it just needed to be charged.  And still I didn't check the Bunn before I panicked.  I'm really getting the feeling that I will NEVER learn this lesson.