How not to get ripped off

I had a problem with a 5 yr. old dishwasher. It tried to start, but just made a clunking noise. I went to Google and printed out some info. The only problem was I missed 1 paragraph that would have saved me from a service call.

I called an appliance repair co. I was told it would be $55 to "show up." However, it would be applied to the repair total. The guy tries to start the machine. After it clunks he takes off the small bottom cover that's held on by 4 small screws. He looks inside, then puts his hand up to the motor. There is an impeller that you can turn without taking the motor apart. He spins it.

Now he starts the machine and it starts taking water and runs fine. It seems that if you don't use a dishwasher for a while the impeller can get stuck. The fix: just turn it a couple of times. Sometimes the rubber seals will leak if they dry out. In my case they're fine. The bottom line: $79.00- I was charged $24 for taking a plate off & turning the impeller. Of course that was on top of the $55 for just showing up.

Well, I did feel STUPID. I never worked on a dishwasher, but I am mechanically inclined & have lots of tools. Hope this helps someone save $$ on something like this.