New portable washer came moldy, what do i do now.
Hello everyone my birthday just passed. My mom blessed me with a brand new kenmore portable washer for my birthday and I was so excited. I left it in the box for a day or two during the work week but here I am, nothing better on a Friday night than to do some laundry. Unfortunately upon my unboxing I could tell the machine had been used. It had Residual water in the basket, the satisfying protective peel stickers have been messily re applied, and a little bit of mold just starting to gather on the mesh part.
The obvious answer is to return it, I don’t have a car or a Costco membership. The next obvious answer is to call and maybe they can pick it up. I am terrified of that! About two/three years ago when moving to my apartment I bought a stove from Costco and the delivery driver sexually assaulted me. When I went to let them know, I was yelled at by the local manager and told it wasn’t their fault but the company they hired. The little bit of grace I could give him was that my french was quite bad at the time (quebec) and he seemed too busy to be patient. I remember crying and just saying that I wanted them to know the company they were using was putting women at risk. It should also be noted that I didn’t select the company nor to this day am I certain of the company they hired. I honestly thought that they would have apologized for trusting this company and dealt with the situation themselves. I never reported anything to the police as it was “just groping” at the time.
Anyways I’m a lot less naive than I was then, but just even telling my mom and having the possibility of someone coming to “amend the situation” is scary to me. I feel brought back to a dark place on a day that was supposed to be happy. Like dear god I’m excited to do laundry on a Friday let me have the whimsy of peeling off the protective film. Instead that feeling is replaced with unwarranted dread, but dread nonetheless.
I honestly just want to clean the washer and use it and have a nice birthday present. I’m scared that if I try to clean it and the mold can’t be fixed then I won’t be able to return it at all. It’s honestly an inconspicuous amount of mold maybe not even mold! If I have to return it is it even possible for me (to rent a car to avoid delivery people) and return without the membership. Just typing that out felt like a “no duh you can’t”.
What would you do in this situation? I understand that the solution seems obvious to most but trauma is a funny thing. I still love costco, repping kirkland till I die. Just looking for some support, someone to hype me up, face my fears or give me cleaning tips. Maybe share your positive Costco customer service experiences. I’m half expecting a man to lecture me about inviting mold into my house and to talk to Kenmore about it.