Washing Machine Turns itself on!

[beripari]

Anyone ever heard of this?

We were out of town, came home late Monday to find the washing machine full of water & "beeping". Cancelled the cycle & preseed "drain & spin" to drain it.
Today, once again the "magic" washer decided to fill itself up -- too bad there's no laundry in it! Who knows how often this happened while we were gone & what our water bill will be like!

This is a Whirlpool "Duet" - almost 6 yrs old & just out of warranty. They claim they have had no reported problems with this model & no recalls but want $81 + tax for a diagnostic service call then $19 every 15 mins. thereafter! I claim its a "safety" issue - I've never heard of ANY applicance turning itself on - the 2nd CSR I spoke to says the only one she's ever heard of is a range (fire hazard!) - maybe that's worse than potential flooding of my basement?!?!

Anyways, I finally convinced the 2nd CSR to file a safety report & someones supposed to call me back. But, regardless of what # I dial, all calls are fielded in Tennessee! I'm not sure what branch of government I should report this "potential hazard" to.

Anyone know or can offer comments/suggestions how to proceed from here?
She can't even find our specific model anywhere in her records!

We've only been back a few days, dealt with credit card fraud our first day back & now this! Everything comes in threes -- wonder what the next issue will be!

[EmperorOfCanada]

I've never heard of ANY applicance turning itself on - the 2nd CSR I spoke to says the only one she's ever heard of is a range (fire hazard!) - maybe that's worse than potential flooding of my basement?!?!

I think your question mark seems to be malfunctioning. It seems to be intermittently pressing itself at the end of some statements.

[700mb80min]

Maybe a short between the " end wash " and beginning of a " new wash " on the timer ? The points are next to each other . Take out the timer and look for arc spots and try lightly sanding them . I`ve done this a couple of times and it works for a bit but timers can rarely be fixed and must be replaced .

[Bellyhungry]

I think you might want to consult an exorcist

[sewerurchin]

Until the problem is solved, just unplug the washer when not in use. That way it can't automatically start itself.

[beripari]

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Yes, we've unplugged it now; funny enough, I did a "brief" search & found a very interesting thread related to ghost/haunted house/"energy" - it was fascinating reading but we don't have all those other symptoms - yet - so no exorcism or "house blessing" scheduled - although perhaps the "?" is a symptom.

Re taking out timer, sanding, etc., I have no idea how to do that & I live with "Tim Allen" - whatever he attempts to repair is instantly destroyed & ends up costing us way more in the long run!

I know applicances don't last as long as they used to these days but for the price of these models, that's ridiculous! And, of course, it always seems to happen just out of warranty.

If anyone knows the Canadian gov't body that deals with reports/recalls, please advise. I know the U.S. dept but not its Canadian counterpart. Someone needs to be advised while I wait for Whirlpool "safety" to call me back.