It is only necessary to have a washer back upright and level before you turn it on. A neighbour should not have tried to scam a bit of junk off on someone he wanted to remain on good terms with. As for refrig's and freezers, a few hours on its feet should suffice. The worst thing people do to freezers is put them in the garage. In northern climates, the garage gets cold. Freon liquefies at 55 degrees F. So at 40 degrees, the freezer starts, and tries to compress liquid instead of gaseous freon. After the compressor overheats in a minute or two, the freon warms up and is gaseous again. Heat pumps have heaters in them to keep the freon above the liquefy point.