Rant against Sears

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VonVulcan
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Rant against Sears

Post by VonVulcan »

Sears... stay away from Sears at least for home appliances. You know the slogan Sears is famous for? \"Satisfaction garanteed or your money back\"?
Well, as of October 2005 this was changed. In September 2005 we purchased a new washer from Sears, it worked pretty good for a while, then it started dancing around the utility room floor. We did the usuall \"make sure the clothes are spred evenly around the tub\" and still the problem persisted. We called the warrenty number... they said to check to see if it is level, I said \"It should be, it was delivered and installed by the professionals at Sears\". But I got out my level and sure enough, it was not level. It probably was when it was installed but the installer negleted to tighten the lock nuts on the front legs. One had screwed itself way out of adjustment. So I leveled it. Well, it dose'nt \"rock and roll\" like it was doing but it still vibrates enough so it jiggles out of place. Bear in mind, the previous washer we bought from Sears wore out after 5 years. Needless to say, we are quite dissalusioned with Sears appliances. So, we went to Sears today to ask for our money back. The sales lady on the floor was very nice but looked like a worm on a hot rock... true the reciept says \"Satisfaction garanteed or your money back\" however, since they changed the policy in October 05, they feel it no longer applys to any products, but out of the goodness of thier hearts, they offered to give us .70 cents on the dollar plus charge us $60 to come pick it up. I said I could bring it in for them, she asked the manager, who said no, I could not. I said BS and asked to talk to the manager myself. She went and got him. He told me right to my face, Sears no longer does business the way they did for the last 40 or 50 years. It is the industry standard warrenty and thats it. He did relent and permit me to bring it in my self. So thats what I am doing bright and early tomorrow morning. Right after we left Sears, we went to a local appliance store that we have started shopping at and purchased a new washer. I am done with Sears and I will urge everyone I know to do the same. Scroll down my blog and you can read a previous rant I had with Sears. http://www.vonclan.net/Bio/VonVulcan.asp
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Post by Avder »

The integrity of the american business establishment has been going straight to hell for the past 10-20 years or so. something like this happening doesnt suprise me at all.
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Post by Cuda68 »

I have the same problem with mine. The feet are some kind of plastic and they loosen up every month. The units are only a year old now and have been like that since the second month. I bought mine from home depot.
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Post by WillyP »

Interesting, there was an article today in the paper abut someone who had purchesd a lptop that would not charge. He brought it back and exchanged it, same problem. So naturally, he wanted his money back. They wanted to charge him a restocking fee! He kept the laptop and called the attorney generals office. It is illeagel, at least here in NH to charge a restocking fee for the return of a defective product. (this was at Circut City)

You should consider doing the same. Whether the problem is a defective washer or a defetive install, Sears sold it, sears delivered, sears installed so WTF! I'd be mad.
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Post by SuperSheep »

Next time, buy a Maytag. Best Washer's and Dryer's you're going to find. I know because I worked for Maytag as a repair tech and usually the first repair wasn't for 15 years and even then it would be something minor like a new gas valve or lighting element on a dryer or a fill valve on a washer.

We pulled more 5 year old and less Kenmore's out than I could count.
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Post by Ferno »

SuperSheep wrote:I know because I worked for Maytag as a repair tech and usually the first repair wasn't for 15 years and even then it would be something minor like a new gas valve or lighting element on a dryer or a fill valve on a washer.
so you're the guy who i keep seeing in the commercials.
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Post by Duper »

It's not too surprising Vulcan. Sears is no longer owned by the same corporation. The family that owned the Sears name fo so long sold it about a year ago. Call Martha Stewart. It's her company now. :roll:
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Post by Xamindar »

Kind of Sears related...

My sister worked there for a few months last year and she hated it. They would constantly threaten her for not upselling certain things. And every ywo weeks or so they would print a rating list of the workers based on what they upsold....not if they got to work on time and did honest work and helped people. She didn't want to stay there very long.
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Post by Money! »

I'm going urban paintballing this Friday. I'll make a stop at Sears for ya. That is total BS.
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Post by Ferno »

guess the american sears and canadian sears are different in that respect.

a buddy of mine who works for SLH (Sears Line Haul) told us that when his brother's fridge developed a crack on the inside, Sears replaced it right away at no cost.
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Post by VonVulcan »

Money! wrote:I'm going urban paintballing this Friday. I'll make a stop at Sears for ya. That is total BS.
LOL, you da man!
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Post by Canuck »

Bought a dishwasher that was on sale at Sears, asked if it came with all the parts to install and was assured it came with everything. Get it home and the latch assembly is laying in the tub. Literally a piece of tin. I pop it back into the slot and look for my water line and fittings... NOT included.

Purchase $50.00 more crud and install the dishwasher. Works great for 1 week then the panel light is flashing \"clean\" look in the manual and find its a heater element failure and it says to call for service.

I call and am told that they'll send someone next week. Dealing with the dumbass on the other end was a treat. She had all the information incorrect including the owners name, address, phone number and appliance purchased. I had to correct her at least a half dozen times. The week passes and no call. I call Sears again and the warranty department has no idea who they are sending and when. I asked to confirm the information again and of course it was wrong. The sack of hammers on the other end actually argued about the information, they were rude and totally inept.

Its a small Town so I call around and find the number of the repair guy they are going to send.
I call him and fill him in via voicemail. In the meantime I yoink out the dishwasher and check for loose wires etc.
All is OK. I then obtain the serviceman codes for the unit and punch them in. The unit now functions again?

I figure that the heating element must be weak so I wait for the service guy. He calls at 7:00PM on the last day of that week and pops by. He says that he's late because Sears sent him to the wrong Town and shows me the work order. None of the informtion is correct. The owners name, telephone number even the street address and Town were wrong.

I told him what happened and he relates its the latching mechanism and the programming causing failures. The heater cuts out because there are small disturbances on the microswitches that are activated by water hitting the almost latched door. Three cutouts and the unit goes into a fault mode that wont allow the machine to start. He didn't even check the heater or anything but just bends down the tin latch and then gives me the spiel about hot water, detergent etc., (I used to do appliance repair as well) he has me sign a form and leaves.

If I didn't know how to reset that washer we would have been without it for two weeks waiting for a repair man sent to the wrong Town with the wrong address and phone numbers. If I hadn't have dug and found out the repair guy's number we would have waited another week at least.

All in all I have to say that the Sears warranty people are a bunch of rude, inept, clowns. They never were that way but boy did they get there fast.

I'm regretting not getting the BOSCH I was looking at.
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Post by dissent »

Whiner.

Don't you have a river with some large rocks in it near your house. Just wade in with a bar of soap and quit yer gripin'. :P
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Post by Xamindar »

dissent wrote:Whiner.

Don't you have a river with some large rocks in it near your house. Just wade in with a bar of soap and quit yer gripin'. :P
dissent, quit pooping on people's posts. :x
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Post by Canuck »

edited
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Post by dissent »

Lo siento. Mea culpa.
Not my intention to rub salt into the wound.
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Post by LordDeath »

Just my 2 cents, but I have always been extremely pleased with the quality of the Sears appliances I bought. We've gotten two refridgerators, two washers, two dryers, and one dishwasher. (The duplicates were because we moved and sold appliances with the house.) No problems ever, courteous delivery, etc...

Maybe it's pretty dependant on the brand name. We have mostly purchased the Kenmore brand (Sears' Brand) and have had very good luck with them. Maybe we are just lucky though.
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Post by VonVulcan »

In the past... thats the key here, may you continue to have good luck.
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