Sears Service And Extended Warranty
My Kenmore fridge (model no. 10652602100) was purchased in 2002. It has a ten year warranty on it. It stopped working on Dec 21, 2008. My wife contacted Sears and they said their technicians were all booked up before Christmas. So my wife called a local appliance store to get a technician to take a look at it, hoping that it was something small that he could fix. The technician diagnosed that the compressor was dead and needed to be replaced. I called Sears on Dec 26, 2008 (it was a Saturday) about the fridge and indicated the compressor needed to be replaced and the operator told me that a technician would contact me on Monday about the costs of replacing the compressor and he would come to fix the fridge on Tuesday around noon. I left the operator my home phone number and cellular phone number. I received no phone call on Monday and Tuesday morning.
I called Sears at 1:30 PM Tuesday and asked if the technician would ever come that day as I did not hear from the technician at all. She said she would get the technician to call me in 30 minutes. One hour had passed and I got no call from the technician. I stepped out to get some groceries at around 2:30 PM, thinking that the technician could contact me on my cell phone number when he can come. After I got home, I got a phone message left by the technician at 2:45, saying that he called but nobody was home and I needed to reschedule the appointment. So I rescheduled the appointment for the next day. Again I was not given a specific time window that the technician could come and I waited at home for him (3 days in a row. That was how I spent my holidays). At around 1:00 pm, the technician called and he said he did not have the compressor and he had to order it and the cost to replace the compressor was $400. I thought to myself why should I spend $400 for such bad service. I called the same local appliance store for a quote for replacing the compressor and they said they charged $250.
I called Sears and told them I did not like their service and they charged a lot for replacing the compressor. I said since the compressor was still under warranty, I would like to have it and get somebody to put it on my fridge and return the defective compressor to them after. Then they said that that was not how the warranty worked and they needed to do the work themselves. If I just wanted to have just the compressor alone, I had to pay $260.
If I add $260 and the cost of extended warranty together, it is around $400.00. That means, I am paying for the part (and labour) myself!!! The extended warranty is useless. This is how Sears does their business.
My in-laws also have a Kenmore fridge. They had the compressor replaced within 5 years of purchase. I also searched the web for Kenmore fridge problems. I found that they had a lot of compressor problems. This will tell you about the quality of the Kenmore fridges.
Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.
February 17th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
We are on our 4th Kenmore (for 2 homes) in 6+ years. Let’s just say I agree with you!
In 2002 we bought 2 new Kenmore fridges; one for home and one for new cottage. The first one at the cottage went when we lost power while away on holidays. After that it would not keep anything cold and was ‘dead’ – the compressor. “Not covered by warranty” I was told. It was promptly replaced – new ~ 2004 with a similar Kenmore. In 2007 that fridge started not keeping anything cold. Thankfully I had put an extended warranty on it this time and they came out and replaced the compressor – sound familiar.
Last Christmas I started to notice that our home fridge (now the oldest of all the lot at 5.5 yrs was acting odd….certain things didn’t seem totally frozen and yet the fridge seemed more than fine at barely marking ‘normal’ on range control. I chalked it up to oddity and we kept going. So far since then (~7wks) I’ve had to throw out the odd thing from the freezer and in the back of my mind I knew things were not right.
This past weekend I noticed thta now the fridge was not cold and cranked it up but no luck as it kept things just barely cold. The freezer items were thawed almost thru. I ran as much as I could to the deep freeze and called Sears. This fridge was not under extended warranty sadly as it was before the other mess 🙁 The technician came today – oh and there is a separate story as he came yesterday twice but was scheduled for toda or so I thought…..
He did his check and found compressor was gone or it was leaking freon – he could not locate the exact leak/problem so it could not be fixed (too much inside to get at) – another dead fridge. To top it off they said I might be eligible for a “life warranty” which “might” entitle us to a percentage off a new one with them. When I called them I was told it would be no more than 24hrs for someone to call me with that figure (if we even qualified). HELLO I have no fridge and I don’t have 24hrs to just wait on one tiny piece of the whole thing which is I need to get a new one in here. Then I found out they don’t even deliver in my area anymore…..no more for any price!
I called Future Shop, got a floor model with a dent described to me, and I looked it up on the web. I put it on hold, my husband is paying for it on the way home, and it is being delivered to me tomorrow – and drum roll….for only the city delivery cost.
I have been a loyal SEARS customer for longer than I care to remember and I’m done.
December 4th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Hi
Sorry to hear about your problems. Sears biggest problem I can see is there call center. You get the run around. I had a similar experience with a dishwasher, although it wasn’t even a year old. Turned out it wasn’t a big problem but after all the calls and emails and repair out 4 times it turned into one. Please read my discussion on Facebook under sears customer service on ATV FB page.
November 17th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
I cannot believe Sears isn’t stroking things like Consumer reports to give High ratings to Kenmore products methinks they also have a lot of Net posters providing “5 star reviews” will never purchase any more Kenmore products or deal with this dishonest arrogant company…….their 7560 elite double oven has a very high fire hazard due to the fact that the burner placement is to close to the plastic control face.