Well, Gnu, one thing--you're certainly on the right track in writing Sears out of civilized society.    Jan and I had a Sears which lasted about 4 years.    She--against my counsel, since I had read about them--- had bought an extended warranty which lasted through 2011.

So we had a chance first-hand to find out about warranties, and Sears repair MO.

By the way, John from KS may be right about refrigerators--when he was in the business.   But things have changed--and not exactly for the better.



Anyway, 17 April this year (Sunday) the freezer wouldn't freeze at all and the refrigerator was warming up--50 F and climbing.

So Jan called the Sears repair number.   Nobody available til Thursday.    Jan explained it was a serious problem described in detail.

Repair woman came out Thursday:    Her reaction:   Oh, this is a serious problem.   I don't have the parts.   You'll have to make another appointment.   First time a service rep can come out is next Thursday.    And we will have the 2 parts necessary (compressor and evaporator?--I can't remember exactly)   sent to you.


OK, I said:    when do we get a substitute of the same capacity as the one which no longer works?    She said not til there have been 4 repair trips and Sears still can't repair the appliance. Meantime, our options:   $80 towards another refrigerator or you can buy 2 college student type ones (i.e. tiny).

Remember we have an extended warranty.

Jan pointed out that refrigerators used to last a lot longer than 4 years--what's wrong with Sears now?    Repair woman:    Don't blame Sears;    refrigerators are contracted out to Whirlpool and other manufacturers.   She didn't mention for some reason how they are made by the most poorly paid work force Sears can find in the world.

And why pray tell did the Sears repairwoman not have these parts in her van?--hard to believe for instance that a compressor going out is a unique event.

Also why do we have to have the parts shipped to us?--the repairman/woman should bring them with them.   If the parts arrive and disappear from our porch--certainly possible--then what?    Their mantra appears to be:   put the burden on the customer

So I called the repair number about our problem--and I also found a website detailing the joy Sears has brought to all sorts of people.   Including a person who found out something interesting: not only does Sears have come out 4 times--but it has to be for 4 separate issues;   if it's the same issue it counts as one visit--no matter how many times Sears comes out.    Substitute of the same capacity:   not bloody likely.


Then we got a preprogrammed call==disembodied voice-- telling us that one part would arrive on time--but the other would not.    So we would have to make another appointment---for yet another Thursday.

At this point we lost it. Jan told them they'd best have that part to us by the time of the original appointment.

And she told me we would not wait for them anyway--we'd go buy another refrigerator--and never again a Sears.

So we did. Home Depot GE.   Delivered the next day.    Salesman tried to get us to sign up for an extended warranty.

(to be continued)