I have always been a fan of Kenmore appliances. Our washer, dryer, refrigerator, and dishwasher all came from Sears. One of my sewing machines is a Kenmore. We own a Craftsman lawnmower, two Craftsman tillers, and some Craftsman power tools. My 26-year-old kitchen stove (a Whirlpool that came with the house) is about to poop out, and I'd planned to replace it with a Kenmore.
Last July, our 7-year-old Kenmore refrigerator went on the fritz on a Saturday. I phoned the Sears repair hotline and scheduled an appointment for the next Monday. The repairman arrived as promised, checked out the refrigerator, and said that he would have to order parts before he could fix the 'fridge. He said the parts would arrive by Wednesday, and that he would be back on Thursday to install them. On Tuesday, the repairman called and said that the parts he needed were on back-order, and he would not be coming on Thursday. As it turned out, all of the parts arrived by Wednesday, but we had lost our place in the repair schedule. This part-ordering screw up and a series of re-scheduling screw ups resulted in us being without a refrigerator for 13 days and caused me to take several afternoons off from work, waiting on repair appointments that never happened.
A couple of months ago, The Husband bought a refrigerator service/maintenance agreement from Sears. Over a week ago, when the refrigerator's freezer fan started sporadically making a funny noise, I called the repair hotline to schedule service. I called on a Monday. Sears would have scheduled a Tuesday service appointment, but I asked them to hold off until Friday, since I would be working out of town until then and the refrigerator was still cooling adequately. They set the appointment for Friday, "between the hours of 1 and 5." They said that I would get an e-mail confirming the appointment, and that the repairman would call 30 minutes before his arrival.
Mid-morning on Friday, when I had not received a confirming e-mail, I called the repair hotline to make sure I was on the list for service. They said that they had, indeed, scheduled us for service between the hours of 1 and 5.
At 4:57 p.m., I phoned the repair hotline again. Yes, I was on the list. Yes, the repairman would call before his arrival. Evidently running behind. Blah-blah-blah. At 6:30, having not heard from a service technician, we went out to dinner.
Today is Tuesday. I have still not had a call from the repairman.
Sears, your service stinks. I realize that you contract the work and thus are even farther removed from your actual customers' needs, but somewhere in your big corporate world, the buck should stop with someone. Your service repair hotline won't/can't tell me who that person is or how to reach him/her, so I'm hereby letting you know that someone, somewhere, has dropped the ball.
Sears, doing what you say you will do is one of the basic necessities of human interaction. It is one of the fundamental principles of business. It builds trust. Trust builds customer bases. Customers build profits. You know how it works. You can't leave us out of the equation indefinitely. I understand that my refrigerator's "funny noise" is not (yet) an emergency, and that other customers may be experiencing far more serious problems that should receive attention first. Since my ice cream and 'tater tots are still frozen, I'm not all that upset that the service call has been delayed, but I am upset with the lack of communication. The service company with which you have contracted is not doing its job.
NEWS FLASH: I just phoned the Sears repair hotline to determine when the new repair appointment will be. Guess what? There is no repair appointment scheduled. Sears' notes reflect that a repairman showed up at our door at 7:01 p.m. on Friday evening, and that the homeowner cancelled the service call.
Sears, I am boiling mad. We left the house to go out to dinner around 6:30 p.m. There had been no call from the repairman to let us know he was coming, and there was no one here to answer the door or cancel the appointment when he arrived. Your contract technician has told a big, fat LIE. And guess what else? When I asked to schedule another appointment, I was told that the next available appointment was Saturday, at a time when I cannot be here. The next available appointment after that is on Tuesday, between the hours of 8 and 5. And guess what else? The telephone operator said that the repairman MAY call before his arrival, but would not guarantee it. So that means I either have to stay here all day Tuesday (when I'm supposed to be at work), or risk missing the service call. It's last year's repair ordeal, all over again.
Sears, this frosts the cake. I am done with you. When I go out to shop for a new kitchen stove, I will not be buying from you. I will be going to my local hardware store, which has an in-house repairman to service the appliances they sell. Let me tell you a story about their service. My niece bought a refrigerator from them. When it went out, this hardware store brought her a "loaner" refrigerator to use while they fixed/replaced hers. That, Sears, is service. You could learn something from them.
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