Washer Warranty Fiasco

Is it a Kenmore? I love Kenmore. I bought a Washer/Dryer from Sears
in 1988 and they were still working when I moved to SA. I ended up
selling them, since the apartments I moved into provided them in our
apartments and my husband said we would buy new once he came back from
Korea. I moved to SA in 2005! I only had to have the
Dryer's heating element replaced once and the washer has never had to
have any repairs! I will definatley buy Kenmore again.

Sorry to hear about your trouble. Sears appliances have always seemed
to last forever. Good luck.

I feel your anger. I would be very upset. With four people in my
household I would hate to have to go on the outside to wash and dry
clothes. It is a pain. I hope they fix your washer soon.

I am so sorry that you are having this problem, and I really hope the
company does something soon.

To address some of the comments below, it's no wonder this person came
out defensively. She has a legitimate complaint, and she has been
given the runaround. She opted to share the letter to warn others of
the poor warranty service by this company, and has pretty much been
slapped in the face for her efforts by having her letter picked apart,
rather than have people say, "Wow. That sucks and I hope that company
smartens up soon."

After having come through a similar phone circus hell with a different
company, I can completely sympathize with the fact that this letter
writer seems angry. Frustration does that to people. It's called phone
rage.

She has a washer that she paid to have warrantied.
Proof from letter that I was able to understand from the very first
reading with no additional questions asked of the writer:
"refund me the amount I spent on the worhtless warranty"
I am assuming extended warranty, and the washing machine must have
been an older model, because of the concern and then surprise that it
was still covered under warranty.

I am wondering if it's because the machine is an older machine that
the parts are taking a little longer, although they had the first part
in a week, and it was just a case of it being put in wrong by the
service tech.

She didn't specify by title all the people she talked to, but she did
supply the numbers. I am thinking she did that on the assumption that
Sears would know which departments those were. We don't all work at
Sears, so it wasn't helpful to us, but then again, she wasn't issuing
her complaint to us. She was only sharing it as a warning to others. I
can understand that she got upset when she was told she should have
talked to the service manager, because she knew that she had done
that.

She also mentioned that she got transferred by the company to a
different extension, and that's probably why she ended up with all
those phone numbers.
"I got back on the phone and called to get another repair man out. I
was sent to a totally different location than the first time I
called"

People have taken issue with her request for reimbursement of quarters
and gas as a result of having to use a laundromat in place of her
machine. Seems greedy and petty to some, but I can completely
understand the reasoning. If the company had fixed it right the first
time 5 weeks ago, she would have had the use of her machine.

People are saying that letters like this shouldn't be written in
anger, and I do agree, but sometimes, no amount of taking a deep
breath and stepping away from the keyboard will ease the frustration
and anger when a person pays for an extended warranty; is told that
the item is still covered under that warranty; waits a week for a
service call and a part, only to have the tech put it in wrong; then
waits another 5 weeks to have it fixed, playing phone tag and on the
receiving end of the "pass the customer on" phone game; all while
dragging her clothes out to a public place, paying more good money in
order to have clean clothes, while a washing machine that she paid
for, sits, unusable and unrepaired.
Then, as a service to others, she opts to share the letter and is
taken to task by well-meaning people who critique and offer advice for
her to do things that she has already done. She get frustrated and
vents that frustration, and then is labelled as defensive and rude
with a bad attitude.

Yep...guess I must be reading a PlanetFeedback letter. That's a
familiar scenario. ;)

I can't answer this letter impartially because I've had three similar
experiences in the past with the same company. I understand totally
the feeling of being cut off and calling number after number without
getting a reasonable time frame or even getting some understandable
questions addressed. The whole voice mail thing is impersonal to begin
with and then to get cut off once you DO get a real live person only
adds more frustration.

I think what's bothering people reading it is the "quarters and gas"
part, it does come across as petty. And then taking a defensive
posture with commenters after deciding to share the letter in the
first place. Basically, feedback comes in two flavors, what we want to
hear and what we don't. It's our choice to pick what we feel is
"constructive" and ignore the rest.

I tried to agree with you on several points, but several issues stood
out.

To begin with, why would the letter be signed "Pat Jeanette" but be
posted by "brady d"? I also had a great deal of reserve for the
requests at the end of the letter asking for reimbursement costs for
laundry machine use and gas. Continuing to state that you're not
being unreasonable "at this time" very much implies you are likely to
become unreasonable, if not more unreasonable.

The consumer has a right to expect a level of service promised to
him/her. We need to begin by asking is this warranty all inclusive or
is it partial? Most warranties do not guarantee all parts or all
labor. Many consumers make that mistake and then are surprisingly
awakened to reality when they're given a bill for what is not
covered.

Does the warranty guarantee service within a certain timeframe or
guarantee a successful completion to the service within a certain
number of tries? This guarantee is usually called a "No Lemon
Clause". Whereas the consumer has not made mention of such, it can be
assumed there is none.

Therefore, it can be determined that as long as the warranty provider
is willing to make service calls, replacing any parts it determines is
defective, at the cost guaranteed under the warranty, they have also
complied with the warranty.

Whereas it was Sears that notified the consumer that the appliance was
under warranty and then further complied with the warranty, they
really should be commended.

And that's about all I'm with you on.

You're asking for things even you acknowledge are unreasonable; you
went out of your way to make this a shared letter and then insulted
people for discussing it; you can't be bothered to get your own PFB
account or proofread your own letter; and you're not being
particularly nice with people who, whatever else you may think of us,
have no responsibility for what happened with your washer and (again)
are only even reading because you elected to show it to us.

You don't seem to be clear on whether this is an attempt to get your
problem solved, a vent, a way of taking your frustrations out on at
least one person who works for Sears, or what. If I were you, I"d
figure that out, write the letter again with whatever goal you have
foremost in your mind, and then either send it through the USPS or
email or do it here but without clicking the box for sharing the
letter.

A valid complaint can be buried under all the rest of it to the point
that it gets lost, and while I think it's easy to see this letter as
worse than it is because of the way in which you have chosen to
participate in the discussion, the original letter could be a whole
lot better. I hate to see someone with a valid complaint sabotage
him- or herself, and while I wish you luck with this, I hope you will
consider making it easier for Sears to resolve the problem the way it
ought to be resolved.

First, I would be ticked with waiting 5 weeks to have my washer
repaired, depending on what was wrong and how long I had the washer.
Hubby and I have been married 6 years and I think we have gone through
3 washers. Yep, you got it, 3. We have a family of 6 and the washer
and dryer are going from 8 a.m. - 10 p.m. most every day. You do need
information on how old your washer is and what type of warranty it is
(regular or extended).

Hope you get your washer working. By the way, did either of the
repairers say what was wrong? I always try to diagnois before calling
repair people.

Okay, the only response I've read is the one at the top of the list
(the most recent) -- I believe it was donno. I like donno. He's good
people.

I think you're completely right, brady. This is ridiculous. I'm
going to tell my MY washer under warranty story.

We got a new washer, then we moved. We forgot to bring the special
pads that sat under the feet of the washer, to help keep the machine
from moving while in the spin cycle. I called to get more sent to me.
Because the washer was under warranty, I wasn't ALLOWED to put them
in place myself (well, the husband would have done that, I would have
supervi--I mean, watched).

I took a half day off of work, the guy came within the four-hour
window (miracle!), I told him what we needed for the washer, and he
didn't have the pads on him. He'd have to order them. He took my
address so they'd be sent to me, and we could put them on ourselves we
didn't need anyone to come out (he never even looked at my washer).

I was livid. I took half a day off of work for THAT? I sent a polite
but firm letter to Montgomery Ward and itemized my missed time from
work and what those hours cost me, and demanded payment of $100.

Guess what? I got a check for $100! The kicker was, they made it out
to my HUSBAND and not to me! Grr I wanted to return that check so bad
and demand another one, but even *I* know when to quit.

No big moral here, other than, sometimes, when you're in the right and
they made a stupid mistake, you do get something from it.
Occasionally, we have small victories in our battle with these
behemoths that seem adept at taking our money for puchases but drop
the ball completely when it comes time to service those items
purchased.

I say, write a real letter. Letters STILL carry more weight than a
phone call or an email (far more than an email). This is especially
true in government (but who knows for how long).

So write a real letter. I'd clean up the grammar/English/spelling and
make it a little less conversation-y and a little more formal,
business-like.

Good luck!

I see that you are becoming inpatient with this situation.
Unfortunately your inpatience is showing a bit too much, with the I.
Diot stuff, etc below.

Frankly, it appears that one or more commenters has jumped down your
throat. At first I thought it was premature, but after seeing the
reply to the first respondent and rereading the original post I am
inclined to change my mind.

The attitude in your original post could have been better. After all,
you are trying to get some service or satisfaction in return for your
complaint. I agree that 4-5 weeks to get to where you are at is
excessive. Perhaps you could have questioned the value of the
warranty instead of implying it is worthless. You had every right to
mention the quarters and gas as part of your plight, but not to demand
reimbursement for them.

I hope the washer is actually fixed this time. I feel your
frustration. A large part of your post reflected this, and personally
I find no problem with that. I have been through the multiple phone
number, dropped call Bermuda Triangle and it stinks.

"I am not being unreasonable at this time." Is that implying that at
some point, presumably in the near future, you PLAN on becoming fully
unreasonable?

Personally, I think you're wrong. You've already hit the unreasonable
mark!

First off, I find it interesting that NO WHERE do you list how old the
washer is nor what brand it is. That makes a BIG difference. Is this
warranty an extended warranty you bought from Sears or is Sears
somehow servicing a warranty on behalf of the manufacturer?
Typically, the store is not responsible for repairs, whoever made the
washer is.

& depending on the age of the washer and the fact that they DID
actually come out (even if it didn't work out to your satisfaction.)
you have NO RIGHT to demand that Sears reimburse you for the expenses
you incurred running back and forth to the laundry.

Had you not had a warranty, would the washer not STILL be broken
requiring you to STILL have to do your clothes at the laundromat?

I've said it myself and I've seen it posted at least a million times -
never write a letter to a company when you're ticked off. It only
makes you look (and sound) like a pompous blowhard and isn't going to
get you the help you need.

I don't know where you got all those telephone numbers, but the only
number I have ever had to call for service is 800-4 MY HOME, and
although the computerized answering system is extremely annoying, once
you get a person on the line, the rest is easy.

Even though I'm in the midst of an ongoing battle with Sears right
now, I will say that I have never had any of the problems I read about
here regarding service calls, but the repairmen always arrive in a
Sears truck and work directly for Sears. I wonder if that's what
makes the difference.

Did the repairman come to your house in a Sears truck, or was he an
independent local guy? Just curious.

I noticed 867-5309 wasn't in your collection of numbers....

I don't see how the warranty was worthless, unless you had to pay out
of your own pocket for service calls and parts. Your complaint should
be with the service department, not the warranty itself.
Ask for the service manager, explain your situation, and maybe they
will reimburse some of your expenses after the first repair(you would
have paid those regardless; warranties don't often cover incidental
expenses) since this is the fault of their repairman.