Josh needed a water softener for his new house, so he went to Sears and used their installation service. Maybe he should have known that things weren’t about to go well with the installer when they showed up and charged an extra hundred dollars. Then he got home and discovered a puddle in his basement. The install was sloppy, and the water softener’s drainage hose emptied into his basement’s sump pump and thus out of the basement. Or so the installer thought. Josh’s basement doesn’t actually have a pump. [More]
appliances
This LG Microwave Is The Ultimate In Disposable Appliances
By 1.2.13
Recently, I was surprised to learn that Goldstar and LG are the same company. LG stands for “Lucky Goldstar.” Gasp! This is no surprise to reader Jef, though, who has to keep ordering the same microwave over and over, and those microwaves come from either Goldstar or LG. Why has he bought four of the same microwave? Is he a landlord, a rich person with many houses, or an eccentric person who insists on having a microwave in every room? No. His problem is that the microwave in his kitchen keeps breaking down, sometimes just barely after the end of the original warranty.
HHGregg Keeps Calling Me To Pick Up The Freezer I Already Have
By 12.26.12
Chris has a freezer. He bought it from HHGregg in November, and has no complaints about it. His problem is with the additional free freezer that the store keeps trying to give him. Sort of. They keep calling to tell him to pick up the freezer. He’s missed all of the calls, which come every two weeks. Would they really hand over a new freezer, though? [More]
How Decades Of Sears Loyalty Screwed Over My Family
By 12.18.12
Dee is a regular Consumerist reader, but her family’s 30 years of loyal Sears shopping outweighs the occasional tales of crappy service she has read here. When her mother’s dryer broke down, she ordered a few other appliances while she was at it and while Sears was sending a delivery crew. Things went smoothly, until they learned that they had been misled into believing that Sears would ever deliver and install a houseful of appliances on the same day. [More]
Best Buy Sends Me Wrong Microwave, Promises To Come Swap It Out, Doesn’t Show
By 12.12.12
This is an exciting but stressful time for Terry’s family. His wife is pregnant, and they also just bought a new house. They ordered new appliances: matching stainless steel items for the kitchen, including one of those space-saving microwaves that goes over the stove. Best Buy technicians delivered and installed the bigger appliances, and the microwave arrived on the doorstep a few days later. It was the wrong color. That’s where Terry’s battle with Best Buy began. [More]
I Don’t Want Money, I Want My Stupid Washer Fixed
By 12.10.12
Sears keeps throwing money at David. You wouldn’t think that would be a problem, but it is. He failed to follow the instructions that no one ever gave to him, and so Sears canceled his repair appointment. They tried to comfort him by offering $25 for the inconvenience of having to leave his house to do laundry, and rescheduled the appointment. Another Saturday, another robocall, and David was bumped from the schedule. Again. They offered him a $25 gift card and a spot on the repair schedule for a day that he won’t be home. [More]
Ninja Offers Swift, Quiet Replacement Of Defective Blender
By 12.4.12
Nathan expected stubbornness or indifference from Ninja complained about the mildew trapped inside the handle of his blender pitcher. Ninjas aren’t the fanciest blenders out there, but aren’t the cheapest, either. He e-mailed them first, then called customer service as they requested. That’s when they surprised him by actually replacing the defective pitcher. [More]
Kenmore ‘Elite’ Means ‘Only Eight Months Until Rust Spots Show Up’
By 11.5.12
Reader Arglex recently remodeled their home and replaced all of the appliances. Like many Americans, the Arglex family have been loyal Sears customers for decades. They believed that Kenmore Elite appliances were, well, elite. Not that they would begin to rust after only a few months and not do their jobs properly. Like keeping ice cream cold. [More]
Whirlpool Welcomes Me To The Era Of Disposable Appliances
By 10.17.12
What’s worse than an appliance breaking down and having to pay for the expensive repair? When it happens and the appliance is only a few weeks out of warranty. That’s what happened to Jonathan. His Whirlpool refrigerator broke down when he had owned it for thirteen months. Yes, a repair was possible, but cost only $300 less than he originally paid for the fridge. What’s with all of these disposable appliances? [More]
Sears Dishwasher Includes Free Live Snake, Customer Is Unhappy For Some Reason
By 9.13.12
I’ve shopped in enough pet stores to know that people will pay good money for snakes. One Sears customer in California got all upset yesterday when Sears came by her house to deliver a new Kenmore dishwasher from SearsOutlet.com. It was missing a few parts, which annoyed her. Oh, and there was a live snake taped to it. [More]
LG Rep: Washers And Dryers Are Not Meant To Last
By 8.29.12
Morgan called up LG looking for a part for his dryer. He had learned that he wouldn’t be able to get the appliance repaired. That was disappointing, because he paid $1,000 for it only seven years ago. He was already frustrated enough when an LG customer service rep said the words that prompted him to write to Consumerist. [More]
Sears Recalls Dehumidifiers Because Fire Is Not A Safe Dehumidification Method
By 8.6.12
Yes, it’s a story about a Sears appliance, but not about its misdelivery or problems with getting it repaired. Well, sort of. If you bought a Kenmore-branded dehumidifier from Sears or from Kmart between 2003 or 2009, unplug it right away and get in touch with the company. More than a hundred overheating units have been reported to the Consumer Products Safety Commission, and some have caught fire or melted. [More]
Sears Delivers Damaged Fridge In Wrong Color, Won't Return Your Calls
By 8.2.12
J. found our tipline and wrote in, but clearly has not been a regular reader of Consumerist. We make this assumption because he bought a refrigerator from Sears, and assumed for some reason that things would go well. They did not. After the delivery team took off without calling because they were irrationally afraid of his driveway, they returned and dropped off the wrong color refrigerator with a massive crack in the door. Now they won’t answer his pleas for an exchange. [More]
No, Sears, That’s Okay, We Didn’t Really Need A Working Refrigerator
By 7.31.12
Kristina’s Sears misadventure began with an icemaker. She lives with her aunt, and the icemaker/water spout on the refrigerator started leaking. The aunt decided to replace the appliance, so they headed to Sears. There they found a lovely Samsung fridge marked down on clearance. Why was it on clearance? Oh, you see, another customer had ordered it, then changed their mind. But it was still a new appliance purchase from Sears’ point of view, and would be covered by the manufacturer’s warranty. It was when the fridge was DOA that everything began to go horribly wrong. [More]
Owner’s Manual Error Made My Steam Cleaner Self-Destruct
By 7.27.12
The Whirlpool Fabric Freshener is a device that lets you steam clean your clothes at home, or just quickly get wrinkles out of a piece of clothing without ironing it. The contraption isn’t cheap, but is easy to store and very useful. Andrew purchased one last year, and used it quite a bit. He followed the instructions given for cleaning the system with vinegar every few months, and then….it stopped working entirely. What did he do wrong? He called up Whirlpool to find out. [More]
Sears Wants Me To Pay For Non-Installation Of Non-Working Dishwasher
By 7.16.12
Like many Americans, William thought that Sears was a solid, reputable retailer. After all, they’ve been in business for a century and it seems like everyone had Kenmore appliances in the vaguely defined past. Then a customer like William, who has vaguely positive feelings toward the brand, goes and actually makes a purchase from Sears. That’s when everything all goes to hell. In William’s case, Sears wants him to eat the installation fee on a dishwasher they delivered to him that never worked. [More]
Leaky Dishwasher Wrecks Hardwood Floor And Ceiling Below, Sears Shrugs
By 7.2.12
Sometimes, you buy a defective appliance and your only problem is that that the appliance doesn’t work. It’s sad, but you replace the item, either using a warranty or by purchasing a new one. Sometimes the company will stand in your way, and you have to fight them for a replacement. And then sometimes your defective appliance warps your hardwood floor, leaks through to your basement ceiling, and causes more than $4,000 worth of damage. That’s what happened to Nachos Grande and his wife (not his real name) when they bought a defective Whirlpool dishwasher from Sears. [More]
Sears Doesn’t Handle Rejection Well, Incessantly Robocalls After You Refuse Fridge Delivery
By 6.7.12
Based on previous Consumerist stories about Sears, it might surprise you to learn that the refrigerator that Ginger and her husband purchased was brought to their home in one piece, on the correct day, and actually existed. Only they had discovered after placing the order that it was too wide for their kitchen, and they had ordered a new one instead. They were instructed to refuse the delivery, and then they would receive a correctly-sized fridge on a different day, and a refund. Yay! Only instead, they’ve received a barrage of robocalls from Sears, despite four separate attempts to cancel the order for the larger refrigerator. [More]
