3 weeks ago, our Kenmore Calypso washer that we had purchased from Sears not even 5 years ago, broke down for the second time, and I set up a 1-5 pm Kenmore/Sears service appointment for which my wife stayed home from work (the appointment was confirmed by phone by Sears the day before). At 1:15pm the day of the service (Nov 13th) however, we were called that the service had to be canceled and needed to be re-scheduled for 2 days later. I called that same afternoon to complain about the late notice as unacceptable (as my wife now had to stay home again), and was promised that this would be investigated and I would receive a call (I also gave my cell phone nr for that) with feedback. Never received a call though...
The day of the re-scheduled service, a technician shows up who in our modest view had no clue what he was doing. He tried to run the washer, and after not being able to get it running (it got stuck in the beginning of the cycle, with an error message 'ld' which I already knew from the operation manual, meant 'low drain', the technicians comment was 'it's broken...'. He could have told me that over the phone too... Then, he removed the top part, pushed the inside cylinder a few times, and tried a few more cycles, then he came back with the conclusion "its broken", and also "I don't know what's wrong with it..."
After some further pushing and trying, he said that the control panel would need to be changed and some of the internals also, and that it would cost 482 dollars tax to do so (he printed out an estimate). We are however puzzled how he came to that conclusion from just taking the top of and not even trying verify if the drain system or pump was not at the source of the problem). Anyhow, I was not willing to pay that kind of money to fix our washer, and decided we would just as well be off being a new one.By the way, the technician did not speak very highly of the Kenmore Calypso washer and said that these were prone to many issues and we would be better of getting rid of it...? Kind of strange since the sales person back then in the store never mentioned anything about possible issues (of course, we were going to send 1100 dollars on it back then...), and now after researching this a little on the internet, I do find indeed that this washer is indeed a piece of junk and that many many similar complaints and even a law suit was filed on the poor reliability of this washer.
Anyways, to continue the story of the service call, the technician now asks us to pay the 109 dollarss tax for him to show up (and not fix our washer)... Which we reluctantly end up doing, because we felt he did so little effort on it and we were left with the verdict of having to spend more on buying a new one. My wife also pointed out to him at that point that his repeated trials to get it running left a large amount of smelly water inside the washer, which made it impossible to even move it also, so she asked him if he could take care of that, but his response was to add some bleach for the smell and let the people from Sears who would deliver the new washer deal with it...??? So for his 115 dollars and 30 min service call, we cannot even get him to help us drain the washer (had to do it myself afterwards by hosing the water out).
Furthermore, just when he offered us the bill for his 'service', we were also offered a coupon towards the new washer at Sears, which started at 30, - and went up to 100, - discount depending on how much we spent towards a new washer at Sears. At this point this was more like a slap in the face that anything else for us, as now I have to spend over 750 dollars to get only part back of what I just paid for this nightmare, and after I spend already 1100 dollars not even 5 years ago on a washer that apparently does not even have the durability and reliability to run and service us for 5 years.
The next day, still in shock, I called Sears back to file a complaint regarding this matter, and again I am told that this will be looked into and a service manager would call me back on this... Well, I'm again still waiting for the promised call.
This weekend, my wife and I bought and installed a new front load LG washer (a highly recommended model on the internet), and no thank you, not at Sears of course, as far as I am concerned I will never buy anything at Sears again. I've also decided to advertise this complaint on a few more websites, and also with the BBB, just to highlight to other people what poor Kenmore product - and service quality one can expect from Sears, and maybe I can get a few more people to stay away from buying at Sears.
JanC
Enfield, Connecticut
U.S.A.
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