Friday, November 16, 2012

I am breaking up with Sears and we are never ever ever getting back together.

Last year, when we moved into our house in Westfield, we bought a new refrigerator at Sears.

This is quite possibly the worst appliance purchase we have ever made.

We bought a Kenmore model number 795.68272.900, and it is a Piece of Schmidt. (Sorry for the cussing, Grandma.)  We have not had any problems with it breaking down, or not performing fridge-like functions.  No, our problem lies in that there is an open door alarm that WILL NOT TURN OFF.

EVER.

Well, that's a slight exaggeration.  Occasionally it will go off, sometimes for weeks at a time, just enough time for us to say, we shouldn't spend money on a new fridge, because this one is less than a year old and works fine other than that INCESSANT BEEPING.  But the beeping always comes back.

It beeps every 10 seconds.  All day long.  Six times per minute. Three hundred and sixty times per hour.   Eight thousand, six hundred and forty times per day.  Sixty thousand, four hundred and eighty times per week.  Guests visiting my house for the first time are always looking puzzled and say "is...something...beeping?  I keep hearing an alarm? Are you aware of this?"

We have had multiple Sears technicians out to deal with it.  First thing they ask is "have you tried pressing the Off button?"

This fills me with a fiery, molten rage.  No, Sears guy, I have lived with a beeping fridge for six months without ever once trying to turn it off.  Then the Sears guy takes a look, and discovers that my model fridge does not have an Off button.

The problem is then diagnosed that the fridge is on an uneven surface, thus causing the door to not seal properly, thus the seal lifts .00000000000001 cm off the alarm button, causing the alarm to think, hey! the door isn't shut! and then it starts the infernal beeping.

Then we have the discussion of how there is NO WAY to turn the alarm off manually.  If we are lucky, the Sears guy will fiddle around the wrench and the get the legs adjusted just right so the door stays shut and the beeping goes off.  Since we moved from the house where Sears originally delivered the fridge, our warranty is no longer valid and we have to pay $129 for this pleasure.  I have fiddled around with the legs myself many times, but to no avail.

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Last month on Columbus Day weekend we bought a soft, plush mattress for Princess's bedroom.  It was nearly half off because of the Columbus Day sale.  The mattress in the store was so soft and fluffy and fabulous.

The mattress that was delivered was not soft, fluffy, or fabulous.  I slept on it multiple times, hoping that perhaps it just needed to be broken in or something, and this is just not the same mattress that we sat on in the store. It is hard and gives me a back-ache.

I went to the store two weeks ago to discuss returning or exchanging it.  Frankly, I am a) annoyed that this mattress is nothing like the sample mattress, and who knows if the second mattress they send will have the same issue, and b) since the delivery windows always encompass a time when I either need to be picking up or dropping off multiple children, this seems like a hassle.  The sales associate assured me that they would exchange it for free within thirty days of delivery.  I came home and discussed it with the Mister, and we decided to exchange it.

When I called Sears to schedule the exchange, they told me that I was outside of the return period, which was thirty days from date of purchase, not delivery, but they would do me the favor of exchanging it anyways, for a fee of $200. I admit that when I looked at the receipt, it did say thirty days from date of purchase, so I was wrong to rely on the employee's assurances of free exchange within thirty days from delivery.

But, Sears sent me a mattress that isn't what they claimed it to be, and now they are going to charge me for sending me another of the same model that may or may not be better than the POS they sent me the first time. And if its still crap they will charge me another $200 to take it away.

Nope, thanks.  I am done with Sears. We are breaking up.  I will keep the crappy hard mattress and buy a foam topper.  I will also NEVER AGAIN buy ANYTHING from Sears.  Considering that in the past ten years we have purchased two refrigerators, a washing machine (also a POS but in the interests of space I haven't told that story), a stove, a dishwasher, a treadmill, and two mattresses--that's many thousands of dollars.  Don't worry, Sears, henceforth I will take my thousands of dollars elsewhere.

8 comments:

  1. The fridge sounds like a lemon. The mattress woes I can totally relate to, but must admit that Sleepy's does stick to their replacement policy, and has never charged me...for anything. It might be time to turn to Twitter.

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  2. I had the most difficult time trying to buy a crib from the Sears website. I knew exactly what I wanted, they had the lowest price and free delivery. But then they made me sign up for this dumb as crap frequent buyers thing that is a rip off of facebook/pinterest and it was impossible to navigate. I might break up with them too as a measure of solidarity and sanity saving.

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  3. Yikes! That's a crazy story- gives me pause about my upcoming kitchen purchases. THEY should be taking apart the fridge and removing the alarm manually- seriously!!

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  4. Whoa, who knew the softer side of Sears sucks so bad! They're now dead to me, too!

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  5. I have been there. I don't complain - oh sure, I gripe a lot to my husband and family, but I never, ever, ever call corporate. I try my darndest not to take it out on the poor store employees (I've been on the other side of the counter). HOWEVER, the ONLY store I have EVER called corporate on is...SEARS. They are {nearly} dead to me, but we don't have a lot of other tire options. Otherwise, they would be totally cut out. Customer service seems to be a thing of the past with most companies. #FirstWorldProblems {Sigh}

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  6. You do know that Sears is closing all of it's big old boy stores and going for the 'pared down neighborhood stores.' forgive the lack of commas because, what I deduce, they don't give a s**t.

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  7. I have never had to buy an appliance or tools so haven't shopped there but in solidarity will be happy to buy all my Lands End products directly from them rather than through Sears, for you.

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  8. I heate Sears too. Nothing good has ever come out of that store. I am relieved to know I am not the only one that feels this way

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