A little less than 2 years ago, the wife and I bought the best washing machine Kenmore made at the time, Kenmore Elilte HE5t. I think we got some cash back, bringing the cost down to $1400, but I can't recall. We did not get a service contract. Why would we? Surely a $1600 washing machine should last for decades, yes? (Yes, this is the point where you can start laughing at how naive we were.....
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One day before we are leaving on a trip, it dies. Just DOA, no lights. When we return, I check the fuse, its fine. There is power making it to the 'main board'. I call Sears home service. They screw me over and don't show up for an appointment (I posted here about this). Others suggested I check around for alternative services to fix it.
Now here is were is gets rather disgusting. No one will touch this thing. Even though the Kenmore is really just a rebranded Whirlpool, folks that fix Whirlpool won't touch it. All of them told me to call Sears. One explained that Sears re-numbers all the parts making it difficult for anyone outside of Sears to order parts.
So I call Sears home service again. Amazingly a kid with a bag of tools shows up. So I explain whats going on, and he says, "Oh man, I hope its not a controller board, those things are expensive." So he sets about trying to diagnose the problem. How does he do this? He places a cell phone call to a technician back at Sears, who walks him through a series of checks! Thats right, the guy has no manuals, no wiring diagram, nothing. He is just there to place a multimeter where ever the guy on the phone tells him! Conclusion (after all of 5 minutes), is that that the main board is dead. $550 to fix it!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2 Year old washer, and they want $550 so some kid can install a controller board that prolly cost them $20. And they can't get the part here for 2 weeks. I tell him thanks, but no thanks.
I find it intersting is that every single employee I spoke with pushes a hard sell for you to get the warranty. The kid who came to fix the machine was innocent enough, and basically said that it would be 'crazy' not to have a warranty because they break so much.
So here is the deal, I was going to order the part and install it myself. I have found it for less than $300 from a couple sources. This of course assumes that their diagnosis was correct....
But now I am not so sure. Why bother? Why not look on Craigslist and find a 30 year old washing machine that still works, and buy that $50? You know, the ones that were all mechanical, where really the timer was the only piece of gadgetry in the whole thing. Will it use huge amounts of water and electricity? Sure. But I won't be sinking $500 into it ever 2 years. I don't give a rats ass about being green, I just want out clothes to be washed. Hell, I could go out and probably buy 2 new cheap top loading washers for $550. When one breaks, just throw it out. This is America, right?
I'm not really mad, just disgusted that we were taken so badly. Any recourse with Sears is pretty much laughable. The company is barely hanging on, and everything I have read indicates they could care less about their reputation at this point. They will do nothing to help you.
What would you do?