[5String43]

Unforrtunately, it isn't just Sears. Our two-year-old Bosch dishwasher broke. Sears advertised a complete service call for $129, but when I called, the woman on the fone told me the price would be $249. I called several other appliance repair businesses and either was kept on hold for 20 minutes or more or got more of the same Sears-like crap. I finally called a no-name place. The guy who came out spoke mostly Russian and smelled like a goat who recently had feasted on garlic. Plus he was rude as hell. But he fixed the damn thing. Told me the new appliances don't work as well as previous generations, and were nowhere near as reliable.

Well, I already knew that. But I certainly don't know what the solution to all this is. I mean, other than just replacing things when they break. That seems just a teensy bit excessive, but hell, what else can you do?