Sears Dishwashers Consumer Reviews - Page 3

FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS -- Let's start with a little history. About 3 years ago we put new appliances in our home. My wife wanted Kenmore. I agreed. Well 2 years later the refrigerator quits working. I call a repairman out of the phone book. He comes out and takes a look. "It's the compressor.", he says. "It's a Kenmore so it's still under warranty but you will have to use Sears." No problem I pay him his money and he leaves.

I call Sears and schedule an appointment. It was Friday and would be Tuesday before they could come out. That's understandable I think. Well the guy comes out and I tell him what the other guy says. He doesn't think so it's some other part which isn't under warranty and had to be ordered. So I pay him half $80 and he orders part. He comes back on Friday with the part and that doesn't fix the problem (ref down 1 week).

Well he then decides it's some other part and has to order it. It will be in on Wednesday. No show on Wednesday and I called and found the part was delayed. Repair guy shows up on Thursday. That didn't fix the problem. Guess what it was the compressor. Has to order - it will be in on Tuesday (refrig down 2 weeks).

Then finally on Tuesday they come and fix the compressor and frig is back working. I swore off Kenmore appliances. Now I purchased a new home with "Kenmore Appliances". We have been in the home 3 weeks and the dishwasher goes out.

I call on Monday and have service scheduled for sometime between 8-5 on Wednesday. Well someone calls at 8 in the morning and wanted to know if the guy was there. I said no. Then they call around 10 and told me they would have to reschedule. I asked when and they didn't know someone else would have to call me. So at 5 I called back in and they said it would be the following Monday.

After several minutes complaining they moved it up till Friday. Well now it is Friday and I try to find out if the guy is coming and it appears if the tech is to come on Monday maybe. Long story short if you need an appliance buy one that most anyone can do repairs on. Life is too short to deal with Sears service. I am typing this letter while waiting to find out what Sears is going to do about the poor quality products and industry - worst service.

TEMECULA, CALIFORNIA -- On July 6th of 2012 I purchased a brand new Maytag dishwasher at the Sears in Santa Rosa California. It was to be delivered by Sears and installed by the Sears required installer in my home in Temecula, California... I paid for both the delivery and installation at the time of purchase (including an installation kit). The dishwasher was delivered and installed July 16th. Within 2 weeks of delivery the dishwasher stopped working. An appointment was scheduled and after numerous attempts the dishwasher was still not working after 2 weeks.

I then went into the Temecula Sears and asked that arrangements be made to pick up the dishwasher and refund my purchase price so that I would be able to purchase a working dishwasher from another retailer which I did. Sears representative Kathy ** at the Temecula Sears store made the arrangements and then phoned me to say Sears would pick up the dishwasher on the August 14th. The Action Appliance dishwasher was scheduled to be installed on Thursday August 16th. Sears arrived on August 14th and stated they were unable to take the dishwasher until the installer came to uninstall the dishwasher.

I communicated to Sears again that the new dishwasher was to be installed on the 16th. Sears said they would definitely pick up the dishwasher prior to that date. When August the 16th arrived Sears had still not come for the dishwasher and I phoned them to say the Acton Appliance installer had agreed to uninstall the dishwasher and Sears confirmed that was fine with them. The Sears installer came right after the Action Appliance dishwasher was installed on August the 16th and took the dishwasher. He was the same installer that had done the original installation for Sears in July.

On Friday August 17th I called the Sears warehouse and asked when I could expect my refund. I was told that they did not have the dishwasher back yet. I told them that the installer had picked up the dishwasher the previous day. Sears warehouse said it could take 3 to 5 days for the dishwasher to be returned to the warehouse and I would be refunded 5 to 7 days after that time. After a week I phoned the Sears warehouse again and was told they knew nothing of my dishwasher. I understand that Sears records their phone calls so there should be ample evidence of all that I am saying.

My cell phone records show a log of the numerous phone calls I made to Sears during this time period. I have been promised by the manager of the Sears store in Santa Rosa that my money would be refunded and still no refund. Sears seems to be claiming that their own installer has stolen their dishwasher. Sears appears to have become a disreputable company and I am warning every person I come in contact with to NEVER shop at Sears.

Today was the 6th scheduled service call for my dishwasher. I received parts earlier in the week and called to confirm I got them. I was told the repairman would be at my home between 8am and 5pm to install the parts. I called about 2pm today to see where I was on the queue and they told me the repairman had called in sick today and I would have to schedule another service call, the next available day was more than a week away.

Each service call, my co-workers have been very gracious to re-arrange lunches, etc. so I can leave at a moment's notice when the repairman calls and says he will be at my house in a few minutes. While I appreciate this, I'd imagine it is starting to get a little old as I now have SERVICE CALL #7 SCHEDULED FOR NEXT WEEK!! I can say if I was someone who had to take a whole day off work to meet the repairman, I'd be even more upset than I already am to have to be taking day #7 soon when two of the calls ended up with no repairman showing up at my house and no notification that he wouldn't be coming.

Apparently Sears doesn't understand that it is easier to keep an existing customer than gain a new one. Over the past 12 years my husband and I have purchased 1 microwave, 1 flat screen TV, Dyson vacuum, 2 refrigerators, 2 stoves, 2 dishwashers, 3 washers and 2 dryers, and multiple Craftsman tools from them. We have never purchased an appliance elsewhere. We love our local Sears, the owners are our neighbors and wonderful to work with. However, when the time comes to purchase our next appliance, we will think long and hard before purchasing Sears again.

Earlier this year, we purchased a dishwasher from Sears for two reasons:

● Many of their appliances are Consumer Reports Best Buys.
● Their RAD (responsible appliance disposal) commercials generated trust that the old appliance would be recycled.

I especially enjoyed the ad where two teenage boys accuse the Sears delivery person of dumping the old refrigerator he's replacing. When the man explains the RAD program, the expression of the boy on the left with one raised eyebrow is priceless. Unfortunately, we learned first-hand that the truth is far different from the promotion. When I called to order the dishwasher, I explained to the agent several times that the RAD program was a big reason we chose a Sears appliance.

Since I always take time to make sure of all the details, I assumed everything was set the way I wanted it but when two men delivered the dishwasher a week later, they informed me no arrangement had been made or even requested for installation of the appliance.

Minutes later, I was on the phone chewing out everyone from the first agent who answered all the way up to the supervisor I demanded to talk to. I finally learned Sears no longer installs dishwashers. I don't know about other appliances but I'm not about to test them again. So their RAD program doesn't apply in such cases. Instead, they depend on another company to do the job but they don't volunteer that detail when they sell the appliance. I had to call the other company and set up a date three weeks later to get my new dishwasher installed. You can be certain I made sure they recycle the old dishwasher. Otherwise, I'd have looked elsewhere for the service.

Because I was so adamant and had all the names, dates, and call details carefully recorded, the supervisor did refund our delivery charge but it barely makes up for the fact that we had to wait a full month until we were actually able to use our new machine. When I shared my experience with my sister, she regaled me with an equally vexing problem she had when ordering a trash compactor from Sears. Our negative experiences apparently aren't isolated events. Suffice to say, the company has lost a couple of customers from way wa-a-ay back.

Meanwhile, I have not seen another Sears ad touting their RAD program. I wonder if complaints like mine are the reason the campaign ended. I'm happy they're no longer claiming something that isn't true but do miss that kid with the raised eyebrow.

NORMAN, OKLAHOMA -- This was the MOST frustrating appliance purchase EVER! The dishwasher seems adequate, but the experience at Sears was the WORST! I responded to an email from Sears to make the purchase, but went into my local store to look at the product. Apparently the man the two employees were talking to was more important than an actual customer.

I walked around them and looked at dishwashers for close to 5 minutes before the man they were talking/flirting with said "I think that lady needs help." Thank you to him! The woman told me she couldn't order it online for the price I had gotten in the email, so I went home to order it. That was yet another exercise in futility! It took 40 minutes including having to call to actually get the order placed.

Well, the next morning I got a call from my local store telling me the order was cancelled since they didn't have any in stock, but she could order it for me. Are you kidding?? Since she was very kind, I placed the order. Sounds okay right?

The day of installation arrived and I was told I'd get a call when they headed my way - 4 hour window. This was being installed in a property we own, not our home and I told the installation people that I HAD to be there for the install. So, did they call me? NO! I called twice to see if I could get an idea of when they might come, and was told they couldn't tell me.

Finally when it was 10 minutes till the end of my 4 hour window and I had heard nothing, they found out the installation had already been done! I was not called and they had a child supervise the installation! I am DONE! The manager of the appliance dept. was somewhat apologetic and did make a partial refund of the installation, but I have NEVER had such a fiasco for something I paid to have happen! Never again!!!

ILLINOIS -- This is a copy of the e-mail I sent to David (contact info provided on this site) on 12/13. It is now 24 hours later and I have not had a response. Poor service runs rampant at all levels throughout the home services organization, I would not recommend Sears' home appliances to anyone. I have a neighbor who purchased their appliances at Best Buy and had to use their warranty services and they had a much more pleasant experience than what I am going through.

David - I am extremely upset with the level of non service I received on Friday Dec 10th. I purchased a Kenmore stainless steel dishwasher in May 2010 and the front panel of the door was rusting. I had a technician come to my home on 11/30 and declare that the door needed to be replaced and that a new door would be sent to my house to be installed at a later date. A follow up appointment was scheduled for 12/10/2010 between 1-5 pm.

I received numerous calls prior to the actual appointment date/time to confirm that I was aware of the date/time. I took a half day off of work and waited for the technician to arrive. He/She never did. I even called the 1-800 # at 4:00 PM on 12/10 to get an ETA - no return phone call at that point in time either. I called at 5 PM to inquire about timing and was informed by Angie that I had to reschedule. This is completely unacceptable considering I called earlier that day to inquire of the technician's ETA.

Furthermore Angie informed me that she was the only person who could handle my request despite my request to talk to a supervisor (according to her she does not have a supervisor - how nice to not have accountability in a large company such as Sears!).

My appointment has been rescheduled for Saturday Dec 18 at 8 AM and I told her I want to be the first appointment that day as I cannot waste another 4 hour window in December - I have young children that have school events, Christmas shopping and volunteering activities. Sears should be ashamed for such poor customer service, I purchase a lot of Land's End product, Craftsman and Portrait studio product and have never encountered such behavior.

Installer Bailey brought my new dishwasher Saturday. I noticed he wiped up water from the floor during installation. I asked him a number of times if the hookup was leaking. I was assured repeatedly by him that it was not leaking but "test residue". He left my house and the first load provided a flood, ruining my floor and kitchen sink cabinet. Of course, he can't be reached by anyone, not the store, myself, or his boss. He never returned one phone call!

Sears played helpless! Last laugh--they have my money and I have no service! His boss "doesn't speak to customers" was what the salesperson told me. I called Sears and ordered them to come and get their product out of my house! Sears is done! There is a reason to stick to your mom and pop shops.

The pickup became even more appalling! When the service tech arrived Tuesday he said they don't uninstall. He would have to call the service department for someone else to come out and unhook their problem. My husband, who has been ill, got down on the floor and unhooked it just to be rid of the process. I called corporate customer support this morning to find out about my credit.

I was told it would take 7-10 days to return my money, contradicting the salesperson's assurance of 1-2 days. Also, I have to make another call to the store... They actually have a form called the "retail help ticket" which can expedite my credit immediately, they say! Also, I was promised a damage form to fill out and that has not happened.

I reached an "escalation department personnel this morning. I couldn't get him to tell me what his job entailed, and he told me he had no information regarding my purchase and pick up on his computer. So that's just another buffer Sears uses - useless! Sears has not kept one assurance of service they maintain. Sears motivates their salespeople to behave aggressively merely to survive, so one can imagine the games played within the service department and now I see the shuffle a customer gets from management. I predict Sears service department will be the downfall of this company. I will tell everyone I know of my poor experiences with Sears.

The name of the Danbury store manager is Perry **. I have yet to speak to him/her. "The escalation department," said they'd see to it, I get a call today... I won't wait for it!! I purchased the same exact dishwasher from my local mom and pop appliance store - (Lew White Appliances) - I saw a big savings. The installation charge was less and they provided me with rebate info that Sears did not. These people came through with every service expectation as promised and they will be there to service me. I will never buy from Sears again, ever!

ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA -- Sears does not stand behind their appliances. We have had service out to repair Bosch dishwasher four times since we bought it. Each repair person gave us a different solution, nobody knew what they were doing. Bosch dishwasher has very strong odor of detergent after it has cycled. Each repairman has told us something different. One says use this detergent, the other says that detergent is no good. One says use vinegar, the next calls his supervisor and says "get me out of here." Now Sears will not replace defective dishwasher because we did not require the replacement of any parts.

All we now is there is a residue on the dishes, they are not clean, and a strong odor of dishwashing detergent in the dishwasher after washing. We even told them that we would buy another dishwasher at Sears, and did not want our money back. This place is a major ripoff as far as standing behind their appliances. Our calls go unanswered at the local store. We are told one thing by one service representative and something else by another. On 9/21/2010 we we were told by "Laura" the dishwasher would be replaced and someone would contact us in 2 to 3 days. On 9/30/2010 we called back for "Laura" and were told she was not in and they would have her call us.

We later talked with a RPS representative on this same day who told us she we check with "Laura" and to please hold, which we did. She came back and told us she had "talked to Laura" and Laura said she did not tell us dishwasher would be replaced. Is "Laura" working or not. Seems we may have been misled. They give you the telephone runaround and make promises they will not keep. Total waste of time. I do not know how they can sleep at night. Calls to service, rphs department, store manager, etc. unanswered. DO NOT buy from Sears. In any event Sears is about to spend a lot of money on attorney fees, as it is now a matter of principle and a moral issue. It is no wonder they are having the problems, they are.

MEDFORD, OREGON -- When our house reached 10 years of age, we started changing out our appliances. One natural inclination was to go to Sears. They would have everything we needed. Our first purchase was a Kenmore (made by Frigidaire) HE washing machine (the dryer came later). We had the repairman out to look at a leak (couldn't find it) while it was still under warranty. He basically said it was a phantom leak and not to worry about it. All was fine. The machine stopped spinning correctly and needed to have 3 parts repaired after just 5 years! One of the parts was a faulty door latch. (Hello, leak!)

We replaced our dishwasher with a Kenmore/Frigidaire in 2008. During the first year we had...you guessed it, a leaking problem. We had the repairman out TWICE to look for it and they couldn't find it (never actually pulled the machine out to look). We just kept a bowl under the back to catch the water. After the second visit by repair, we decided to buy the extended service plan "just in case".

In 2010 we replaced all of our flooring. To do so, we had to pull the dishwasher out from under the counter. We FOUND THE LEAK. The gasket that sealed the upper-arm water feed was calcified and crusted up with other muck. We called repair so they could fix it while we had it out. We also required a new door latch and hinges (daughter fell on the door, our bad). He came out and had to order parts that would take 10 days to arrive!!! So, we lived the next 10 days the "old fashioned" way and waited for parts. We had already scheduled the repairman to return after the 10 days.

Our parts arrived in about 7 working days. The night before repair we get a confirmation call for the next day. He would be here sometime between 1 and 5 pm. So, my husband waited at home the entire time...at 3 minutes until 5 we got a phone call saying repair wouldn't be out AT ALL that day!!! We scheduled TEN DAYS IN ADVANCE and they CANCELED OUR REPAIR!!

We had to replace the first mentioned washing machine because parts and labor would have been more than $500. We bought it from a local appliance store with locally scheduled repair and we got a 5-year warranty. We will NEVER, EVER buy ANYTHING from Sears again. My husband is so mad that he isn't buying their tools either!

WHITEHALL, PENNSYLVANIA -- I purchased the Kenmore Elite 2 Drawer dishwasher 2+ years ago. I "thought" I was purchasing a quality appliance. I did purchase the MPA when I purchased the dishwasher. Thank goodness because this dishwasher is broken every 8 -12 weeks.

The dishwasher has plastic bezels over the fan openings. These bezels have 4 tabs that hold them in place. When the tabs break, which they do every 8-12 weeks the water POURS out of the vents and all over the floor. The last time it happened, I had turned the dishwasher on and went to bed. Next morning the kitchen floor has water all over it and the rest ran down the basement stairs. There is no sign these bezels are going to fail, the last tab must break and then there is a giant opening to the outside of the dishwasher and the water FLOWS out. This product failure is documented all over the internet, including on the Sears site (customer review).

Under my MPA I have a no lemon guarantee. Sears is refusing to replace the dishwasher. They have documented 3 repairs in 1 year, but I need 4 repairs for replacement. Today I learned that a repair done on March 9 2009 can no longer be counted in my year, today is March 24. To get these bezel replaced under the MPA I have to call and set up a repair. The repairman has to come out, then order the part, they don't carry this part on the truck. The part is shipped to my home, I call and schedule another appt. That's 2 appts, 2 days of my time, that I wait for the repairman.

The repairman is very good. He has tried to help me to have this product replaced but he was told to just fix it. Here I sit again. My appt was scheduled between 8-12. It's 1:15 PM. Another day off shot. I believed that Sears carried quality appliances, especially at this price. And I believed I was protected against a lemon by my MPA. But apparently they have written the MPA no lemon guarantee with a HUGE loophole.

One repairman actually said there are no good appliances anymore. The only difference is pretty and ugly. Buy cheap and throw them away when they break. I won't buy at Sears/KMart anymore. I am contacting the Better Business Bureau and see what legal action I can take to get this product replaced.