The black hole of Sears
Yes folks... it's that time again.
Our Sears Kenmore water heater has once again blown an element. That's three times in the 9 years we've been here.
And this wouldn't be such a horrible ordeal, if you could simply drive down to Home Depot or Lowes and pick up a replacement part... but guess what... Sears uses a proprietary thread to stop that from happening.
To make things worse... Sears no longer stocks these parts locally. The closest heater element is... or so I am told... in Toronto or Ottawa (and that's a lie, see update below). You'll have to forgive my skepticism here, as the Sears parts people were unable, despite having the model of this Kenmore branded appliance, able to locate a part number.
So now I get to call the 800 number and do another interminable dance with some miserable minion who gets minimum wage to deal with unhappy people all day.
This oughta be fun.
Moral of the story... deal with Sears at peril of your sanity.
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UPDATE: Why am I surprised?
Just got off the phone with Sears after checking their parts website which claims to have an inventory of 7 million items. Unfortunately... just like the parts depot, it didn't even recognise the model number of my water heater.
And... as expected... dealing with their call center was just another complete fuck-around.
I am told that not one of their parts depots in Ontario carries this item. Robo-Tele-Serf claims that this heater element must be ordered from the manufacturer, sent to a central warehouse and then shipped to the Belleville parts outlet.
That was gonna take 6 days. Without hot water.
I can overnight shit to Uzbekistan... but Sears needs a week to get this part to the backwater of Belleville, Ontario? Seriously?
Oh yeah... here's the best part... it was gonna cost 62 bucks plus tax & whatever... double the cost of the most expensive replacement heater element I saw on my rounds of Canadian Tire, Lowes & Home Depot.
Kudos to the clueless bimbo who... in the middle of my rant about their miserable service... asked me if I wanted to participate in a customer satisfaction survey.
Anyway... I'm gonna have to go buy a water heater... any recommendations from handy readers will be appreciated.
19 comments:
Great... the house we just bought has a Sears water heater... and central vac... and oven... I wonder what else?
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oh, trust me dan... it gets better.
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We had a simmilar problem with parts for a sears dishwasher.
I can highly recommend RUUD. Although, I hope I haven't cursed myself. Been doing a lot of that lately. Not a god-believer, but there is something about karma that can be a bit...disconcerting.
Sears Kitchen Aid refrigerator here.
Two years old, 5 repairs. Now the door needs to be replaced but guess what: they don't make the colour anymore. We are getting the "close enough" line.
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"jckirlan says... We are getting the 'close enough' line."
well, i'll tell ya... i'll start bathing in the pond out back before i let these bandits jack me 62 bucks & 6 unwashed days (see updated post) for a water heater element.
thx jag for the recommendation... i'll be shopping around later today.
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I feel your pain.
I spent a shitload of cash in December upgrading my furnace, ac and installing a tankless water heater through Sears.
In early feb, less than 60 days later, the water heater crapped out.
Called the service number, was connected to some minimum wage guy in the Philipines.
Would not give me a service work order number UNTIL I committed to paying a minimum 200$ service charge for someone to come and look at the problem... considering the equipment comes with a 10 year warranty that was a bit rich.
So if you think that Sears being the muitibillion company it is is going to look after you, you're sadly mistaken.
you should look into a tankless model.
Since you'd be upgrading to a more efficient model you'd be eligible for a government grant to help pay for it too.
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haven't thought about tankless... assumed you needed natural gas... which we don't get out here.
they come in electric models too?
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I consulted a large, well-established west coast plumbing/water-heater company in my city for advice before replacing my older water heater (which had given me no trouble). My idea was that the plumbers might know which brands caused the least trouble and would continue to stock the parts for longer. I decided not to go tankless, as I was worried about delivery to the third floor (the hot water does not come on all that quickly) and the tankless could make things worse. They suggested an EnerStar model by Bradford White. Has worked perfectly for 3 years so far.
Both of my hot water tanks are 'John Wood' models from Fergus Ont.
Not a lick of trouble in the 6 yrs that I've owned the house.
That's what you get for dealing with this outfit. Ever since PBS ran the story on how Sears colluded with Sony to undercut and destroy the North American television manufacturers I have never set foot in one of their stores. That story ran on Frontline at least 20 years ago and from that day to this I have never been in a Sears store or purchased a Sony product, and I never will. In fact, rather than shortcut through a Sears store in a mall I will walk all the way around the building to avoid going through their premises.
What ever you buy stay away from Sears, I bought a stove from them and the bloody burners don't lock needless to say they wabble and shake and I've been scalded more times than I can count. The stove is a saftey hazard, but I doubt they'll tell the public that.
The fridge I bought from them ten years ago caught on fire and burnt the wall behind it, again it had a flaw but Sears didn't tell the public that the fridge had a history of catching on fire.
They don't make them like they used to. Put one in on the farm in 1964 and it was still working when we sold in 1995.
We just replace one a few months ago, when another oldie finally gave up the ghost.
None of them were/are Sears.mablea
Neo I have a tankless water heater or lack there of and I love it and it's fueled by oil.
"they come in electric models too?"
I was home one day when the meter reader came around. I intonated that the cost of my electric bill was going to be high that month due to A/C usage. He said that A/C isn't the big user, it's the ELECTRIC WATER HEATER. He told me to turn it off and only turn it back on an hour before usage. Sure enough I did it and have been saving substantial money monthly. I went to Home Hardware, got a timer, hooked it up (very easy) set it to turn the water heater on at 5 am and 5 pm for one hour each. Have never run out of hot water with 3 kids and 2 adults and the savings are substantial and ongoing.
There Mr Suzuki, I reduced my carbon footprint, not out of guilt but necessity.
Some good info here:
http://www.waterheaterrescue.com/pages/WHRpages/English/Longevity/the-right-hot-water-heater.html
Ruud and Rheem are two definitely good brands that I've had experience with, but as the article says make sure you get the right anodes.
Sears products are expensive so they can afford a few warranty repairs later on. (real conservative)
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"fred says... make sure you get the right anodes"
i actually came across this site the last time i replaced an element.
should be required reading for anyone contemplating a new water heater.
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