Part 3: Sears Does What We Expected -- Blames It On US!

This is the email my roommate got from Sears after the technician submitted his report.

Good morning Mrs. XXXXX,
I see that our tech came out and adjusted the door. He also said there was weight on the door from the 50 lbs of food that was causing it to be off balanced, How is it working now that that was removed and the door adjusted. Please reply to this email or give me a call. Because of the issue you have had with your fridge, I would like to extend your warranty for a year would that be acceptable to you?

SERIOUSLY??? I didn't see him take anything out and weigh it, yet in order to BLAME IT ON US, he claimed we have 50 lbs. of food in the door, which is BULLSHIT! 

Unfortunately, my roommate wrote back and accepted the extended warranty, which was a huge mistake. She did not fight for a replacement refrigerator, like she said she was going to. I'm disappointed, but it's her house, her refrigerator, so what can I do? She did tell them off, though, but the warranty bit has still screwed her mightily. I would have fought for the new fridge, or at least said that if it broke one more time, a new fridge was all that would placate me. This was her reply:

So far it is ok. I'd like to add this.
1. there was no way 50 # of food. It is the same amount of small items like jars, plastic bags of light weight items like flax seeds, etc that I have always used the door for with no problems with any other fridge
2. Two techs ago told us the problem was we had too much in the freezer so we cut that in half. If the food in the door was a problem they would have mentioned it. This tech was very good but I think he had instructions to blame it on us. We have had at least 5 techs - all have seen the door - it was never mentioned
3. This tech did things the other techs did not do like adjusting the height of the front of the fridge - why would the other techs not know to do this?
4. We are waiting to see if the freezer does defrost properly and we will let you know after a few more days.
5. yes we would like another year on the warranty if this does not come under replacement.

Thank you for your assistance with this,
XXXXXXXXX

So, these things are apparent:

1. Sears technicians are trained to blame all problems on the consumer.
2. Sears technicians don't know what they are doing, they just say whatever they think will shut you up.
3. Sears has no intent of ever replacing a bad appliance, no matter what you do. They just want to force you to keep it until it is so old they can claim they don't have to replace it.

I will never buy a single item from Sears every again. I used to always go to Sears first. Kenmore was my favorite brand. No more. I'm done with them, and I hope some other people reading this will be done with them too. They can never convince me that they are anything less than unscrupulous liars who don't stand behind their products.

On a side note, one of my Hispanic-American followers from Texas sent me an email that said (published with permission):

My son got a toy for Christmas that my uncle, who works at Sears, bought for him. It didn't work. When we tried to return it, they gave us a really hard time. The customer service person was a bitch.This was the conversation.

• CS: "What's wrong with it?"
• Me: "It doesn't work."
• CS:  "Did you put batteries into it?"
• Me:  "Are you joking? Of course I did."
• CS:  "Where are they?"
• Me:  "I bought them, so I took them out and kept them."
• CS:  "We have no way of knowing if it works without the batteries"
• Me: "So send someone over to get some batteries off the shelf."
• CS: "I can't do that."

At this point, I leaned over the counter and said quietly "You either give me a refund right now, or I start screaming that you used racial slurs on me." Then I smiled and she gave me the refund. Nobody should have to go through that to get a refund on something that doesn't work.

Sears would do well to remember that for every person they put through this, the rule of sevens applies - they tell 7 people, who each tell 7 people, etc. Except, online, that 7 turns to thousands. No wonder you are bankrupt. You have evidently been morally bankrupt for a long time.