Sear's is Here!

It's 8:55 am and there's a Sears Appliance Repair van in our driveway again. Yeah! I hope.

He's brought in all his tools and I've told him the whole story again.  He said he was told that the original problem he was told was that it wasn't cleaning well.  I told him no, the original problem was that it wasn't letting water in and that the last repair person (the 5th one put tape over the hole that caused it to run and run and run...hence the flood).

He's now taking pictures (with a disposable camera!) of the dishwasher and of all the damage that's been done.  But will the dishwasher work after he's gone?  I'm not sure!

10:45 am: okay, he left! He had to go to Pickering for one part and when he got there he found out that he had to go to the other side of Toronto for another part. He'll be back this afternoon and I've three reassuring phone calls from three different people at Sears.

Why couldn't he just come with the part he needed.  He's the 6th repair person to look at this machine. Don't they have a record of who's done what on each visit? I'm waiting for this afternoon's visit now.

12:42 pm: okay, he's back.

Monday Update #2

We were reassured this afternoon by 2 or more Sears representatives that someone would be by the house today to repair the dishwasher and to make a report regarding the damage to our house.  No one has showed up. 

I also don't understand how a repair person can make a report regarding damage to the house. How is a repair person a qualified home inspector?

I'm at a loss here.  We're now going on 51 days without a dishwasher although we've paid for the year for the Sears Home Central program.  "Satisfaction is guaranteed or your money back"?  We've lost much more than money due to Sears' empty promises and lack of service.

Monday Update

I've added a count "up" so we can keep track of how many days, we've been without a dishwasher. I'm tired of washing dishes behind (I need a manicure!).

My husband and I have had several reassuring phone calls today that a repair person would be by the house today to fix the dishwasher and write a report on the damage to the house because of the flood. I'm not sure how well an appliance repair person can do a home inspection but we'll see.

Also found this complaint online and the story in it sounds familiar:

I called Sears on November 1 to have them fix my 4 year old fridge when the compressor broke. They told me first available was November 8th. I got off early on the 8th just to have the repairman call me to inform me he would be ordering my part that day. He would reschedule for the 14th. Ok, two weeks without a fridge is bad, but not as bad as having them call me the 14th at 9 am after we were already at work to tell me that they cancelled my appointment. When I got home from work (early for the 2nd week in a row) I got the message and called. They are now saying they can reschedule me for the 20th or I can wait by the phone daily, never leave the house, and hope someone cancels their appointment so I can be seen.

It's 2:30 now and no one's actually been here...so we'll see.

Sears Follow-up #4

From Sears:

We are in the process of following up with the service unit to ensure service on your dishwasher is confirmed.  I'm so sorry for the enormous inconvenience we have caused by canceling your service on Friday.  We are committed to ensuring your satisfaction and can assure you that rectifying the situation with your dishwasher and your property damage is our top priority.  We want to restore your faith in Sears.  I will provide you with a further update once we have the information we need.

Sunday afternoon...sigh

It's Sunday afternoon and we don't know if a repair person is coming on Monday or Wednesday to fix the dishwasher, we've been told both.

I'm tired of washing dishes by hand since October 11th.  There's water sitting in the ceiling of our guestroom in the basement. I'm not looking forward to the holiday season without a dishwasher and only empty promises from Sears. 

Each time I've had to wait for a repair person it takes away from my day.  I work from home and each day I have to wait, it lessens my productivity and is costing me money.

Please let me know if the dishwasher can be fixed this week.  If not, we'll start shopping at another store for a replacement.  We've had a home inspector in and there is water damage in the basement and on our first floor baseboards, at least.

Is anything actually going to be done to rectify these problems?  Words don't get our dishes done, straighten our kitchen or get our house back to normal.

Customer Service?

We're getting no help from Sears Appliance Repair...no one showed up today as promised and your customer service just hung up on my husband.

Friday afternoon...waiting

Our inquiry has not been handled to our satisfaction. Service for our dishwasher was supposed to be moved today, this afternoon and no one has shown up.

Because our dishwasher flooded on Wednesday afternoon after a service repairmen temporarily "fixed" it on Monday. We had an inch of water on our first floor and it's leaked into our basement and the carpet and floors of several rooms are damaged.

We pulled everything out of our basements room in expectation of your service person being here to both (1) fix our dishwasher and (2) prepare our report on the damage to our house.

My daughter's 7th birthday party is tomorrow....with no dishwasher and a finished basement that is a mess.

Is Sear's actually capable of completing a successful service call...after 5 weeks?

We were promised that someone would come by today to fix the dishwasher and to access the water damage in our basement.  It's 4:20 now and no one's come by and I've had no messages from Sear's Appliance Repair.  We are part of their appliance insurance program...we join each year.  I'm not sure it's worth 6 weeks of no dishwasher though.

Sears Follow-up #3

From Sears:

The purpose of my email is to follow up with you to ensure that your inquiry has been handled to your satisfaction. I understand that the service of your dishwasher has been moved to a time (Friday afternoon) that is more suitable for you and that Carrol will review you file further once service has been completed.

Sears Follow-up #2

From Sears:

...there is a service call scheduled for Friday morning. The service branch is now closed. I will call tomorrow to see if the service can be moved to the afternoon. The parts are going to be installed during this service call.

I will email tomorrow once I have a response from the service branch.

Sears Follow-up

From Sears:

Good afternoon.  I'm so sorry to hear about the issues with your dishwasher and that we have not been able to solve this for you.

We would very much like the opportunity to rectify this situation with you as soon as possible.

Could you please forward me your home telephone number so that we can access your file.  I was unable to access your file with the cell phone number listed in your email.

Thank you, I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sears Follow-Up with Twitter

After 5 weeks and 5 service repair people, I've tracked down Sears on Twitter in hopes of some help. Here's a direct message I've just received:

SearsCA

Hi. My name is Will. Contact me and I will help escalate your issue. 416-941-4064 or will.XXX@sears.ca

I wrote the following:

Please do anything you can to help.  A Sears repairmen was here on Monday afternoon for our dishwasher and we had an inch of water in the kitchen this morning.  The floor and carpet in our finished basement are all soaked.  We're hoping for no permanent water damage and mold in the basement. I work at home so my workday has been shot.

The dishwasher broke on Thanksgiving in October and 5 repairmen have been here and no one's been able to fix it.  This morning it flooded the house.  I've been told someone is coming this Friday to fix it with the right part, but I've been told that already 5 times in the past 5 weeks. 

My faith is Sears repair has been lost.

Repairman #5

Repairmen number 5, from Sears Appliance Repair, arrived today.  He pulled out the dishwasher...I'm not sure anyone did that before.  A piece that manages the waterflow seemed dirty and was causing the water to backup so that dishwasher thinks it's overflowing.  He cleaned the piece and put a piece of tape over the hole that causes the machine to overflow and then turn itself off.  He says the machine will run now as usual and that we shouldn't worry about it overflowing.

The Dishwasher Saga begins...

It's Thanksgiving Day (October 11, 2009) in Canada...the first day of our saga. Our dishwasher is broken...it runs and runs, but doesn't get past the middle of the first wash cycle.  I hate washing dishes. 

We've called Sears Appliance Repair and they are coming on Thursday to access what's wrong.  Trouble is, they'll assess and then come back a week later with the needed part.  That's two weeks without the dishwasher.  I have washing dishes.