Sears - the new overachievers?

Wow, was I wrong. The guy from Sears showed up at 10am, right in the middle of the scheduled window (tip: always get the first appointment in the morning, so there are "the technician is running behind because of problems at the appointment(s) before you" issues). He spent about 10 minutes diagnosing the problem (equal to the amount of time Google and I spent on it) and determined it was the compressor.

He then headed out to his truck, with me in tow to get the replacement part and the tools needed to replace it. Getting a peek inside the truck shed some light on things - like why it always took them 30 minutes to come back in and say "sorry, don't have it, need to order it" - the truck is a mess! Parts are all over the place. Two hours later, he was done, the refrigerator was fixed, and he was off to make someone else's weekend!

Awesome, thanks Sears. I can't say my faith has been completely renewed, but we're making progress.

It's all about expectations

Tomorrow's the big day. Our refrigerator/freezer died last week and Sears is "coming to fix it." I can't blame the refrigerator, it was already nearly 7 years old. For real - it's not even 7 years old. From the start we had issues. First it was the ice maker, then the door, then who knows what.

The other day it started making a strange noise - in hindsight, it sounded like an electric motor that was trying to start but binding somehow. That sound was followed by a clicking sound and then silence. I called Sears and the CSR said "maybe it's the ice maker, can you check that".. Sure bud, when I get home tonight I'll check the ice maker.

It wasn't the ice maker - that was turned off. Another call to Sears, some more "maybe it's this, maybe it's that." Please, just send someone out. I have a super duper Master Protection Plan (when you read that outloud, you're supposed to use a big, booming voice - like Obewan would have said - "trust the Master Protection Plan Luke") and all.

Which brings us to today. I'm not the world's biggest Sears fan. I'm sure I can blame this on my parents - when we were growing up, Sears was the place to be. They had everything you could ever want (still do), and it lasted forever. These days, their appliances suck, with the exception of the Kenmore vacuum I bought there, which didn't suck even though it was supposed to and has since been replaced by a Miele which sucks spectacularly. And their customer service totally sucks, which is somehow ironic, given the lack of quality in their merchandise.

Right.. Tomorrow morning the guy from Sears is supposed to come to look at the refrigerator. I've been having nightmares about how this is going to go, playing out roughly the same scenario over and over (I've possibly mistakenly assumed the guy will show up):

8:00AM Sears man shows up

8:05AM Sears man looks at the refrigerator and says "I don't see anything wrong,"

I'm prepared for this - I recorded it (with my new[for me] iPhone 3GS) making it's stupid noise and not starting the compressor. I learned when the asshole washer repairman left without doing anything useful. Jerk.

8:08AM Sears man says "oh, looks like the compressor's shot. Let me check my truck to see if I have one.

I've been this route too. He goes out to his truck, smokes a cigarette or two, updates his facebook status, etc. Comes back in 30 minutes later.

8:38AM Sears man comes back in and says "nope, don't have the part, I'll order it, it'll get here in a couple of weeks. When it does, call and we can make another appointment to come and install it."

At this point, I'm kind of screwed.. I can call Sears and complain, tell them I have a Master Protection Agreement, etc. But as far as I can remember, they don't give a crap what I have.

Sucks to be me

We bought a new vacuum cleaner the other day. Our old Sears Kenmore canister had outlived its usefulness. The wheels never rolled straight, the connector for the "Power Hose" stuck such that you needed a screwdriver to disconnect the recently replaced "Turbo Brush" attachment, and so on.

After a lot of online shopping and a couple of trips to local stores, we decided to get a Miele canister from Bed Bath and Beyond (I always think of Jay from Last Commic Standing when I think of BB&B). After using it the other day during housecleaning, I have to say, I think we made the right choice. It's leaps and bounds better than the Kenmore was. The parquet floor attachment is great on the hardwood floors (that was extra), the spinny upholstery brush is great (and gentle) on the furniture.

My favorite part is the vent (air gets sucked in through the hose, it needs to be vented out somewhere, right?). On the Kenmore, the vent was out the back. That was always annoying - if the vacuum happened to be facing the wrong way, it would just blow the dust around. The Miele people figured that out and have it vent out the top - no more blowing the stuff I haven't gotten to sucking around.

Bed Bath and Beyond though - arg. We decided to get this particular vacuum from them because we had a 20% off coupon (they send coupons weekly). What we didn't realize was that the coupon, in its fine print, excludes nearly every major (read "expensive") manufacturer. We walked up to the register with what would soon be our new vacuum, handed it and the coupon to the cashier and were told "oh, you can't use this coupon on this vacuum - Miele is excluded" and she showed us, in the teeny tiny print - they're excluded - bastards.

But we got it anyway - I think that's what they expect to happen - get people excited to buy something and then when they can't back down, hit them with the bad news. And it worked, but only this time - we won't be shopping there anytime soon.