Don't Buy Sears Products, Buy Samsung and Bosch

We have just had one of the worst customner service experiences ever. A few days ago our washer sounded like a bomb had gone off in it during the high speed spin cycle. It's a front loader, Sears washer. Tom took it apart and found that two of the three supports that hold the drum had cracked. When the drum slipped, it punched a hole in the basket.



 The parts cost about a total of $500. The machine is about seven years old. The drum has a lifetime warranty except it doesn't. We searched the internet to find out more about our problem and lo and behold others have had the exact same problem along with the exact same horrendous customer service! The word service should not be allowed in the same sentence as Sears.  Tom spent at least an hour on the phone being hung up on, argued with, transferred and put on hold. At one point one of the customer service twits told Tom that customer relations did not want to talk to him!  To make a long story short, they won't replace the plastic basket even though their failed part broke it. They might replace the lifetime warrantied drum.  Might. And they would charge labor at $65/hour to replace the drum even though we had already done most of the work and only wanted the parts. Gee I wonder why Sears stores are closing all over the country? It's worth pointing out that Tom is not a rude person so his treatment was abhorrent. Eventually he did snap and let them have it. And so he should have. We will be lodging a complaint with the BBB.

So off we went to Lowes yesterday and did some research. Samsung and Bosch are hands down the best washer/dryers you can buy. Their customer service is second to none and the quality of their machines is top notch. They stand behind their products unlike the crooks at Sears. We found a model that we liked and it even includes a fancy sanitation cycle using cold water.  And we lucked out. That model is 10% off with the use of their credt card and a further 10% off starting next Thursday.  We also have several hundred dollars in gift cards that we had intended to use on a new fridge but alas, that's not happening quite yet. I had just done several washes so we should make it to Thursday. However Mike has three baseball games between now and then so I am washing his uniform as I type (yes I have very long arms) and will be washing it by hand during ther week. Needless to say, the last game was in a downpour and the kids decided to slide in the mud so the uniform is about as muddy as it can get! 

Next Thursday, we will be making our contribution to the economic recovery!