Two weeks ago, our home took a power surge and fried most of the appliances we have. By fried, I mean literally fried, if it was attached to the power circuit and had power flowing into it, it died. A call to Sears on Friday produced a technician on Saturday (good!) along with a diagnosis that parts had to be ordered and follow-up appointments had to be scheduled with multiple people to complete the repairs (many of our appliances are “built-in” and have to be removed for service.)
Before going forward in this tale, I’ve used Sears appliance servicing for years to very good effect. Generally speaking, they’re fast, reliable, accurate, and reasonably priced. When something conks out that I can’t fix, they’ve done the job and done the job well. So I’m favorably inclined to do business with them and until now, recommend them to others.
Two weeks after the incident, exactly one of our appliances is repaired. We’ve had 6 visits from technicians, a dozen part shipment events, untold hours on the phone, and still, we have no refrigerator, oven, or microwave. How can this happen you ask?
It seems there are a series of problems with the “central office” at Sears starting with the complete inability to handle multiple appliance repair situations, exacerbated by centralized call management systems, and completely stopped by the inability to supply the part required for the repair. All complicated by the fact that the technicians are not able to diagnose the actual problem and are playing parts roulette.
If a request for part A was made and part B was shipped one time, that’s an error. If it happens a second time, it’s a coincidence that makes you wonder what’s going on. If it happens a third time, that’s a trend of gross incompetence. The poor technician is out to perform the service opens the part and says “that’s not right” – I look at the part, and he’s right, it’s not even close. He calls the central office and they insist it is the right part. This would be pretty much like a doctor confusing an arm with a head.
Meanwhile, I’ve got the technician here until 7pm last night going through each appliance saying let’s catalog the parts and order them all. A nice guy, but not the sharpest knife in the drawer…he’s got the ovens apart trying to replace the control panels and had neglected to order the transformers, which of course, were also fried. This is maddening.
Well, off to try the Sears line again. I’m going to try to find someone who can make a decision and has a modicum of common sense. These appliances are going to get fixed! And I can’t wait to engage PG&E to make the claim on this fiasco – I wonder if our neighbors are having the same challenges…
