FYI: A few months ago, my Kenmore dishwasher stopped working in the middle of a cycle. The clean light kept flashing, and it wouldn't work. I looked in the manual, and it said when that happens, call a Sears repairman.
So the guy came out, and supposedly used some gizmo to "reset" the machine. I didn't see it, hubby was here. It cost $75.
Well, it just happened again tonight, in the middle of the cycle, it stopped working and the green light was flashing. This time, I looked online for "resetting a Kenmore" and found out that you just push a couple of buttons in succession and the machine resets itself.
So they know this, but they don't put it in the manual, and charge you $75 for the privilege of having a repairman come out and push a couple of buttons! What a rip off!!!
So, since this has to be a question, has anyone else ever have this happen with their Kenmore dishwasher?
Riley -- that's the best PR. That happened the other day to my friend with a hot tub repairman.
But Kenmore is a Sears product, and I called a Sears repair person. There's a reason Sears is omitting the reset code from their manual, it seems, and allowing their repair people to charge $75 to push some buttons. I call it ripping people off.
Wow Lillian, impressive!!
I have no respect for Sears. They have a ridiculous business model. THAT'S why their business is now going down the tubes.
Dawn
Ugh no but with my car the service light will come on for anything ex low washer fluid. One day after having my car serviced the light was still on.. I watched the mechanic take a rod and poke a button under the dash. Geez wish the car manual would tell me this trick. Frustrating
BEST plumbers, EVER.
Back when God was a boy... And I was on my own... My sink clogged. The plumbers came out, showed me the reset on my disposal, and how to clear a p-trap (pea-trap?).
Free. No trip charge. No labor charges.
Their feeling behind a freebie for "duh" lessons? When I needed REAL work done, I'd call them back. And in the meantime, I'd talk them up to friends and neighbors. Totally did.
Dad & Son business. Dad retired, son in medschool. Or I'd totally plug them here. Used them for 10 years. Anything they could fix in 5min or less was free. Period.
Everytime we purchase something and the salesperson says "we really recommend the extended 2-year warranty" my husband says "How about you just show us something that you expect to last more than two years?"
Love to see the looks on their faces!
Yes! This happened to me but with my Kenmore oven. It just needed to be reset, and there was a code you enter and it's not in the manual. Fortunately the oven was only 2 months old, so the cost was covered under the basic warranty. We then went on to have several other problems with the oven, internal temperature wasn't working so heating component needed to be replaced, top burners weren't heating up and needed to be replaced, a fuse in the back burned out causing only the broiler to come on almost causing a fire. It was something like 8 times they came out, and I had to wait around all day because all they tell you is it's sometime between 8-5. This was all in the first few months of buying the stove and Sears just kept sending out repairman and WOULD NOT replace the stove. Several meals were ruined not to mention all the time spent on the phone just trying to get through to someone. Some of the repairman were fine while others complete jerks. Never going to buy from Sears again.
A few years back the tenants in our rental house called & said there was a problem with the furnace...we called our furnace company and they sent a guy out, he charged us $125 to, I kid you NOT: take a piece of sandpaper out of his back pocket and sand around the little nub part of where the gas comes out! It took all of 2 mins! $125...can you believe that?? It wasn't in the middle of a snow storm and it wasn't an emergency call or anything like that, just a regular old 'hey, we have a problem can you come take a look' ...set up an appointment for a couple days later-type call...What a rip!! Husband made sure to tell him exactly what he thought of that bill and the way they handle those type of service calls and that we would not be using them in the future for our rental house OR our own house, EVER again!
Needless to say, husband used that trick at our house when we had trouble with our furnace at our house a year later, worked like a charm! Apparently after time the natural gas can accumulate and gums up the works and all it takes is a couple swipes with some regular old sandpaper across the spot where the gas comes out! So easy!
My mother used to sing:
First to Sears
Then to school
Shop at Sears
And be a FOOL!
:)
My old Kenmore dish suddenly refused to run, and I'm sure Sears would have charged us an arm & a leg to come out. After much searching, I figured out that the floating plunger that stops it from over-filling was jammed. All I had to do was push it down with one finger and everything else was fine!
Unless it's under warranty, I will not call Sears for anything! They subcontract and their service people are terrible. Thanks for the resetting tip! Haven't had that happen, but I'll keep it in mind. Also keep in mind, if you have a kenmore fridge with water in the door, you can get the filters for half the price of what sears sells them for -- but they're labeled Pur instead of Kenmore.
I've never had an issue with any Kenmore product I've owned. My families old canister vacuum finally died after a whopping 28 years! Our fridge/freezers get about 20, and our washer got 40(it was second-hand). Our dryer is about 50(also second-hand). We prolly would still have the washer, but I was pregnant, and not allowed to tinker with it.
With the advent of the Internet, I usually use Google-fu before calling a tech out.
On the gal that mentioned cars, Haine's and Chilton's makes excellent aftermarket manuals that give detailed how-to's on cars. Totally worth the $20-40 investment, as they can save you that on the first do it yourself repair. I've changed the heater cores on two of my cars, radiator hoses, and brakes and brake lines on one(Now that I have my son, I take it in, because it's too dangerous to do with a seven year old going, "What are you doing Mommy?" every five minutes). Now that he's in school, I can once again do tune-ups and oil changes, so that's a cool $300 I don't have to spend on a mechanic.
Hope this helps.
Mine randomly locks. I found out you hold the heat button down for ten seconds.
I wanted to comment on what other mamas observed - that the old appliances lasted for decades. The new ones don't. After 20 years of living in our home, we finally had to replace the house's original dishwasher. It was at least 35 years old. We hate the new one (Maytag) because it is constantly getting clogged, even though we rinse dishes first. And after just a couple years, the dish racks are already rusting pieces off. My husband repairs things for a living. Still, that new dishwasher is a pain in the patootie. For the last year we mostly just wash dishes by hand.
The house's ORIGINAL stove and oven are still running fine. They are over 40 years old.
It's just like my Honda. An idiot light has been on for awhile because Honda charges 150 bucks to have it turned off, it's the "tire pressure maintenance system light".... SO LAME.
It's been on ever since we put new tires on the car last year.
Humm. . . no. I've had only Kenmore dishwashers (appliances) and have never had a problem with them, EVER! In my current house I have 2, one in the main kitchen and one in the finished basement kitchen and I seriously have never had a problem.
Yes, had it happen. But it was 2 weeks old. The guy did it for free and told us how to do it in the future. :) We also bought the extended warranty for I think 4 years.
No, but I did have a Sears hot water heater that was giving me problems so I called the repairman. He charged me $75 to say there was nothing wrong with the hot water heater. Really? Then why don't I have hot water??!?!!
I also had my kitchen remodel done through Sears and don't recommend them at all!
The one thing Sears is good about is responding to consumer complaints. If I were you, I would write them a scathing letter about what happened and say something like you'll never buy another Kenmore product nor shop at Sears again and you will tell everyone you know, blah, blah, blah. I bet they call you up and offer you something!
I have learned that whenever anything goes wrong with an appliance, I google it and look at YouTube. We have watched tutorials on how to replace the clutch in the washing machine to diagnosing our computer's issues. Its saved us hundreds of dollars!
