The Sears Saga

Do you remember way back in the olden days when there was this thing called customer service? For you young people; you could call the store, vendor, distributor, dealership ... whatever, and tell them you had a problem with their product and - are you sitting down to read this? - they actually cared.

A few years back they discontinued this. Oh, they still had a department that they called customer service but that was in name only. I found on occasion that I could get resolution by calling "customer relations". That didn't last long, most companies discovered that someone within their ranks was helping the customer and they did away with that department.

And remember when, if you wanted a product that would work properly and last forever, you bought from Sears? The names Craftsman and Kenmore were names you could count on. That time in history too is a vague memory.

Now on to the saga of the Sears Freezer ... I have this stupid chest freezer. It's a regular chest freezer on top but has a bottom drawer for items that don't need to be frozen for long periods of time. It's for frozen dinners, ice cream, leftovers, etc. It's also a very poor concept and one of the worst investments I've made. Oh, I'm energy efficient so it's not frost free. Stupid, stupid, stupid - but that's another issue. About a month and a half ago, having just defrosted the freezer maybe a month earlier, I discovered it seriously needed it again and after completing this two day project, found that the drawer wouldn't close completely which was causing the ice buildup. I have a maintenance agreement (one of my smarter decisions, of which there seem to be very few anymore) so I made the phone call. A tech' could be out in two weeks. He came and wouldn't you know, it needed defrosting again, he couldn't do anything, be back in two weeks. OK! My bad, should have checked.

He was back in two weeks and I needed new parts. He ordered them, "they'll be delivered next week, I'll be back in two weeks." The first parts came the following week, a couple more parts the week after that. I started making phone calls, to the point that I received a call and was given a case manager and a case number. Are we all of us impressed with me? Last week the final part arrived and, as instructed, I called Distribution only to be told, No - the part that I was looking at hadn't arrived yet. They would call and tell me when it did. And then they would make an appointment for the tech to come. He was here today. I won't go into the conversation that made that happen.

Now I have friends who have a pool going as to when I'll have a working freezer again. They'll have to add new dates. Two of the major parts are malformed. Seems whatever country they're made in, those people don't understand how to operate a jig and these parts are n/g. My new best friend, the freezer tech, has reordered the parts. With any luck they may be here in another two to three weeks. We have him tentatively scheduled for a return visit on the 28th. Want in on the pool? And, yes, I put in a call to the case manager who is monitoring the "service." She was unavailable. Want to start a new pool? Anybody want a freezer? The top half works really well.