Hey, just so you know ... this post is now about 13 years and 11 months old. Please keep that in mind as it very well may contain broken links and/or outdated information.

Back on Wednesday, April 21, our four year-old front-loading Sears Kenmore Elite HE4t washer broke. It was in the final spin cycle and somehow got unbalanced which caused the inner tub to spin erratically. It made a loud grinding/squealing noise and then stopped with an F06 diagnostic code.

I called Sears customer support and was told the F06 was some sort of electrical malfunction. The service rep was able to fit us in for the next day and it would cost the basic $129 for the on-site visit/repair.

The next day after just 15 minutes the repairman determined that the entire inner tub assembly of the washer would need to be replaced. Luckily the tub was still covered under the warranty, but it would take a few days for the three big parts to arrive. He estimated he could come back next Thursday to finish the repair.

On Tuesday, the 27th, we received an automated message on our answering machine from Sears asking us to call back about rescheduling our service appointment. No parts had arrived yet. We called and were told one of the parts was back-ordered and would not make it in time for the Thursday appointment. Instead, they wanted to reschedule for Monday, May 3. If all the parts arrived earlier, the service rep told us, we could call back and try to get an earlier service appointment.

Now, according to the receipt for the parts left by the original repairman, the cost of these replacement parts was almost as much as the washer cost us new back in 2006 (over $1,200!). Rather than have to wait another 6 days to have a working washer again (it’s already been 6 days at this point), we asked the service rep if it made more sense for Sears to just give us a whole new washer that could probably be in our home in a day or so. We figured in the end it would save Sears money since there was the cost of the parts plus the time and labor of the repairman. The rep told us that wasn’t their warranty policy and our only option was to wait for the parts. Nice, thanks.

Thursday evening (April 29), all three parts of the tub assembly arrived. They came via UPS Ground from the Sears Parts/Outlet seven miles away from our house! I probably could have driven there and picked up the parts faster, or at least the repair guy could have. Why ship them UPS Ground a mere seven miles? Whatever, fine, the parts are here. We call Sears and are told there are no available appointments for Friday the 30th so we’ll have to stick with our original Monday window. Grrrrr.

Monday, May 3 arrives and we’re joyously anticipating the return of our washer usage later that evening. After lunch, my wife calls me at work: the guys arrived and discovered that more parts are needed! Yep, day 12 without the washer and we have to wait on another $60 in parts (which are probably going to ship from that same center down the street).

Those additional parts are expected to arrive tomorrow and the next service call is scheduled for Thursday (day 15). Of course we just happen to have out-of-town guests arriving on Thursday, and our laundry room is part of the guest bathroom, so that’ll be yet another inconvenience. If the parts don’t arrive tomorrow and we have to re-schedule the service call again … well, I don’t want to think about that right now.

I’m pretty upset with how Sears has handled this so far. They could have (presumably) saved some cash and (definitely) saved some customer frustration and loss of goodwill by just replacing the entire washer.