I've been getting really crappy customer service from Sears/Kenmore. I never thought I'd be airing my dirty laundry or that my washing machine would be a web appliance, but I'm really pissed. So, I'm live broadcasting the saga and archiving it. I'm twittering it too - is there a kenmore cares? I was inspired by Chris Brogan who posted this piece on customer service and different channels.
Here's a summary of the story thus far and I will continue to live broadcast and post it.
After returning from the road with a suitcase of dirty clothing on March 14, 2008, my aging Kenmore washing machine started to make a weird moaning and clicking noise. The spin cycle would not start and our laundry was soaping wet. Even worse, we could not drain the water out of the washer with a gravity spin. (Later we went to Home Depot for a siphon).
I called Sears and they were not available to come on site until March 21st. Since I was going to be in New Orleans, my husband stayed home for the Sears Repairman. He was supposed to arrive in the morning, but did not show up until 4:30 PM. The repairman said the motor was dead and the machine needed a new pump. We had to order it. It took a week to arrived. It arrived, we scheduled another appointment, but the repairman did not show up.
This was right before we were to leave on vacation. So, I scheduled another appointment for the day after vacation - on April 7th. We had suitcases and baskets of dirty laundry. No clean underwear for anyone in the family. I did an emergency run to a laundry mat. Sears called and said the repairman was unable to come on April 7th and rescheduled for April 8th. Sears called on April 8th and said the repairman was unable to come. We rescheduled for April 9th in the morning. The repairman did not arrive until the afternoon and I decided to live broadcast his visit on my Nokia N95.
He was not too happy about me video taping him, but he was very good with customer service and he was knowledgeable. I got lots of tips about washing machine maintenance. One reason why I'm having trouble is that I'm an early adopter of digital washing machines. The first ones were plagued with problems. Since my machine is 8 years old, the parts are no longer carried on the trucks as standard parts. So, this the reason for the long waits. So, does that mean you should ditch your washing machine every 5 years?
He told me to turn off the camera or he would leave without fixing my washer. He said that the repairmen were not allowed to speak to journalists! I told him was I just a blogger.
Anyway, off camera he told me that the first guy misdiagnosed the problem and that we needed to order another part .. but that he would put me on emergency order and I could get an appointment as soon as the part arrived.
So, I was forced to go to the Laundry Mat.
It has a cool sign ...
Two days later - as the repairman promised - the part arrives. Tune in to the next installment to see if we get an appointment right away.
Very nice write up. Easy to understand and straight to the point.
It’s great to see good information being shared.
Posted by: Custom Term papers | December 20, 2009 at 11:20 PM