Not a question, just a gripe!

[Max]

My wife and I bought a new Kenmore Elite fridge / freezer a couple of weeks ago and it was delivered / installed yesterday. It's been switched on for over 30 hours now and the temps are:
freezer - 10 (set to 0)
fridge - 55 (set to 37)

that's the lowest they've been. The unit is empty except for a couple of glass shelves. We haven't even put in the extra door shelves ot anything like that. Spoke to everyone I can at Sears that I can (except Customer Relations since they are closed) and the soonest they can replace it is 8/17 and the soonest a tech can come out to see it is 8/18!! How's that for service? Only a minimum of a week to wait on a working fridge. Not bad when we spent $2600 on it including the additional warranty. How do they expect people to live without a fridge for over a week? We have another fridge in the basement but it's smaller and already jammed to capacity.

Just needed to get that off my chest.

Cheers, Max

Edited for language

[JCA1]

What source are you using for the temp. readings?

[Max]

The build in thermometer and you can just feel inside that the temp is not right. Here's what I think is happening. I think the fridge is not cooling at all and the freezer is doing all the work. I don't even know if that is possible but it seems like the motor is running all the time. Anyway, I managed to get a further 15% off the price of the freezer so we're good for now.

[Dan O.]

** I think the fridge is not cooling at all and the freezer is doing all the work. **

That is how most refrigerators work but if you post your fridge's *exact* model number, we may be able to check. You can find tips for locating the model and serial number tag on your appliances at the following link:

- Model Number Tag Search
LINK > http://www.appliance411.com/parts/tagsearch.cgi

The complete number will NOT usually be found on any paper work that can with the appliance, only on the appliance itself.

JFYI

Dan O.

https://www.Appliance411.com/?ref411=Kenmore_Fridge

The Appliance Information Site
=D~~~~~~

[Max]

Just to add a little more information, there is a dial that can be turned inside the frigde so that an extra-cold blast of air comes through from the fridge. When that is fully opened the fridge can "plummet" all the way to the mid 40's.

OK, the model is a Kenmore Elte 44329 (from the paperwork). 106.44329400 from the sticker inside. The serial number is SS3028576.

The fridge is getting swapped out on Wednesday so hopefully we won't be so unlucky as to get another duffer.

Cheers, Max

[Dan O.]

** Kenmore Elite [model] 106.44329400 **

That fridge has a conventional refrigeration system wherein ALL cooling takes place in the freezer compartment and just a portion of that air is circulated throughout the fridge section to cool there. Very few refrigerator models cool each compartment separately.

Poor cooling could be caused by just improper air flow (a fan not working properly or a duct out of place or blocked) or as serious as a problem in the refrigeration system. It would need to be checked out to determine which.

JFYI

Dan O.

https://www.Appliance411.com/?ref411=Kenmore_Fridge

The Appliance Information Site
=D~~~~~~

[Max]

Thanks for the feedback, Dan. The soonest Sears would be able to send someone was 8/18. After much bitching they gave us an 8-5 window on 8/12. There were two things wrong with that. (1) a whole day? That's just silly. I appreciate them trying to move the appt. up but my wife and I both work full-time and I've already had a day off for the 1st installation. Also, there is no saying that a repair tech could fix the problem meaning we would need to schedule more time off for when he came back the 2nd time. (2) my wife doesn't want a brand new fridge that has to be repaired before we can even use it.

So, they are giving us a new one and the delivery window is 2 hours.

Fingers crossed.

[SSN596]

Glad they replaced the unit. This is the right thing to do with a refrig that has such major problem out of the box. Unfortunately, it will usually take the "squeeky wheel" approach to get the appropriate response from any supplier.

As to the time window, it is a fact of life that any company which sends people out on delivery or service calls has very limited ability to accomodate YOUR busy schedule. I may sound harsh, but the reality is they do not have folks sitting around the office to be dispatched on a moments notice. The trucks go out in the morning with a carefully planned route. The route may even be computer-assisted. However, the route is probably established at the earliest late in the day before; sometimes only early in the AM. And various uncontrollable factors such as traffic, unexpected delay at one or more stops, etc. make it almost impossible to give you a good window. Some companies try to give AM or PM, but often this is fantasy land, not reality.

[Max]

Don't worry, you don't sound harsh, I understand the reality of scheduling. It's not the windows that bother me, I am completely happy with being given a 2 or 4 hour window. What I don't like is a window like 8-5; that's just taking the piss and says to me, "We'll get there when we can" as opposed to "We've actually scheduled your work and we should be there about X o'clock". Another thing that irks me is being told by everyone (at Sears) that there is nothing they can do about our fridge until 7 or 8 days later. Imagine if we had kids or if one of us had diabetes and needed to keep insulin in the fridge (I should have used both of those exuses / lies . I guess I am being unrealistic but I think that when you pay a company to come and take away a working fridge, replace it with a broken fridge....they should be doing more than saying, "It will be at least a week". That's not on. I don't care about their schedules then, at that point they should be bending over backwards to rectify THEIR mistake. Anyway, we got money back and all is good and well again.

Hey, Home Depot said that they would deliver our tractor in the AM. I stayed at home all day and it was delivered at just after 5pm. I called to complain (this was before the tractor arrived) amd the woman actually told me, "We don't specify AM or PM." What a lying #$^$%&$%. I know what I was told and I was told it would be delivered before 12-noon. Nothing like calling the customer a liar, huh?

Edit: just as an aside, I never give the delivery guys a hard time, those guys work their asses off.

[Max]

new fridge delivered today. My wife stayed home and she has been giving me updates. Seems like the new fridge's temperatures are where expected after only 2.5 hours.

Cheers, Max

[Dan O.]

Glad to hear it. Thanks for the follow up.

Dan O.

[JCA1]

Yea scheduling is a hard job for service companies. They never know what the techs. will run into at a job. We usually schedule in terms of A.M.-P.M. or before lunch/after lunch and that dosen't always work. Bad thing is few people understand what a day is like for us, we want to get to your house on time but it dosen't always happen. There is nothing worse than working your butt off at a job, getting behind schedule, and then getting the ol' " Where have you been, I've been waiting for you all day!" crap.

[SSN596]

Even your desire for a 2 to 4 hour window would be nice but not reasonable. Any company which can give a 2 hour window AND stick to it deserves a lot of respect.

I don't know what was actually said to you at the depot, but I know that their policy is to offer "AM delivery IF POSSIBLE/NOT GUARANTEED". They always have problems with this because even though the customer SIGNED the asknowledgement above, they still call in and say "you promised.........."

Again, I am not picking on you, and I know I have not made you feel better! But I just don't know if in this world today it will ever be any better.

[Max]

Just thought I would post an update to this whole thing. The freezer started making more noise than normal and then the ice maker stopped working. A tech came out and fixed the ice maker (not sure what he did). He ordered a new evaporator motor and fitted is yesterday. Now the fridge / freezer doesn't work at all. All the lights come on, etc. but the temps are 34 (freezer) and 54 (fridge). For the second time in about 15months we've had to throw all our defrosted food out. Got another appt scheduled for tomorrow. One more repair and it's replacement time but I am going to try to get the tech to recommend a replacement now given the proximity to Xmas and all the food we've wasted.

I guess the customer support must read from a script because I was told the same thing last night as I was last August. "Go to the store and buy some dry ice". I don't know about you guys but there are no stroes near me that even sell dry ice. Last August I was also told to "use a neighbour's fridge". Great, I just ask them to throw out their food to make room for my own.