[ARCHIVED THREAD] - SEARS VALUE! (Page 1 of 3)
Posted: 9/17/2008 5:24:15 PM EDT
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I just had to share this. It's kind of long. So if you don't like to read, please move on. Anyway, last Wednesday my washer tore up. I found the piece that was broken. A small plastic peice on the side of the transmission. Not really knowing about washers I thought I should have someone else fix it so as not to break something else putting that part in.I thought Sears would be a good, trustworthy place to get a repairman from. I called them and they said it would be Monday before they could come out. So i did laundry in the mean time at my brothers till they could come on Monday. Monday the repairman called. I told him what was broke to be sure he had the part on his truck, saving him a trip back to the store to pick the part up. I was not home Monday. My wife met the service tech. He looked at it and indeed it was the little plastic part. He gave my wife an estimate of $176.96 of which $21 and change was the part and $154 was labor. When she called me with it I almost died. But I had been without a washer for 5 days already and had no idea who else to get to fix it. That and had he not fixed it I would have had to pay $65 for his looking at it. I told her to time him while he fixed it. It took 14 minutes. Thats not the most rediculous part: Here is an e-mail I sent to Sears with my concerns. Last Thursday I had a problem with my washer which is a Kenmore bought at Sears. I found the problem, a small plastic piece on the side of the transmission was broken. I then called Sears because i was really not sure how to put it in and I figured I could trust Sears over some local repair shop to do it right at a fair price. Herein lies the problem. I was told thursday that it would be Monday before they could come out. Little longer than i had hoped, but I understood and just made other occomodations till this could be fixed. My wife called me with the total. The only reason i allowed it to be fixed is that we had already waited four days for it to be fixed and really could not wait any longer. The technician worked on the washer for exactly 14 minutes as noted by my wife. The replacement part, which i had already told them was broken, indeed was the problem. The part was $22.84 as stated on my reciept. Actually a few dollars less than I thought it would be. What I cannot understand is how less than fifeteen minutes of work equalled $154.04 of labor. I could even see as much as $60 an hour labor with a time minimum. But at less than fifteen minutes, I had to have been charged the minimum. So I am guessing if it takes more than 30 minutes to fix something you are better off buying a new replacement.Which I guess I will do next time. Although not from Sears. I completely understand the time involved as well as the fuel/ transportation cost of house calls. But I think this is rediculous. If you think you can justify the labor cost, please enlighten me. Here is the e-mail I recieved: -------------- Dear Terry Payne, Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to assist you with your recent concerns. Please be assured that we understand your frustration, and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced. By sharing your feedback, you have made it possible for us to address the issues. We will share your concerns accordingly. Truly, your remarks provide forthright feedback that enables Sears to achieve excellence in everything we do. We value your relationship with Sears, and hope that you will continue to make Sears Holdings your choice for quality and value. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us at (800) 579-2395. Sincerely, Mark A. Sears Holdings Corporation As you can tell this response had NOTHING to do with my e-mail and was a pre-written response to all problems. So here was my next e-mail: I can see that that you and your company could not possibly care less about quality or value. And with the pre-written reply that I just received, that I'm sure everyone else that has had a problem also received, I see now why Sears has become what it is today. I am not naive enough to think that by me no longer purchasing from sears it would have any affect on your buisness. But rest assured you will continue doing buisness as I have observed and you will be gone soon enough. Things must not be overly profitable anyway if a bankrupt corporation such as kmart can buy you. You have a nice day sir. Here is their next response: Dear Terry Payne, Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to assist you with your recent concerns. Please be assured that we understand your frustration, and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced. By sharing your feedback, you have made it possible for us to address the issues. We will share your concerns accordingly. Truly, your remarks provide forthright feedback that enables Sears to achieve excellence in everything we do. We value your relationship with Sears, and hope that you will continue to make Sears Holdings your choice for quality and value. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us at (800) 579-2395. Sincerely, Mark A. Sears Holdings Corporation Sorry this is so long. I just had to vent. |
| Sounds like the same labor rate I paid to have a $15 part put in my reefer a few years ago. The ice maker was going out at that time as well and I asked the tech about fixing it. Part was $150 and labor would be $125. I bought the ice-maker for 75 and had it RR in ten minutes.SS |
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Dear Terry Payne, Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to read this thread about your recent concerns. Please be assured that we understand your frustration, and don't really care (even when we say we do). By sharing your feedback, you have made it possible for us to add to our own post count. Our ranking on ARFCOM will increase accordingly. Truly, your remarks provide absolutely NOTHING to Sears as a company (they really could care less). We value your threads on ARFCOM, and hope that you will continue to make ARFCOM your choice for venting on getting raped by the service industry. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please post pics of hot naked chicks. Really HOT NAKED CHICKS get shit DONE. Sincerely, UH_SALT_RIFLE ARFCOM Corporation |
 Dunno really what to tell ya dude. You coulda called an appliance repair/parts store, and bought your part for $20 or less, then consult with someone online using descriptions, and photos if necessary, to walk you through it. No offense intended... but you chose the "I'm helpless AND I need it NOW!" approach. That approach is what Sears, BestBuy, CircuitCity, CompUSA, etc... feed upon. You were a good little sheep. Next time, roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty.  |
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I would have charged you $135, so you got shafted. LOL JK (not about my rates, though) Last week I paid all my bills for the month working at a mall for $500/hr (not averaged out- 6 hrs for $3300). If you want to talk averages, I get about $2400/hr working at some stores ($200-4hr min., job only takes 5 mins). Not uncommon at all. |
Got approached by Best Buy to do their installs today. Offered me about $85/hr. Told them I wouldn't touch it for that. |
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Most repair services will have a two hour minimum for a service call. Many tack on mileage on top of that as well. In addition, you not only paid him for what he did, you also paid him for using his knowledge & experience. As a repair tech myself (in-house only), all I can suggest is either fix it yourself or don't bitch about the bill in this case as it wasn't out of line, IMO. (No slam intended!) My .o2 |
Same here. I just got 8 years out of a $300 dishwasher (that's just over 3 dollars a month) and it shit the bed. So I threw it the hell out and bought another $300 dishwasher. Shit, there was a time when I wouldn't even change the oil or sharpen the blade on my lawnmowers. I'd buy a $80 "murray" at Home Depot and use it one season, then put it out with the trash. Come next spring, I spent another $80. |
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Did you add in travel time, fuel, wear and tear, and all the rest? FWIW, we charge $75.00 straight, $90.00 OT to knock on your door and diagnose the problem on appliances, + flat rate charge or $110.00 an hour plus 2x markup on parts if you don't. Hell, 1/2 the public can't even light a pilot light on a furnace or range anymore, much less do anything more........................ My job is quite secure. 
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I charge $160 do blow the dust-bunnies out of a computer case. Anything else is $300/hr with a half hour min. |
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I once bought a Sears Craftsman lawn tractor. It was half the price of a Deere. I figured that if it lasted half as long I;d be okay. I ran it three times. On the fourth time I started it, it ran for all of 45 seconds or so, and would die. I called Sears. Yup. It was under warranty. Parts and labor would be free, but I'd have to pay $85 for the service call. Excuse me? Its under warranty. (it was a shitty little solenoid by the way. Likely a $10 part, if that). Sears would not come out to fix it. My choice was to bring it back to Sears. This is a 15 HP lawn tractor, not a friggin toaster. I was so damned angry I loaded it into the back of my truck by lifting it in....  I brought it to Sears (40 mile drive) where they gave me nothing but grief. I asked for a refund. No deal. THey did not want to refund my money. After going in circles with the sales person I asked to see the dept manager. Nope. They're not in today. Okay, how about the Store manager? Nope, they're our too. FINE! CALL CHICAGO AND GET THE FUCKING PRESIDENT ON THE LINE! I got my refund. Once the idiot behind the counter processes the refund, he hands me a slip to sign for a refund of $800. Excuse me? Its a $1500 tractor? Yes sir, but it used and I have to pro-rate it. No fucking way you're prorating this. Its used. I bought it to use it. I am now returning it because its got less than three hours on it, it doesn't work, and your warranty isn't worth shit, and I don't have enough time to reload this POS and drive it 40 miles for service every other week! I pointed to the large banner over the idiot's head and read it to him: Sears, where everything for the good life is guaranteed. I finally got my full refund. Mom worked sears for 18 years. Everything they make is cheaped out. They get ryobi to make tools, only Sears specs lowest quality, cheapest available components. The warranty sucks, and the repair department is frequently a highschool softmore with a hammer, a cresent wrench and some electrical tape (I'm not kidding. I;ve seen this one). Sears screwed up good. As a then new homeowner I needed a house full of appliances. I havbe NEVER stepped foot in a Sears since. |
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When you don't know how to do something, or are not willing to do something, you are at the mercy of thsoe who can and will. I repair vintage Graphotype machines. I am one of maybe a half dozen people this side of the Mississippi that can do it well. If you send it to me, a minimum of $300 even if I tighten one screw. If I come to you, a minimum of $400 running at $125 an hour, including two way travel. If you don't like it, enjoy looking at your broken machine. |
Did your dog try to attack the repairman?  Seriously, washing machines are very simple devices, and you have been using them for decades. And all this time did it ever occur to you to try and learn a little bit about them? No, not once. But you have no problem demanding that other people show up to your house, part in hand, with all the knowledge needed to fix this mysteriously complicated machine, and don't want to pay for it. For IT work I charge $185/hr, 2 hr. minimum. Why? Because I can. And 90% of the shit I do is cleaning trojans off PCs and making them connect to the internet. Nothing difficult. So this friend of a friend calls and wants me come over and fix her PC, but didn't want to pay the rate. I told her I would give her a break. So Sunday I drive over to her house. She's got a new Dell Vista laptop that won't connect to her network, her desktop PC is infected with Vundo, Smitfraud, and about 17 other types of malware, and she wants to print from her laptop to the printer connected to her desktop. I clean the desktop PC that her daughter infected, hack into the Westell DSL modem/router and reset all the WiFi and WPA settings that her daughter fucked up, shared the desktop printer, configured wireless networking on the laptop, and installed printer drivers. Plus I copied her bookmarks, etc., from the profile on her desktop to the laptop. And I spent a lot of time showing her around Vista and how to do stuff like check her email, where to find programs, etc. I spent about 2.5 hours there. When she asked how much, I told her let's just make it $100. I considered it charity. But she was pissed!! She bitched about the price and didn't want to pay it. I told her she could either pay me $100 right then or else I'd file in Small Claims Court for the full $462.50 at the standard hourly rate. She paid, I left. Later her daughter called and bitched me out for having the nerve to charge her mother $100 for something she could have done. I told her no, I charged her only $100 for around $500 of work fixing all the stupid shit that she had fucked up on her mother's PCs. You try to give someone a break and it always bites you in the ass. It doesn't pay to be nice to people. And here we are. I didn't do anything to that lady's PC that her daughter couldn't do. Or, I should say, should have been able to do. That Sears repairman didn't do anything to your washer that you couldn't have done. Or, rather, that you should have been able to do. But all these decades of using those machines, you thought you were somehow too good to learn anything about them. You refused to buy the repair manual, you failed to look on the internet, you never went down to your local community college or occupational center and took an appliance repair course. Never. It was beneath you. Besides, you were too busy watching American Idol and posting on ARFcom. But when a guy shows up to your house who did take the time to learn something about washing machines and fixes the problem you couldn't be bothered with, you bitch and complain that he wants to charge you $150 to fix it. Geez, give the guy his $150 for showing up to your house and fixing your problem, and quit whining!! If you don't like what the appliance repairman charges, then learn something about these simple machines and fix it yourself next time!! I swear, lately ARFcom is chock full of Drama Queens. |
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I used to work at a computer store. First rule was that you NEVER work in front of a customer. Reason being is that they see it takes us five minutes to do the job they are paying hundreds of dollars for and they will react just as you have. However, the reasoning behind the rates are simple. Can you fix it? Do you know what is broken or how to fix it, or are you willing to spend those five minutes fixing it? If you answer not to any of these questions than you are going to pay us for what we DO know and you'll get your computer back fixed. That simple. |
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Next time, go here and learn how to fix it yourself. It's like the ARFCOM of appliance repair. fixitnow.com And www.repairclinic.com is like Brownells. After I had Sears repair our stove, I looked up the part online at Repair Clinic. Sears tacked on $100 to the price of the part, plus over $100 to come out and swap the part, which I could have done in five minutes. When the motor in our clothes drier crapped out, I fixed it myself for about $150 in parts. Actually, that one was a pain in the ass, but that was three years ago and it's been fine ever since. Don't be too harsh on Sears though. They go out of their way to support the troops. www.snopes.com/politics/military/sears.asp |
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Nothing wrong with what they did... Back when I did network consulting/service..... Service calls were billed with the clock starting when I left my driveway & ending when I returned.... The alternative to this is a book-rate/mandatory-minimum policy (like with cars - $35 heater core, $600 book-rate labor).... If you don't like it, learn to DIY, or just buy cheap replacable appliances and junk 'em when they croak... |
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My last contract gig, the company I represented would schedule my time weeks in advance. More than once, the customer would call to reschedule my work, on the day I was leaving. The customer was charged anyway. It was great. I actually got this phone call one day: XYZ company: "Anarki...the customer is rescheduling the job. Where are you? Anarki: "On the shuttle from the parking lot to the airport." XYZ: "Ok...don't get on the plane." Anarki: "Ok." XYZ: We'll give you a call with the rescheduled time. Bill us the $1000 bucks for today's work...we are still charging the customer." Anarki: "Ok...thanks. Heading for the house. Bye." Click.... Anarki: "Cha-ching" A grand for a 30 minute drive to the airport. I loved that job. |
I'd have cost you more. That's why fix anything I can myself. 
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Sounds like you got a bargain to me, once you figure in the cost of his contractors insurance, bonding, vehicle incsurance, fuel, travel time, capitalon invest. reccovery from tools, training, vehicles..... I think you ripped them off... (BTW, different line of work, but I charge $75/hr plus expenses and only bill in 4 hour increments, so 14 minutes = 4 hours, although I would have the time to answer your call, order the part (or the replacement if it was stock) drive to your location, complete your billing paperwork and invoicing plus paying the bill on the part...all of these things take time that may not be at your lcoation... but yes, it would cost you a minimum of $300 for me to answer the phone and help you troubleshoot your problem...) |
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I fix anything. My washing machine is an ancient Maytag I inherited from my parents. It's better than the POS Whirlpool I bought new (Which I gave away). My lawn tractor is a 1974 Cub Cadet. Original motor, never opened up. I'm an engineer. We have the certifications to repair pressure vessels. About a month ago I went out with the service manager to look a a boiler for repair. 4-5 year old boiler, in the basement of a dry cleaner. Leaking like a sieve. Installed under rafters 78" above a concrete floor, with maybe 3" from the top of the boiler to the rafters. Now, I'm used to industrial boilers. Like 8' - 10' in diameter, with 1" plate construction. This thing was small enough to use in my house. The whole boiler was encased in poured insulation. We couldn'e even guess where it was leaking. We would have needed to cut all the wiring and piping, get it out of that basement, get it out of it's insulation, find the leaks, fix them, then put it all back together. We quoted him $6000. A new boiler would be about $10,000. He didn't call back. Our company lost about $200. (our time). Still it saved us a real pain in the ass, we wouldn't have made money on. Moral - that guy needs to learn how to maintain a boiler, or he'll buy a new one every 4-7 years. Are we a rip off? He'll probably tell you we are. But we don't normally do pissant jobs, we pay our welders well and we operate good, expensive equipment. The customers that keep coming back to us know we do things right. |
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You are posting on a message board. The message board is part of the internet. The internet contains more than just pr0n. It contains, pretty much all of man's knowledge. You could have spent 30 minutes looking at parts diagrams and photos online. There are expert repairmans' boards where you pay a $5 fee and you have the benefit of dozens of master repair men. Fuck, we got DrFrige right here! My dryer broke last year. It took me less than an hour on-line to figure out what the problem was, then 15 minutes looking for parts online. I found a parts supplier 5 minutes from my place of work. You cost yourself this money, quit crying. |