Water Heater - Paper Towel Test (Sears Rant)

[Beltzington]

Thought I would share Sears Technical Bulletin on trouble-shooting Water Heaters.
Yesterday I was working in the garage and noticed a pool of water emerging from my WH closet and found my tank had apparently failed and was leaking a profuse amount of water. Turned the water off, shut off the gas and drained the tank to prevent anymore drywall damage, a pain but not something to loose sleep over, cold showers actually felt good. Also found it had a Sear's 12-year warranty and I had bought it 10 years ago:thumbsup:

Had some early morning errands and happened to be driving past the local Sear's outlet so I dropped in to ask how to handle the warranty and after finally finding someone who works in appliances was promptly given an 800 number to call the service center as no one at the store could help me. Ok, I called the number while I was still in the store and after 5-minutes of talking to a computer who could recognize what I was saying and really wanted to help, I finally got through to a human and she verified it was indeed still under warranty. Great, except this is where I almost had a stroke from getting so irritated.
Paraphrasing a 10-minute conversation she ask me to take a paper towel out to the water heater so she could determine where it was leaking, I said I wasn't at home but I could tell her exactly where it was leaking as I had done I thorough inspection before I turned of the water. She said without being able to d0 the paper towel test they would have to send a service tech out to determine what was wrong and that would cost me $109 plus labor. I asked if they found the WH was leaking would I still be charged, why yes, because service calls were only covered for one year. I said ok send one out but I would not pay for anymore then the service call as I could replace it myself. She said that would be up to the technician but she would schedule the visit; will you be available on the 14th of July? This is when my BP peaked. Ultimately, I had to go home turn the water back on and then spent over an hour talking (mostly on hold) to four different people (two hang-ups) before I finally got a person that had a clue or maybe after four calls they decide you are not going away and finally was given an replacement.

I used to buy almost everything from Sear's but they are not a shadow of the store they were 20-years ago, they need to decide if they want to be a brick and mortar store or strictly an online store because right now they are failing at both.

 

[newbury]

<snip>Great, except this is where I almost had a stroke from getting so irritated.
Paraphrasing a 10-minute conversation she ask me to take a paper towel out to the water heater so she could determine where it was leaking,

Yes mam, I'll be back in a few minutes. Wander around store, call back, tell her where the fictional paper towel showed the leak.

I said I wasn't at home but I could tell her exactly where it was leaking as I had done I thorough inspection before I turned of the water. She said without being able to d0 the paper towel test they would have to send a service tech out <snip>

NO NO NO - She has a checklist to go through, she is probably not paid to think.

I used to buy almost everything from Sear's but they are not a shadow of the store they were 20-years ago, they need to decide if they want to be a brick and mortar store or strictly an online store because right now they are failing at both.

Sears is just another middleman for cheap import stuff. Like Harbor Freight or Walmart.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Who are the STUPID HUMANS that set all this up?

Stupid test anyway. The (aging) heater always leaks out of the can but that is no indication of where the leak may actually be!

And, is there a single automated system out there where the menu options havn't changed (recently)? Of course there often isn't evan a menu option for what I want.

THEN, after they thoroughly piss you off, they ask if there is anything else they can do for you. That's the one that's the final kick for me.

 

[japody]

Had a similar bad experience at Sears. Won't go into detail, but after some back and forth, I asked for the store manager. I asked him what happened to "satisfaction guaranteed"? He said that the haven't used that in years. I told him that it was no wonder they were going out of business. Even though he had smoke coming out of his ears, he told me to have a nice day.

 

[DFB]

Haha I actually was in a Sears store today

I had scored a decent Craftsman shop vac at the flea mkt this weekend for $10 but it didn't have a filter so I went in to get one. But it cost me just about $20 for the cheapest one they had for this model so I guess sometimes a deal is not always really a deal

But anyways the poor kid in tools was so alone, there was virtually not another person to seen thru out the department (or most of the store for that matter) so I ribbed him and said "Wow this is the job to have no one to bother you!" and he says to me and my bud "Are you guys contractors?" I said my friend here holds a GC license "Do you need any help?" he asks right off.

I swear he would have quit on the spot if we offered work.

 

[Beltzington]

Every time I call a service center I tell myself to be nice to the agent as they are only following company directives and 7 out of 10 times I fail. What really irritates me is the blatant biased survey questions companies use to determine if there customer service is working. Never have I seen a question asking you to rate their policies, procedures and management of your issues only questions finding fault with the poor soul answering the phone.

 

[mrmikey]

Sears service has gone the way of the dodo bird.
Bought a small water heater, single element with a 5 year guarantee, the element burnt out. So, I take the element out, call their 'help'line to find out how I get a new element and was told by some one in wazulu land that they'd have to send a 'tech' out to confirm the element was bad. I told them no need as I have the element in my hand and I could send it to them if they wanted, I just needed a new element so I could get hot water.
Nope, had to send someone out at an hour and half service fee on my wallett, to confirm the element was bad. Told the person to shove it and never again intend to buy Sears anything.
I won't bother going into the crap and time I wasted trying to get a cordless drill replaced under warranty............Mike

 

[Dftodd]

I gave up on sears years ago. As a professional mechanic, I was a big fan of there tools and warranty. That is, till they told me I abused my ratchet and wouldn't warranty it, because it had a scratch in the handle. That was 9 years ago. Haven't given them a dime ever since.

 

[95XL883]

Last thing I bought from Sears was a chest freezer, for which they hit my credit card twice. After trying for 30 minutes to get them to reverse the charge I just called the credit card company and they reversed the charge. That was between 5 and 10 years ago. I haven't been back and have no plans to go back to them.

 

[k0ua]

I am surprised that Sears even has a store still open. Sears died long ago, but its rotting corpse just hasn't been intered. I haven't been in a Sears store in years. I used to shop there all the time. Decades ago.