Kawasaki Concours Forum
Mish mash => Open Forum => Topic started by: Conrad on June 21, 2016, 05:28:35 AM
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We bought a new Kenmore fridge a couple of years ago, along with an extended warranty. I normally don't buy extended warranties but this fridge has a lot of bells and whistles on it so...
The fridge has water and ice/crushed ice through the door and last year the little ice door within the door stopped working. No problem, call the service company and out they came to fix it. Then right after that the door gasket failed. Another call and another fix.
Two weeks ago the icemaker stopped making ice. Another call and the repair guy comes out, diagnosis the problem and orders parts. The parts get shipped directly to me and last week a different repair guy comes out. This guy is TOTALLY incompetent and has no idea what he's doing! He couldn't figure out how to get the ice maker back together. He's trying to force parts together that weren't meant to fit the way he wanted them to. I had to show him myself! Then he replaced the main circuit board under the fridge and called it done.
After plugging in the fridge the display on the panel shows an error message. What's that mean I ask? Hell, I don't know he says. He looks it up on his laptop and says that just means that the ice maker hasn't cooled down enough to make ice yet. Then he leaves. 20 mins later the fridge shows a new error. SY EF. WTF? The compressor is running but there's no cooling going on AT ALL. Oh ****. I scramble to move all the food into the other fridge downstairs then I call Sears and tell them what's what. I'm still waiting on them to see how soon they can get out here! >:(
I'll bet that the dickhead broke one of the compressor lines that feed the icemaker when he was trying to force the cover over the heat exchanger. I'm thinking that I may be getting a new fridge out of this. If they have to make 3 service calls for the same issue, or can't repair it, they buy us a new fridge.
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My son has a lemon fridge. Had Sears contractor out to service it for the third time. Guy told
D in Law part would have to be ordered, would take two weeks and total cost would be $400. She found it online for $50, had it in two days and installed it herself. Told Sears to pound sand.
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This is precisely why I almost never by extended warranties. In most cases I just fix it myself because I don't want some numskull working on my stuff. In in the few cases I cannot fix it myself, the money I saved not buying extended warranties pays for the repair or new unit.
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I have an older couple fix my appliances when I can't. Sears would be the last on the list.
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Sears isn't the company they used to be.
Kawasaki keeps getting better though. 8)
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A few years ago I had to replce my Kenmore refrigerator which was, as I recall, over 30 years old. Then about a year later, the clothes washer shot craps, and it was about the same age. When I ws shopping for new appliances I talked to the repair shops to find out which brands they liked as far as reliability. They all said, "None of them are good for more than about five to maybe ten years." There are no more 30-year appliances.
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And remember that Sears makes nothing as far as I know. Our Kenmore appliances are made by LG. It's only a matter of time before they go belly up unfortunately. I hardly ever shop there any more and their side of the mall is the most empty.
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As I said above, I don't normally buy extended warranties. This time I did but it was almost free. I had a bunch of Shop My Way points, a rebate, and more points from the fridge purchase to spend. The amount that came out of my pocket has already been replaced with the first service call.
That said, I've already paid a huge price in aggravation alone! I found out that not only was/is the second tech that came out incompetent, he's also a liar. The first error message that comes up when the fridge is plugged in is an OP in the freezer temp display. The tech told me that had to do with the temp not being cold enough yet in the icemaker compartment (he looked it up on his laptop, allegedly). I spent 30 seconds looking it up on Google and came up with this.
http://www.searspartsdirect.com/refrigerator-repair/error-codes/frigidaire-refrigerator-error-codes.html (http://www.searspartsdirect.com/refrigerator-repair/error-codes/frigidaire-refrigerator-error-codes.html)
I get the OP error on power up and the SY EF error after it runs for about 10 mins.
OP - Freezer sensor open in freezer display.
Check wiring between thermistor and board. If correct, replace thermistor.
SY EF - Evaporator fan circuit failure.
Check wiring between evaporator fan and control board. Check for 12VDC to fan between red and brown wires. Check for variant voltage (depending on high or low speed) between yellow and brown. If correct replace evaporator fan. If error code still exist, replace control board.
Anyways, another tech is coming out tomorrow. ::)
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And remember that Sears makes nothing as far as I know. Our Kenmore appliances are made by LG. It's only a matter of time before they go belly up unfortunately. I hardly ever shop there any more and their side of the mall is the most empty.
Frigidaire made the Kenmore fridge that I have.
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Don't worry we have all felt your pain at one time or another... We put a new furnace in our last house and on the 2nd winter of use it refuses to work. I check the error codes and it tells me flame sensor and since it is still under warranty I call the repair hotline to book a service call. Now its the weekend and they want to charge me an overtime fee to come out, I tell them no I can wait till weekday as I have 2 dependable back up. They send someone anyway and he wants double-time I tell him to leave for the same reasons. Changes mind since he is there. Trouble shoots the unit and claims it is the mother board despite me questioning him about the trouble code pointing to the flame sensor. Comes back in a couple days with the new mother board and guess what it unit does not work. Goes out to his truck and installs a new flame sensor and the unit fires up! Says to me that least I get a free mother board out of the deal... Very next winter it starts doing the same thing again. Unit is now out of warranty so I call a friend who does HVAC work and start telling him what's going on, he stops me mid sentence and says to go scrub the probe with anything abrasive. Unit fires right up! Many service techs know nothing of repair only replace...
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Sounds like the run of the mill Hi-Fi Corruption....Sorry, Hi-Fi Corporation, Makro or Game here in the RSA....
Makro being part of the Wall-mart group from the States if I'm not mistaken....
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This is all to reminiscent of the "technician" stories here. Technician is the Greek word for parts replacer.I'm about to sound like the "Get off of my lawn!" guy.
40 years ago there we people known as mechanics, and TV repair guys, and jewelers, and barbers, and cobblers. The actually fixed things.And provided a service. For real. I'm not kidding.
I've had boots resoled, had my TV repaired, had my watch cleaned and adjusted, I've even had a shave and a haircut. (THAT is a wonderful experience, done by an honest to God barber!) All of those services were provided my little, hometown businesses. Sole proprietors.
I started my mechanical career at a gas station down the street from my parent's house. When I was about 12 years old. Got my first real job there, pumping gas. We rebuilt starters, alternators, engines, everything. We didn't just hang new parts. We figured out what was wrong and fixed it. Novel concept.
Then things got "better". Cheaper. Disposable. More "advanced".
But I digress....
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Makro is not nor ever has been part of Wal Mart. Depeding on where you are in the world it is owed by different companies. In Europe it is owned by SHV Holdings in germany.
Sears contracts its appliances to various makers. It used to be GE, but GE appliances were sold to Haier in China.
Remember those cheap VCRs from the 80s you could get for less than $50?
They were made by LG. LG stands for Lucky Goldstar.
Man, those VCRs were junk. I worked on a bunch.
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Makro is not nor ever has been part of Wal Mart. Depending on where you are in the world it is owed by different companies.
I did say "if I'm not mistaken". There was talks at one stage of Wal Mart buying / buying into Makro in the RSA. Wasn't sure if the sale ever went through, but apparently it didn't.....
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Well, you wuz mistaken!
Makro in the US was bought by KMart and renamed Pace Warehouse. We know what happened there.
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Wal mart.....Kmart...... some f...ing Mart..... If you know what I mean.... :rotflmao:
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Yeah, one of those Marts....
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Another Sears (A&E Service) tech came out yesterday to have a look at the fridge. I told him what went on with the pervious incompetent tech and this tech (Greg) said that he knew the other tech but declined to give me his name. Whatever...
So Greg starts trouble shooting but I suggest that perhaps the issue might be with the replacement main board and the 4 or 5 connectors plugged into it. Oh no he says, it must be with the icemaker. So he takes the icemaker apart again, nothing. Then he takes the rear panel of the fridge off to have a look see, nothing. More panels come off from the inside of the fridge and freezer, nothing. Then he removes the main board from under the fridge and plugs it back in, BINGO!
Fridge is now working as designed and it even made ice overnight.
I should have removed the main board and checked the connections myself. Oh well, at least my beer didn't get warm.
Thanks Greg!
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Amazon will be in the business soon, to compete with Angie's List which is awesome and doing awesome.
The box stores suck as bad as anyone would expect, technology FTW ;D
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Another Sears (A&E Service) tech came out yesterday to have a look at the fridge. I told him what went on with the pervious incompetent tech and this tech (Greg) said that he knew the other tech but declined to give me his name. Whatever...
So Greg starts trouble shooting but I suggest that perhaps the issue might be with the replacement main board and the 4 or 5 connectors plugged into it. Oh no he says, it must be with the icemaker. So he takes the icemaker apart again, nothing. Then he takes the rear panel of the fridge off to have a look see, nothing. More panels come off from the inside of the fridge and freezer, nothing. Then he removes the main board from under the fridge and plugs it back in, BINGO!
Fridge is now working as designed and it even made ice overnight.
I should have removed the main board and checked the connections myself. Oh well, at least my beer didn't get warm.
Thanks Greg!
I just saw this post, and wish I had earlier. I am a Sears appliance TECHNICIAN,and I have been with them 28 years as of August. ( I will be 46 in October, so this has been my career ) Unfortunately over the years,things in our company have changed a lot. I still however try and repair things, vs replace. That being said, most things are becoming component level, and are replace only. I have heard, and read stories like this, and honestly it pisses me off. I would still like to think there are a few of us that give a crap about the customer. Sorry to hear that the company let you down. If you PM me, I can give you some info, and some phone numbers. For the record, Sears has never made anything. Its all from major companies with our name. Whirlpool made most of our appliances up til about 2004 when LG started providing a better " deal " . GE made some fridges from 88 to around 02, but more where produced by Whirlpool. Now Samsung is in market, and between them, and LG, those are the major producers of our items. As you mentioned, there are some Frigidaire models, but not as many as the others. None of the appliances are made very well anymore. I do mostly refrigeration now, and I work on a ton of newer 1-3 yr old models.
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Same way in most 'repair' companies. Very few replace components as such, now it's board assemblies or the entire item. Finding good techs with experience is very difficult. The OG's (old guys) are retiring or worse and the new kids coming in don't have a clue.
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I just saw this post, and wish I had earlier. I am a Sears appliance TECHNICIAN,and I have been with them 28 years as of August. ( I will be 46 in October, so this has been my career ) Unfortunately over the years,things in our company have changed a lot. I still however try and repair things, vs replace. That being said, most things are becoming component level, and are replace only. I have heard, and read stories like this, and honestly it pisses me off. I would still like to think there are a few of us that give a crap about the customer. Sorry to hear that the company let you down. If you PM me, I can give you some info, and some phone numbers. For the record, Sears has never made anything. Its all from major companies with our name. Whirlpool made most of our appliances up til about 2004 when LG started providing a better " deal " . GE made some fridges from 88 to around 02, but more where produced by Whirlpool. Now Samsung is in market, and between them, and LG, those are the major producers of our items. As you mentioned, there are some Frigidaire models, but not as many as the others. None of the appliances are made very well anymore. I do mostly refrigeration now, and I work on a ton of newer 1-3 yr old models.
Thanks for the post, Brian. PM sent.
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The saga continues on the Kenmore fridge that I had issues with last year...
I'll try to make this short. Ha!
Last month I was doing some house cleaning (I'm retired but my wife still works so I clean the house) and I decided to pull the above mentioned fridge away from the wall and clean behind and under it. This was the first time that this had been done since the repair in June that I told ya'll about in the above posts. After I pulled the fridge out and took a look behind it I was floored! The entire back of the fridge was wet from condensation and covered with black mold, as was the wall the fridge was up against! I took a bunch of pics and cleaned up the mess as best I could, the wall will have to be repainted. I called Sears appliance repair services as the fridge was still under warranty and told them what was going on. They said that they'll send a tech out to have a look.
The tech showed up a week later (the fridge is/was still operable) and after taking a look pronounced the fridge unrepairable. He said that the reason that it was all wet was from condensation from lack of insulation inside of the back of the fridge. I asked him why now since we purchased the fridge back on 12/12 why didn't it do this before? He didn't know and it doesn't matter because if the fridge is deemed unrepairable it gets replaced under the terms of the warranty.
That was the first week of January and I knew that I was going to be traveling down a rough road in order to get this thing replaced. I was right. After about 10 total hours of telephone hold time, after being shuffled from one department to another, after talking with several people who's first language was most definitely not English, and after sending the pics to Sears SEVERAL times (they claimed that the pics weren't received and then received but lost... You get the picture here?). I even threatened to contact my lawyer to see what he could do.
They finally got approval to replace the fridge with a like model. Sears placed $1,900 (I paid $1,500 for the original fridge) in my account and told me to go shopping. I did and our new Samsung fridge is being delivered on Saturday.
I'm sure that Sears uses this MO with everyone. They try to make it as hard as possible to get a warranty claim and hope that the people just give up. If you Google Sears Master Protection Agreement you'll see what I'm talking about.
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Samsung?....didn't I read somewhere they were catching fire?
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Samsung?....didn't I read somewhere they were catching fire?
Fire? At least that will keep the mold at bay.
It was flame on for their cell phones, G.
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Don't forget the exploding washing machines.