Why I Will Never Buy Another Appliance From Sears or the Dishwasher Blues

First of all, as a designer I would never have designed a dishwasher to vent steam over the control panel. Moisture and electronics just don't play well together. Whoever engineered this appliance needs a swift kick in the seat of his pants.

Don't look at me, it came with the house. And before you go to judging, I'll have you know it is the only dishwasher I've ever owned, and I've grown rather fond of it!

A year ago when the control panel lights were dancing around like a disco party, and the commands got all confused and the dishwasher refused to work, my husband--who didn't want to spend the money to fix it--decided after many months maybe he didn't like doing the dishes either, I called for repair.

I purchased an extended warranty for $200 which guaranteed if it couldn't be fixed it would be replaced. This involved trying to explain to a woman in India that the unit was not located at my P.O. Box, but at my house, and enduring hearing her say 'exactly!' about 127 times.

The only Sears appliance repairman is an hour away and comes my way only on Wednesdays. He came, ordered the parts; they came the following week, but he did not. His father was sick, then passed, so it took another three weeks to get the parts installed.

As it turned out, this was expedient compared to what I am now going through.

Fast forward a year. The control panel lights are blinking again, and there's only 10 days left on the extended warranty. I call. Once again, the only repairman comes, only on a Wednesday, orders the same part. It comes the next week. He comes the next Wednesday and discovers it is black, and my dishwasher is white. He orders again. The following Wednesday I'm at the Fabric Collage workshop. When I get back I open the part and discover it is...black!

On Monday, I call India. They assure me they will order a white one this time. They will have someone call me that afternoon to verify it is in stock, and then they will expedite it to arrive before the repairman Wednesday. No one calls back.

Tuesday, I call India again. They tell me it has been shipped, but do not know the particulars. Someone will call me to tell me when to expect it to arrive. No one calls, and no part shows up. Wednesday, the repairman comes as scheduled, and takes the black parts away.

Thursday, a package arrives, and sure enough it's a white part, only it's the WRONG white part...it's the toe panel, not the control panel. I call India and explain the situation. She says the only repairman must come out again (only on a Wednesday) to reorder the part. By now, I think we all know what the part is and what color it is supposed to be. I have a limited amount of Wednesdays, you know?

Then the woman says OK, she will order a green panel for me. Green? I go ballistic. Do white and green sound anything alike to your ears? She will have my case manager call me. I am case #2513726. Does this mean there are over two and a half million people waiting for THE RIGHT PART? The case manager never calls. Instead the San Antonio dispatcher calls and says four of these parts are now on order and the repairman is coming...you guessed it, on Wednesday. None of these parts have arrived.

Today, I call the case manager. She tells me flatly they are out of the part. She will have the only repair man order it again--just to make sure there isn't a white one laying around somewhere. If another black one comes, she says they'll just have to install it! I told her if they couldn't come up with the right part they would have to replace the entire appliance. She said no, the warranty doesn't cover "cosmetics"! Never mind my dishwasher didn't begin with a cosmetic problem!

It takes a lot to raise my fur, but I am about ready to spontaneously combust!