That doesn't surprise me. You're lucky they brought them into your house without signing the waiver. I personally would have signed the waiver to get them in my basement. However, my last appliance purchase was through a "mom & pop" store. That's how you get good service. Sears is corporate and are just making sure they don't get into a position of a lawsuit.

Sears is not the store it once was. It used to be service was the best, but not anymore.

I have cancelled a their credit card. A card I've had all my adult life and that's a lot of years.

My story:
My microwave gave out. I knew which one I wanted and ordered it from Sears catalogue. I waited a week for it. Then I got a notice it was in an sears depot, 40 miles away, not the address I gave them. I called--they could send it on but it would take another 3 days. Why I asked it's only 40 miles away. Well--paperwork blah blah blah. Cancel the order says I, and we drive the 20 miles into town and bought the microwave for $20 less. I get my bill with a $3 charge for a catalogue order. On the phone again and they gave me a hard time and finally cancelled the charge. It showed up on my next bill. On the phone again and this time after haggling it was cancelled.

2 months later I ordered christmas gifts to be sent to my sister. They screwed up the order, but I still had to pay the $3 because they got 1 thing right.

Fast forward to the next Christmas. I wanted to get my grandsons a workbench with tools. I looked at some in town. All of them came in large but flat boxes and had to be put together. There looked to be a good one on line at Sears and I ordered it. Nowhere did it say already assembled. When it cam it was in a huge box 4' by 3'. One look at that box and I knew it had to go back. My son lives out of town and there was no way they could fit that big box and other things in his van. I sent it back. A $ 3 charge for catalogue order plus $3.75 for sending it back. $6.75 for nothing.

That was it--the final straw. I cancelled all catalogues and tore up my credit card. The only time I shop in their stores is if I can't find what I'm looking for anywhere else--which isn't very often

Sears has been around for over 100 years and then some. For the last two plus decades the same company has been offering the entrepreneur a way to create success for themselves through a franchise business opportunity in the carpet and air duct cleaning business.

I just had a repairman tell me that the gas dryer which Sears installed for me was not properly installed and he is going to come back with a goose neck it should have had. Maybe installation by someone else would be better. Can't blame you for boycotting them.

Yeah, I'm trying to decide if I should just return them (have their delivery team pick them up) or suck it up and hire someone to move them down to the basement and hook them up. I'm so livid about this, they've been impossible to work with! The salesman I spoke to today actually yelled at me! As if this is my fault?! Sigh, dealing with these companies is exhausting and stressful.

Sanjily...who are you and what are you talking about? Bizarre posts from you.

Sears does subcontract many services. In my experience, they've always held up their end of the bargain. Disappointed to learn they haven't in your case.

Dear claudialina10,

I'm sorry to hear about your delivery experience with Sears and your new Bosch washer & dryer. I'm sure after the delay with the initial delivery, this situation with getting the items down and into your basement was quite frustrating and inconvenient. I'm Scott with Sears Cares Escalations; we'd like to help. At your convenience please contact my office via email at searscares@searshc.com so that we can assist with resolving this issue. Please provide us a contact number and the phone number the washer & dryer was purchased under and we will call you at your convenience. In addition, include your screen name (claudialina10) in the email so we can reference to your case.

Thank you,

Scott J.
Senior Case Manager
Sears Cares

Hey, Scott J, thanks for popping up with a courteous and sincere response. I do hope Claudialina10 follows up with you and the situation is resolved happily for her. I do hope either she or you will report back in this thread and let us know how things went.

As far as "sanjily" is concerned, it is a bot engaged in search engine optimization or hit farming. That or it is a human with severe autism.

Oh Scott,
Do you REALLY want to hear from me? My experience with Sears continues to be a nightmare. I had to hire a local contractor to bring the w/d downstairs (another $100).

Then Sears came back out to hook up the w/d and remove the old one.

They managed to remove the old w/d and take that away. Bravo, one thing completed, yet it took 3 visits before I found a delivery team that would do it (and believe me, they did it with quite a lot of hemming and hawing).

They did not hook up my dryer as they would not remove the top of the dryer to take out the 4prong plug (which is what was installed on it) with a 3prong (which I also bought at Sears for $20). I said, leave it and I'm calling an electrician in to change my outlet to a 4prong so I can use the equipped plug. However, when they went to hook up the vent, they were so rough with the existing aluminum tubing, the whole thing started unraveling from the bottom. They said that they couldn't hook it up with it unravelling like that. So the dryer is not hooked up and I needed to go out and buy a whole new vent hose to replace the And here's the best part of the story - they did hook up my washer. They could not figure out how to move the feet around to level it and I told them not to worry about it, I would take care of leveling it. After performing the test run, I ran my first load of laundry yesterday. A few minutes into the cycle, I heard loud banging. I ran downstairs and the washer was walking across the floor. I shut it off and grabbed the manual. As I read through it, I noticed that there are transportation bolts on the back that MUST be removed before use. Do you think they were removed? I'll let you guess the answer to that. After a conversation with Bosch customer service (who, by the way, said the VAST MAJORITY of the complaints about their products come from customers who purchased at Sears), I removed the bolts myself and was lucky I caught the issue in time (ie, that I was home) or the unit would have broken.

Unless you are willing to reimburse me for all these headaches, I have no desire to ever speak to Sears again. Instead, I will never purchase from your company in the future (which is a shame, as I am in the midst of a kitchen renovation and have about $9K to spend on appliances, all of which I am spending at a local mom & pop appliance store). And, I have made sure that everyone I know is aware of the situation I experienced.

Failing to remove the shipping bolts prior to applying power to the machine is catastrophic to some front-loaders, particularly the older Duets/Kenmore Elites made by Bauchnecht. I hope your machine is not permanently damaged. Any "tech" who does not know that there are shipping bolts securing the drum has no business showing up at your door to do an install. Usually, there are bright red warning tags all over the back of the machine informing the installer that the bolts have to come out before plugging the machine in. I am beginning to suspect that the installers had either had a bellyful of your basement and you, Claudialina, and just wanted out of there, or they deliberately left the shipping bolts in to sabotage your machine for you.

In this day and age with as many front loaders sold, the notion that ANY installer would not know to pull the shipping bolts defies logic.

These guys aren't "techs". They are (excuse my language) dumb-arses that are not licensed appliance installers. They drive trucks, for goodness sakes! And probably they don't even do that too well!

Given that I was dealing with different delivery people each time, I can't imagine that they had a 'bellyful' of me, since my irate conversations were with the sales team at the local Sears.

I buttered those delivery guys big time- offered them water, helped move things with them, etc.

It's called INCOMPETENCE and STUPIDITY. Can you believe it?

In fact, I should probably have them replace my washer unit but, quite frankly, I just can't bear the thought of dealing with Sears right now. I'm so disgusted.

If you can, please boycott! I might start a Facebook page on this, now that I think of it!

A simple rule: if Sear sells something that can't be had anywhere else and you simply must have it, buy it from Sears.

Otherwise don't.

No, I certainly won't boycott them. I have had fantastic service from Sears, we have a local franchised outlet that offers one of the only places in town to buy appliances. When I go shopping I invariably find that Sears is competitively priced, and the service I have received has been outstanding.

But I wholeheartedly commiserate with you over your shoddy treatment. It was inexcusable plugging that machine in with the shipping bolts in place. Sears should replace that machine and fire the bozo who failed to remove them.

mojaven:
"LOCAL FRANCHISED OUTLET" You are not dealing with Sears, you are dealing with the franchisee--there-in lies the difference. They may sell sears appliances but unlike us, sears is not the one you are dealing with

I'm done with Sears. You can't call a local store directly anymore - you get some dude in Alabama who doesn't have a clue

I bought a fridge recently - was told specifically (and repeatedly) that Id get free delivery. Only later reading the small print it says free delivery on fridges over $399. My fridge was $359. When I asked whether Sears would honor the salesman's false promise, the answer was (not surprisingly) no.

So fine. I cancelled the order. I'm done. As someone else said, I'd rather pay the local guy - they generally will meet Sears' prices, not that they are that much lower to begin with. I find it hard to believe that the salesman didn't deliberately lie to me about the (supposedly) free delivery

Of course he lied! That's what mine did too, telling me they'd bring it to the basement, install, etc. They did none of that, and what they did do, they did it wrong.

The best thing to do is not give them your business anymore!

So, have you contacted the customer care guy, Scott, who took the trouble to post on this thread? I'm not a fan of Sears myself, either, but if they're willing to try and resolve the problem with you, why not see what they're prepared to do for you?

And please post back to let us know.

Wow, things have changed. I bought a fridge about 8 years ago - the free delivery included hauling off the old one but I asked if instead they could move it to the basement and the salesman said sure and wrote it on the order and the deliverymen did just that.

About 3 years ago, I helped a friend buy a DW at Sears including installation - it was delivered and installed without a hitch.

I wonder if they've gone downhill everywhere or just in some locations.

Sorry, but I disagree. I am dealing with Sears. All of the items come from Sears warehouses, all of the prices are set by Sears Corporate. The franchisee acts as the go-between, of course, and the attitude of the local people has a great deal to do with the service one receives, but they are still selling Sears merchandise at Sears prices.

Now, I am NOT apologizing for shoddy treatment of anyone by Sears. And what happened to Claudialina is inexcusable. I am just saying that I have had much better luck, repeatedly, over the course of many decades. So I am not going to boycott or kick Sears to the curb personally unless they do me wrong, which they have not done, although they did get pretty slow about getting my last major appliance purchase, our refrigerator, up here from Los Angeles. But once it got to town the local folks had that thing in my house in minutes. I do agree with sara the brit and would like to know how Sears will respond to this if you contact them, Claudialina, although I wouldn't blame you if you were too sick of them to call right now.

Yikes. If I could stand it I'd return the pair to Sears -- in the off chance the washer was damaged -- and rebuy from the mom&pop where you're buying the rest of the appliances if they'll deal. Why? Certain items are price-fixed but if you bundle they can compensate on others. I saved $2K over a competing estimate on the big stuff by doing a one-stop shop.

BTW -- really love my Bosch frontloaders. We had been taking laundry down to the basement -- 13 floors -- as the old toploaders were tiny and dysfunctional.

I'm so glad to hear all this support on this site. Couple things in response to people's posts:

1. Yes, I did email "Scott". I also googled "Sears Cares" and found out that they have a whole team dedicated to resolving issues like this - they have a system that crawls the web for posts like mine, send a response and then try to work with you. I emailed Scott yesterday. Have not heard back yet. I will absolutely keep the board posted.

2. I am toying with the idea of returning the items and buying them from the mom&pop. I'm sure they would match Sears' price (because the price was not really discounted, based on what I've seen for these products on the web - the Bosch Axxis 24", the pair were $1800. I just don't have the energy to deal with that!

I am very happy that you decided to email the Sears ombudsman to put them to the test. I am curious to see how fast and how well they will respond.

Okay, Sears Cares called me this morning.

Basically, they said the following:

1. There should have been 2 teams to come to handle my w/d. After the sale, a delivery team should have come to bring the w/d to the basement and remove the old. Then, an installer was supposed to come to install the units.

NOONE ever told me that, not even the delivery drivers!! Not the sales person, not the delivery drivers, noone. So, I had the delivery drivers install my washer (they never even did the dryer)... hence, transport bolts never removed.

How do you forget to tell the customer this? And WHY wouldn't the delivery people tell me this? I don't get it.

2. As goodwill, they offered me one additional year, no cost, warranty. So, I'm covered for 12 months (standard) and they provided me with an additional 1 year.

3. Anything I need in regard to servicing for these units in the next 2 years, I can call my "dedicated" sears cares rep and she will schedule my appointment for me, etc.

4. If I chose to purchase other items from Sears, my dedicated rep might be able to cut me a deal (ie, discount).

So, basically, I found out that there was ANOTHER mess-up (the installers never being scheduled to perform installation) and I got a one year free of charge warranty.

Pretty lame, in my opinion.

I tried Sears when looking for appliances but gave up because they don't match Lowes for their extended warranty. I went looking at lawnmowers but me and another customer could not get anyone to wait on us. (Orlando, East Colonial store). Of course there were 3 clerks there joking around but just worried about "getting off in 1 hour). It bugs me that a store I grew up with is so poorly managed these days. Maybe a Chinese company will buy them out.

If it were me, I would return the units and buy new from mom & pop. I'd be concerned about possible damage from the bolts not having been removed showing up later, whether they will try to void the warranty saying you must have abused the units, and whether you'll have any other problems with that extended warranty. I had an extended warranty with Whirlpool and they required using A&E for service. I believe Sears warranty service is the same. I had a repairable washer, but A&E screwed up and ordered wrong parts and sent out total idiots not once but 3 times. One of those was supposed to be an early call and the guy showed up after 7 pm and barely spoke English. He was worse than useless. I had no working washer for a month when Whirlpool told me that under the service agreement, they would not pay for any further service or parts.

We went to Sears to get replacement units and had an order with a prompt delivery. Without telling us, they cancelled the delivery because they didn't have an installation part that we were able to pick up at the local hardware store. They said they couldn't keep the delivery date -- it had already been changed in the computer and they wanted to reschedule a week or more out. Cancelled and bought at Best Buy with next day delivery and a better price (they honored the sale price at Sears and charged less for the service agreement).

Recently tried to buy a fridge and freezer from Sears during the 30% off energy star plus state rebate sale. Units showed in stock, but then we were told one was on backorder and would be a month or more. If it was late, we could lose the state rebate. I called and asked our salesman if they could assure us we would have it in time, given the huge rebate and sales events all over the country, and what they would do if it was delayed. He sounded annoyed that I would ask and said he would get back to me. They were not nice when I called back either. Long story followed, but we would up getting a stainless model of the same fridge at a better discount so that it was priced nearly the same as the white (so I have a snazzy laundry room -- LOL) and a scratch and dent freezer for the garage for less. I canceled the Sears order. I won't buy another Whirlpool appliance, I won't buy appliances from Sear's, and I won't use A&E service. Not worth the aggravation.

I know you've had a big headache already, but I'd want to avoid future ones.

I'm in total agreement with lascatx re. returning the W/D and buying all new from the local mom 'n' pop. What frustration!

My own experience:
1. A few weeks ago, I stopped in the local Sears and stayed for quite awhile, explaining to the salesman that I needed a refrigerator, range, hood, microwave, D/W (not to mention sink, faucet, disposer, air switch, and hardware!) for a kitchen remodel. A couple items I was considering they did not have on the floor, but the sales guy pushed for me to buy them anyway, sight unseen, even though I made it clear they weren't needed until September. Then he asked for my name, number, and email, saying that if we could wait until Labor Day, they'd have new stock and good deals and he would call. Well, he did not. I walked through the department a couple days ago and didn't notice much difference in stock; it was also dead as a doornail, in spite of the weekend sale. So, it was off to Best Buy, where I've been treated well for years, city by city city. Received excellent treatment, outstanding prices, and good warranties, and anticipate smooth delivery/installation, given past experience with them.

2. The previous owners of our current home were apparently smitten with Sears: They used Sears for kitchen and bath appliances, fixtures, repair work, etc. Even the toilet boasts a "Sears" logo (ee-gads). And nearly all of those Sears items are falling apart prematurely, with repairs we've "uncovered" miserably done, to say the least.

I know some folks will have no trouble with Sears, but I for one will not go back. The company has changed big-time.

I'll never buy from Sears again. I purchased all new Elite Kenmore kitchen appliances from them on January 3rd (paid for them all...refrig, cooktop, oven, microwave, dishwasher and warming drawer). It is now Feb 12 and I still don't have most of them. Each time they line up a delivery date, they call me the day before to tell me its been delayed and give me a new date. This has happened five times now! Extremely inconvenient as I have to schedule a day off work for the delivery and have an installer scheduled (not Sears), only to have to reschedule it all each time Sears has given a new delivery date (to date, five times).

Getting answers is impossible, as they are too big and no one knows anything about why it is delayed. I have no idea when I will ever get my appliances and no one can tell me, though they were paid for 6 weeks ago. My whole kitchen upgrade is on hold for an undefined amount of time. I'm a victim and can't get answers...thanks Sears!

Consumers should be aware. I believe they have changed their policies (starting in January 2011) to not have very much at all in inventory from the manufacturers. This is leading to people having to wait weeks (1 1/2 months for me) to get appliances they used to be able to get in a week maybe two at the most.

They will be losing good customers like me if they continue this cost-cutting measure. It may help their bottom line, but it's extremely unacceptable for customers.

Did you pay by credit card? If so, cancel your order and if they refuse, call the credit card company and dispute the charge - you should be within the window of time in which you can do so.