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.

Our refrigerator died suddenly and we had to get a new one right away. I really hate having to buy something fast but it was either that or live out of an ice chest that my husband pulled out of the garage. We spent 3 days checking out Sears, Lowes, Home Depot, Best Buy, Pacific Sales, The Great Indoors, and a few locally owned appliance stores. ItÂs surprising how all the refrigerators started to look the same after a while but we finally decided on the brand/model we wanted. Now it was down to price. Over the last 1 1/2 years, we have had to replace all our appliances except for our stove. All have lasted us between 15-17 years so I canÂt complain. We bought our new front load washer/dryer from The Great Indoors. The price couldnÂt be beat by any other store and the salesperson was so helpful that when our dishwasher bit the dust a few months later, we went back. Once again he gave us the best price and great/friendly/helpful service. Our third appliance to go was our oven. Again we shopped all over and ended up buying at Pacific Sales. The price was the best and the salesperson was a pleasure to deal with, very professional and courteous. Our oven was installed last week. As for the refrigerator, Pacific Sales didnÂt carry the model we wanted. Although I shop a lot at Best Buy, their salesperson did nothing for us so they were out. The salesperson we encountered at Sears bent over backwards to try and help us. We didnÂt make it easy for him because we were so undecided but he stuck in there. We came back 3 times and he was very patient and understanding. Sears was having a big sale but someone else said that The Great Indoors was having a huge 1 day sale. We ended up getting a better price at The Great Indoors but since the Sears guy was so kind, I wanted to give him one last chance. We let him know that the decision was up to him for the sale. He beat the price and we got free delivery. He really earned the sale and we got a fantastic price. The refrigerator was delivered 2 weeks ago. We started having a problem with the doors squeaking right away. Called service and they came out very fast. They fixed the problem but it reappeared a few days later. Again service came out right away but this time they recommended replacing the refrigerator. Wow, how honest can you get? Most repair places would string you along for quite a while before admitting that you got a bad appliance. We should be getting our new refrigerator next week. Sears gets an A+ for both sales and service.

2read - I feel your frustration , but if you'll read btw the lines of jakvis' posts- this is the state of the service industry. Let's look at it the way you feel it should run: Tech comes and takes apart the machine looking for your needle in the haystack. You are responsible for all of the tech's time from the moment he leaves the shop or his last call till he buttons back up the appliance and gives you a written estimate, OK ? Leaves the shop to come to your place at 1:45 and he runs into an accident like we had in North ATL today at 2 pm. It was a 7 car + semi pileup that closed all 4 or 5 lanes plus the emergency lane - until 4:15pm when one lane open and lasted until 6 pm. He fights through that mess to arrive at your place at 4:30 when he starts to dissemble your machine which takes an hour and finds that there is x wrong with your machine. He then call parts to inquire about availability and price and waits on hold for 17 minutes and talks with the rep for another 13 minutes sorting out which variant is needed because there are three different ones for your model. ( That little bit just cost you 50 bucks itself - because the hourly billable rate is not $70 - it's $100 - the $70 is diagnostic lost leader price). At this point you are now obligated for $150 plus the travel time of $300. Suppose I'm generous and only charge you 30 minutes travel time = $50 for a total of $200 to open up the appliance and trouble shoot and run your diagnostic ? This still leaves you with a broken machine and it's now in pieces. Want him to re-assemble it at another hour for an additional $100 ? Even at $70 - you're still into it at $140 and still have a broken machine. Suppose you paid that only to find out the part needing replacing costs $335, plus shipping, plus two hours labor to install it ? You can buy lot of machines for $500 ! The easy way out , saving time and effort seems like a pretty good deal now - doesn't it ? Is it ideal ? Not really, but it's the market we live in now, because MOST people are going to balk at jakvis telling you " I don't know how long it's going to take me to figure out what's wrong with your machine or what the part will cost when I do find out what's wrong, but you just pay me $89.95 for as long as I'm here, OK ? "

Please allow me to post my opinion and experience on this stinky issue. I am the owner of a HE3T washer, and I am really unhappy with it, mainly because of the smelly and moldy issue, that crept up on us unexpectedly. My wife and I have 4 kids, so doing laundry is a daily affair, and not to be underestimated or procrastinated either... I am on the verge of throwing that ugly beast out of the laundry room for good. It is unbearably revolting to pick up an (alleged) clean towel to dry one's face just out of the shower, and "smear" moldy smell all over you. The vomit factor is very high on this one.... :-( However, I want to highlight a point, and that this issue is NOT an issue with ALL the FL (front loader) washing machines in general. Maybe just US made ones... Overseas, ( Italy ) where I grew up, FL are 99.999999% of laundry machines available on the market and this issue is completely unknown. To put it simply, I am now 45 years of age, I have lived in Italy 28 of those years, and I have never, ever, seen or heard of moldy smell on clean laundry out of the washer. Never. If you knew my mother (she redefines the word "neat freak") you would understand. Just the hint of a remote possibility of having mold in the washer and/or laundry, would bring that washer in the front yard in flames... Seriously, I believe US manufacturers have gone wrong somewhere in the making of this machines. They either cut one too may corners ( quality of rubber, maybe ?) or are attempting to reduce the amount of water in the cycle at the point where the quality of the rinse cycle is not an issue with them, and us as consumers are not part of the equation. I just came back from a one year of living in Italy with wife and kids, and the FIRST thing we notice, ever single time we go over there, is how much fresher and overall incredibly better smell of "clean laundry" they have from their washers. I know, we are weird... and on the contrary, as soon as we are back to the US, and to our $#@! HE3T, we pick up the moldy smell again. The customer/user/consumer SHOULD NOT have to do any gimmicks or use any "special" tablets, in order to operate these washers, or any washer, for that matter, NOT A SINGLE ONE. This washers are NOT cheap and they should just... well, work. Living in Italy for the last 12 months, we used two washers, one that came with the apartment we rented, and besides a slower spin cycle, it worked as expected (put dirty clothes in, put detergent, push the button, wait, get wet CLEAN laundry out, END OF THE story. Then the landlord needed his washer back, and for a "rent discount" he took that one back, and I got my old 12 years old Miele washer out of storage. This Miele has a somewhat smaller load capacity than most, and it worked for a family of 6 for a long time. Same for my mother's Candy ( Italian brand), and my sister's old Italian washer (San Giorgio). That one lasted 16 years of day in and day out operation for a family of six. It is just so frustrating, since I know that as a concept, FL do work very well, I have seen it work for decades... and one more time, we should NOT need to use "tablets" or do complicated procedures to have clean and good smelling laundry. As I said before, millions of people overseas use FL day in and day out, without doing anything else other than 1) put dirty laundry in 2) select cycle 3) put detergent in 4) push button 5( get clean clothes out. End of the story. Kenmore, Sears, whatever, get your acts together !!