It is reasonable to expect a dryer, purchased brand new from a major chain
(Sears) known for many decades as a merchant of home appliances, to last for
significantly longer than 18 months - which, for the record, is less than
two years (important).
Your sister should contact Sears again and tell them:
1) she wants the dryer replaced or her entire purchase price PLUS the cost of the $200 repair refunded.
If they refuse, your sister should state:
2) that she is ready, willing and able to sue them for
a) breach of warranty of "fitness for a specific purpose"
b) fraud
It will cost Sears more just to ANSWER the litigation (win, lose or draw - they have to pay the court filing fees and MUST be represented by an attorney licensed in the state where the suit is filed).
She should mention that to the 'droid with whom she speaks. Make it plain that it will be CHEAPER for Sears to simply give her the money rather than end up in court.
She should make sure that she conveys the "attitude" that she does not care whether or not she wins; that her goal is merely to cost Sears more money than if they just did the Right Thing.
This may or may not work. We tried this with Walmart a few years back and were told - basically - "go fuck yourself."
So we sued Walmart and by the time we were done with them we cost them roughly $350,000 in lawyer bills to the firm they had to contract in California to respond to the litigation filed in the California Superior Court. Additionally two lawyers ended up getting fired by the firm representing Walmart, a third resigned voluntarily, and all three are no longer permitted to practice law in the county where the case was filed and heard.
An **immense** amount of satisfaction gained from *that* one! Especially since it (initially) was over a dispute caused by their in-store pharmacy violating a 'best accepted medical practice' hence qualifying the case under California Pharmacy Medical Malpractice. The head pharmacist was stripped of the license to practice. Other neat fallout. And all Walmart was asked to do in the beginning was to send a letter of apology and make good on the original prescriptions....
Your sister should contact Sears again and tell them:
1) she wants the dryer replaced or her entire purchase price PLUS the cost of the $200 repair refunded.
If they refuse, your sister should state:
2) that she is ready, willing and able to sue them for
a) breach of warranty of "fitness for a specific purpose"
b) fraud
It will cost Sears more just to ANSWER the litigation (win, lose or draw - they have to pay the court filing fees and MUST be represented by an attorney licensed in the state where the suit is filed).
She should mention that to the 'droid with whom she speaks. Make it plain that it will be CHEAPER for Sears to simply give her the money rather than end up in court.
She should make sure that she conveys the "attitude" that she does not care whether or not she wins; that her goal is merely to cost Sears more money than if they just did the Right Thing.
This may or may not work. We tried this with Walmart a few years back and were told - basically - "go fuck yourself."
So we sued Walmart and by the time we were done with them we cost them roughly $350,000 in lawyer bills to the firm they had to contract in California to respond to the litigation filed in the California Superior Court. Additionally two lawyers ended up getting fired by the firm representing Walmart, a third resigned voluntarily, and all three are no longer permitted to practice law in the county where the case was filed and heard.
An **immense** amount of satisfaction gained from *that* one! Especially since it (initially) was over a dispute caused by their in-store pharmacy violating a 'best accepted medical practice' hence qualifying the case under California Pharmacy Medical Malpractice. The head pharmacist was stripped of the license to practice. Other neat fallout. And all Walmart was asked to do in the beginning was to send a letter of apology and make good on the original prescriptions....
She has thought about that but in the mean time she has no working dryer. She still might go that route but she
still needs a dryer.
still needs a dryer.
Er, in the meantime, abandon Kenmore. I don't know about their ranges (my Kenmore range is still running nicely), but their washers and dryers are pure shit.
You might seriously consider an LG instead.
But, you should understand that none of them get terribly great marks. All of them sorta suck to some degree. LG just seems to have better ones than the others.
There are very few companies left making products anymore. One company makes them and sticks a different label
on the outside and/or changes the control panel to make it look different. They are all the same guts.
My question is, how much longer does Sears have before it closes.
on the outside and/or changes the control panel to make it look different. They are all the same guts.
My question is, how much longer does Sears have before it closes.
Sears is already closed. It's really just K-Mart with a different sign on
the outside.
And I hope I can keep the dryer I bought in 1995 running forever! It's from the last generation before everything went electronics/computer driven. I've replaced the belt and the heating element, and could probably replace pretty much any other part in the appliance; there's just not much to it.
And we're not the kind of people who insist on having a matching washer and dryer. It boggles me that people throw away a perfectly good dryer just because they replaced the washer.
And I hope I can keep the dryer I bought in 1995 running forever! It's from the last generation before everything went electronics/computer driven. I've replaced the belt and the heating element, and could probably replace pretty much any other part in the appliance; there's just not much to it.
And we're not the kind of people who insist on having a matching washer and dryer. It boggles me that people throw away a perfectly good dryer just because they replaced the washer.
My GE dryer is, peculiarly, still running strong since I bought my condo over 15 years ago.
The washer, on the other hand, has been replaced twice now.
My parents bought their first 'modern' washing machine in, roughly, 1955.
Two houses and an apartment later, after they both passed away, the washing machine was given to one of my cousins in Philadelphia who is still using it.
60 YEARS!
Beat that, Sears!!
[That almost sounds like a football cheer...]
Hmmmm... Jewish Football Cheer: Get That Quarter Back! <evil grin>
Two houses and an apartment later, after they both passed away, the washing machine was given to one of my cousins in Philadelphia who is still using it.
60 YEARS!
Beat that, Sears!!
[That almost sounds like a football cheer...]
Hmmmm... Jewish Football Cheer: Get That Quarter Back! <evil grin>
I recently saw something which you don't have as a single device anymore nowadays: a spin dryer. right, whashing mashines do that nowadays.
but that thing looked still perfectly ok and working.
You may remember The Washing Machine - the 50 Year Wonder about which I posted
earlier.
Well, the machine before that had a wringer attachment.
After all the washing and rinsing was done, you manually fed the wet clothes through this gadget that hung over the washtub that basically was a pair of wooden rollers. You turned a crank with one hand and fed the clothes with the other and as they passed through the pair of rollers the water was squeezed from them.
After doing that, all that remained was to move the clothes to the solar powered drying system.
Ah... a clothesline hung between poles in the back yard!
I've often thought of marketing a "Solar Powered Clothes Drying System" on eBay - for about $9.99 (free shipping). And then sending the winner a 20 ft length of rope and a box of wooden clothes pins! A very humorous instruction sheet would be included. <evil grin>
Well, the machine before that had a wringer attachment.
After all the washing and rinsing was done, you manually fed the wet clothes through this gadget that hung over the washtub that basically was a pair of wooden rollers. You turned a crank with one hand and fed the clothes with the other and as they passed through the pair of rollers the water was squeezed from them.
After doing that, all that remained was to move the clothes to the solar powered drying system.
Ah... a clothesline hung between poles in the back yard!
I've often thought of marketing a "Solar Powered Clothes Drying System" on eBay - for about $9.99 (free shipping). And then sending the winner a 20 ft length of rope and a box of wooden clothes pins! A very humorous instruction sheet would be included. <evil grin>
The latest feature on dryers is "steam drying" That is right, you get a T-connector, split the cold water, one
to the washer and the other to the dryer. "Gets the wrinkles out"
to the washer and the other to the dryer. "Gets the wrinkles out"
Just gave up on the dryer from my old pair (circa 1982) Kenmore washer / dryer pair. The washer was repaired by my over that last 12 years of its life and the dryer did not need a repair up to 1 week ago. The washer parts totaled about $20 and about 2 - 3 hours over that 12 years. I will miss them both. The washer was still usable, but needed a vice-grip to turn the mechanical timer element to the magic marker lines to make the cycles work. My wife said no to that :-) I doubt the new stuff will last that long.
Honestly, I have no idea if the steam-in-the-dryer thing is nifty or not.
It *seems* silly to me; the clothes were wet when they went into the dryer, the dryer already makes steam from those clothes, until the steam is extracted and they're ... dry.
But then, I haven't seen one of these in action. I haven't seen the benefit (and I want to assume there's a benefit, and not merely marketing hype). I might actually think it's kinda cool once I grasp why this is nifty.
However, on the surface, it's additional complexity added to the engineering problem of 'drying the clothes', so it's sort of a hard sell to me.
We live in a consumerist society. If things don't fail people don't buy new products, people don't buy new
products the economy doesn't move.
Okay the economy isn't moving now but.....
products the economy doesn't move.
Okay the economy isn't moving now but.....
And then you have the safety issues around injecting water (for steam) into an appliance heated by a large electric coil. Doesn't sound all that nice to me.
Unless it's a gas powered dryer ... but burning natural gas creates a certain amount of water vapor on its own anyway ... oh yeah we're trying to sell a gimmick here.
Taken a meatspace trip to .uk or .ie lately? You need to use an aeroplane to get there. Once you do, all the electric is 220 or 240 volts, and everyone has a "Triton Electric Shower" installed *right there in the shower with you.*
These things work and work well, they're more compact than a Rinnai, but boy are they a bit scary if you're not used to them.
I assume they need wattage that's best delivered over 220V service, either that or our safety regs make them difficult over here.