Lets all buy from Sears

[SMS 斯蒂文?]

In almost every case, department stores at malls are not paying rent. They built, and own their buildings, and often the parking lots closest to their stores. It actually is a big pain in the butt for mall owners, because the department stores have veto power over new construction at the mall that might have an impact on the department stores, even when the impact is minimal. We're going through that at the mall near me, where there are actually four different owners, Sears, JC Penney, Federated, and Evershine (mall owner), and everything the mall owner wants to do is subject to approval by the department store owners.

The department stores really can't do anything else with their mall stores except to continue to operate them, or try to sell them to another departments store chain. The zoning is such that they can't just run out and tear down the store and build condos.

[SMS 斯蒂文?]

Yeah, they outsourced the delivery and they outsourced the service, and it got much worse. Never let them deliver anything. Hopefully you won't need warranty service.

Still, they very often have the best price, by far, on appliances, and have a much larger selection that places like Home Depot, Lowes's, Best Buy, Circuit City, Fry's, or Costco. Costco has the benefit of a 2 year standard warranty, but their selection is very limited.

I need to buy a range and microwave/hood for a rental unit. I was in Sears today, and I did my usual "reluctant to buy today routine," which almost always results in a fairly substantial price cut. In this case the oven came down from $450 ($500 sale price - 10% mail in rebate) to $382 with no rebate needed. This was the "associate friends and family discount") which was 20% then another 10%, for 28% off the non-sale price of $530.

I actually would have paid the higher price, as no other oven from any manufacturer had the features I wanted for the rental, which was coil burners (no ceramic top) but self-cleaning including the oven racks, and a hidden oven element (the last two features are rather rare on sub-$1000 ranges), though common on more expensive ceramic cooktop ranges.

Similarly, the microwave/hood I wanted was not available anywhere else. I needed a relatively high CFM 30" hood/microwave (400 cfm) which is not all that common for less than $500, but with the 28% discount, there is new Kenmore model that is around $250. If you have tenants that do a lot of Asian stir-fry type cooking, you need a high cfm exhaust. Even 400 cfm isn't terrific, but a lot of the microwave/hoods are 300 cfm or less.

[RF]

I bought a Kenmore microwave oven about 9 months ago and it went belly up last week.

Prior to buying it I had a GE microwave and it lasted 26 years without any repairs. No more Kenmores for me, thank you.

RF

[willshak]

Before buying a new microwave, find out who made the Kenmore, so you don't go out and buy the same brand somewhere else.

[dpb]

OTOH, the Kenmore we bought before the move from VA to TN (which is as close as I can place the time which makes it prior to July, 1978) is still functional for my daughter, daily...

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[k]

How old was the Kenmore when you bought it? Who was the prior owner, and how do you know it wasn't abused?

I also recently replaced a 27 yo Panasonic microwave, and gave the old unit away. It's still working fine for the new owner.

I replaced it with a GE, which works fine, but the damn beeping at the end of cycle is going to earn it an early grave. There is absolutely no reason for that thing to beep so loudly, or so incessantly.

Get a new one next time, they come with warranties I'm told.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Companies often lose business from people due to things like that, but the reality is, your experience means little to the rest of us.

Consider the following, If every Kenmore microwave died in 9 months, the brand would be out of business. Most are quite reliable. Kenmore brand is manufactured by at least three of the major appliance makers so there is a good change your next one will be made by the same company Most microwaves, regardless of the brand label, are made on two or three assembly lines (Sharp is one of the biggest) Every appliance company has a few DOAs or early demises or multi-repaired lemons. No appliance company makes things the way they did 26 years ago, be that good or bad Sometimes, shit happens. Sucks when it happens to you.

In terms of real dollars (or hours worked to buy the appliance) you paid a LOT of money back then compared to the $49 you can pay today. Chances are, you had to work 15 to 20 hours to buy the basic model compared to 2 hours for one well equipped.

[RF]

It was 0 years old - BRAND NEW!!

But I did!

[RF]

Yes, it's true that microwaves are very reliable generally. But all manufacturing is done to certain tolerances and at times a component that falls just outside the range is made and installed. That's usually the reason they fail.

Hopefully, there is no other similar component in it waiting to go bellyup :-)

[INSPECTOR via HomeKB.com]

You're an idiot!

[INSPECTOR via HomeKB.com]

Yes, thank you.

[SMS 斯蒂文?]

This is true. In fact the Kenmore stuff I just bought, is made by GE. As with all brands, there is the good and the bad. Just because something is Kenmore by GE or Kenmore by Whirlpool, doesn't mean much as each manufacturer has a wide range of models and quality.