Live Chatting with Sears (Jamie's Blog)

The Fridge is Freakin' Out

So for about a month our Kenmore refrigerator has not been working quite right - it's not been on it's A-Game if I must be honest. In December everything in the fridge was freezing and there was a constant drip of water from the freezer into the fridge. There was either free standing water on every shelf, or a sheet of ice on every shelf. Each day we'd open up the fridge and we are not sure if our bread was going to be a wet mushy mess or the arugula was frozen solid (both true stories).

That was then, the last few days my freezer and fridge have really been putting on a good show. It now looks like my freezer was hit by a blizzard, and not the good kind you get from the Dairy Queen. My freezer is covered in ice, everything has a nice coating of snow on it. The top of my freezer has icicles dripping down and the bottle of vodka is a frozen solid block of ice. I don't know much about alcohol but I was pretty sure it should not freeze.

And while my freezer has been covered with a gorgeous layer of white pristine snow - I am not amused. My fridge on the other hand is about as tepid as a warm glass of milk, oh and yes the milk went bad. Gone is my frozen (or unfrozen) fridge lake. Nothing is hot, but nothing is that cold.

My Uneducated Diagnostic Prediction of the Fridge

We were pretty sure that it is the seal around the freezer door is loose, and air is getting in. And by we I mean my parents came by last night for dinner and they being older and wiser pointed out the loose seal. I am not really in the mood (read afford) to go buy a new fridge right now and I was optimistic a repairman might be able to fix it. I didn't even know if that was something a repair person could do, so I went on the good ol' Sears website to find out. As I was trying to find the 800 number this screen kept popping up asking me I wanted to Live Chat. I thought that it might go better than a long drawn out phone conversation. I was wrong:

Live Chatting it Up with Robert Jones

Dear Customer, please wait while we connect you to a Blue Crew member to assist you.
You have been connected to Robert Jones.
Robert Jones: Thank you for choosing Sears. My name is Robert. How may I assist you?
Jamie: Does Sears replace rubber seals around a freezer door?
Robert Jones: Hi Jamie.
Robert Jones: I will be glad to check and help you further.
Jamie: Uh, ya hi Robert. Does Sears replace seals on freezer doors? It has come loose on our Kenmore Elite - the fridge was purchased in June of 2001. Our freezer is frozen - with ice everywhere and our fridge is NOT very cold
Robert Jones: I'm sorry to hear that you are facing a problem with your fridge. I'll be glad to check and help you schedule a repair service on this fridge.
Robert Jones: I wish I had an option to help you replace the appliance right away, however our technician need to check the appliance first. If he is unable to fix it, he will further help you in replacing the unit.
Jamie: Um, I don't know yet if I have to replace the fridge, I want to know about repairing it, if at all possible. So can you please let me know what the criteria would be for replacing the rubber around the door? I don't want to have a repair person come out - pay the fee and have him tell me that he does not replace or fix the seal. We just went through this with our dryer and after he told us it could not be fixed he gave us a coupon - that I had to use at Sears and that was only a small amount of money off the new dryer.
Robert Jones: I'm sorry, I will be unable to provide technical assistance over the chat as I'm not technically qualified. However, let me provide you the link for a website that has the user manuals for most of the appliances and you may be able to fix the appliance on your own.
Robert Jones: Please log in to www.managemyhome.com, if you wish to fix the appliance on your own.
Jamie: Even though the fridge is over ten years old?
Robert Jones: All of our technicians have been trained and certified by Sears so you know the service you are receiving is the best in the industry.
Jamie: Um can you speak regular English and answer my questions Robert Jones? I just want to know IF they replace loose seals on fridge/freezer doors.
Jamie: I did not ask if your technicians were trained, I asked numerous times if your technicians replaced the seal around a freezer door.
Robert Jones: Jamie, I apologize since the appliance is not covered under warranty.
Jamie: Warranty? I asked if they would work on a fridge that is ten years old. Neither question have you even tried to answer. What is the point of live chat if you can't answer any of my questions?
Jamie: Just out of curiosity where are you located?
Robert Jones: We are located at one of the many support call centers for Sears.
Jamie: Ya, I got that - since I am on Live Chat on a Sears website. In what country I meant?
Robert Jones: I am afraid we're unable to disclose that information. All our technicians have been trained and certified by Sears. I am sure they will be able to fix it.
Robert Jones: If your fridge cannot be repaired, our technician will provide you with a coupon towards a new appliance at Sears.
Jamie: Oh please, again with the "trained and certified".
Jamie: I KNOW your technicians have been trained and certified, you have already told me that!
Jamie: Also I know that I will get a coupon - I had that with my dryer earlier in the year....as I already mentioned. Do your Repair Technicians (that are trained and certified by Sears) EVER replace seals on freezer doors? Do you even read what I wrote? I know about the coupon!
Robert Jones: Jamie, once the technician diagnoses the fridge then only he will be able to decide, it is worth to repair or not.
Robert Jones: May I schedule a repair service on your appliance?
Robert Jones: I will remain available for another minute if you need further assistance.
Robert Jones: We are ending this chat since we have not hear from you.

Forget the Live Chat

After Robert Jones typed in "diagnoses the fridge" & "have not hear from me" I pulled out most of the hair on my head and banged my head against my laptop for a good ten minutes. Then, I called the 800 number like I was originally going to do. After only two minutes on the phone the lovely lady on the phone told me that yes Kenmore did replace seals on doors and yes they may be able to fix my fridge. All I had to do was make an appointment with a Repair Technician (kindly she did not tell me how trained and certified they were.....I would have lost it). Notice I said lovely - not quick. After I told her the fridge was ten years old she then followed that up with, "And what year is the fridge?"

The thing that really irked me about Live Chat was, I really would have rather just typed my question and not bothered with using the phone, getting put on hold and asked what year my fridge was. I like to multi-task and I am a pretty damn quick typist. The customer service person was clearly not located in this country, he was answering with a script, he had no idea what the repair technician did (but he was positive the technician was trained and certified). I am not even sure he understood the questions I was asking (ya I am real quick like that). Also, I am not a genius, but I am pretty sure his name was not not Robert Jones either! And this is not a rant against aliens (illegal or not) nor is it a call to arms about how we should not send our jobs overseas. It is just a company that did not execute the whole "let's chat on line to make your life easier and make this transaction cheaper" very well, at all.

Appointment is tomorrow.....maybe the vodka glacier will have thawed out by then.