A word of warning to those thinking of purchasing laundry machines (or other major appliances) from "home center"-type stores; you may be in for an unpleasant surprise regarding delivery. Note beforehand that I am a well-pleased owner of a Whirlpool Duet pair which I purchased from Sears back in May. I recommended the Duet to one of my brothers whose 6-year-old "Frigimore" lost its tub bearings. We went online to find a good price in the Washington, D.C. area where he lives, and settled on Lowe's in Alexandria, Va. They had a good price, "next-day delivery," and a rebate for the $75 cost of delivery and pickup. We agreed on a 12-4 p.m. delivery window; they arrived at 6:20 p.m. after I had talked to the delivery driver and being told he was 20 minutes away (at 4:30). Seems that the delivery manager added several deliveries to his list, according to him, though he didn't bother to call me to let me know. Upon arrival (in a Budget rental truck), the delivery men began to remove the shipping braces BEFORE taking the machine into the house. I stopped them from doing this; the braces should only be removed once the machine is in the laundry room. The back access panel was dented in the area of the tub pulley, though this proved to not be a problem. This indicates careless handling. They hooked up the machine and got ready to leave, until I notified them that they had not leveled the machine-crucial for a front-loader. They said that they didn't have a level, so I provided them with one, and leveled the machine myself, with some help from them (they had no idea what to do). They also had no rebate form. A bona fide appliance dealer will almost always send out their OWN personnel to do these installations, since they usually handle the warranty service themselves rather than farming it out as do the "home centers." As I discovered later, one of the local appliance dealers (Bray & Scharff) had an even better price than Lowe's, though no rebate on delivery costs. In fairness to Lowe's, I contacted the manager the next day (I had no luck with that on the day of delivery) and told him the whole story; he had me send my brother in to the store, whereupon he personally gave my brother the rebate, plus knocked $125 off the price of the machine. He also claimed he was cancelling the store's contract with the delivery service. Be advised, however, that the home centers do not generally have service departments, so they have no direct stake in service/warranty problems caused by sloppy or shoddy installation practices. Appliance dealers (and stores like Sears) almost ALWAYS have their own service departments, and thus have a direct interest in making sure these machines are installed correctly. The appliance manufacturers don't pay their authorized servicers very much for warranty service (I have it on good authority that Whirlpool, for instance, pays $54 for labor to their servicers for ANY warranty service regardless of how long it takes), so it's definitely in the dealers' interests to do a good installation job. There's no incentive, however, for the home centers to do likewise, other than customer good-will. Even the best machines, like the Duets, will give unsatisfactory performance if they are not correctly installed.
Laundry machines from home center stores
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Sears may not have a service dept much longer-been talk about closing it down-they will then become another BIG BOX store.The last time I washer shopped at Sears-they did not have the one in stock I wanted-would have been a 2 week wait-and additional shipping charges.Watch out with Sears--I had to choose a different in stock machine to aviod their shipping charge for one they didn't stock in the store.
Sears has closed most of their Service Centers over the last few years.They still have service,but the techs work from home.
It's also sometimes hard to price shop at Lowes,HD,etc. You try to match exact models,with something from a local retailer,only to find out that Lowes has models "exclusively" sold by them,and then they don't have to match a local retailers sale price. Buyer beware....
It's also sometimes hard to price shop at Lowes,HD,etc. You try to match exact models,with something from a local retailer,only to find out that Lowes has models "exclusively" sold by them,and then they don't have to match a local retailers sale price. Buyer beware....
exploder3211
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I have never had to pay shipping fees for non in stock items... I just orderd a Micro Hood and it wasn't in stock... Didn't pay any fees... Same with my cooktop and oven...
Just a ploy maybe to get you to buy what they've got or wanna sell ya??
I am tired of lowe's games and problems as well.. The two monkeys who delievered my Frigidaire wouldn't leave me any of the shipping supports or braces.. Yes i also had to leavel it my self. They also dropped the machiene i was returning... I helped them carry the new unit up to the porch, so it wouldn't get dropped
Although i did get a bunch knocked off for it being a floor model
Just a ploy maybe to get you to buy what they've got or wanna sell ya??
I am tired of lowe's games and problems as well.. The two monkeys who delievered my Frigidaire wouldn't leave me any of the shipping supports or braces.. Yes i also had to leavel it my self. They also dropped the machiene i was returning... I helped them carry the new unit up to the porch, so it wouldn't get dropped
Although i did get a bunch knocked off for it being a floor model
exploder3211
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2006
- Messages
- 1,664
I have never had to pay shipping fees for non in stock items... I just orderd a Micro Hood and it wasn't in stock... Didn't pay any fees... Same with my cooktop and oven...
Just a ploy maybe to get you to buy what they've got or wanna sell ya??
I am tired of lowe's games and problems as well.. The two monkeys who delievered my Frigidaire wouldn't leave me any of the shipping supports or braces.. Yes i also had to leavel it my self. They also dropped the machiene i was returning... I helped them carry the new unit up to the porch, so it wouldn't get dropped
Although i did get a bunch knocked off for it being a floor model
Just a ploy maybe to get you to buy what they've got or wanna sell ya??
I am tired of lowe's games and problems as well.. The two monkeys who delievered my Frigidaire wouldn't leave me any of the shipping supports or braces.. Yes i also had to leavel it my self. They also dropped the machiene i was returning... I helped them carry the new unit up to the porch, so it wouldn't get dropped
Although i did get a bunch knocked off for it being a floor model
rinso
Well-known member
We purchased a GE dishwasher from a store here, R. C. Willey. We took it home in our pickup, removed the packing carton, and found it had damage to the top left corner. It was dented and some of the black paint chipped off even though the carton had not sign of shipping damage. When we called the store, they basically said too bad because we didn't opt to have them deliver and install it.
PS: A few years ago, when I purchased my Frgidaire laundry set from them. Their installation people hooked up the dryer with a white plastic vent hose, and then pushed it against the wall.
PS: A few years ago, when I purchased my Frgidaire laundry set from them. Their installation people hooked up the dryer with a white plastic vent hose, and then pushed it against the wall.
Thats interesting on the shipping fees from Sears on non-stock items.this was when I bought a "Shredmore" several years ago.when the machine was delivored-there was a big dent on the top of the control panel-the box the machine came in was unmarked or damaged-the delivoryman call Sears about this and they knocked $100 off the price.I agreed-and they said the washer would be replaced or repaired if it didn't work.I tried it while the delivorymen were still there and it was fine.The saleslady really emphasized about the shipping fees.At this point will NOT buy anyting elese from Sears.they are just becoming another box store-Later I traded that Sears "Shredmore" for a really nice WP IMP90 machine from the Dixon "Swap Shop"Like the WP MUCH better.Should have gotten that in the first place.I miss the days when shopping at Sears was something special-they had knowelegeable salespeople-were paitent,and provided SERVICE!And the money back garrantee-iif you weren't happy they refunded your money.
Sears repair centers
I just bought a vacuum cleaner for my mom from Sears, and asked several Sears people, including their local service center, whether Sears was closing down its service operation. Everyone I mentioned it to said it was news to them...
I just bought a vacuum cleaner for my mom from Sears, and asked several Sears people, including their local service center, whether Sears was closing down its service operation. Everyone I mentioned it to said it was news to them...
Beltmann does lots of shipping for Sears, least that is what the sales rep from Beltmann told me when placing an order last year.
Sears like most "big" stores (what remains of them), have pretty much exited from in-house delivery services, and gone over to third party shippers such as Beltmann. Happily many people today own a large SUV or some sort of small truck/car with capacity to pick up their appliances. This can result in big savings tax wise if your home state has high sales taxes, but you can drive a state or two for a better deal. NYS/NYC has very high sales taxes on major appliances, but NJ does not, so lots of people who can drive over to NJ. New Jersey used to not charge sales tax weather items were delivered to NY or picked up, but NY got on them about it, so now only items taken away/picked up are tax free; if one has items delivered/sent sales tax is charged.
Sears like most "big" stores (what remains of them), have pretty much exited from in-house delivery services, and gone over to third party shippers such as Beltmann. Happily many people today own a large SUV or some sort of small truck/car with capacity to pick up their appliances. This can result in big savings tax wise if your home state has high sales taxes, but you can drive a state or two for a better deal. NYS/NYC has very high sales taxes on major appliances, but NJ does not, so lots of people who can drive over to NJ. New Jersey used to not charge sales tax weather items were delivered to NY or picked up, but NY got on them about it, so now only items taken away/picked up are tax free; if one has items delivered/sent sales tax is charged.
