Sears recalls 800,000 Kenmore Dehumidifiers After Fires

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I Have Never Understood....

....Why American corporations with a century of consumer trust behind them would risk their reputations by putting their valuable brand names on stuff made by the lowest bidder in a nation 8000 miles away.
 
How many of you are willing to pay for a well-made american appliance?  Used appliances don't count as most consumers want new.  Most consumers buy based on price and style.

 

I am not questioning the greed factor, but Wal-Mart and K-Mart changed the game some years ago.  We continue to race to the bottom in our quest for cheap goods.  The problem is that we're then somehow surprised that those goods don't last.
 
Ha Ha!

The first thing that went through my mind was that these were probably an LG blunder.  Poor Sears....

 

Malcolm
 
Tom:

"Answer: Profit over everything."

Immediate profit, perhaps.

But also perhaps, ultimate ruin. There's only so low you can sink before a desirable customer will have nothing to do with you. Sears is already finding this out; I don't think sourcing from LG is going to do anything but accelerate the process.

And this was once the single most valuable brand name in America.
 
Even Henry Ford understood that if he paid his workers enough to be able to afford one of his cars, they would buy one. Economies improve when workers are paid enough to aspire to afford nicer things by seeing themselves able to advance in the economy, not when they have to buy the cheapest because they cannot afford any better.
 
Tom,

 

Henry Ford had it right, but the world is totally different now.  We now have excessive corporate greed and a huge problem with abuse of social welfare programs.  I don't have the answer, but I don't think that just raising wages will fix this.
 
No, raising wages alone won't help, but employing people in this country building the things that are made in China and other places would put people to work here at higher wages than fast food joints pay and might help people build lives in ways other than being fund managers and lawyers, you know upward mobility like we used to have. You can't have a value-added economy without a strong manufacturing base. People can afford things made in a first world economy. People buy things made in Germany and other Northern European countries. As more people make them in this country, more people will be able to afford them, especially when they are not paying so much for health care.
 
You know, the more I think about it, the madder I get... They want us to take the model stickers off, cut the cord, and send it (the cord and stickers) to them in an (at least) prepaid envelope, and they will send a $75 k-mapart or sears gift card, plus $25 towards a new dehumidifier (from sears or k-mapart only of course). I can tell you this right now, our dehumidifier was far more than $100 (50 pint capacity, electronic controls), and had it not been for their shoddy quality, would still be working fine. They expect us to go spend more money at their stores to replace the dehumidifier that could have burned our house to the ground and/or killed all of us (it was always left on when we left or went to bed, and I don't know how many times I fell asleep to the buzz of the compressor running in the basement, directly below our bedrooms and any hope of exit in case of a fire) , with another one that will likely have the same recalls a few years down the road. Who knows if we will be lucky with the next one or if that one will actually catch fire? Whatever happened to using things for years until they just flat gave out? Now it's use it for a few years until enough of them catch fire to warrant a recall, and scrap it for another one that will have the same problems a few years from now. Am sure sears will be getting an email before this is over.
 
Anybody notice how shoddy the WUSA/Gannett report was?

Know how I went from 6-figure engineer to a HUD poorhouse? It started when Gannett bought the TV station I worked at in 1987 and replaced all the skilled staff with burgerflippers. I estimate I was one of roughly 15 million laid off for being too competent in the post-Reagan economy.

Perfect storm. We could no longer afford anything better than LG unless like myself we had very rational cost structures and could afford WCI versions of Electrolux designs. Which in turn betrayed us at the turn of the millenium. Shortly later Maytag did. And GE. I'm not sure when Whirlpool went south, but I'm sure they DID.

So it goes. Or so it went. Maybe we learned something from it. But I wouldn't count on that. The last 25 years taught me a lot of cynicism.
 
Arbilab-you aren't the only one-worked At WPGC AM and FM-when owners and format changed I was bid goodbye.Now I work for a Gov't SW broadcasting agency-The plant hasn't been closed YET.
News in the US is alll around shoddy-NBC,FOX,CBS,ABC,CNN--ALL OF THEM--INCOMPETENT reporting and news gathering.US news is the WORST in the world!!!Go with BBC and someone else.
Good thing I am making MORE at where I work and have better benefits.
 
Yes Toli, like I said we were among roughly 15 million caught in that downsizing. The most competent were the first to go. We were the most highly paid so we 'stuck out' to the beancounters who came to rule the universe.

My brother was also in radio at a much higher level, so-called talent at mid 6 figures. Then the old "format change" and for 3 years he was at ZERO figures until just lately when he got reemployed at mid 5 figures and considers himself lucky.

Anybody considering a career in broadcasting today, consider a career in french fries.
 
This is yet another nail in the Sears coffin that will undoubtedly have "Satisfaction Gauranteed or Your Money Back" stitched into the headliner of the lid.

We have an LG dehumidifier, about 2 years old so while not affected by the recall, this is still unsettling. I bought it at an estate sale this spring, used only one season. I've been happy with the performance and it is markedly quieter than the 12 year old Frigidaire it replaced. I guess there is little more we can do than hope it won't burn down the house?

Anything bought today is somewhat of a crapshoot if it is made in China like the Kenmore dehumidifiers or uses components made in China (nearly everything). Until the consumers demand better value and expect to pay more for it, we'll most likely just have to live with it. 795,000 units in this recall. Makes you wonder what Sears would do if every customer rolled them back (or carried the charred remains) into their local Sears store and demanded a full refund.

http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/2013/Sears-Reannounces-Recall-of-Kenmore-Dehumidifiers/
 
Here is the email I sent sears...

Here is the email I sent sears about our dehumidifier..

" We have a Kenmore Dehumidifier that is being recalled (model 580.53509300, serial 304TA04758), and I do not think your "remedy" to the recall is fair to customers. I know our dehumidifier cost far more than the $100 total we will be getting for "replacement", we bought the dehumidifier and it has worked well, but I think Sears should be covering complete replacement costs of the product, because had we not known about the recall, we would still be using the dehumidifier, which seemed to be working fine. They want us to scrap it, and then buy a new one at sears. TWO WORDS: Not Happening! We obviously have already stopped using it, because I am not about to risk burning our house down, or risk the lives of our family or pets, but we will most likely go without a dehumidifier because we simply cannot afford a new one. Even with the $75 gift card and $25 credit toward a new dehumidifier, we simply cannot afford to replace it. I think because of Kenmore's lack of quality that caused the recall, they should be AT LEAST covering full replacement costs, not to mention the danger the product posed to our home and family. I cannot count the number of times we left our pets at home with the dehumidifier running, what would have happened if it had caught fire? Or the number of nights we all went to sleep with it running? It was in the basement, so had it caught fire, it may have been too late to get out by the time we noticed upstairs. Fire will spread quickly in a 63 year old home. Even had something happened while we were out of town, we could have lost everything. I thank God that nothing did happen, although I had noticed a "hot" smell coming from the dehumidifier last week and it has been off since. What could have happened if I hadn't smelled it? Fire? Obviously possible- they have a recall out for a fire hazard. If Sears can't at least cover repairs or full replacement, I am absolutely done shopping in your stores and will tell everyone I know."

Will see what kind of response I get....
 
Yeah, me too. If I don't get a response, I'm considering putting the thing in the middle of the driveway and letting it run until it catches fire, then carrying it into sears.
 
Sears Dehumidifier Recall

Dustin and others if I had one of the effected units I would just take it BACK to Sears and ask for a new replacement machine or demand they FIX the defective one, if they will not budge go to your county courthouse and file a suit in small claims court for the cost of replacing the DH, Sears will usually give in when they get the paperwork from the county rather than sending an attorney to argue their side of the case, it may take a while but it will almost always works.

 

On a related note, the last Made in The USA DHs that WP built and sold under the Sears and WP names about 10-15 years ago also had a HUGE [ one or two million units ] recall for fires, on this recall they provided a rework kit for most models and a few models were just replaced.

 

Fires are nothing new on electrical appliances where too much plastic [ or other combustible materials are used, ever wounder how many houses were burned down by those cool old wooden cabinet TVs and console Stereos ? ] is used in areas where a part that overheats can cause the plastic housing to catch fire. If products were better designed to minimize the possibility of fires we would see far fewer recalls.
 
Fascinating article

Thanks Phil. I think this is related to all of the big independent department stores joining Federated and then all becoming Macys, all selling the same crap. Going to a different store used to be an adventure because of the chance to see new things. Now they are all the same. Malls got that way too, all the same stores.
 
Fires in older wood cabinet TV's and Hi-fis weren't so much of a problem-the cabinets were designed so the parts inside got adequate cooling.And these devices from that era used tubes which ran hotter than SS designs.The plastic just seemed to be more flammable than the wood-or as the plastic burned-it melted and dripped burning plastic onto other surfaces-wood didn't do this.Fires in that early equipment were pretty rare-becuase the devices were better designed.And their fuses or breakers opened before things got too hot.When you look into a wood cabinet electronic device-the space inside was large so heat could be disappated-and the tubes or hot parts were far away from the wood parts.Vent holes on back panels were used.Some early cabinets didn't even have back covers-so heat got out easily.The pix tube cup on wood cabinet sets prevented folks from putting them too close to the wall-and for stereos-most folks didn't put them too against the wall.Only a few in of clearence was enough.
 
Our first dehumidifier was a Westinghouse that was purchased about '59 or '60 from Swallen's on Wooster Pk. I remember going there with my parents to get it, and seeing all the appliances in the showroom.

This DH was all metal except the control knob. It had no problems until sometime in the early 70's when we heard a pop, and a puff of smoke came out of it. The control had gone bad, so I went to the Westinghouse parts place and got a new control, and the thing ran for several more years until the fan motor went out. My parents went back to Swallen's and got another Westinghouse which we had until the late 80's, when it stopped working, due most likely to lightning striking the power lines nearby.
 
Makes me wish I still had the 30+-year-old Kenmore dehumidifier my brother-in-law gave me, of which it took more than 1,000 visits to my parents' furnace room in their basement before I noticed--realized!--that it was missing!

-- Dave
 

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