Sears recalls 800,000 Kenmore Dehumidifiers After Fires

[dustin92]

Better hold on to your undies...I got a reply....

I got a reply to the email I sent Sears a few days ago...

" Dear Dustin Kauffman,

Thank you for contacting Sears. We are always interested in hearing from our customers. Please accept our apology for any inconvenience you may have encountered with the dehumidifier.

The amount provided by the recall is the most we can offer for this situation. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Once again, thank you for contacting us. Let us know if you have further questions.

Thank you for shopping at Sears. We appreciate your business.

Sincerely,

Maria L. Sears Holdings Corporation"

Not Impressed at all, I think I'm just going to carry it into sears and tell them to replace it.

 

[travis]

Dustin,

For me, it would be worth the $140 loss to not have to go into a Sears store. I understand your hurt feelings, but these dehumidifiers were built between 2003-2005. It's not right to expect them to hand everyone a full refund.

Sears isn't the same quality company of the past. No offense, but by the age in your profile, you weren't even born when they sold good stuff. Sadly, we live in a disposable society.

 

[danemodsandy]

FEH!

"The amount provided by the recall is the most we can offer for this situation."

Sorry, Maria. This is not the most you can offer, it's the most you will offer.

I personally think this country needs a "Make Them Whole" law, where corporations must stand fully responsible for poor design and substandard quality caused by the race for profit at any cost. I once had to eat a car over a Ford design flaw that they would not fix, and for which there was no fix.

"Making whole" is a legal concept that provides for restoring the plaintiff to the condition they would be in had they not had a particular misfortune - the defendant has to FULLY refund or repair or whatever it takes to get things to the point they would have been otherwise.

If corporations had to make consumers whole again under these circumstances, they'd be very much more cautious and conservative about what they put on the market, and about who produced it.

 

[travis]

Sandy,

 

I get your point, but it's a well known fact that 1927-31 GE monitor tops have issues.  Should I go after GE for producing an inferior product?

 

Your desire to hold companies accountable is assuming the company willfully made an inferior product.  It's not just that one company is cutting costs, they all are.  Again, are you willing to pay the price for a quality designed and produced product?  We all want something that will last forever for a low cost. 

 

[danemodsandy]

Travis:

Yes, I am willing to pay more for quality.

There should certainly be a time limit on the sort of consumer protection I mentioned, but as matters stand, there is none whatever, which is ridiculous at best and highly damaging to consumers at worst. Corporations are thumbing their noses at consumers who purchased products in good faith.

One especially egregious example was the 2.7 liter Chrysler Corporation engine used in many Dodge Intrepids. The oil passages were too narrow, leading to under-lubrication of the engine and total engine failure, typically not long after the 60,000 mile mark. Chrysler disallowed warranty claims, calling it "lack of maintenance" (even in at least one case where the consumer could prove that every speck of recommended maintenance had been performed absolutely on time, by the Chrysler dealer who sold him the car). Many people suffered this failure while still paying for their cars. The cure? Total engine replacement, at a cost of thousands. Resale on Intrepids became abysmal; no used car dealer wanted them if they had the 2.7 liter.

I hear you that no company should be liable forever, but they should certainly be accountable for at least as long as the term of loans they themselves write!

 

[travis]

Sandy:

 

I understand your point.  In the case of Chrysler, numerous consumers would have sued.  I really don't want the government involved in forcing manufacturers to replace items for a certain lifespan.

 

My original point was that if you had bought a dehumidifier in 2003 and it was recalled this year, you shouldn't expect to get that dehumidifier replaced.  That 10 year lifespan was well in excess of whatever warranty that the item had.

 

If you want to force manufacturers to build a better product, then push them for a longer warranty.  Quality products generally have longer warranties.

 

In regard to paying for a better product, I would expect the item to cost triple (or more) than what China offers.  We consumers have voted for cheaper goods for decades.  This problem won't correct itself any faster than it was created.  This is my main reason for going to whatever lengths to repair a vintage item over replacing it with a new piece of crap.

 

[danemodsandy]

Travis:

"I really don't want the government involved in forcing manufacturers to replace items for a certain lifespan."

On that point, I'm afraid we will just have to agree to disagree.

 

[circlew]

My Kenmores not included

I received the postcard announcing the recall a couple weeks ago. I have two Kenmore dehumidifiers that look like the ones pictured on the card, and purchased during the time frame specified. Finally had time to check them today, and found my model numbers were not those affected by the recall.

The one with the touch controls worked the last time it was connected, but the one with a dial stopped working shortly after the one-year warranty ran out. I remember smoke came out of it, then the fan no longer ran, even though the compressor did. Since out of warranty, the cost of the part (fan motor) was more than a new machine. I sure was hoping it was one of those recalled!

I'm keeping the defunct one anyway in case the recall is expanded to include it.

 

[dustin92]

Well, we went and bought a new one today, a Soleus Air (powered by Gree) 30 pint at Menards (not sears!) We ended up paying $138 for it, minus a 11% mail in rebate, which will be like $122 or so. So far I'm impressed. It makes no more noise than a box fan, and the compressor is nearly silent. It has a 1 year warranty, and we bought the 1 year extended warranty, so we are guaranteed at least two years out of it. I have it hooked up to a hose into the floor drain, and it nearly has a steady stream running out of it. We have been running the old kenmore (supervised of course!) along with the new one until the basement dries out (it was starting to mildew), but I just came upstairs and turned the old one off. Will see how quickly it shuts off (have set it to 40% humidity, it started at 75 percent and was already down to 55%.