Kenmore review: do not buy kenmore products! 20

How old is the machine and how long wast the warranty?

I disagree. I know 4 people who own a Kenmore Elite. So I purchased one and love it. None of us have had any problems. There are bound to be some problems with any brand's lot. Unfortunately you happened to get one. For me, I purchased the $178 service plan which gives me total parts and repair for 5 years. That averages only $3 bucks a month or .10 cents a day. Haven't had to use it but it is well worth the added protection. I have owned 5 dishwashers over the last 30 years and the Kenmore Elite is by far the best. I love it.

We purchased an elite22100187 the day after thanksgiving '07. It is now Feb. 1 '08. The DW hasn't worked since the day it was installed. I called after trying different cycles, 2 weeks later. They recommended lots of things to try...leaving dishes dirty (how do you do that with sandwich plates and water glasses?), changing soaps, jet dry...and a water softner. I did all but the water softner. OUr 18 year old dw worked far better without a softner, so why shouldn't this one? Two service calls later and 2 months later, I still have very dirty dishes. The water is luke warm, the heat dry cooks stuff on, and things I have washed for 20 years are melting. "nothing is wrong" is all I get. I requested an exchange of machines. That is a 15% restocking fee of $600! If I return it, I am out $200 with the del and install added in.
I have a 7 year old fridge with a seal coming off...can I get it repaired of find someone to help me figure out how to get it off? Are there instructions of how to do it without destroying the fridge? NO.
After this is resolved or not, this is one customer that will not ever set foot into Sears again. Too bad. Grandpa worked there for 40 years, how sad how customer service is not.

We purchased a Kennmore Elite DW in 2001. Since we have purchased it we had to have the entire motor assembly replaced once (6 months after purchase), the heating element burned up twice and we are now on our second computer board that controls the buttons. I have paid almost as much on repairs for this stupid thing than what we paid for it. We had purchased a six year service agreement and wouldnt you know that the problems started about two months afterwards. Needless to say, until I figure out what brand to go with next (NOT KENMORE) we are handwashing dishes. And might I add, at that same time we purchased a Ken Elite fridge, the water filter reservior leaked and had to be repaired and the ice maker just burned up this week.

DO NOT BUY KENMORE!

After doing mega-research on dishwashers, I chose the Kenmore Elite. What a joke. The dishes haven't been clean since the day I got it, no matter what detergent I use. Jet Dry is always in there, I have a commercial grade water softener and I water is extremely hot. I mention this all because that is the reasoning that Sears gives me for the dirty dishes. In fact, if I put a sparkling clean glass in there that I used for water, it comes out dirty! 3 weeks ago they changed the computer board (I don't think anything was wrong with it) and last week they changed the soap compartment (don't think anything was wrong with that either). In fact, the repairman spent the entire 2 hrs. on the phone with someone else who was telling him what to do. Pretty sad. Tonight, I went to start the dishwasher & I couldn't even get the lights to go on. I checked the breaker & it was fine. So, another call to Sears. They can make it out here in 2 weeks sometime between 8-5. I run a business & don't have time to sit around waiting for them to come all day only to show up at 4:30. For the amount of money that I am losing sitting & waiting for them, I could've purchased a top of the line fancy European dishwasher with all the bells & whistles! Their product is horrible, their repairman stinks & their customer service is a joke. Buyer Beware! Save your money & purchase the 'no-name' dishwasher. At least your dishes will be clean and I guarantee you that service will be better because I can't imagine it being any worse!

This is a followup post to my original comment in Feb. 08.
After several visits by a very incompetent repairman...you can read all I was told...and all he did was push the start button and told me it worked when the motor started and water came out...I called the store.

THERE was my mistake. I had been calling the repair number on the back of the manual all along.

When I called the store I gave them an choice. Complete refund with install and del. and no restock fee OR a new machine even exchange, with the understanding that if the new one was not satisfactory back to option one. They had me come in, were very nice and helpful.

We even exchanged with no money out to me. I requested the same very nice installer who had to do some tricky work with the wood floor and sample pieces I had to fill in holes that were exposed.

With the exception of one setting that doesn't work as well, I am happy. I also use a product that the local water company gave me a sample of and I bought at walmart as an additive when I see the steel inside getting milky. No problems.

GO DIRECTLY TO THE STORE, NOT THE SERVICE NUMBER ON THE MANUAL!

I purchased a Kenmore Elite dishwasher 2 years ago. 6 months ago it st. It caost m $450 to have a serviceman install a new motir. 3 months later the thing stopped draining and the repair guy now recommends a new board which is very expensive. I refuse to repair the dishwasher again. I will buy another dishwasher, obviously I will never buy another Kenmore product (my 2 year old kenmore fridge has already needed a thermostat replacement and my Kenmore microwave door is falling apart). Don't waste your time or money.

Hi Everyone,
I need to buy a dishwasher and consumer report said that "KENMORE ELITE 1378(2) is the best you can get. The problem is when I go into the computer this Elite 1378(2) does not exist. Does anyone out there have this maching, and if you do could you give me the "MODLE NUMBER" It is usually on the inside of the door. And does it work ok?
I talk to a salesman at Sears and it felt like he was showing me a machine that was not 1378(2) but he let on it was as it did not have the stainless steel tub.
Its alot of money to spend and I may be stuck with a machine for 20 years so I need to be selective.
So-o-o-o-o-o-o much appreciated if you can help me
Jeanette

I have owned several appliances over the years and I will not purchase from any other than Sears. I have never had a problem with their customer or repair service. Appliances are machines and machines will break, even new ones, that is why I buy extended warranties especially on the more pricey units. For example I bought a new Kenmore Elite refrigerator a couple of years ago and it didn't work properly. I called, they repaired it, it broke, they repaired it, it broke, they replaced it. This cycle took place again believe it or not and once again they replaced it. No questions. I have bought appliances from stores and the run around I got just to get my machine repaired while it was under warranty was unbelievable. I have also heard a friend say the same thing. "I will never buy my appliances from anywhere other than Sears"
RFF

I purchased the same dishwasher a the motor assembly went on it after have it for three years. This major part should not be gone in such a short amount of time . Sear will not do anything since its over its warranty. I refuse to pay 300 for the part plus labor. I will be buying a new dishwasher and it will not be from sear and it will not be a Kenmore. I found customer service to be just a bad a the products they sell . I call them and they were experiencing a high number of call volume so it told me to push 1 to leave a name and number and my call would be returned in 24 hours.After 2 calls and one email my call was returned 72 hours later they left a message on my machine for MR. Cooper that is not even my name. I call ed the number she left back and the women told me that I would have to call the other number to talk to customer service she transferred me . i waited for 20 min on hold in the mean time the woman who transferred me called my back to tell me that Sears was cloesed I wiuld have to call customer service tomorrow but I was already talking to customer service .DONT SHOP AT SEARS THIS COMPANY SHOULD GO BANKRUPT FOR SELLING TERRIBLE PRODUCTS LIKE THIS AND NOT STANDING BEHIND THE BRANDS .

My Kenmore dishwasher had the motor board go out after 5 years. I have bought a new motor board (circuit board) from AppliancePartspros.com. It cost me $70.00. The service guys were going to charge me $200.00 for the same part. It is easy to uninstall the old one and install a new one. The only problem right now is that part of the wiring got burnt up, but my husband says he can fix that. You might want to try these guys for your parts.
swolfe

I have had a Kenmore Elite dishwasher for about 3 years and it has never really gotten the dishes clean. Our circuit board also went out and we had it replaced (luckily the dishwasher was still under warranty). Then we had several technicians out because our dishes were never clean--had to wash them before putting them in the dishwasher! This dishwasher cannot handle much of anything. We were told that we should not use powder soap so we switched to liquid--still didn't help. We were told we were either using too much soap or not enough. It's very discouraging. I have to say that I too consulted Consumers Reports when I bought this dishwasher ( model # [protected]) and it was the top rated one. Well, I have cancelled my subscription to Consumer's and I will NEVER buy another Kenmore product!

Say 'No more to Kenmore'.

My Kenmore Ultrawash motor's burnt out only after owning it a few very short years. Piece of trash. I'm not buying Kenmore again.

I highly recommend avoiding the Sears Kenmore Elite dishwasher. Thakfully, we purchased the warrenty. Within a few days, the DW would cut out mid cycle. The fuse for the DW would have to be turned off/on for it to work again. This happened several times. I'd have to run down to the fusebox. I made Sears take the DW back and give me a new one. One month later, with the replaced DW, the machine started to blink on the control panel mid-cycle. It did not complete the cycle, and I had to "reset" the fusebox to get it running. By the third time, it ran okay.
I WOULD NEVER PURCHASE A SEARS KENMORE ELITE (or any other Sears product) after this experience. I will pay the big bucks to pay off this lemon of a machine, and then, hopefully, find something more trustworthy. This aggravation is not worth the money.

I too have been having a lot of similiar problems with our Kenmore Elite dishwasher since the day we got it. And I too did research before I bought a new dishwasher including Consumer Reports. Maybe Consumer Reports is no longer reliable as well. Sears said that they show no record of us having to call for repairs since the day we got it in 2007. Hmmm...

you will find that the ones who post on this site saying you are wrong and they have never had a problem are from the pr department of sears, why would someone go out of their way to argue for a company they dont work for and to hunt down negetive postings about said company. i agree kenmore is probaly the worst brand on the planet and sears should go bankrupt.

I will never purchase kenmore again. I got a 6 months old kenmore elite($1, 200), it broke down twice allready and damage my hardwood floors . After talking to the insurance co. I learned that the manufacture knows about this problem and they had hundreds of complains about a clamp been defective and not holding the water supply in place and they are choosing to still selling it anyway.

My complaint to Sears as well as Kenmore have gone unanswered. The outer glass on my Kenmore wall oven Model# [protected] burst into a million+ pieces one evening and the oven wasn't even on, hadn't been for days! The pieces sprayed nearly 8 feet away. It could have caused serious eye injuries if anyone was near it. While searching for a replacement part I found two blogs that complained of the same problem, same oven as well as other Kenmore ovens. All of them said the same thing... Sears and Kenmore both know of the problem but refuse to respond or fix the issue. Okay, fine, next time I'll buy a different brand from a different store. Sorry Sears but if you allow manufacturers to get away with crap like which is dangerous to your customers (just so you can collect a fat repair fee) you deserve to loose business.

There are 100's of bad reviews on the SearsmyComminity site. All to do with a $1.00 faulty hose clamp that fails and floods the Kitchen. It is amazing to me that on their own web site there are so many complaints about a REAL problem, but most of the sites I have looked at were associated with Sears. This washer is their latest Elite 24" built in