Whatever. My sister-in-law has bought Kenmore appliances since she got married, almost 30 years ago. I don’t know if it was a warranty or just the guarantee that comes with the appliances, but her Kenmore refrigerator died. When she called the service number she was told it would take 2 weeks before they could get somebody out to check it. She ended up swearing off Kenmore appliances permanently and went to Lowe’s Home Improvement.
Craftsman committed brand suicide, along with snapon, when they sent production to China. Not all but most.
Awe heck, start making the Kenmore, Diehard and Craftsman products here ( I know the tools aren’t done here anymore ) and downsize to those products only that we know and love and grew up with and I’d be fine with “Sears USA”...
Sears also announced that it will borrow another $300 million from the hedge fund controlled by CEO Edward Lampert.
I’ve thought Sears offers nothing unique at high prices for a while. I hardly ever shop there.
Craftsman will get picked up....just don’t change the name....or warranty
Here’s my prediction. If someone buys the Kenmore, Craftsman or DieHard brands, they’ll turn it into junk. Keep the name, reduce the quality.
So many American brands have gone that route. At one time their names meant something. Not anymore.
I thought Kenmore and Craftsman were just other names for K-Mart.
Sears went out of business here (as well as K-Mart) so I really don’t know.
Kinda sad.
But Sears was generally always overrated.
Craftsman was great. That was it.
Kenmore stinks. Somehow even though Sears simply steals designs from the “brand” company, it never works as well as the original “brand”. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m stuck with some Kenmore and they’re OK, but largely they are nothing fantastic.
OTOH, I still would hate to see them go. Too much a staple of life.
Who cares? Sure i got my school clothes from sears in the 70s. But if cant keep up then you lose.
“Cheap Everything” should have been their mission statement.
Aren’t Kenmore / Craftsman the only things worth buying at Sears?
This looks like a giant leap towards the end of the line.
I think Craftsman was the first with the push button socket release. Now just about all socket wrenches have that very useful feature.
When the mortgage is due and you’re down to the last $2.98 in the checking account, you sell a kidney.
I’m a pretty good, but amateur mechanic. Always bought Craftsman because of the warranty, but I’ve watched the quality slip over the years.
I’d consider Mac or Snapon, but they don’t exactly make it easy for consumers to buy, and I could rarely justify the prices they want.
Been starting to consider Kobalt at Lowe’s, but haven’t tried them yet. Lifetime warranty and stores are everywhere with convenient hours.
Anyone have any other recommendations?
I used to buy Kenmore, primarily for the parts availability, until the internet came along and I saw how much Sears was marking up the same parts that any appliance part dealer sold. Then I noticed every brand was basically slapping their emblem (now sticker) on the same guts everyone else is using. You can guess what that did for my brand loyalty.
Kenmore. Diehard and craftsman -— three formerly star brands. Major reasons customers patronized Sears. Big big mistake to undermine the brands. We recently walked through big nice Sears store. Found nothing we wanted to buy— or at least not at their pretty- high prices. Bought lots of stuff elsewhere. Non- distinct nothing- special merchandise at full department store prices — not a formula for success. To succeed, they gotta offer at least one or the other -— more desirable distinctive merchandise or low prices
That’s all Sears has left. Sell them off and you might as well nail the doors shut.
Why not get rid of the lines that are just another face in the crowd? Like their clothing and home furnishings. Bland, nameless, uncompetitive.
At least Kenmore USED to have a decent reputation. And Craftsman was THE brand for home-quality tools. Put your money into sustaining and improving those brands and dump the rest. Cut way back on your store sizes and start selling quality instead of quantity.
And dump K-Mart entirely. There’s a brand that deserves to die.
I don’t know if anything is made by Kenmore. My front loading washer/dryer pair are just Whirlpool with different front panels.
My Kenmore fridge is an LG.
I’ve had good experiences with the standalone Sears appliance store near me.
Don’t get me started on mid-line GE appliances. Horrible.
My very first job was working for Sears, Roebuck & Co., selling automotive parts, tires, and accessories, in 1977. At that time all of those brand names meant you were buying the best products available, Sears Best. Sears would contract with the companies that made them and have them make changes to them, including better quality parts, and then place the Sears Best brand names on them. It made it easier as a salesman sell up to the customers once you compared the original name brand to the Sears Best Brand model.
In my case it was the Sears Roadhandler tires to the Michelin. Michelin made the Roadhandler for Sears and had a better warranty and tread life. Same held true for the original Diehard battery.
Simply start selling guns again and watch what happens. I just recently walked thru a Sears in Denver and it was much better than I remembered it.
You can even buy Craftsman tools at Ace Hardware these days.