Sears is breaking up with Whirlpool after a century

CNN Money ^ | October 24, 2017 | Chris Isidore

[Leaning Right]

The struggling retailer says it will stop selling Whirlpool's washing machines, refrigerators and other appliances. Sears will also stop offering Maytag, KitchenAid and Jenn-Air products, all of which are part of Whirlpool.

Sears will sell its existing inventory of Whirlpool products but not order more. Whirlpool will keep making some products sold under Sears' Kenmore brand.

[Col Frank Slade]

Sears Canada is in liquidation & bankruptcy.

Sears Holdings (USA) not far behind.

[plain talk]

“With its famous catalog, Sears was positioned to become Amazon when the internet age started.”

I had not thought of it quite that way but you’re absolutely right.

[mountn man]

I miss the Big Book.

Yes, online is cheaper...
and in the long term easier.

But there is something about holding an actual catalog
and continually opening to familiar pages...
and wishing for things.

As a kid it was toys.
As a bigger kid, its tools.

Online, just doesn’t have the same mystique.

Sears COULD HAVE out Amazoned Amazon, in the early years.
Amazon is becoming what Sears was and should have been.

[Leaning Right]

> They [Sears] flatly said the warranty had expired and refused to even give me a partial credit toward a replacement. <

Maybe 15 years ago I bought a Toshiba VCR player. One year warranty. Well, after about 3 years the thing stopped working. So I called Toshiba. I told them I was 2 years out of warranty. I wasn’t looking for credit, or anything like that. I just wanted some advice on how to possibly fix it.

Toshiba told me they were sending me a new VCR player. And they did! That’s even though they knew I was 2 years out of warranty.

That’s how you build brand loyalty. Sears once had that loyalty, and they let it slip away.

[catnipman]

bad news for Kenmore fans: practically the ONLY really good products that carry the Kenmore brand are made by Whirlpool.

[mountn man]

Stanley B&D bought Crapsman back in March.

Crapsman haven’t been good tools for quite awhile.
Or at least the Craftsman tools of earlier reputation.

[T-Bird45]

There is a very large Whirlpool manufacturing facility on the north side of Tulsa OK. I think they mostly make ranges in this facility. They are in the middle of working out an expansion proposal so I hope this doesn’t collapse that plan.

BTW - I’ve hated Sears since 1981 and haven’t spent a dime there since that time.

[catnipman]

“With its famous catalog, Sears was positioned to become Amazon when the internet age started. Instead, Sears pretty much went to sleep.”

Sears has been grossly mismanaged for decades and still is. Example: their point of sale systems are THE worst in the business and seem to be nearly impossible for their employees to operate. I don’t think they’ve been upgraded since the days of MS DOS.

[catnipman]

“The last 3/8ths ratchet I bought was horrible. I haven’t taken it back because I’d just get another horrible one. And the last screwdriver I bought broke too. Same issue. The replacement is crap too.”

which means you might as well buy from Harbor Freight instead.

I’ve never had a screwdriver or socket driver from Harbor Freight break. I think they have some kind of warranty now, but even if not, they’re cheap enough to just rebuy.

[catnipman]

“I bought some Craftsman rubber garden hoses “

at least they still honor their unlimited warranty on their high-end garden hoses. the last one they replaced for free i had accidentally run over with a lawn mower.

[chajin]

Sears used to Kenmore, but now it will have to Kenless.

[PA Engineer]

I've had poor experience with both Sears and now Whirlpool.

I had Fischer & Paykel (F&P) washer and dryers in the past. Top loaders for a tight wash closet. They were fine, however the washer had an agitator that tore up king bedding.

Whirlpool came out with the Cabrio model that did not have an agitator. Bought those and they were mediocre to start (the brand was marketed as ECO). Took longer to wash and dry and used a lot more water than specified. After a year we started having problems with them. Had to constantly reset the washer because of phantom start ups. This problem continued to get worse and with every power lag, the washer would start up on it's own.

Secondly, the detergent dispenser was a drawer at the top of the washer. This started shaking out during the spin cycle. The open drawer began shredding comforters and bulk items on heavy loads.

We were lucky to finish two loads in a day. After three years we had enough.

Fisher & Paykel began producing an agitator less set. A bit pricey, however we went ahead with the replacement. As the installers were removing the Cabrio washer we found a puddle of oil under the motor and severe corrosion on the lower components. Only three years old.

The new F&P units operate flawlessly, quietly, miserly with water, efficiently with electricity, actually cleaned the whites and we were able to run a complete wash cycle load in an hour.

I can't speak for all of Whirlpool products, however I recommend walking right past the Cabrio products. I haven't mentioned customer support because there is nothing nice to report on.

[mountn man]

Historically, large companies that you would think would be perfectly positioned for new technologies usually move too slowly and get put out of business by new companies that move quickly into the new marketplace.

Kodak is one such company.

[catnipman]

“I bought a Sears water heater”

For me, they just replaced for free a Kenmore hot water heater that started leaking a year or so before the warranty expired. I called, gave them the model and serial number, they had a record of the purchase, asked me a few questions, and were satisfied that it was leaking, and set it up for me to pickup a new one at their nearest store. The new one was updated with electronics that had an LED that displayed various statuses by the number of times it blinked.

[fella]

Whirlpool and Kenmore used to be superior products when they were made in America. Their washing machines and refrigerators would run for years and years. Now that they are made in China with a short stop in Mexico your lucky if you get 3 years out of their stuff.

[Tammy8]

Not much good will left for Kenmore. They are or were good appliances, but the reason my mother and so many others would buy them was the service available. If mom’s washer needed work the local Sears had their own repair people and it would be fixed quickly and done right. If it was under warranty of course that was taken care of but even after warranty my mother got them to fix the Kenmore stuff and happily paid them. That is why she bought no appliances that were not Kenmore.

Sears began to close their service centers years ago. We were shocked when we took a Kenmore lawn mower barely out of warranty to a large Sears store in El Paso for work. They informed us they no longer did service at most of their stores- the mower would be sent to Albuquerque, we would have to decide how much money we were willing to spend on it ahead of time and put up a $100 deposit before they would send it out. It would be gone around 2 weeks. That is not the service that convinced people to buy Kenmore over other brands.

Sears has been sliding downhill for many years. They seemed to forget why people shopped with them so began to run customers off. I bought a kitchen stove like 10 years ago and went right to Sears as my mother always had. The guy selling appliances did not know as much about them as I did! He also did not seem that interested in whether or not I bought one either. I knew from the lawn mower experience they no longer serviced them there either so I went to Home Depot to buy my stove.

Sears started phasing out the majority of their catalog sales, discouraging not encouraging people to order from the catalog. When they did that they should have been transitioning to online shopping but they didn’t see that coming as far as I could tell. They did themselves in by not following their own success or looking forward either.

[cymbeline]

Heard on the news that Sears will continue to sell Kenmore appliances which are made by Whirlpool.

[catnipman]

BTW, a Chinese company, One World, was a major supplier of Craftsman power tools, which I found even 20 years ago totally sucked.

[Yo-Yo]

Sears says it dropped Whirlpool over price demands. But perhaps Whirlpool is just wants to get off a sinking ship.

Or Whirlpool is demanding payment up front for any future orders.

[fredhead]

Harbor Freight has a lifetime warranty. I buy from them. Now a tool story....I have a set of wrenches that I’ve had since I was 10 in 1969. I’ve used a hammer on a couple getting stubborn bolts loose, and they’re still good. Mom bought them with trading stamps. Even cheap tools were quality back in the day.