"I couldn't possibly fail to disagree with you less."
25 September 2006Mower or lessFriday I said something about a riding-mower incident, and therein I marveled that someone had kept one of these things running for thirty-six years. I marvel more today, inasmuch as my two-and-a-half-year-old mower is now semi-handle-less, the bolt which used to hold the left side of the handle in place having disappeared into the yard somewhere — and worse, somewhere far away from the knob, which I did manage to find within ten minutes. You'd think something metallic, therefore presumably shiny, would show up easily in the sunlight, but no such luck. So I went to Sears' Web site, and they have the knob, but not the bolt. I uttered a few unpleasantries, then called Sears' 800 number. For some reason, they have the bolt. (Aside: In AOL chatrooms, when one person is in charge of dispatching evildoers and otherwise controlling the content, said person's screen name is displayed in the room list with a lightning icon; this person is said to "have the bolt." If you are banned from the room by this individual, you have been "bolted." This is not to be confused with being "nailed" or "screwed," though I am told this also happens on AOL.) Reviling Sears is a popular pastime — I turned up 963 Google hits for "sears sucks" — but I've always been able to get parts from them, which is one reason, perhaps the only significant reason, why I continue to buy their stuff. Posted at 6:12 PM to SurlywoodI, too, lost the bolt to my Sears mower, but it's a standard-size screw. Took the handle to Lowe's and found its mate. It doesn't have the curved head that nestles it securely into the handle, but it works, dang it. There. That's more than you wanted to know, eh? Posted by: Bill Peschel at 7:09 PM on 25 September 2006I once bought a cabinet from Sears and it arrived without instructions or any of the parts to put it together. When I asked for them both by phone and email they gave me the run around for about two months before finally concluding that they couldn't give me what I needed to put it together, nor could I take it back since more than 60 days had passed. I'm not at all surprised at the number of your Google hits. Posted by: Melessa at 7:25 PM on 25 September 2006Sheesh. I'd be annoyed too if that happened to me. Perhaps I should follow up on some of those hits and see what the complaints are. (All my major appliances are Kenmores, all three or four years old.) ACE Hardware dude. Take the other bolt with you to match it up. I once found a bolt with a tri-handle plastic knob formed on top ... that perfectly matched the one I lost from my 44" Toro commercial walk behind mower. They've got tools to fix tools. Posted by: Mel at 10:08 PM on 25 September 2006My shop and garage are full of Craftsman tools for two reasons. (1) they're well designed and made and generally last a lifetime (some of them are actually warranted for life), and (2) Sears is the only place I know that has access to parts forever. Posted by: Winston at 6:13 AM on 26 September 2006Maybe if you traded with someone more reputable than Sears, you wouldn't be ordering parts so often. Posted by: imok at 2:22 PM on 26 September 2006"So often," so far, translates to once for the mower, once for a vacuum cleaner. In one sense, I suppose this is excessive — I'd like everything to last forever with no maintenance whatever — but reality dictates otherwise. Posted by: CGHill at 2:33 PM on 26 September 2006Maybe if you traded with someone more reputable than Sears, you wouldn't be ordering parts so often. As opposed, I guess, to replacing everything that ever breaks down. Posted by: McGehee at 8:39 PM on 26 September 2006My wife and I broke down a couple of years ago and bought a RoboMower, the outdoor version of the Roomba (except, you know, with 3 10" spinning blades attached). Prior to the purchase we were paying the neighborhood high school dropout $50 a week to mow our 1/2 acre lot. The $600 we would have spent during one summer paid for the RoboMower, and it's just completed its third year of service. After three years, all we've done is replace the rechargable battery once. It's no Sears mower (too much plastic on it), but the effort involved for mowering now gets two thumbs up. Posted by: robohara at 2:09 PM on 28 September 2006 |