Kenmore top-load washer’s shattered lid results in a big mess

Q

This past March, I bought a Kenmore

Elite top-load washer from Sears. A couple of weeks ago, in the middle of the night, when the machine was not running, the entire lid shattered and spread tiny shards of glass all over the inside of my washer.

I immediately Googled my washer model and the words “shattered lid” and found that this has been happening to multiple people since December 2017.

Sears has been unhelpful to most of these people as well, either refusing to do anything about it or replacing the lid only to have it shatter again a few months later. It’s amazing that Kenmore hasn’t recalled this machine.

When I first called Sears about this, the company told me it was “cosmetic” and there was nothing it could do. I then called back and spoke to someone else who set up a service call for a tech to look at the washer. When the service person looked, he was shocked. I asked him how he could get all of the glass out of the machine since the glass shards were small enough to fit into the little holes in the middle of the machine, and he said someone would “take the machine apart and vacuum it out” when Sears replaced the lid.

I was tentatively OK with this solution, since at least the company was trying to fix it. We were supposed to have it fixed in early September. But then I received a call from Sears, saying that the replacement lid is back-ordered with no estimated shipment date. So we are without a washing machine indefinitely.

I also mentioned to Sears my concerns about it being able to clear the washing machine of glass. We wash cloth diapers in this machine, so we can’t risk a piece of glass getting missed. I’m at a loss as to what to do at this point. I would just like my money back, since I don’t trust Kenmore’s machines anymore. Can you help?

— Jocelyn Albertson, Pembroke, Massachusetts A

Oh no, not another Kenmore shatteredglass case! I’ve been receiving quite a few of these lately. Obviously, Kenmore shouldn’t have sold a washer that spontaneously breaks. But if it did, it should own up to the problem and either recall the appliance or fix it.

These Kenmore shattered-glass cases have a few common threads. Customers purchased their Kenmore appliances months after the first warnings about shattered glass lids appeared online. A little research would have prevented this error.

Sears and Kenmore also consistently downplay the issue. How can a shattered lid be a “cosmetic” problem? I have no idea. Why didn’t Kenmore recall this washer? I don’t know, but based on the number of complaints I’ve received, I would say it should have done that at least a year ago.

And finally, Sears drags its feet on the resolution. A back-ordered part is not the customer’s problem. It’s the manufacturer’s problem. I don’t want to hear a company’s excuses when my appliance blows up. I want a working washing machine.

You could have appealed your case to a Sears executive. I list the names, numbers and email addresses of the Sears customer-service managers on my consumeradvocacy site: www.elliott.org/ company-contacts/sears. But I also think that, given the number of complaints, you should have taken pictures of the broken washer as a public service.

I contacted Sears on your behalf. A representative contacted you immediately, apologized and agreed to exchange your broken Kenmore Elite top-load washer. “We regret the delay,” the representative told me.