This is a rant about the trials of dealing with Lawn Equipment repair at Sears.

Will probably fall on deaf ears fo those of you who don't own a home or do yard work. However take this as advice if you should ever find yourself in the position of doing so.

A few months ago I bought a gas powered walk behind edger. I did all the proper research and found one that was reviewed well and had the "features" that I wanted, like eough power,  blade settings etc... Before I bought the edger I had found 3 that fit what I was looking for so the only think left was to determine which product or brand was the best. Ultimately I chose a Craftsman Edger. Growing up I've always heard that Craftsman was top quality and had lifetime or excellent warranties on their products.

Sears is the home of Craftsman. So I went to my local Sears and bought the edger. They told me about the 2 year warranty and that if I had any problem to bring it back for repair or replacement. I was like, cool will do.

Over 4 months I've used the edger 3 times and while in the course of using it a 4th. The damn thing literally melted/burned up. The engine started to smoke, then a loud whine came from the bade area, and the casing (steel houseing) around the assembly that spins the blade from the engine started to glow, warp, melt and smoke bellowed out. in a blink of an eye the blad stopped spinning and the engine seized. At this point the edger was dead. My first reaction was literally..."fuck me" that was dangerous. Then I tried to pull the cord to see if it would "pull" it  wouldn't...it was locked up tighter than...[insert virgin joke here].

So I take it in to Sears (as instructed). Some kid takes the edger and fills would a repair foem based on what I told him, tells me it may be a couple 3 weeks. I was was fine with that and totally expected it not to be fixable. This was pretty catastrophic.

2 weeks pass and I get a call directly from the "repair center". They say your edger can be fixed for $108 Plus tax.  I said "for what?!?" The deep accented mexican lady on the the other end said to replace as belt and the frame that was bent. After I explained what actually happened again, and that to only look at it as a belt issue was crazy...I told her I'm not paying for anything. She siad that's fine weren't not going to fix it unless you do, because the belt isn't under warranty. She said she'd send it back to Sears and I could deal with them.

SO I called the Sears store. I talked to some kid and he said that there wan't anything that he could do about it since it was at the repair center...that they deal with it all and have the final say. He suggested that I call the Customer Solution Center. So I did that...After 20 mins with them they said NOPE it's the STORES issue. I call the store back and get the same answer but this time was told to call the repair center. The repair center wouldn't answer the phone, so I called the CSC again and tried to escalate. They sent to me to the Warranty Dept. They explained that if it was a fridge or something like that they could help but since it was a piece of lawn equippment that the Repair Center had the say. They gave me a different # to the repair Center. This time I got through. I asked again about the repair and tried to explain what the warranty actually says, and what this is actually covered under warranty....Their response was that I abused it and kicked or droped it to cause the issues. (which is not covered under warranty) NEEDLESS TO SAY I WAS PISSED OFF BEYOND BELIEF at this point as I have spent hours trying to pin down who has responsibility here and who I can dispute this with.

This time I get a number for "Craftsman" I call them. I'm thinking great I can call the people that make the product directly and settle this. NOPE. Apparently "Craftsman" doesn't exist. CRAFTSMAN is just a name. CRAFTSMAN doesn't make ANYTHING. Sears takes a vendors product and slaps the Craftsman name on it....whether it's Poulan, or Toro, or Cub Cadet...or whatever. NOW I WAS INFURIATED.

I decide to go down to the store and talk to the manager directly. Seething I talk to the kid that had fielded my questions initially and he say...can I help you? I ask to see a manager. He says sure...but is there anything I can help you with? I raise both eye brows pissed off written all over my face. I say "can you take me to or bring the manager to me? He says not at this time he's away from the office..My teeth clinched I literally spit and yell "fuck no you can't help me...get me a god damned manager" 2 seconds later a manager magically appears.

I calmly explain the situation and what I've done over the last couple of hours. EVEN THIS MOTHER FUCKER tried to say that his hands were tied, but that he understood what I was saying and agreed. He tried to tell me to call the manager of the repair shop. At this point I stopped him...and said my RELATIONSHIP is with you. I bought it from you, you told me to bring it back if there was an issue. YOU FUCKING CALL THE REPAIR SHOP. I ALREADY HAVE 4 TIMES.

At this he clearly didn't like my language but I was too wound up for him to really say much. He tried to say that some things just weren't covered...I explained it again...this time using a different analogy. I said...if you bought a car from me for $1000, and I told you to bring it back if you have any problems, and I'll fix it under warranty...then after 4 months your cars engine over heats and the radiator hose bursts due to the heat...the engine seizes...and you bring in. I send it out to the Repair shop...they call you and say that will be $700 for the New Radiator hose. You're going to to tell that person to piss off...which is exactly what I'm saying to you right now. To his credit if defused the situation nicely. He took my notes and called the repair shop. Logged into his system to see the numerous calls, emails and conversations I've had over the past several hours.

THE ONLY GOOD THING TO COME OUT OF THIS....he agreed to replace the Edger when it came back in. He said the Repair Center doesn't like to work with us sometimes. I told hime the repair center is running a scam. his face said he agreed but he didn't comment on that.

So the lesson is buy quality NAME BRAND equipment....and RAISE HELL when they try to screw you should anything go wrong.