Sears Hometown Store

After noticing this store a few months ago, I finally had my first experience here this morning. Although when I got to this store’s entrance the employee was just starting to put out some lawnmowers for sale, when I asked when his store opened, he told me five minutes. After I told him that I would wait that period of time out, the employee told me it’s okay to come in. I do thank him. I was able to peruse the store looking for some air conditioners for my room. However, what I did find was only one 8000btu conditioner. The employee told me that he could order the others that were stated as sales tickets above the one that stood on the shelves, I figured that it would take time to order and get the one I was looking for in, and with the heat wave we had here, would not be the best option at this time. When I asked him about if they had the newer portable air conditioners, he told me his store didn’t carry any of those either.
I kind of figured this would be a clearance-​type of store, but it’s large selection of other merchandise at close to normal prices that are offered at most other Sears stores nearby, this experience was just about average.
Because I had nothing to compare this model to, I’d hate to give this store a 4 or 5 star rating, but 3 seems a bit too harsh and awful.
The checkout process was fairly simple. Although the employee had to get his terminal set up for the first transaction of the day at approximately 9pm, he was still able to retrieve and store my purchase (much like any other Sears location) on my ShopYourWayRewards card.
I don’t know why the people who reviewed this place above me were so harsh, but this store really is something more people should check out. I was surprised to see one there. Maybe it’s because these people don’t know the meaning of the value of shopping at bigger box stores or maybe it’s the age and potentially a managerial change (I don’t know about this), but it wasn’t at all like what was stated above by others to this location.

When I moved to California, we went to Sears to buy a washer and dryer and when we applied for a sears card to get the discount, we were denied… the reason, not long enough at current address! No foolin’!?! Quite possibly the reason we need a new washer and dryer. You see we had one where we used to live and didn’t move it, someone offered to hire me in a new city, hence the need for a new set. Seems pretty obvious to me. We went down the road to Western Appliance and had a great experience.
Purchase
Turn the clock forward 10 years and I saw a sale at Sears for 20% off 3 or more appliances… since we needed a refrigerator, freezer and dishwasher, this seemed like a good deal. The salesman was very helpful. I was assured by him that I didn’t need a Sears card and he even filled out my paperwork for me. Weeks later when I am waiting for my rebate, I get a rejection letter (from corporate) because it was supposed to be purchased on a Sears card… they tell me to resubmit the paperwork and when I do, I get rejected for a 2^nd time for the same reason. Why then did I resubmit the paperwork? I went to the store and the young lady who works there was very apologetic and worked some magic to get me my rebates (plus 1 star).
Installation
The guys came and brought the items in… probably my own inexperience, but they wouldn’t take the old dishwasher because it wasn’t unhooked… no problem, just not something anyone had mentioned. Everything else went ok.
Quality
13 months after my diswasher is purchased (just outside of the warranty period of course), the board is all screwy. I look up some product codes online to reset the dishwasher and give that a shot. I call customer service and they have never heard of the reset codes that are all over the internet.
Repair
I have the repair guy come out and he orders the parts and they are shipped to me. I ask him why they aren’t shipped to the store or to the installer and he says «trust me, it works better this way». I call him to tell him the part arrives at my house and when he comes he tells me «there were supposed to be two parts». So I have to schedule another appointment with this fella. The 2^nd part comes to my house and when the tech arrives, lo and behold, it is the wrong color… he asks me (I think he was serious) if I wanted a black electronic face on a cream-​colored dishwasher, when every other appliance is cream. So he puts on the black plate and then I have to wait until the cream board is delivered to make yet another appt with the tech for him to come out and swap the boards. This guy definitely knew what he was doing, but the delivery to the house thing is stupid, and based on my experience, you will never be able to convince me otherwise.
We had problems with the only local place I know of fixing a belt on our dryer years ago, but I had a positive experience dealing with them when we purchased a refrigerator. My advice for purchasing consumer level appliances would be to check out the local guys and avoid Sears. They have burned me twice.
This would be a 1star experience save the lady in the Hudson store helping me get my rebate. Consumer Reports gives the Kenmore line high marks, but my experience with the dishwasher is not consistent with the reviews.