Kenmore
Reviews and Complaints

Aside from our light housing having burnt twice (we have been without lights for 3 years now)...Yesterday the control panel numbers on the fridge/freezer keep scrolling numbers up and down. The alarm cant be turned off, it just resets and beeps. To top if off, now the fridge AND the freezer aren't working. This happened once before and somehow reset itself about 4 weeks ago. Is it really worth fixing this lemon of a fridge? I think Sears should have recalled this unit years ago!

We bought the same elite ( what a joke) trio. A friedn i work with has the same fridge also. His light stayed on a year ago melting the cover. He had to go through alot to get it fixed. Sears finnaly did come and fix it at no charge. The problem was a faulty circuit board that caused the light to stay on. If your doors to the the fridge are closed and the water dispenser works the problem is not the switches on the the doors. This last week the same thing happened to my trio. I spent three hours on the phone with various people giving me the run around. When I finally go tto the recall department they said that if my fridge was older they would fix it. My model number is not on their recall list and that there was nothing they would do about it. They told me to pay to get it fixed or buy a new fridge. 3 years at 2, 000 dollars and i'm supposed to do that. If it was night or we were'nt home our house might have burned down. I have turned in a complaint to BBB, and advise any one who reads this to do the same, even if you already had it fixed. It's a crime that they will replace at no charge for a fridge that is older.

I purchased a Kenmore Elite Trio refrigerator in April 2008. I have had one repair call to fix improper door alignment. I have had two repair calls to fix problem with freezing in the vegetable crisper drawers. I did not purchase the extended warranty, as I assumed the appliance would not have to be repaired for many years anyway. WRONG ASSUMPTION! I have thrown out about $40 worth of fruits and vegetables and have had two unsuccessful repairs (Sears reply is always that the extended warranty would have paid for the food - nothing about the fact that I shouldn't have to throw food out in the first place). The next scheduled visit for repair by a Master Technition is now two weeks away, after all Sears is too busy at this time of year to send someone out in a day or two. Meanwhile I continue to keep minimal amounts of food in the frig, and continue to monitor the temps with a store bought thermometer. The top frig fluctuates between 35 and 42 The crispers go from 29 to 40. Nothing stays at a constant temperature. I believe that someone needs to make this right. There are too many complaints about the same problems. There needs to be a recall and some sort of compensation for the losses. Sears has definitely lost my business.

My sister in law and I each bought a Kenmore Elite Trio refrigerator back in 2006. Both items leak in the freezer and create an ice rink on the bottom of the freezer. The refrigerator constantly freezes everything. Tried to reset and nothing happens. Also I have an ice maker that I bought at the same time, and crapped out. Kenmore products are horrible. I will never buy another Kenmore product.

I have had a Sears Kenmore 795.7755.660 3 drawer refrigerator. I had the same problem last week when I opened the refrigerator and it was filled with smoke and the plastic shroud around the light was melted and smoking heavily. I unplugged the refridgerator and let the house clear out while throwing away all of the food. After it had cooled I took the melted shroud off and unscrewed the bulbs. The unit seems to work OK but I am calling Sears today.

My Kenmore microwave 721.[protected], 6 months old started arcing while I was zapping a small mug of water for 30 seconds. Luckily I was in the kitchen and heard the zapping. I turned to see black smoke coming from under the door. I was directed to take it back to a certain Sears. I had to make arrangements for someone to come with me because I cannot lift it. We were told that they don't take them there any more. I had to bring it back home, and take it to a facility a 25 minute drive from home. (An employee did carry it from the car for me.) I called to ask about it the next week and the technician who worked on it told me he had to clean out the smoke and replace the door as it had melted a bit. I expressed concern that it would happen again and be a fire hazard. He said it shouldn't be a problem. I paid for a new machine, and now I am getting a patch job. Ugh. This is our last Kenmore purchase. I also purchased a Consumer Report "Best Buy" white canister Kenmore vacuum. It was so heavy and unwieldy that I gave it to my son for his frat house and use my 20+ year old Hoover instead.

You placed an ad in craigslist that you put the frig out for curbside pckup...I picked it up and did a very detailed analysis. Compressor run terminal melted but still has short stub and all connections to it were shorted to ground and each other by the burned carbon from the start/overload unit burning up. I unbolted the compresor swinging it outside to enable cleaning everything real good. This repaired/eliminated the shorts and ohmmeter tests showed the compressor start and run coils are good. A new start/overload from Sears is over $60. I ordered on internet for $22.88 but they sent me the wrong unit after 1 week wait so I dismantled the unit they sent and figured out a way to install it anyway. Before ordering I tested the compressor by starting it manually by shorting across the start(S) and run(R) terminals for about 2 seconds..ran fine and froze glass of water within about 1 hour. I examined the replacement start unit carefully and see that it is nothing but a disc thermistor connected between those terminals. I understand all modern refrigerators use these now...the disc thermistors have a low resistance (I measured 5 ohms) when cold allowing current to flow through the start coil on the compressor. This current heats the thermistor disc which when real hot increases its resistance lowering the current through the coil. The thermistors are subject to burnout (open or shorted) and I think is a very very poor design even though used in all refrigerators now. The old ones used a real relay made of coils of wire and moveable contacts and could last 40 or more years with no problems. I have now reassembled everything and the refrigerator works fine...but, like any modern refrigerator, I do not know when/if the thermistor will fail...again. As an aside, the coils were very very dirty and the buildup of heat may have contributed to the failure of the thermistor/overload compressor starter unit. I used my leaf blower to clean the coils...see photos.

What makes you say that you know Kenmore knows about this problem? Have you discovered many others that have reported the same condition? Are you sure your appliance wasn't part of a recall you chose to ignore?

How can you be SO certain it was a design flaw? How old is the fridge? If it is out of warranty, yes, you have to pay for the repairs. If you did not buy an extended warranty, or if it is past that date too, then that's the responsibility of owning appliances!

Are you sure there wasn't an electrical surge that melted it? I once had a lightning surge come through a phone line and melt my computer's on/off switch.

As for burning down your house, i'm sure that as a responsible parent and homeowner, you have plenty of smoke detectors in appropriate places with current, active batteries. that must have been what woke you up. And these days, you probably have a CO2 detector as well. It's not likely it would have killed you in your sleep, since these inexpensive and required items would have alerted you.

there are hundreds of things in our homes that could burn it down and kill us and our families and our pets. It's our responsibility to keep ourselves safe from accidents and even the occasional faulty appliance.

Good luck with your potential lawsuit. And next time, buy Maytag! (No i do not work there)

Count me in for the same problem, relay burned up in middle of night. My son smelled it but by morning the odor had cleared. I'm lucky, purchased the fridge 7 yrs ago, but Sears replaced it for an out rages amount of money. Never again.

Same problem. Kenmore [protected]. The relay switch was burning. Fire department found the source of the heat.
recommended not to use. I witnessed the red glow on the relay and burning of plastic on red wire. I replaced relay switch which i purchased from sears. I have same concern, is the switch i replaced the relay switch, faulty as well.

I woke up at 3:38 am this morning with an aweful smell of burnt plastic. The smell was so aweful that it woke me up! After searching all over the house and unplugging everything, I realized it was my Kenmore refrigerator. The relay was on fire. I unplugged the refrigerator and moved all the contents to our fridge in the garage (lucky I had that one).
Model # 106-[protected] Manf. Date: 12/2002

Add another survivor of a Kenmore side-by-side frig to the list, model106.1212101 MFG date 2003 .07. I came home unplanned mid-day to find the kitchen, living room and dinning room full of an acrid smoke and strong electric smell. Luckily the dog was elsewhere and I did come home that day otherwise it would be a much sadder story.

This happened to me this morning. It was around 4:30am and the smell started coming in so strong. We live in a two bedroom apartment so it was not long till the smell was all over the house. We did not know where it was coming from but I was 100% convinced it was coming from the fridge.

The fire department stopped by, moved the fridge and smoke just started coming from the back of the fridge. One of the only reasons we did not see the smoke was because it was put into a cubby hole.

Finally we had to evacuate the apartment because the smell was very strong. Is this toxic? Of course I am at work.. tired out of my mind and can't think straight!

Hmmm.. this post started a year ago and the incident reports keep coming. Add me to the list with my Whirlpool Model GS465 - for all we know, one giant corporation owns all refrigerator brands and uses the same crappy parts. My cat woke me up at 5:00 a.m. and by that time, the whole house was filledwith the white, stinky smoke. I flipped the circuit breaker and the billowing smoke stopped. The appliance man said the relay and compressor were melted worse than any he had seen. He also said i was lucky i had a tile floor, because the layer of insulation under the fridge had also turned black from the heat, and a wooden floor or carpet would have caught fire. It's Friday - my insurance company (Liberty Mutual) has been SUPERB, but I have to wait until Monday for them to take the fridge away. In the meantime, the stink is giving me a giant headache. Anyone want to venture a guess as to whether or not the smell is toxic? I know I should just stay somewhere else to be safe, but... ugh. where's the consumer alert?

Same complaint here. Came home to burning plastic smell. Thank God (I mean that literally) the breaker blew. It would not reset until I unplugged the refrigerator.
Kenmore side-by-side
Date of Manufacture: 2003.10
Model Number: 106.[protected]

Kenmore used to be a brand you could trust. Craftsman, too, but the last Craftsman mower I bought was a piece of junk.
Guess now days everything is about profit, forget customer safety, much less satisfaction.

I'll be filing complaints, also.

Same thing happened to us... it is currently 2:22 am - we woke to the same burning plastic smell. Do not know anything about refrigerators or PTC relays... we unplugged it - not sure what else we can do at this hour. We will be phoning someone in the morning I guess...

On evening of April 2, 2010 I woke up to a foul smell and after investigating I found my Kenmore refrigerator was smoking. Thankfully I was home as I travel for work. My dog would have died from the toxic oder and /or my home could have burnt. I am in a 3 unit condo and could have affected 2 other families.
After looking at the back it was found to be the relay. It was completed burnt/melted.
Why has there not been a recall!

Add mine to the list. My relay caught caught on fire today and we were lucky to be home when it happened. Didn't want to loose everything in the frig so I contacted a local repair outfit to come to make the repair. He said this is a common problem with Kenmore and that the part used is junk. He said they will only use a third party assy that is made in the USA. The new part does not plug on to the side of the compressor like the original but but gets remote mounted.

We bought a Kenmore Washer and Dryer 4 years ago... I am very disappointed with this front loader! We have had service man out many times... His answer is always about the amount of detergent! The door latch was fixed a couple weeks ago now it is leaking again will not spin unless I drain the pump again and again. I do this after every few loads and clean the filter which has nothing in it! The code keeps coming on saying oe I drain it again and still doesn't spin out properly... It will take a week for repairman to come out and another week for parts. I really hate this washer I am 65 years old and am not able to continually do maintanance on this poorly designed machine... All the trouble I have had has made me realize this thing should have been recalled! I will never buy any Kenmore product again as The company will not stand by their products! The washer needs and should be replaced by the company!

I purchased a Kenmore Front loading washer 3yrs ago I love the way it cleans much better than a top loader. The only thing is that don't leave any thing in the pockets (who doesn't sometimes) because it can get buy the guard ( that was never put in correctly from the begining) I had a service guy come in to repair once. It happened again. I t took my husband to figure out how the screen should be put back in to guard the components so things do not enter it. I am just angry when things arn't check before they are shipped out cost me and other people money. Hopefully won't happed again. Check pockets.

Since 2011 I have owned TWO Kenmore Gas grills and BOTH have rusted with in a yer BOTH. I just had a repair man come to my home and say this is not under warranty you will have to pay for the labor - but when I told him this was the SECOND grill and provided a receipt for the new 8 month old grill he said wow. Ya this one is parts and labor covered for a few more months.

He looked at it and said I wit they would stop using metal parts from china this is an epidemic with these grills they rust out so quick now it's amazingly sad. He said that this been a parts only repair it would have cost me 180 bucks for labor. The 4 burners are 36 bucks each and come "free" but they get that money back by charging us high LABOR costs. Such a SEARS SCAM it;s a CRIME. I WILL NEVER EVER EVER BUY anything from Sears or Kenmore again. I truly hope SEARS closes it's doors forever - soon!

Oh and for the record it was NOT just ALL 4 burners that rusted out it was the carryovers and the GREASE PAN ALL OF IT! Basically, the entire inside is gone.

OH YEAH, WELL DOES A PROTECTION PLAN COVER BURN INJURIES DUE TO A DESIGN FLAW? While cooking expensive steaks on a Kenmore grill, I attempted to adjust the temperature and the plastic handle came off. I thought the handle simply came off or had broken. Well I immediately attempted to turn the nob by the small metal piece that the handle slides onto and my fingers stuck to the metal and caused second degree burns, blisters/ turned white and black, to my thumb and index finger. The handle did not break off...IT MELTED OFF! In the process I immediately had to run inside to cool my fingers off with cold water and in the process, my steaks turned into hockey pucks. I contacted Sears and Kenmore and they stated that I have to pay $109 for a service tech to come assess the grill. I informed them that their grill malfunctioned and this is a liability to them. WHY ARE THE HANDLES GETTING SO HOT THAT THEY MELT OFF OF THE GRILL? I have never seen or heard of this...has anyone else? They also stated that there is nothing they can do to compensate me...THAT IS REDICULOUS! Not only do I have burned fingers, but I have a piece of garbage that I can't trust. I will never buy Sears again and I'm considering taking legal action against them. They gave me the run a round on the phone for an hour and a half, finally stating that there is nothing they can do. So I have to pay for a tech to come inspect their piece of garbage grill to see why it malfunctioned. In no way was I negligent nor did anything wrong for this to happen to me. But Sears or Kenmore is not responsible for their design flaw! yeah right...I disagree. What would you do then?

Maybe people should do research before they buy instead of complaining afterwards to try and feel better about yourselves. There's also things called protection plans, just saying.

I have had the same issues with my Kenmore Elite Grill. It has rusted out three times now. I have spent over $600 in replacement parts to keep the grill going. Customer service is no help, and when I over ordered a couple of the parts, they would not let me return them. Six years later, and now when I light it, the knobs ignite and there is a flame somewhere under the unit near the tank. I had to tell my wife that we'll cook the burgers on the stove. I can't even barbeque with my $1500 grill!

There should be a class action lawsuit against these guys. Now it'll cost me more just to get rid of the piece of [censored].

I bought a model 141.16228 six years ago. The burners, flame tamers, collector box and burner brackets rusted to nothing 3 years ago and we've been holding off to fix it because the service department at Sears said that the parts are not covered and we would have to pay to have someone came take a look at it. He told me my best bet was to look on the internet and search for my model number and order parts there. WOW now that's customer service. Considering I was a former Kenmore/Sears advocate, I guess I've changed my tune. I would NOT recommend a Sears Kenmore grill to my worst enemy. Sears Parts Direct is double the price of Marbeck's. So I bought my replacement parts from Marbeck's. I will not buy replacement parts again or anything else from Sears for that matter. Good luck keeping customers if you're not willing to back what you promote.

I agree with the sears quality going down. I bought my Kenmore Elite several years ago, stainless steel, etc. I was told for $700 it would be the last grill I needed to buy. 'lifetime' grill. BS. I have nursed the cast iron burners as long as I could repair them. Now I need to replace and found them on ebay. So much for Sears 'lifetime' products. NEVER again. I will repair for the $54 dollars and I need to make my own supports for the 4 burners, which I have the metal for. The starter rotted off within the 1st summer, so I use a long metal bic lighter to ignite. The stainless grill looks fine. The cheap, and I mean very cheap painted steel cart is rusting away big time. POOR design/POOR product. I advise to stay away from Sears anymore.

My Kenmore gas grill (model [protected]) was in use for the 3rd summer last August when the hose connecting the side burner ignited into flames! The entire sideburner of the grill was burned but luckily no one was hurt. I recently opened the grill to figure out what replacement parts I need. In addition to the side burner mechanism and gas hose attachement, I had to replace the rusted out grill grates, starter button, and other rusty parts which was not from the fire. I was told by Sears that there is nothing they could help me with. I spent about $120 in neccessary parts, but could have easliy spent another $100 or so just to make it look nice. I hope to get another 3 years out of it and then I will purchase a Weber!

I agree with all of the above. My wife purchased a Kenmore Elite Model 141.17680 in 2003 for our anniversery. She paid $1, 000.00 for this product. Since that time, I have replaced all of the cast iron burners (4), the bracket, and gas collector box twice. I am now looking at a third time, since the burners have deteriorated once again. I always keep it covered. I will now purchase a different make grill and have the Kenmore hauled off. I was always a strong believer in Sears products, but this ordeal has tarnished the Sears name and has brought it to the level of K-Mart. Thanks for the memories during the good times for Sears, but it is time to move on to another product line.

Similar story. Owned two Kenmore grills, one elite with cast iron burners and the other high end "Kenmore" with the stainless steel burners. Have always trusted Kenmore/Sears with applicances and the like, but never again! Unbelievably bad customer service, transferred to 13 people over 2 calls all in the attempt to get replacement parts under warranty. Ultimately got some of the parts, but not all and had to spend a weekend repairing on my own. Of course, they were willing to visit and evaluate for the base level service charge.

Parts wear out, just honor the warranty. When it becomes a hassle, I will find someone else who will honor their commitment. The stainless steel rusted and "burnt out" from the heat and the painted parts have completely rusted thru. If you want a disposable unit and 2 years is okay, Sears is fine. Otherwise, direct your money elsewhere.

Yup, same here. I've replaced the burners 3 times in seven years. I've waited quite a while to replace the internal brackets but am now forced to since they are literally crumbling before my eyes. It's a good looking grill but it's really a piece of junk. And believe me, I let it be known at every function I host when folks say "Hey, what a great grill!" Looks are very deceiving.

Used this oven for 10 years and it still works perfectly, never any problems

first file an online complaint with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Next send an email to feedback@customerservice.sears.com. Tell them what the problem is and that you want this defective oven replaced or better yet a full refund of the purchase price. - be firm - mention all the complaints on this website - but be firm that you want full credit for the cost of the oven - as it is too dangerous to use anymore.

After that go to the nearest Lowes and buy a replacement oven (not Kenmore for sure) Lowe's will price match + their extended warranty is 10 times better then Sears and is only $ 99 !

TONIGHT WE WERE MAKING TACO'S, I TURNED MY KENMORE OVEN ON 325, SET THE TIMER FOR 5 MIN., AND WITHIN 2 MIN. THERE WAS BLACK SMOKE BELLOWING OUT OF MY OVEN. I TURNED IT OFF, OPENED THE DOOR AND FLAMES FLEW OUT AT ME. THE OVEN WOULD NOT TURN OFF THE BROILER WAS STUCK ON, AND WOULD NOT SHUT DOWN. I NEVER TURNED THE BROILER ON. WE CALLED 911 AND THE FIRE DEPT SHOWED UP THEY COULD NOT GET IT TO TURN OFF EITHER. MY HOUSE COULD HAVE BURNED DOWN. EVERYTHING SMELLS OF SMOKE. NEEDLESS TO SAY THE FIRE DEPARTMENT MOVED THE OVEN OUTSIDE, AND IT IS NOT COMING BACK IN. I CALLED SEARS TO CHECK AND SEE IF THERE ARE ANY RECALLS OR COMPLAINTS FOR THIS SAME THING HAPPENING AND WAS TOLD NO AND BECAUSE MY OVEN IS OUT OF WARRANTY THEY WANT TO CHARGE ME 129.00 PLUS PARTS TO COME AND LOOK TO SEE WHAT MALFUNCTIONED. THIS FIRE TRAP IS NOT COMING BACK INTO MY HOUSE. MY STOVE IS ONLY 4 YEARS OLD THESE THINGS ARE SUPPOSED TO LAST LONGER THAN 4 YEARS AND THEY CERTAINLY ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO SHOOT FLAMES OUT AT YOU.

on june 5, 2012 my 5 year old kenmore electric range model # 790.9602 was preheating to 400 degrees after 10 minutes there was a white light coming from my oven. i thought i left the oven light on. no way! the cooking element was on fire.I shut off oven and kicked breaker. element continued to burn. thought of replacing the cooking element, but after reading similar occurrences, i'm dumping this range and reporting this incidence to the government.

I have a Sears Kenmore Oven model # [protected] and it caught on fire after 3 years of use. We also had a glass casserole dish explode while it was sitting on top of the stove. My daughter was doing dishes and she had set the casserole dish on top of the stove. The stove was not on but all of the sudden with her back turned to it this pyrex, oven safe, casserole dish exploded into hundreds of pieces and went flying through out my kitchen. We are real lucky she was not pierced by one of the glass pieces. The other day we were getting ready to use the stove and my grandson walked in the back door and he could see the flames through the oven door and yelled at his mom. The bottom heating element caught on fire. I have asked sears about recalls and of course they have not heard anything about a recall on their appliances. Would not even tell me where to direct my concerns. I will not be buying another sears appliance!

WE HAD THE SAME PROBLEM, NOT ONCE BUT TWICE! THE FIRST TIME WE HAD A FIRE IN THE OVEN AND THE ELEMENT ON THE BOTTOM WAS LITERALLY ON FIRE. WE DID THE SAME THING AS YOU, WE SHUT THE ELECTRIC AT THE BOX. THE STOVE WAS FIXED WITH A NEW ELEMENT. ROUGHLY A YEAR LATER (ABOUT 2 WEEKS AGO) WE HAD THE OVEN PREHEATING AND WE SMELLED SOMETHING BURNING--ONCE AGAIN IT WAS THE OVEN, BUT THIS TIME THE WIRES WERE SHORTING. THANK GOD WE WERE HOME. WHO CAN WE SPEAK TO ABOUT THIS PROBLEM? OBVIOUSLY, THERE IS SOMETHING DEFINITELY WRONG WITH KENMORE OVENS!

during thanksgiving 2010 about to bake turn on my electric selfcleaning 30inch oven to preheat model #911, 95402.95404, 95409, 95582, 95587, 95589, Iamusing all #s from the user guide.Low&behold a fire started at the bottom of the oven, no longer can use oven.What is going on?Edith Gadsden from Florida

KENMORE OVEN MODEL# 790.[protected] WOULD NOT TURN OFF.
MY WIFE WAS BAKING AND THE STOVE GO VERY HOT AND WOULD NOT TURN OFF WHEN SHE TRIED TO. USED THE BREAKER TO TURN OFF. REAL PROBLEM WITH SEARS KENMORE SMOOTH TOP OVENS. STAY AWAY FROM. GETTING A NEW ONE NOT KENMORE OR FIGIDARE PRODUCT WITH TOUCH PAD CONTROLLES, KNOBS FOR ME!

We had our KEMMORE ELTE oven -- starting to pre heat - in about 2 minutes into the preheat mode >> it looked like the 4th of JULY in the oven! then a FIRE! we were able to turn off the circut breaker -- and the fire finally stopped after the oven element was burnt INTO! SCARY indeed --- and dangerous -- TRYING to get some help from SEARS ! starting to be FRUSTRATING!