Generally, my life is great and I really don’t have much to complain about. However, my contentment seems overly fragile at times. Today, I’m between big events and commitments. It’s a great time to binge watch TV and expand the available recording space on the DVR. I’m sipping on beers left over from previous parties. Then Nancy tells me that the refrigerator has stopped making ice. “OK, I’ll look at it,” I tell her. Then I’m just about to order replacement parts when she says, “The refrigerator is warm too.” More trouble shooting and I determine that the freezer is working fine but the refrigerator is warmer than it should be. Also, there is probably nothing wrong with the ice maker. We bought the refrigerator last year with great fanfare. It was a huge fancy beast—the best that Sears had to offer—a Kenmore Elite. It cost 3 thousand dollars and it was replacing our previous Maytag that we had for 16 years. Surely, this would be the last refrigerator that we’ll need to buy in our lifetimes. It’s only a year and a half old and now the refrigerator is not cooling as it should. Now my life is not quite as good as it was. Now, I have to think about something that I thought I wouldn’t have to think about ever again. I did what I could and reached out for help. There is a local appliance repairman that we’ve used in the past. He asked about the model number and told me that he couldn’t help with this fancy machine. He wasn’t equipped to fix it. He did recommend someone else who also thought it was not something that he could handle. So I had to call Sears Appliance Repair…

Angelica at Sears Appliance Repair didn’t speak very good English and the phone connection was bad. It turns out that she works at a national call center. I wonder if the call center is anywhere near the Continental United States. She seemed more interested in selling me house improvements than helping me with my broken appliance. Finally, we go down to business and asked if I wanted an appointment in two days or three. I say, “The soonest, of course.”

Today, the repairman shows up and tells me that the compressor is bad. He can come back in five days, if he can find the part. The part is covered under warranty but the labor ($500) is not.

Don’t buy LG refrigerators, folks. I didn’t know I was buying an LG refrigerator when I bought the Kenmore Elite and now I know that they are junk. The failure rate is astronomical and the repair shop can’t keep the parts in stock.

For the next five days, we’ll be living our life without a refrigerator and eating what we can before it spoils. Thanks to Sears and LG.