We believe in buying local, and Kleckner's really played up what good service we would get from them. However, the installer who came to the house, smelled badly of b.o. and tobacco. He sweated, groaned, grunted, pushed, and shoved while doing the installation. My husband had to go upstairs because he couldn't bear to listen to our very expensive appliance being treated that way.
The installer left lots of horribly greasy fingerprints on the brushed steel in plain view. I bought a couple of different cleaning products that were supposed to be good for brushed steel, and they could not shift the fingerprints. I called Kleckners to make a general complaint about the installer and to ask them what product I could use, and they put me on to their service department. The service guy was not at all apologetic about my bad experience, but suggested stainless steel wipes, which they do not stock. I went to four or five different stores until I found them, but they did work.
Then, I discovered when refilling the dishwasher salt for the first time that there was a piece of the silverware basket in the bottom of the dishwasher. We had not even pulled it out or bumped it in any way, so it had to have happened during all those crash-bang-boom noises that occurred in installation. I could see that the piece was one of the two clips that holds the cutlery basket in place, and it was barely hanging on by just one clip. I called Kleckners, explained the situation, and asked them to send me a new silverware basket. They said they could neither send nor deliver it, but I could drive out to Whitehall and pick one up - it would be in within a few days, and they would call me when it arrived. I arranged to pick up at the Emmaus store because that was closer for me, but then they never called. So after waiting about a month, I called them back and complained, and again no apology. They did claim they had left a message on my home number, but my kids are too little to even reach the phone let alone mess with it, and my husband and I certainly did not pick up the message.
I told them I'd bought with them for personal, local service and had experienced anything but. Instead of apologizing that I had not, they took the opportunity to drive home their philosophy by saying, "I have to disagree with you there and tell you that with us, you have someone to call." Well, if they don't deliver what they say they can or call when they say they will, what good is that? Next time, I will still try to buy local, but not from them. read more