Sears terrible product terrible repair service Honolulu Hawaii

As a 40yr Sears customer I relied upon their past reputation for quality and service to purchase a washing machine and dryer for my 87 y.o. mother. Since she lives alone in Honolulu and I live in Alaska I wanted trouble free, long lasting quality so I bought the top of the line Kenmore Elite Calypso Motion water saver. I didn't mind paying more than competition because I trusted Sears to stand behind it and fix it in the unlikely ( I assumed) event of trouble. What I didn't know then is that the components are all made in Germany, difficult to obtain and very expensive.

Failure of any part leads to essentially throwing away a 1000+ machine. After only 48 mo of very light use (87 yo woman doing one load of wash per week) it failed completely. Sears contact (800) numbers on the machine were not available from Hawaii (AK neither)so my mother called the Sears store in Honolulu. They gave her a different 800 number which also turned out to be a dead end. In desperation she called a local (non Sears) appliance repair man. He diagnosed a simple circuit board ($147--reasonable enough) problem but when he changed it the machine still wouldn't work. Obviously a bigger problem.

He gave up but kindly replaced the original circuit board and didn't charge her exceopt for the service call so my mom searched the yellow pages and accidently stumbled upon a small Sears advertisement. This time with a number that worked. The Sears repair vehicle that showed up was ironically emblazoned with the first 800 number that won't work from HI or AK (800 469-4063 by the way). When my Mom told him about the first repairman he was now not interested in doing the job. Spent about 10 or 15 min doing testing and presented her with a proposal for $1039.32 to repair the machine. He implied the first repairman had damagaged all the other components as the source of the failure. This is of course a ridiculous stance to protect themselves from the repair of a machine they should have never attached their stores reputation. The best they would do is to sell her a 400 machine and deliver it free. Obviously not a top of the line product. Costco would be a better choice for her.

It is obvious to me Sears knows about the unreliablity of this machine but continues to sell them to unsuspecting (previously) loyal customers expecting the good old Sears quality and reputation for fair repair.

Sears Customer service is icily cold and uninterested in repairing this machine at a reasonable price. I have reached a dead end dealing with them. I will have to replace it with a Maytag or some other quality brand with better service and kinder response if trouble ever occurs.
This is an egregious rip-off. They know it. I know it. Everyone I have talked to within Sears knows it but they won't authorize repair at a reasonable cost. What has happened to the Sears of old? I am stunned and outraged by this treatment.

Roy
Anchorage, Alaska
U.S.A.