[snip]

"Sears" service is sub contracted out, usually to
a group called "A and E". And yes, they charge
something like $75 - $100 to just look, and then another
$75 - $100 plus parts to do the repair. Minimum.

In my case it was the light switch that's in
the door frame. I picked up the replacement
via Sears Parts [a] for $10 or so. Reasonable.

But it was _very hard_ to pop out the old one
so I figured better to pay $100 (my initial guess)
to their service rep to do the 10 minutes of work.

The service tech who showed up insisited he had
to enter in the dual charge...

After he left I wrote a firm but polite note to
Eddie's office stating that I felt, and was comfortable,
paying the basic $100. But nothing more.

They called me back and agreed to cut down the bill.

Anyway, enough of that. If you've got a 20 y/o refrigerator
the simple answer is that unless it's a trivial repair,
such as cleaning and recleaning the coils - including the
hidden ones - and double checking the door frame
for leaks...

Unless it's something that simple, then dump it.

Note that in many areas you can get a free pickup
and maybe even a rebate from your local utility.

[a] searparts.com is a superbly arranged
repalr parts warehouse/web interface. A great
many of the parts which you'd think should
just be $5 to $10 are, indeed, $5 to $10.

Many are more of course.

Not just Sears but lotsof other, semi associated
and affiliated, brands


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