I wrote a letter to Hamilton Beach a few days ago about an unpredictably combustible toaster my family recently purchased from (ahem) Kmart. And I just heard back from them. The news is good but I’ll be happiest when my kitchen is confidently toasting bread and other starchy delicacies again. Of course, I’ll be writing Hamilton Beach back as well. And posting that letter shortly right here at ODNT. Please enjoy my daily minutiae over your morning coffee and (ironically) other breakfast items that very likely involved a toaster. (sigh)
Dear Michelle,
Thank you for contacting us.
The product warranty began the date you purchased the product, and required you to maintain your sales receipt as proof of purchase. In the absence of a sales receipt, we must use the series code located on the product to determine when the product was manufactured. According to the information you provided your product warranty has expired, however, we will be happy to replace your toaster in this instance.
In an effort to assist you with a warranty claim, we ask that you please provide your shipping address.
Be sure to include your original email when responding. Please do not discard your appliance.
Thank you for contacting Hamilton Beach and we look forward to assisting you further.
Name Withheld to Protect the Innocent (Let’s just call her “Betty”)
Consumer Affairs
Geez! The warranty expired? We just bought it on October 25. It’s been three weeks. Maybe it has a really short shelf life. Like milk … or today’s celebrity marriages. (Oh, relax, Hanks and Cosby. You know I’m not talking about you.)
OldDogNewTits 
LOL. A toaster that goes bad faster than my milk? Nice!
I buy a lot of my appliances and stuff at Sears. They keep what you buy in their system via their rewards system. I bought my mom a sewing machine, lost the receipt, but the purchase was still in there, and we shipped it out to get repaired…still under warranty! Thanks you Sears!
Here is the thing you don’t know about items like that sold in stores like Walmart and Kmart. Those codes tell them when the item was manufactured. they have a shelf life of so long from date of manufacture. This is why they try to get you to purchase extra coverage from purchase because of the possibility it has been on the shelf for a long time and the manufacture warranty close to expiring. My friend learned this the hard way when she bought a computer and had it a month when it went haywire, apparently she got it so cheap because it had been on the shelves for over a year meaning the warranty from manufacturer was about to expire.
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