Sears - Kenmore Warranty Service Nightmare on Kenmore Refrigeratior Freezer Internet Hoffman Estates,Illinois Internet

On January 6th 2010 we requested service on our 10 month old Kenmore refrigerator freezer from Sears.  Our second warranty repair.
This time the unit blew out the control panel which regulates the temperature and the unit was already warming up.

After speaking with the scheduler I was told the soonest we would see repair would be the afternoon of January 14th (8 1/2 days later.)
I explained that this was a problem as our perishables would be destroyed in a few days and we required the refrigerator to cool insulin and another drug used by a kidney dialysis patient.  The agent put me on hold and insisted that was the best.
When I asked who would pay for the lost food I was told that there was a $250 refund available under warranty.  I was told to ask the technician for the form and to fill it out and return it at the time of the repair.

Since I had 8 days to wait I did my best to expedite the service in the meantime.
One individual (who worked in local repair) said that some areas were backed up two-three weeks and I was lucky it was just 8 days.  Hardly a selling point and as my food was melting I felt anything but lucky.

If I would have been told at the time of sale that this type of dreadful response was normal I would have left the store instead of buying the unit.
I would assume 99% of your customer base would do the same.

i began researching complaints made by others online and saw that there was an email address that kept recurring searscares@searhc.com. Whenever they found a complaint online they posted a cheery little response advising disgruntled customers to work with them to resolve the complaint. I emailed my problem

On the 6th day of my wait (01-12-10) I received a phone call.
A rude individual by the name of Edwin C. called to help.
His take on helping was that he would call me back after the original repair date to make sure that they fixed it.  I explained that this wasn't helpful but if I needed any help filing the food loss claim I would keep his number.

He then informed me that there would be no compensation for the hundreds of dollars worth of food that melted.  I explained that I had discussed this on my original call and had mentioned it in subsequent calls to expedite the repair.

He said they were wrong and we would have to assume the loss.
Naturally I was irritated and when I expressed my irritation he finally offered two options. 

1) He would send us a check for $100.
   That was better than nothing but still unacceptable.  I wanted what I was  promised and $100 didnt come close to paying for our loss. 

2)  He would give us a 2nd year of warranty for free.
    This wasn't helpful as we already had a free 2nd year of warranty service because we purchased it with a Visa card that included a double      warranty up to  one year. Besides who in their right mind would tolerate service delays like this twice?

He said that was all he could do and I said I may take this issue to small claims court.  At which point he told me "If you're going to take that attitude I'll hang up on you.

Before he hung up he promised to follow up with me following the repair on the 14th to make sure I was pleased.

Further efforts to expedite the repair were useless.

January 14th finally arrived and the repairman came as promised at 2:00 PM.
Although I described the exact part that failed the service tech didn't bring one on the call.  He was however helpful enough to check with a local supplier in Dallas who then couriered the part the same afternoon.  He promised to make one other call then swing back and fix it shortly after 5PM

The parts arrived at 5:15PM
At 5:20 I received a call from the tech who apologized and told me that he was told he could not return until Monday January 18 to complete the repair so we would have to wait another 4 days without refrigeration for our food and medical supplies.  The routing department in Ft Worth said he could not come because they would not pay the overtime. (15 minutes to complete the repair.)
 I asked for the name of that individual to call and was told she was gone for the day but was given the number.

As a last resort I spoke with the local Sears store (previous calls were unsuccessful)  here in Plano and spoke with Patrick who is the Appliance Manager.  He pulled strings and got the call rescheduled to Friday (Jan. 15th) and apologized profusely.

The next time I spoke with "Sears Cares" Edwin called me on January 18th and asked if I was pleased with the service.  I told him in no certain terms I was extremely displeased and would never buy another product from Sears.

He insisted the service was done as promised on Friday.
I corrected him because his notes were again incorrect the promise was Thursday and then later Monday.
I reminded him that he didn't bother to follow up on Jan 15th as promised and he had done absolutely nothing to help alleviate the problem. 

Then the lies continued.  I asked to speak with his manager. He informed me he was THE manager.  I asked for his last name.  He advised me he "didn't have to tell me".  I asked who he reported to and he informed me it was Bruce Johnston the CEO of Sears.  I told him I believed he was lying to me.  Silence on his end.  I asked if the CEO did his performance review.  After a lull he said "No, that's done by the Board of Directors" another obvious lie.  I asked again for his manager's name or to be transferred he said he couldn't because he didn't know his managers phone number.

This has been the worst service experience of my life.
I will never buy another Sears product and will warn everyone possible that they should consider my experience before spending hard earned money with Sears.

After researching other people's complaints online I realized how much the service at Sears has degraded.  As one person put it "They're not the same company your parents bought from".  That is so true.

I worked at Sears scheduling service calls when I was working my way through college.  In that entire time I was never asked to be transferred to a manager because this type of response was unheard of and wouldn't have been tolerated.

Sears is one of the largest resellers of appliances in the world.
To expect customers to wait 12 days to fix an in warranty refrigerator-freezer is ludicrous.  To expect customers to absorb the loss of food on top of that just throws salt in the wound.

Don't do as I did and trust these jerks, you'll regret it just like I do.