Sears Home Warranty Cinch Will not honor replacement of defective appliance

This warranty is offered usually at the time of service by an affiliated repair service. In this case, A&E Factory Service wanted to charge me $500 to replace the frost sensor on a Kenmore Elite refrigerator. If I joined the Sears Home Warranty (Cinch) program they would only charge me $350 to replace this $30 part. So I joined.

Six months and many repair visits later, my freezer is still not working. Two of the 8 or so repair men have come in, asked some questions, and stated that it should just be replaced, that there's nothing left to fix, and that they would recommend this to Sears/Cinch. They attempted no repairs and just left. Keep in mind that the only way Sears will replace an appliance is if the repair shop recommends replacement.

The first time replacement was recommended, Sears claims the repair person said "they couldn't work on this appliance". The repair person was very familiar with Kenmore and did not tell Sears this. He had no reason to. He told me he would recommend replacement.

The second time replacement was recommended, Sears actually stated to me, a few days after the visit, that the replacement recommendation was in their system, and that Sears was researching the model to find an equivalent replacement or credit, and that I would get an email with instructions within a few days.

Two weeks later and no email. I call them, and they say there is no record of the replacement recommendation, and the entry for this repair person is just blank.

At this point, I believe they are well beyond just being an incompetent company. I believe they are avoiding replacement costs by deliberately changing the repair records, which of course I have no access to.

I am considering a lawsuit.