[Resolved] Sears Repair Service — extremely poor customer service!

My husband and I have been a sears customer, especially for tools and appliances, for over 20 years. I will never, never, never purchase another item from sears, and it is entirely due to their customer service. we purchased a top-of-the-line high-efficiency (he3t) washer and dryer from sears in 2002. I have been extremely happy with the product, and extremely disappointed with the service. because I spent so much money on the washer and dryer, and because I have a husband and 2 teenage children, one of which plays baseball, I naturally purchased the service agreement because, according to their website, "a protection agreement can provide you with peace of mind by knowing that if a problem occurs with your product, you know whom to call to take care of it right away." in the 7 years that I have owned the washer and dryer, I remarkably have only had an issue that required service 3 different times. the first issue was with the control panel on the dryer right after we bought it. I got a service appointment scheduled within a week, and it was repaired within 2 weeks - hooray!

The next 2 service issues, however, were a complete disaster. my washer stopped running, and it took 7 weeks to get it repaired. of course a part had to be ordered after the first technician came out to determine what was wrong. the technician never showed up for the 2nd appointment to install the part. after 5 phone calls, I managed to get an appointment rescheduled for the next day (saturday). because I had spent all of friday at home waiting, I had to run an errand on saturday morning. I left my 17-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son at home, with my neighbor on stand-by in the event that the tech showed up while we were out. my appointment was canceled after the tech called and simply asked for me and my daughter said that I wasn't home, and there was no one over 18 currently in the house. it took another 8 calls, and a threat to drop the washer in front of the store where we purchased it, to get someone to come back out that day - with no apologies from anyone from sears. my dryer then stopped working the week after christmas this past december. I called on 12/31, and the earliest appointment I could get was almost 3 weeks later - 1/18. of course, the tech did not have the replacement part that was needed, and it took 1 week for the part to arrive. so when I called after the part arrived (as I was instructed to do), I could not get an appointment for another 2-1/2 weeks. no matter how many different people my husband or I spoke with, we could not get an earlier appointment, nor did we ever get an apology.

The appointment was scheduled for 8-12 on a monday. at 11:45, I called customer service to find out when the technician would arrive, and was told that all they could do was send him a message. 1 hour later, with no response, I called back again, but only got the same response. at 1:40, the technician himself called and said he was on his way and would be here in 20 minutes. at 3:45, when he still was not here, I called again, and refused to hang up until I was told when the technicial would arrive. I was finally transferred to the warranty service scheduling department (which, for future reference, you need to ask for first). I was told that he had just arrived at the appointment before me. at 5:45, when the technician still had not arrived, I called again, and was told that he had arrived at the next appointment before me at 4:40!! the technician finally showed up at 6:50 p. m. - now remember I had an appointment for 8-12 in the morning. I was told that I had originally been #6 on the technician's schedule - and one of the calls he had was over an hour away from where he and I both live. according to the technician, all of his appointments were "8-12".

Then, when the tech finally arrived, he informed me that he needed to order another 2 parts!!! although the technician placed an "emergency order", I was told by everyone I could speak to at sears, that they no longer expedite any parts orders. so, the additional parts will take another week to arrive, and the earliest next appointment I can get is two weeks from now. interestingly enough, I was told by both technicians that parts install appointments take priority over initial service calls. sears, however, told me emphatically that this is not true, and I was not able to get an appointment scheduled any earlier than if I was scheduling an initial service call!!!

No one that we have spoken with at sears has apologized. no one is able to authorize an expedited shipment when it was the original technician's fault for not ordering the correct parts. no one is able to schedule an appointment that is convenient for me, or even guarantee that I am first on the list. by the way - don't believe it when they tell you the appointments are scheduled on a first-come-first-served basis - the routing department schedules the technicians appointments each day for the following day. so even if you are the first to schedule an appointment on a given day, you could end up being the last appointment. and "scheduled between 8-12" means absolutely nothing.

So, why did I buy that service contract? oh... because it would "provide me with peace of mind" knowing that my issue would be "taken care of right away". sorry, but my definition of "right away" is much quicker than 8+ weeks. do not rely on sears service. the few dollars you may save on sears appliances is not worth the frustration and anxiety you will experience in the event that you need it repaired.

• Resolution Statement

  Customer Service has done everything in their power to resolve the complaint. All attempts to contact the customer have failed. Therefore, the complaint has been annulled and must not be considered where image of the company in question and its services are concerned.