Garland sent a message to Edward Lampert – Chairman and CEO of Sears Holdings – Email Address that said:
How to fix a refrigerator in 17 Days
Step one: Call Sears
I called the 800 number to schedule repair for washing machine and refrigerator under Sears Home Warranty that we already had. Both were scheduled on the same call by the same person in India. Repairs were schedule for June 22nd.
First repair guy came to fix the washer and replaced computer and collected the $60 deductible. He finished the check-out of the machine and left. Shortly after that I started a load of laundry. The wash cycle finished without issue. A new error code appeared at the start of the rinse cycle.
Second guy appeared to work on refrigerator (freezer) and he was not scheduled for Home Warranty Service. Said he would not be able to work on the refrigerator and I would need to reschedule.
Summary for June 22. Started day with 2 broken appliances, ended day with 2 broken appliances. Cost me 8 hours of vacation time and $60.
Both repairs were rescheduled for June 25. I received emails showing I would be paying for both services. I call the service center (India) on 24 June and was told to ignore the emails. I called the US contact that I had be given and they checked. Neither service call was scheduled as Home Warranty. They corrected the status. Had I not checked the 25th would have been another wasted day.
Same guy worked on both appliances on the 25th. Ended up replacing pump on washing machine. Found that the thermostat was bad on refrigerator. Should had part on truck. Went and got it. Came back with part, plastic bag was open already and the part inside was not what is was supposed to be. He would have to order one. He made a follow up appointment for July 6th. Also advised that once I had the part, a new service date could be scheduled. Received part on June 29 (3 day shipping option) and called to get an earlier date. I was told none was available.
Part was installed July 6th.
Washing machine started leaking water. Repairman put hose back on pump on Jul 19.
There are several things that need to be improved. The India call center is the first. A software change that only allows them to schedule Home Service visits if called has Home Service warranty would probably be the best. Another option is a dedicated group that only schedules Home Service.
Another possibility would be if an appliance cannot be fixed within 72 hours, provide a loaner for thing like refrigerator or stove. I can take laundry to a laundry to wash them. Can't do that with cold food.
What I expect now.
My work place allows us to sell back our vacation time that we dont use. I ended up using 16 hours of my time off to get these repairs done. If all had been done correctly this should had been done without taking so much time off.
I make $39.86 an hour and expect to be repaid for that time. I also went thru 21 bags of ice trying to keep food cold. My total expenses are:
Vacation time $39.86 X 16 hours = $637.75
Ice 21 bags @ $2.53 = $53.13
Total $690.88
My next step would be a BBB complaint if this letter does not achieve the desired results.
I can be contacted at
Garland
