This is one reason why many of us avoid extended warranties. You have the flexibilty to call a local repair shop that will fix things in a timely fashion.

Perhaps you have a 13 day wait because a bunch of people ahead of you did have more severe issues?

I don't think this such a problem. A lot of warranties just go through local shops anyway which will also take time.

Remember, it costs money (i.e. salary) to have repair people sitting on the bench waiting for your call. I would expect any business these days to make sure their dance cards are quite full, and that means new appointments will wait a bit.

-Stooxie

I got PO'd with them last week. My Maytag stove had a burner go out and then later that week my bottom oven element actually broke into 2 pieces. I called Sears for a service call; BTW, the oven is no longer under warranty (about 10 years old). So I get an appointment 7 days later. Guy comes out and fixes the oven element but has to order the small burner element. He schedules another appointment 9 days later (to allow for element to be delivered to me via UPS).

Morning before Sears calls and confirms my appointment. Late in the afternoon that same day (while I was out running errands), Sears calls and says my appointment is canceled because the guy is overbooked. This was an automated call so no way to argue even if I was home. Now I'm PO'd because I've already paid for everything--labor and parts. They've rescheduled me for 7 days later!!! I call the next morning and raise holy heck because I'm all paid up and they've delayed me another entire week. All I get is "I'm sorry but nothing I can do."

I ask to talk to the supervisor. I tell him I've been a long time customer and this is absolutely not acceptable. I should have been the last person bumped because my bill is paid and I'm a follow-up appointment and the guy himself scheduled the appt. I get moved up 2 days. That's the best he could do. I tell him move me up to the next day or I'll never use Sears again, and furthermore I'll tell everyone I know not to use Sears service. He says sorry that's the best he can do. The guy came out on the day the supervisor gave me and finished fixing my stove. I'll never use Sears service again. It's bad enough you have allow for a 4-hour window, but to have to reschedule my work again--especially when the guy himself made my appointment and my bill is completely paid--I refuse to be treated like this again.

PS Sorry for the long rant, but it still makes me sooooo angry!

Stooxie asked: 'Perhaps you have a 13 day wait because a bunch of people ahead of you did have more severe issues?'

I actually asked about that when I made the appointment and 'sears' said no, it was just going to take that long.

Stooxie again: 'Remember, it costs money (i.e. salary) to have repair people sitting on the bench waiting for your call. I would expect any business these days to make sure their dance cards are quite full, and that means new appointments will wait a bit.'

I can sympathise with this arguement for a one person shop, up to a point, which is still far short of 13 days. I have never had a problem getting rapid home service for a Heat and Air guy to come out in one or two days. The same goes for a plumber.

However for A&E/Sears, the arguement is ridiculous. They must have a huge client base. They could/should have enough staff to cover that base in a few days.

I'm with you flwrs. I think more complaining is in order.

From some previous experience, I think it would be wiser in the long run to buy the appliance with local vendors in the first place. I bought a Maytag dishwasher from my local guy who immediately installed it, and later sold me a needed part that he had in stock. Unfortunately, I wanted a slight upgrade for my cooktop and ovens and went with Sears (for a builders discount) instead of my local guy for KitchenAid that my local guy didn't carry (before the merger). Well, I had several problems, and I'll bet he would have fixed them faster than even the other local repair guys. Anyway, now he is out of business!!

Goodness. I have a Sears repairman coming this Thursday to fix my brand new refrigerator. I called the Sears repair number just yesterday (a Sunday) and it didn't bother me at all that he couldn't come for 4 days, but I hadn't considered what a hassle that would have been if I had a serious problem.

I purchased a Frigidaire Gallery counter-depth refrigerator from Sears Outlet. It was a great deal, and because it's their outlet store, then all the appliances are marked "cosmetic damage" regardless if it's true or not. This frig was completely wrapped in all the styrofoam and large amounts of plastic wrap.

The problem with it was the little tube on the bottom left corner of the freezer door, down by the floor, where it brings water up to the freezer door water dispenser. The tube had been seriously kinked and has a crack in it. We noticed this issue before we hooked the frig up to a water supply. Also, the very top shelf rail inside the freezer is cracked.

I have a one year warranty, even though it was purchased at Sears Outlet, which I was very happy to have.

I'll have to post here again and let you know if the repair actually happens on Thursday or not.

I have two more appliances to buy for my kitchen rehab and was planning to purchase them through Sears. I'll have to take these service reviews under consideration and do more comparison shopping.

Hey Chas, I was just throwing out some possibilities. I'm not saying I'm right, only that things always appear simple from the consumers' perspective.

I'm just saying. I have a Samsung fridge that needed some love and it took them about two weeks to come out as well. "Them" was the local authorized Samsung repair shop. Plumbers always come in a moments' notice, there's a million of them and they charge a TON of cash. It's a good living for them. Seems like they all charge just to show up!

Do us a favor, let us know if the complaining works.

-Stooxie

My four year old Kenmore Elete Freezer has been nothing but trouble. Every summer, it can not retain temperature. Each year I call for service, I have to argue over the warranty as it's 5 yr warranty is now no longer offered. Two years ago the serviceman told us he thought that the system was contaminated in the factory (Electrolux). It is now on it's 3rd dryer. Three calls this season to replace the dryer, heat exchanger, evaporator coil. No freezer for three weeks. It has now been recharged four times.

Sears no longer gives a four hour window; only 'sometime between 8 and 5'. I waited on one scheduled call until 4PM and then got a call that serviceman had called in sick at 8:30. Visit was rescheduled four days later and the serviceman tells me that he had called in sick at 6:30.

Is there no brand with more than a 1yr mfg's warranty today ?? This freezer was 14 months old when the problems started. I think it would be safer to buy a 3yr old unit on Craig's List that you can view in operation rather than buy new. If it runs after 3yrs, it should last a long time.

when I saw the subject posting line I knew it was Sears.

Welcome to the club. My refrigerator quit three weeks ago. The first repair guy came out 5 days later, the second repair guy came out 7 days after than, and the third guy is scheduled to come out in 8 days. Sears are just not bothered. Their service used to be excellent. FYI I believe that Sears is one of the ten companys expected to go under this year. Not surprising if this is the way they treat customers.

And I wasn't even thinking about refrigerators. That's even worse. This site has been pummeling A&E for a long time. Perhaps there actually is a problem with the payment structure for appliance repair in general. If many people have contracts with large companies, then maybe they can press repair staff into lower pay and independants have to compete into oblivion. I have been fortunate that most of my repairs were under the 1 year warranty or my one and only contract so I don't know if appliance repair is much lower paid than HVAC/Plumbers.

I do know that A&E overbooks. I have been bumped and delayed. But in the past, I still think repair came quickly.

But if this doesn't change, it seems to me that we should find out how to warn everyone that with a contract, your food will rot and you will eat out for a few weeks.

Some of us on this forum have been warning people for a while not to buy extended warranties but many people still buy them for insurance and to "sleep at night". Aside from the fact that extended warranties are a bad bet financially, they also lock you into the repair company that the warranty company uses. Without an extended warranty you will have to pay for the repair but you have the flexibility to hire whomever you want to do the repair and most likely you can get someone to come out a lot sooner.

Maybe it's my location (St. Louis, Missouri), but Sears gave me a 4 hour window for the repair man this Thursday.

I always turn down those extended warranty offers as well. No regrets so far.

I didn't want to leave the impression that my (or other people's)repair window was more than 4 hours, but with bumping etc, that window may widen extensively.

To chas045,

I'm sorry that you are having this issue with your oven and that you are unhappy with the service you've received from Sears repair. Our goal is for you to be 100% satisfied with your purchase and the service you receive from Sears. We value you as a Sears customer and would like the opportunity to resolve this and any other Sears related issue you may have. My name is James and I am part of the Social Media Support Escalations team at Sears. At your convenience, please contact our office at smsupport@searshc.com. Please send us an email providing a contact phone number and the phone number the oven was purchased under (if different than the contact phone number) and we will call you directly. Also, in your email please provide the screen name (chas045) for reference to your issue and we do look forward to talking to you soon.

Thank you,
James H.
Social Media Moderator
Sears Social Media Support

Here is a link that might be useful: Sears Cares

I posted my freezer story (above)on the Sears Facebook Wall "Sears Cares".

I had to pick "LIKE" in order to post to the site. This action filled my Facebook Wall with Sears advertisements.

Ten minutes later; my story disappeared from the Sears site.

Sears Cares ???

Hay stoxxie and bob, and others too:
stooxie wrote "Do us a favor, let us know if the complaining works.
-Stooxie"

I got hold of the Social Media Moderator and he set me up with an appointment for the next day (today) 8-12 window with what he said would be a Sears tech instead of an a&e tech. Today, an a&e tech came almost first thing after calling to say I was next.

He solved the 'problem' almost immediately. If my chime alarm sound hadn't turned into a wheeze/clunk, I might have considered that the sound had turned down to 'low', which is what had happened. The tech suggested a power failure as a possibility. We get plenty of those.

While this control is down in an 'option' menu, I am afraid that it is as likely that I randomly pushed the right sequence to change this setting while cleaning the control panel, oops. I imagine the rest of you also turn your ovens on accidently while cleaning as well, and just turn them off as you finish the wipe-down. You might want to see if you have created some odd option settings too.

Anyway: the oven is back to normal. In my case, complaining or setting up this thread helped me. I'm sorry about bmmalone and bob's experiences. Perhaps I am being too cynical but since I have my service contract out, I noticed that it has gone into its last year 3 days ago.

Having made the comment about spoiled food, I also see tht the Sears contract says that they will cover $250/year for spoilage in freezer/refers. It also says that they will cover the rental of an appliance if repair goes beyond 'original promise date'. since that date can be quite a ways out, it might not help the long initial wait, but it might be useful for the real horror stories.

Very cool. Thanks for the update.

-Stooxie

My Sears washing machine started to only have one cycle, the longest and hottest one. I didn't have a warranty but called Sears to see about looking at it. I was told the earliest they could come out would be over 2 weeks and that it probably needed a new circuit board. The price was not cheap.

I didn't make an appointment, instead I did some looking on the web. My husband took the washer apart and I literally pushed on the circuit board. Some people on the web said vibrations can loosen stuff up on the board. My husband put the washer back together and it's worked fine ever since.

I'm sure if Sears had come out I would have ended up with a new board.

My freezer now seems to be working better than it ever did. Sears has spent a fortune on parts. But to answer your question, complaining did not get me any improvement in returning my freezer to service. I had to do without for three weeks.

My last complaint call was to Sears Corp HQ at 800-795-5030. I was told that my case was going to be referred to "Becky" at 800-803-6302 for help. Please wait 24 hrs for her reply. Never heard from her.

Good luck,,,

Understand that an 'extended warranty' is a contract. You need to read the contract carefully, to see if it meets your requirements.

Sears is a retailer. They are in the business of selling stuff - out the door - it's a done deal! They are not in the business of service.

You get what you pay for - a cheap price - cheap service - that's subcontracted out - at a cheap price - nobody wins except Sears.

Bottom line is you got what you paid for! Perhaps if more people would buy from a locally ouwend store there would be an alternative.

I'm following up with my earlier promise to report back, since I was waiting for the Sears guy to show up last week.

My first call to Sears was on a Sunday, June 26th, and the man showed up within the appointment window that Thursday, June 30th.

He figured out what part he needed to order, said the parts would be mailed to my home, and scheduled another appointment to come back and install them for me this Thursday, July 7 from 7am to 11am.

I asked him what would have happened if this repair had been something much more important. What if my refrigerator was broken and my food was spoiling? He said I would have been in the same queue to get an appointment. They do first come first serve. He said many years ago, Sears offered an Emergency Response service, but customers were abusing it and claiming emergencies for things that clearly were not.

The Sears repairman (A&E) was just here. The parts came in the mail yesterday. He opened the box, and the wrong part was ordered.

A phone call was put in to Frigidaire, and they learned that Frigidaire's documentation was wrong. This wasn't Sears' fault, the wrong documentation was sent out to everyone that provides repairs for that frig.

The new part was ordered again. The Sears repairman will be back on July 12. At that point, if it's fixed then, it will have been a 16 days wait for repair.

Nice to see that St Louis has semi rapid turn around times. Considering a&e reputation however, I would want to check with Frigidaire to confirm their error as a fact. But perhaps a&e is cleaning up their act.

Tazochai, I gather that you can easily be home? Imagine the mess if you had to leave work and the refer. wasn't cooling. As you originally said, 'Goodness,'!