A&E Factory Service

I have never had to use their services. The reason for this post, is to call out the driver of one of their vans. My wife was driving to work this morning. She calls me around 8:30 am. I could tell by her voice, my wife was scared. She was crying, telling me this man was scaring her. She said, he kept tailgating her, backing off, then he would drive really fast, acting as if he was going to rear end her, then stopping right before there was contact. He also drove along side her, trying to get as close to her as he could, purposely trying to scare her. a&e, you need to handle this, or I will.

I can't think of anything right now. I've been pretty happy with their service.

I called A & E to come out back in June (of 2013) because the washing machine would stop in the middle of a load or sometimes refuse to start at all. Bill Bradley came out and gave me the choice of having him work on the electrical panel to see if that would solve the problem or replace it for approximately $480. He said there was no way to know if his efforts would last. I chose to have him work on it since it was only $129. He suggested that I buy a one-year repair protection agreement for $109. That way if it continued to have problems, they would replace the panel for free. I went with the protection agreement and paid a total of $238. Eight months later the problem started again. Bill came out and replaced the panel and it didn't cost me a penny. I got a new panel and saved $248. His man is a saint!

My washer was only about 5 years old and it began to make horrible noises. Finally, I called a washer repair man to come out and look at it. He asked if it was under warranty and I said that I didn't think so. He said to repair a machine like that would be so expensive that it would probably be better to replace it. If I recall correctly, it cost me around $89 to find that out. I called another company and they referred me to A & E Factory Service. Bill Bradley came out and asked if it was under warranty. I said I didn't think so. He didn't take my word for it. He looked it up on his little computer and within a few minutes he said that it actually was and that it would be replaced for free. I figure he saved me between $1,300 -$1,700. Bill Bradley is my hero. First of all, he sincerely cared. Secondly, he came equipped with a little computer. Third, he was smart enough to find my information. Fourth, he was honest. Fifth, he was friendly, professional and accommodating. I can't say enough good things about A & E Factory Service. I really can't remember how much this cost me. I'm guessing $129, but it could have been more or less.

Service technician was professional, courteous and efficient. This is the best experience I have ever had with large appliance service!

First of all, be aware that A & E is really Sears Home Services. Sears operates some repair men and trucks under a different name so they can do repair work for other companies that don't want its consumers to know Sears is doing the repair work for them . But the management and workers are all the same people. This allows Sears to make money doing contract work and allows other machine manufacturers to contract out repairs. (This dishonesty seems like a bad omen for the quality of service Sears gives.) So keep in mind all reviews of A & E apply to Sears repair service as well. In my case, I have a contract with Sears Home Services to fix my washing machine when it breaks. The only problem is that Sears/A & E is really bad at repairing things and took approx. 5 weeks and 4 visits to fix my washer. Details: My washer broke in mid-June. Called Sears and they sent tech#1 (officially a "Sears" guy, I think) on 6/20. Tech #1 said the guy who fixed the washer a year earlier misaligned a part, so tech#1 "realigned" it and said it would be ok. But now a noise it had made earlier was louder than before. Three days later it broke in the same way, and the noise tech #1 caused had gotten louder. Scheduled new appt for 6/27. Sears Tech #2 showed up (why not have the same guy show up so I don't have to explain all over again, and he can learn from his mistakes? No, that would make too much sense.) I told him what Tech #1 said, and I told him about the noise getting louder. Tech #2 said 3 parts had to be replaced, which of course he didn't have, so he ordered them and said someone would show up on 7/11. On 7/11, A & E Tech #3 shows up who knows nothing of the previous two techs or why the parts were ordered! Then he says parts are missing from the parts shipment! He goes away to get more parts from another tech, wasting an hour. Finally he installs two of the three parts, but REFUSES to install the new pump, stating we already had it replaced before, so it must still be good. I told him to call Tech #2, who ordered the pump. I only heard one side of the conversation, but Tech #3 decided Tech #2 was wrong and refused to install the pump. I don't know if the pump was needed or not, but after Tech #3 was done, the noise was really loud. He had the nerve to tell me it was normal and he didn't think it needed fixing. He further explained that he gets "charged" by Sears/A&E for the parts that gets used and how much time he takes to do a repair, so he didn't want to do anything unless it was absolutely required to get the machine running. To me, that's not the same as getting the machine to run right. But he left, and said call back if the machine broke again. Well, it broke on 5 days later AND leaked water on the floor. VERY frustrated I called Sears again, wasted a lot of time trying to get someone to care, and only managed to get an appt for more than a week later! But my wife called and cried on the phone, so they scheduled for 7/18. Lo and behold, Tech #1 showed up, looked at the machine, replaced the pump, and like agic the machine was fixed AND NO NOISE! After this fiasco, I wanted to complain to the company, but after many calls I ended up the phone with the same call center people who take no responsibility for what the techs do. In other words, their system prevents you from reaching real management at the company. They don't care. I did some research and found a phone number at the office in Ontario and managed to reach a first level tech manager. He was sympathetic, but had no authority to do anything about the poorly the business is run. He promised to have the "District Manager" call me though. As of 7/23, I still haven't heard from him. Of course, he doesn't really run the business either. This company is run out Sears HQ in Chicago and that executive whoever it is is completely removed from the actual operation that customers experience. I don't recommend service contracts or one-time repairs from Sears or A & E if you can avoid it. They are incompetent and take no responsibility for their work! And since this is their attitude, I won't be buying appliances at Sears, either.

After cancelling the order, I located a local refrigerator serviceman, a man who had been in this business for many years. He was excellent and reasonable. Oh, he also came out the same day that I telephoned -- must hours later. He understood what "emergency" meant!

The first time I scheduled online through Whirlpool for my Whirlpool gas dryer that would not start and I was scheduled for an early Saturday appointment between 8am-12pm. They called to confirm via automated callback. However, on the day of the scheduled delivery, they called at 9:30am to say they were running late. They did not show up until after 3pm! After inspection, they determined it was a push to start relay that needed to be replaced and charged me $130 for inspection and supposedly all labor for this repair. Then, they charged me an additional $39.00 plus tax for the part to be mailed to me. They would return to install. The second repair appointment went just like the first and now it is a week after I initially scheduled the first appointment! I was scheduled for an early Thursday appointment with a window from 7:30am to 12pm, but the guy did not come until 1:15pm! Then he determined it was not the push start switch after all, and said it was now the timer and luckily (or unlucky for me) he had the part, which he promptly charged me $169.00 plus tax. He did credited me for the wrong ordered part. However, after I had already paid for the repair, I researched the exact same parts online and found this company's prices are way too high! I will NEVER USE THIS COMPANY AGAIN! I could have a almost bought a brand new dryer for this price. This will teach me not to use anyone until I check them out on Angie's List. I would have seen the previous posts....shame on me!

So this is a little hard to write since we've had A&E come out numerous times to work on our fridge, freezer, dishwasher and stove. I've always found their prices pretty outrageous ($70 just to come out and then exponentially increasing from there if they do anything at all), but they pretty much have a monopoly if you are looking to get large appliances serviced and want to go through a large company--I think even Sears has outsourced to them but not sure. Up until now, it's been okay, if expensive. But today was the last straw for us. We've actually had a lot of problems with our fridge/freezer so we had an A&E repair warranty--they get people with this pretty easily since they charge so much for everything they do. After coming out to look at our broken ice maker (under warranty), they determined it needed to be replaced and they would order the part, come back and install it, etc. and everything would be covered by the warranty. The part showed up quickly to our home and we scheduled them to come back. So far, so good. They repair person installed the part and left, ice seemed to be coming out, so we thought all was good. Until a few days later when we discovered that it was over-producing ice and frost was building up, and wait a minute, why can't we see the button to turn it off anymore? It really seemed like maybe this wasn't the right part after all. We called A&E and scheduled them to come out, and called to follow up saying that this was a problem either with the part or the installation. To make a long story short, they refused to come out without charging us the $70 service fee. What? We pointed out to the phone rep. and to their supervisor repeatedly how this didn't make sense, etc. They refused. We told them that was the end of our relationship. Then, wondering if we could give it just one more try on the phone, we called back. Eventually, we got the agreement that they would come out and fix the problem that they created. the new phone rep. assured us that we didn't need to pay, they would fix, etc. We'll see if it goes that way. Either way, I don't think we'll be using them again.

I called Whirlpool for service and was automatically scheduled with this company. They were supposed to be here between 8a-12n with a phone call before arrival. I didn't receive any call. At 12:40 he arrived. I reminded him of the time frame promised and the phone call that I didn't get. He claimed that he tried to call but the line was busy. (?! - who doesn't have call waiting and voice mail) I replied that the busy line was an impossibility and this didn't explain the tardiness and declined to let him in. My advice would be to never schedule through the manufacturer unless you can get a human on the line, and to never allow the call to be through this company.

Horrible experience! See all above. By the way, I have never bothered to review a business but did so for the first time in the hope that I save someone from a similar experience.