SEARS HOME IMPROVEMENT PRODUCTS

Dealing with Sears Home Improvement for a new HVAC system was an absolute nightmare that no one should have to go through. The salesman himself was knowledgeable and helpful, but that's where it ended. The installers - who estimated that it would be an 8-10 hour job - showed up at 2 in the afternoon (appt was for 11:30) and were there until after midnight and they didn't finish the job. They came back showing up after 6 pm for a 4 pm appt and staying until 1 in the morning. And, the installation was still not done right as I ended up with a flooded closet, requiring still another trip. Also, I am a cancer patient and had edibles in the room they were in, which one helped himself to. If this process wasn’t bad enough, I made the mistake of taking them up on their offer of free financing, which so far has cost me an extra $100 and 100 points on my credit score because the first bill I got was 3 months old and was in Spanish. Another story for another time. Buyer beware !

The first appointment, a tech was to be at my home between 8am-1pm. I rearrange my busy schedule to accommodate the five hour window and as 1:00pm approached, I call for an update. The representative then says someone will be here between 4-5pm. My day is wasted. then, at 2:00 a tech calls and says he'll be here around 2;30pm. He shows and states that we need a new main circuit board. Of course, the original circuit board had to be defective in order for it to malfunction in 15 months. They order the part and schedule another appointment for 1 1/2 weeks later. The same tech calls on the day of the appointment and ask me what we are having serviced. At that time, he has no notes and doesn't even remember being at our home. He also doesn't know that the part that he told Sears to order has already been delivered. When he finally arrives, the first words from his mouth are, " Now, you know there will be a $365 labor charge today." Only concerned with money when he hasn't even started the repair and isn't sure that the circuit board is the issue. Also, just an FYI, Sears Home Improvement had no records indicating that they even installed the new furnace, which could have affected the warranty if I hadn't kept all my files. They are a sad, sad business model. I would only recommend them to my worst enemy.

The original salesman was in our home a long time, but we had a lot of questions, and he seemed very knowledgeable about the products. The work was set up by another person, and when the workers arrived there was yet another site manager. The work was very smooth and efficient, with a minimum of disruption to our lives. Sears took care of any building permits. The workers re-installed things that were attached to the house before the siding was removed (the retractable clothes line, a flower trellis, etc.). The workers were good about wearing clean boot covers when entering the house. One of the site mangers came to inspect the work. We did have to have the garage door installers return to re-do the routing of the wire from the wall switch to the motor (it was strung between rafters, rather than attached to a wall or rafter). The clean up was OK - the only thing was that there were many, many aluminum nails in the yard around the house and in the flower beds next to the house. When installing the siding, the workers often dropped nails, and did not do a very good job of cleaning them up. To this day, I am still picking them up in the yard (now over a year after the installation). The original salesman had said that he would return to check on the work when finished. He never did. We do feel that the materials used and the work done was worth what we paid for it.

The workers were very professional. It took them two days to complete the job. The quality of work was excellent. I would definitely recommend this company.

The company I had intended to use was overwhelmed with orders in December, therefore I requested an evaluation from Sears. Anticipating the December rush due to the tax credit, they hired more installers, aggressively marketed and competitively priced their furnace installations. They gave me an in-home estimate on Dec 17 and installed a 95 afue, Carrier furnace on Dec 20 for $3500. The installers arrived promptly at 10 AM and finished shortly after 2 PM. They were knowledgeable, quickly finding solutions to problems inevitable in an older home. They spread drop cloths and thoroughly cleaned up on finishing. They were polite and friendly. I am completely satisfied with the service and price.

I called Chicagoland Remodeling and explained to them that I am having water issues, but am not sure of the orgin. Can someone come out, find the problem and give me an estimate. They said YES!!!

They quoted me about $13,000 and we went with another company because they were about 3rd of the price. Their presentation took way too much of my time.

Excellent. Very professional.

I can't speak to their work, as they completely botched the job before they even SAW it. They insisted they were going to start the kitchen on the upcoming Monday - did I mention they hadn't SEEN it yet and they were calling me by the wrong name??? They had their record keeping so messed up they would not BELIEVE me when I said they hadn't yet looked at/quoted the kitchen and they were insistent they were coming with materials because I had "signed a contract". I could not get them to understand that someone else was being short changed because the kitchen they wanted to start WASN'T MINE. Given this, I was not going to even TRY to let them come in and quote the kitchen. If they can't get their paperwork right before they even saw the job, how could I have confidence in their work?

Sears unilaterally cancelled our contract, and never bothered to inform us of that fact. I called them four weeks after the date on which they said they would call us to arrange the installation, only to find that they had cancelled the contract because they could not make a steel door to the dimensions we needed. Never once after the contract was signed did they either call us on their own, or return any of 7 or 8 messages and voice mails that I left with them. We were utterly and systematically ignored. What is more, when I finally did manage to reach a supervisor, which was almost a superhuman feat, he acted totally unconcerned and non-plussed by the fact that they had dumped our contract without bothering to let us know. He did not seem to understand why this was such a big deal to me. My recommendation? Use Sears if you want to be ignored and disrespected. Otherwise, look elsewhere.

Arrived promptly and did a thorough evaluation of the job. However, the sales representative did not adequately address my concerns about the difficulties of the job. He told me Sears hires out the work, and when I said I would require a waiver of lien from any sub-contractors they used, he said they "didn't consider it a sub-contractor". When I said I wasn't ready to sign a contract because I was taking more estimates, he immediately knocked $500 off the original estimate to "save Sears another trip". These last two items immediately raised red flags in my mind. Additionally, I called to set up the appointment on a Saturday afternoon and got an answering machine. The machine said for non-working A/C I would receive a prompt call back. I ended up calling them back on Monday afternoon, and didn't get an appt until Thursday afternoon. The sales representative arrived on schedule.

THE FIRST CONTRACTOR THAT WAS EMPLOYED BY TGI (INNOVATIVE INTERIORS) WAS LATE GETTING STARTED. AFTER DEMOLITION WAS COMPLETE THE CONTRACTOR DID NOT RETURN TO THE SITE FOR AT LEAST THREE WEEKS. THE QUALITY OF THE WORKMANSHIP IS AWFUL AND I HAVE HAD TO HIRE ANOTHER CONTRACTOR TO FINISH SOME THE WORK THAT THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO PERFORM AND FINISHED SOME OF THE WORK MYSELF. THE PROJECT MANAGER THAT WAS ASSIGNED TO THE WORK WAS USELESS, EVEN AFTER MEETING WITH THE STORE AND DEPARTMENT MANAGERS ABOUT THE ISSUES WE STILL RECEIVED LITTLE OR NO RESULTS. ONE PROJECT THAT WAS SCHEDULED TO TAKE 45 DAYS TOOK ALMOST 90 DAYS. THE OTHER THAT WAS SCHEDULED TO BEGIN ON FEBRUARY 15TH 2005 IS STILL NOT COMPLETED. WHEN IT BECAME PAINFULLY OBVIOUS THAT THE FIRST CONTRACTOR WAS NOT ABLE TO COMPLETE THE WORK, I HAD TO FIRE HIM SO THAT TGI COULD BRING IN SOMEONE ELSE TO COMPLETE THE WORK. THIS IS WHEN WE DECIDED THAT WE NO LONGER NEEDED TGI. NEVER USE THEM TO INSTALL. HIRE YOUR OWN CONTRACTOR.

THEY DIDN'T SHOW UP FOR THE FIRST APPOINTMENT TO INSTALL. I HAD TO RESCHEDULE. THE TECHNICIANS DID THE INSTALLATION AND THE HEATER MAKES A POUNDING SOUND EVERYTIME IT TURNS ON OR OFF. WHEN I CALLED THE COMPANY I DIDN'T GET A RESPONSE FOR QUITE A LONG TIME. SOMEONE FINALLY CAME OUT AND SAID THAT THEY WOULD NEED TO SEND SOMEONE OUT WHO KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING. AFTER TAKING IT APART THEY RE-CAULKED IT WITH A RED CAULK, WHEN I COMPLAINED ABOUT THAT THEY FINALLY RE-CAULKED IT WITH BROWN. THE PROBLEM IS STILL NOT FIXED. I HAVE ASKED THEM TO SIGN OFF SAYING THAT IF THIS PROBLEM CONTINUES NEXT WINTER, AS I AM NOT USING THE HEATER NOW, THAT THEY WILL REPLACE WITH A NEW HEATER. I AM GETTING NO WHERE.

THEY WILL NOT RETURN YOUR CALLS. THEY CHARGE EXTRA TO COORDINATE THE PROJECT AND THEY FAIL MISERABLY AT COORDINATION. IT TOOK 6 MONTHS TO COMPLETE THIS JOB AND I STILL HAVE SOME THINGS HANGING OUT THERE FOR THEM TO FINISH.

THE SERVICE WAS POOR. THEY WERE LATE OR DIDNT SHOW UP THREE TIMES.

REALLY FAST

THEY WERE VERY GOOD.

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