Sears Home Services

4 months and $500 dollars and they still cannot fix my dryer. The technicians who visited in-house were nice and apologetic about the issues we had, but the customer service, ability to get parts, and dealing with this company is just an all-around nightmare. First technician misdiagnosed the problem and had us pay to order parts for that issue - which were backorderd for a month. ,The second technician said it was just a fuse, not a heating element, but charged $300+ labor to replace a $20 fuse that blew within one drying load after he left. Came back to re-diagnose and had to order an electronic board for another $100. That too was backordered for over a month. Scheduled service to try to get fixed before Xmas, but technician was a no-show. Finally got a technician to come back a 4th time today, replaced the fuse and electronic board, dryer heated briefly, then heat went out within 10 minutes of putting a load in the dryer. Pursuing a refund to buy new dryer. Will NEVER work with this company again or buy another Sears product.

Terrible customer service, and you pay a lot for it. Sept 21: First technician out stated the lock mechanism on my washing machine door needed to be replaced, at a cost of just under $400. I paid half that day, for him to order the part. (Part is available online for <$50) Sept 27: repair scheduled for the next day at 8 am, but the part hadn’t arrived at my house yet. The customer service rep said the part would be delivered the next day. I had to explain to him why this wouldn’t work, and that we needed to reschedule. October 19: work scheduled during 8 am - noon window. I got a call at 12:20 (having taken the day off work) that the technician assigned to my job had called in sick that day and no one was coming. I spoke with the dispatcher, Sargon Harvey, who did not apologize for the late notification, giving me the excuse, “well, we had a lot of emails to get through this morning.” Interestingly, he also says he has no supervisor ar Sears - could not give me a name of anyone else to contact about this lousy service. I understand that these things happen, people run late, etc., but if no one was coming to do the work at all I should have been informed at 8:20, not 12:20. So that’s what $400 gets you from this business.

I initially called All In One Plumbing to service the failing pilot light in our Kenmore water heater. Their serviceman only looked at the water heater to get the brand and model number and then told me I needed a "new control valve and burner assembly." He quoted me a total of $648.15 for that repair but warned it would take 2-3 weeks to get the parts. The quicker alternative, he said, was a new water heater, total cost $1,227.96 installed. I paid the $50 fee for that service call and said I'd think about it. I subsequently called Sears Home Services. Their serviceman, Elber, phoned before coming to the house and told me my problem was most likely with dust clogging the screen in the bottom of the unit. Elber very carefully explained how I could access this screen and clean it with a brush and vacuum. I followed his instructions and was very happy to call him back to report it had worked exactly as he'd described (at no charge!). Elber's advice (and only about 10 minutes of work on my part) saved me a heck of a lot of money over the solutions offered by All In One!

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Serviceman was punctual and seemed to know what he was doing. Everything checked out ok. He also answered some general questions we had.

I called the 1-800 for Sears appliance repair. I asked the customer service representative how much would it cost to put in a new timer for a Maytag washing machine? I was told by 2 separate customer service representatives that it would cost between $160-$200. I was told the service call was $79 and that I could put the money towards the cost of my repair. I had a 20% coupon and could use it as well. My washer is 19 years old. It has always been in outstanding working condition so spending around $200 for a repair outweighed the cost of getting a new washer. I requested to Sears Home Services to send someone from A&E Appliance Repair preferably the same person that worked on my refrigerator a year ago. The service was set up for 2 days after my call. The technician that they sent was not the same person that I had a year ago which was fabulous. The technician arrived during the 4 hour window of time that was given to me. I had the washer pulled out. He said I needed a timer which I suspected so. I was told the cost would be $421.94 to repair. When I disputed this charge his tone became put off and annoyed. When I asked him to call his supervisor he did and I talked to him. I was told that the 1-800 Sears repair rep should never have quoted me that price and that; "they do this all of the time." I said that I would never have called out a repair person if I knew it would cost this much that I would have put the money towards a new washer and dryer. He apologized and said that there was nothing he could do. I asked for his superior to call me as this seemed like a bait and switch to me as I now owed $84.93 and nothing was done. . I asked if they could discount this amount or discount the service of the washer since the repairman was already out at my home. He said there was nothing he could do. His superior has not contacted me. The service person left his dirty tools/notebook on my clean washer lid, filled the washer with water...knowing that it did not drain.... an now I was expected to put the heavy washer back in its spot... which physically I am not able to do so. I called the customer care department in Atlanta, GA. The agent in charge stated the same. Her tone was also curt and annoyed. She was defensive and combative in tone. The call upset me enough to share that I will never use Sears Home Services or A&E again and would share my experience with Angie's List an my friends. She stated that we do not take threats. Needless to say I will never use this company again and am hesitant to purchase a Maytag for fear if the product was under warranty I would need to use this company. I asked to have the service call refunded as I was misquoted and was told that she could not do so.

Unable to ever get them to narrow the time. No one ever came out. Called Sears customer service to get some clarification. Advised that tech had a family emergency. Re-scheduled for 4/5/16, then was called back during this call and informed that that date was not good either. This appointment was given a vague schedule of 8-5 as well. Asked to speak with a manager, evidently the manager was out for the day.

It took them a month to come out and they said that a part had to be ordered. It took a month for the part to come in and then another 2 weeks for them to come install it. Very poor customer service on the phone.

The price was too much. I am ashamed even but I was in a difficult place and I’ve had people come in and said they fixed it and when I tried to call them back and say it’s still leaking and they didn’t come and so I said I’m going to get somebody, a company. If it leaks again, I want them to come back and fix it and be responsible without having to go to court and get them. It was just too much. The people were professional but they were kind of aloof. They were doing the job and not so much of being personable. The roof is still leaking and I’m still fighting with them. I would use them again in the future only because they are a nice and really known company. At least I have the big company behind me.

On January 16, a little after 12:30 p.m, my wife again called the Sears Home Repair Service to find out when the missing part was arriving, since the repairman was coming out on the 18th to install it. My wife was then transferred to Customer Service. After telling the CSR what the problem was, she was surprised to hear that the part was no longer available for our refrigerator. When my wife asked how she could get the refrigerator fixed, she was SHOCKED to hear that she would just have to purchase a new refrigerator. Angered, she told the CSR that she was upset, because a) the reply seemed insensitive, b) no one had called us or intended to inform us about the unavailability (on the contrary, we had seen online that the part was ‘in stock’, and that c) the Sears repairman himself had not been told that the part was no longer in stock. In essence, we were waiting in vain for a part that was never going to come, and that a Sears repairman would be coming on January 18th to our home to install a part that we did not have and could no longer be purchased. Naturally, my wife at that time cancelled both the part order and the service call, and requested that our charged fees be reimbursed. On January 17th, the next day, the repairman called to verify that he was still coming on the 18th to install the part that no doubt had arrived by now. My wife told him what had transpired, and that she had canceled the service call. Sears Home Center had not even bothered to tell the repairman that the call had been cancelled and why. We had to do that. On January 22, we received a bill from Sears for the full amount charged. The next day, my wife took our long-standing Sears account and established it online, so that we could monitor the refund. She noted online that no refund credit was shown. So around 10 a.m., she made a call to Sears Credit Card Assistance (1-800-917-7700) and spoke to a CSR in Kentucky. The CSR asked my wife if anyone had previously told her that she would receive a paper check in the mail reimbursing us for everything except the original $75 service call (the one to verify what we clearly already knew; that the ice dispenser actuator was broken). No refund check ever came to offset the amount.While we paid the minimum amount on the charge card to avoid late payment fees, we filed a dispute with Sears. Sears is claiming that we owe the ENTIRE AMOUNT, which includes the repair call (we canceled it) and the replacement part (which has been discontinued and thus never came. We are still fighting the charge. I did some research on the Internet, and found to my considerable dismay that Sears Home Service has had numerous complaints registered by home owners on incidents similar to ours. As both a long-standing, good Sears customer and as a college graduate with a marketing degree, I must observe that Sears has slide a long ways down the ladder of quality over the last decade, going from being a quality manufacturer and expert service center to one that seems to be run by what might be compared to as a ‘Chinese fire drill’. We are really disappointed in Sears. This type of behavior from their company would have been unheard of a few decades ago. UPDATE: Sears credited the entire amount to our account, minus a $5.00 service fee.

The technician, Jim, was within the time frame Sears told us he would be arriving. He knew immediately what was causing the noise. My husband decided to have him replace the part because Jim explained that it would eventually get worse and then we would have big problems with the door itself. Which of course would be much more expensive. Even so, with labor it was going to be a couple hundred dollars. Jim informed my husband there was a coupon he could get online, which he did not have to do. This saved us about 20% on the final bill. We were very pleased with the service.