I went to NTB, National Tire and Battery, owned by Sears, for a new Battery. While they were testing my old battery I noticed the Technician hit my fender 3 times with one of the tester cables and clamp. I didn't say anything, not wanting to create a seen but thinking how careless he was with my car.
My battery was bad so I went inside to pay and when I came back out my hood was down so I got in and drove home. When I got out of my car I immediately noticed a dime size chip in my paint, on the hood directly above the battery.
My car is in immaculate condition and I had just washed it 48 hours earlier so I know the chip was not there before. It was after store hours so I called the Manager, Mike Williams, the next morning. He went to my work to look at the chip. He kept insisting that they could not have possibly have caused the damage he kept trying to trip me up into saying the damage was already on my car or I couldn't prove it wasn't.
He also said that he thought it was a bad place in my paint. After threatening him with small claims court he told me to get an estimate. I got 2, $367 and $364. I ask one of the body shops if it was a bad place in the paint. They said no and wrote that on his estimate.
Mike called me and said that he would only pay half of the damage. I said that was unacceptable. They didn't just halfway damage my car.
I then called the NTB district Manager, Todd Williams. He kept asking me why I didn't tell someone about the cables hitting my car, implying it didn't happen. I told him that's not when the damage occured and that I thought what happened was the Technician closed my hood with a wrench in his hand. He said he'd have to back his managers decision. I told him I'd go higher up in his company and if that didn't help I'd have to take them to small claims court. He said then he'd have to get his corporate lawyers involved.
I then spent the next 5 or 6 hours contacting numerous Sears "customer no service" reps. Each person played the same broken record. "We can not overrule a district manager". I began pleasant but after hearing that for the 5 or 6th time I did get irate, this was so frustrating.
I tried repeatedly to reach someone higher in the company but I was not able to get any farther. I finally gave up. I called Todd Williams and left a message on his answering machine. I said that he already knew during our previous conversation the Sears company policy is not to overrule a district manager and that my heart said to file a small claims action against them.
My brain said however that I'd never beat a corporate lawyer and that I'd miss a day's work, I lose and get nothing plus I'd have to pay a $50 filing fee. I told him I was forced to take half. He sent me a check for $184.
I feel like NTB, Sears, stole $183 from me. I never imagined that a company with the reputation of Sears would treat someone like that. I later found an entire website devoted to people who had their cars damaged at NTB and they refused to pay for the damage. Never, ever shop at NTB or buy a Kenmore appliance or Craftsman product from this rip off company. If you have a problem you will be treated the same way I was.
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