Sears
Water Heater Replacement Delayed by Repeated Scheduling Confusion

I have never been so frustrated! When I called on Friday at 4 P.M., I was told that a technician would be at my home between 1 and 5 P.M. on Saturday to determine whether or not I needed to replace my hot water heater, which was covered by a Sears Protection Agreement. When 5 P.M. passed, I called again. Was told the technician would call me; he did, at 5:45, assuring me that he would be at my home shortly. He arrived at 6:45, looked at the water heater and said it needed to be replaced. DUH! Since I was going to be out of town until Wednesday afternoon, he said it would be installed on Thursday; all I needed to do was call the Water Heater Hot Line to learn what time the plumber would come. HAH!

I called at 3:45 P.M. on Wednesday, was told that someone would get back to me within 3 hours. Never happened. Called again, same story. At 9:45 P.M. I called and was given a number in Florida; I was assured that the order had been processed and that I would get a call early Thursday morning.
At 9 A.M. I called, was told that I had to wait until the store opened at 10.
At 11:15 I called again; when I finally got through, I was told that the store had had a power outage on Wednesday night and had not received the order, but they now had it and would call me to schedule a plumber to install the water heater. Fortunately, Larry told me that it was coming from the White Marsh store, and Jim would call me. When I did not hear anything by 1:30, I called Jim, was told the order had been sent to Abbott Plumbing and they would call me. When Abbott called, they said, We'll call you at 7 A.M. on Friday to schedule the appointment.

Meanwhile, I had been asked to a credit card number to cover a $40.00 permit required by the state. Jim said that I did not need the permit, so they were cancelling the charge. Abbott said, "You'll have to pay a $22 fee for a permit required by the state". The technician also told me that I did not need an expansion tank on the pipe at the water heater because I already have one on my well system, and I should ask the plumber to disconnect it. But the plumber said, "You have to have it; it's a state requirement." By now, I'm wondering if anyone knows what they're doing, and if anyone knows what everyone else is doing. For this wonderful service I am paying more than $100 per year. Oh yeah, this water heater isn't even 5 years old, and I am a single person - how much hot water do you think I use?

Company: Sears
Country: USA

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