Several years ago, I brought in three people to give me estimates for installing central air units. One of the three said that I would need two separate units. The other two said that my house needs only one unit. Because of the Sears name, I decided to have Sears install the units. I figured that their subcontractors are all top notch.
The installation began, and was completed. The AC system was turned on and my house was not cooling in the way that it should have, but my electrical bills went through the roof. The Sears repairman finally came in, after waiting two weeks for an appointment, and he told me that I should have had two units put in - not the one. He then looked at the system closer and called his supervisor.
It appeared that because of the difficulty of the layout of my home —a tudor - with the many cross beams, vents were not snaked to the first floor - instead, I was air conditioning the outside.
Of course, Sears apologized, gave me a small financial settlement and redid the AC system. Sears looked at the payment as a refund - I looked at the money as the money used to pay my electric bills the previous summer. This may seem like semantics - but there is more to the story.
Though my bills were high, my house was somewhat cool.
The following summer, the central air unit broke down again - Four years - three breakdowns! Upon returning from vacation in mid August, I called for repairs. I was promised, because of the previous debacle that if I ever had repair again, they would come out immediatley! They lied! I was then told the earliest appointment was on a certain date. As a school teacher, I was unavailable on that given date, but scheduled it for the day after. Two days before my appointment, I received a call that they will be coming the next day. - I responded that my appointment was ofr the following day. They told me that I was wrong and therefore I "missed" my appointment. This mean no air conditioning for August and September.
Finally, after being forced to reschedule, and after filing a complaint with the BBB, they arrived
In October and made a makeshift device to catch the water so my system doesn't short out again. I again complained to Sears of shoddy workmanship and the use of shoddy products. This time I followed up on my complaint with the BBB until I became a pain in the a _ _. Sears responded, came to my home and replaced much of my system in November and admitted that the system used was not a goood one and the that water constantly accumulated in the pan to short out systems. I turned the AC on in October to make sure it worked & for the 6 hours that it was on - it worked.
Three weeks ago, the temperatures in the northeastern part country hit 90. The AC system worked for 12 hours and then it died AGAIN& I called Sears to come for repairs, but they are unavailable until June 24 &three weeks AFTER the breakdown & This now makes at least FOUR breakdowns in Four/Five years... I'm sharing my story with everyone on why not to use Sears &
On June 16, I tried to reschedule my appointment & the customer service people said nothing is available. I requested to speak to a supervisor and was reconnected to the original set of messages. I then spoke to someone else and she hung up on me... No one want to put you through to a supervisor & I'm wondering is this called passing the buck & or is this just official policy "hang up on complainers so eventually they stop calling".
June 24th came and the repairman saw that an entire system was "burned out" because the voltage was incorrect! The repairmen ordered a part that was to be delivered on June 25. It arrived on June 26 (why am I not surprised). I then set up an appointment for this to be installed - The earliest appointment date for me is July 2 (again whuy am I not surprised - it's Sears!). On June 27, I called Sears Public Relations to try to get an earlier time. They promised me that someone will contact me within 24 hours and that they would follow up with a phone call to make sure this happenedanother two lies from Sears (again, why am I not surprised)
Today is July 2. After the repairman came, the system worked for SIX hours. Tomorrow I need to call to get it repaired again!!! Who can i complain too - i'm frustrated!!! IT CANT BE SEARS, NO ONE IS LISTENING!
Pgruber
Hillside, New Jersey
U.S.A.
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