My Maytag washing machine, purchased 3/01, stopped working on Saturday. That day, I called Sears Repair Service to schedule a repair. The phone rep. Asked if I wanted to buy the Smart Service Agreement. For $230.04, the agreement would cover any repair work needed on the machine for an extended time. If the machine couldn't be repaired, I would receive $500 toward purchasing another machine at Sear. I accepted the plan and gave them my credit card number to charge.
The repairman came on Wednesday. He said the transmission had problems and that he couldn't repair it. However, he (and the person he called by phone) said the machine was over 10 years old and therefore disqualified from the Smart Service plan. They would credit my card for $230.04. I was on my own.
I went to the Maytag website. It had a chart that provides the manufacturing date if you type in the serial number of the machine. The site proved that my machine was indeed manufactured in 2001 and was less than 10 years old.
I spent the rest of the day on the phone with several Sears representatives. Finally one confirmed that the repairman was wrong. He should have given me the authorization for $500 toward a new machine. I was given a case number and was told to call the next day for the authorization number to get the $500 "Coupon."
I called on Thursday for the number and was told that I needed to schedule another service call because the first repairman did not document the repairs needed. Nothing could happen until another repair person came to my house.
Sears has paralyzed my process of getting a new or repaired machine.
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