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My email to shc@***.sears.com

To Whom it May Concern:

I have resorted writing this email in the hope that I will actually receive some real customer service after what I can only describe as the worst experience I have ever had with a services provider.

On Monday, January 26th, I had an appointment with a Sears technician because my clothes dryer was not drying clothes properly (taking 2 -3 cycles) and was leaking condensation from the door at the top and bottom of my front loading dryer. He informed me by dryer vent was blocked and charged me $99.95. He gave me the number for Sears Home Services Air Duct cleaning. I called them the same day and secured an appointment to unblock my dryer vent and clean 10 vents throughout my home for a total of $200.

On Tuesday, January 27th, the technicians arrived at home. They asked me where my heating system was located and told me that I need to have my system cleaned. I had no idea that the cost of cleaning my system along with the additional vent cleaning services would come to a grand total of $914.99 (see the Sears1.pdf attachment). I was pressured into adding these services and not until payment was due was shocked by the price tag since there was absolutely nothing wrong with my heat/AC. Meanwhile, the lead technician asked where my dryer was located (and remember that's really the only reason why I had anyone come to my home). My dryer is stacked on top of my washer in a large utility closet. It is not connected to my washer. The technician stated, "I don't want to deal with all that", and informed me they could clear my dryer vent blockage from the outside vent. He said he cleared it and told me that my dryer should work correctly.

They continued to use their equipment in other vents throughout my home, leaving trails of visible dust and debris around each vent. They cleaned the the vent in my guest bathroom. I work from home a director of an IT company and could not directly supervise, and nor should I have to, the workers. As they were wrapping up their service, a technician asked if he could use my guest bathroom. I say of course, and he shut the door after he left. After being told that my dryer vent was cleared despite the fact that they never tried to move my dryer (clearly noted on the invoice in Sears1.pdf), I washed a load of laundry and attempted to dry them. More water than before came out of the front of my dryer and it took three cycles to dry a small load of delicate fabric clothes. I then discontinued use of my dryer for fear of a possible fire starting and called Sears immediately. I reported to Customer Service that my dryer vent remained blocked and that was the only reason I had called Sears in the first place. I was told by customer service that I would receive a call back from "QC" or Quality Control tomorrow on January, 28th. When my husband returned from work at 6:00pm the same day, he opened the guest bathroom door and discovered two missing tiles. The tiles were clearly removed during the vent cleaning (pictures shown in Sears3.pdf). I called Sears again and was told that someone would call me in the morning.

No one called.

The next day, on January 28th, I called Sears for the third time. I asked if they could possibly check their equipment to see if my two missing bathroom floor tiles could be located and returned to me. I was put on a 20 minutes hold and told by the customer service representative that she reached out to my technicians who performed the HVAC service and that they cleaned another house after mine. She said they would check for my tiles but, "there's no guarantee that I would get them back." I told her that I understood that, but then Sears would have to reimburse me for the property damage. She asked if my tiles were loose and said that "wasn't Sears' problem." I reiterated that it was indeed Sears' problem because they had damaged my home during a routine service, lied to me about it or just didn't notice, and then has done nothing to address the issue. She told me someone might call me if they found the tiles.

No one called me about my missing tiles and property damage

Finally, later in the afternoon on January 28th, another Sears customer service representative called me regarding my dryer vent still being blocked. After the poor customer service I experienced so far, the lack of disregard for my property, and lies told my technician that they are cleared the dryer vent blockage, I informed this customer service representative that I have decided to hire another company to fix my dryer issue and had them scheduled on Tuesday, February 3rd. She told me that was fine, but before they could issue a refund, they needed someone to come out to my house to confirm that the dryer vent was still blocked. I protested at first, because this is a waste of time, the dryer is still clearly not functioning. She continued to explain that they just couldn't take my word for it and would need someone to confirm the dryer did not function correctly due to vent blockage, and we could then discuss a refund. She told me a manager would come to my house on Monday, February 2nd and I told her it had to be scheduled before Tuesday due to my existing appointment with another contractor. I also asked about my property damage since no one from Sears ever called me to discuss the missing tiles and the customer service representative failed to bring it up. She explained that I would need to email any pictures of the property damage to her manager, Nikki Courtenay. Either the sales rep told me the wrong email address or I wrote it down incorrectly, but I tried to email Nikki originally around 5:30pm the same day and the email bounced back. I called Sears again on Thursday, January 29th to ask for the correct email address. I was told my a male customer service rep that he saw notes in my file regarding the damage and an email was not needed and that someone would call me.

No one called.

After receiving a confirmation call on Saturday, January 31st, I returned Sears' call on Sunday, February 1st. The male sales representative I spoke to told me a technician would be coming to my house on Monday, February 2nd to repair the dryer blockage. I told him that was incorrect and that I was told a manager would be coming to my house only to confirm the dryer blockage still existed and that I had hired another contractor to fix the issue because I no longer trusted Sears. He said that he saw some notes about my case and that it did look like a manager would be sent to my home.

On Monday, February 2nd, a technician NOT a manager was sent to my home. A nice man, named Derek, who did not seem to understand the details of my case or why he would be sent to my home after I requested a manager. He completed an invoice (see Sears2.pdf attached) that stated two bathroom tiles were missing. He checked my dryer and the outside vent and told me that minimal airflow could be felt when I turned on the dryer for him and that there was still a blockage. Interestingly, the technicians during my service appointment on January 27th NEVER started my dryer after the 'cleared' the vent. So how could they possibly confirm the blockage was clear? I told Derek the original technicians never moved my dryer. He explained why it was harder to move my dryer it was possible and actually started to move it. I told him not to since I no longer wanted to deal with Sears due to the numerous issues and was told by customer service they only needed proof of the service not being performed to issue me a refund and I had another contractor scheduled for the next day. Due to the number of issues, he called his manager Calvin, and explained the situation. Calvin spoke to me and told me that "QC" would need to call me back and that he would ask them to do so as soon as possible.

No one called.

I decided to call Sears again on February 2nd in the afternoon around 3:30pm. I spoke to one of the better customer service reps, a male possible named Maurice, and explained my situation, again. Throughout this entire process, I was shocked about how I would need to explain everything to the Sears for 30 minutes and that during each subsequent call, I would need to explain my issues again. It would seem that each customer service rep did not take any notes, further wasting my time. Maurice told me that if I had another vendor come out and touch my dryer, it voided the warranty and I could not receive a refund whatsoever. I explained that I told Sears that I had hired another vendor to clear my dryer blockage three times before and was never told this after living without a dryer for over a week. He told me that it was on the back of my invoice. I explained I understood, but if Sears defrauds me by lying about conducting the service and damaging my property on top of that, surely they should understand why I would not want them to touch anything in house ever again. I did give me Nikki Courtenay's correct email address, and I then, emailed her the information regarding my property damage (see Sears3.pdf) attached. I asked to speak to Nikki since I was never told about the warranty issue which seemed to hold my appliance hostage and because after being promised day after day (literally) that someone would call me to discuss my property damage and service issues, no one had. Nikki was in a meeting and had to call me back.

To my surprise, Nikki actually did call me back around 4:00pm the same day. She said she received my email and could in no way give me a refund. I told her that if Sears broke my contract by not providing a service and then LIED to me numerous times, that I am entitled for a full refund and something for my property damage so I can move on with my life and have dry clothes again. I explained the sequence of events, nearly verbatim to the content in this email above. After I explained what occurred with each conversation with Sears, she told me she "didn't know what what said between you two and would have to look into it." I asked her if she thought I was lying? I told her on my original invoice that it's clearly written by the Sears technician that they did not move my dryer and therefore did not provide the service requested but charged me anyway. She said she would have to look at the invoice. When I pressed her regarding my property damage, she asked me how much she wanted to fix my bathroom floor. I told her that I cannot provide an estimate because I am not a licensed contractor specializing in bathroom repair. She then asked me how large my missing tiles were. I told her about 1 3/8" and explained I cannot replace them because they are original to my 1969 house. Further, I explained that on Friday, January 30th I spent four hours looking on the internet and at three different tile floors for something similar and was told that size of tile is rare and it was not replaceable. When I told her the tile size, she started typing (almost as if she was trying to Google the cost of two tiles in that size). She told me all she could offer for my tile damage and time was $65.00. I was, and no pun intended, FLOORED. I explained that no one would even come to my house for $65.00 much less repair to missing tiles. I further explained that if I cannot locate any tiles that are similar (and I cannot so far) the entire floor would need to re-tiled because it would be unslightly to have two tiles that two not match or just to gaps filled in with grout. Nikki insisted Sears could only offer me $65.00 for my property damage. I asked to speak to her manager and she stated, "No one above me talks to customers. I'm it. They don't talk to you." I asked again, so there is no one who I can possibly speak to regarding my property damage. Nikki, "No, I'm it. That's all you're going to get, $65.00."

I then asked about a full refund for the $914.99 charged to me. She said she could do nothing to help me. At one point, she had to call me back so she could review my invoice and speak to the technicians. After calling me back 10 minutes later, Nikki stated the technicians were unaware of any property damage and that SHE would need to investigate how it happened and conduct further research that would take at least 24 hours. I told her that it was obvious that they sucked up the tiles accidentally and either did not notice, or shut the bathroom door hoping I would not notice, and it would obviously not be in their best interest to say anything now. She said that the technicians, when contacted by her, were first being made aware of the damage. I asked how that was possible considering I spoke with Sears the day after the service and a customer service rep told me she spoke to the technicians and asked them to check their equipment for my missing tiles. I stated, "So who is lying, the Sears customer service rep on January 28th or your technicians now?" She again stated she didn't know what was said to me but she could not confirm what the customer service technician actually said. I told Nikki that I did not like being accused of being dishonest and that I had no reason to lie. I stated that I am a manager and if my employees said the wrong thing or did something incorrectly, that I would be responsible. Further, I stated that she was responsible for her employees statements and that I did not realize that I needed to record every conversation I had with Sears or the technicians when they were in my household because, I as the customer, would have to bear the burden of proofing both the damage and that they simply did not perform the service. After threatening to sue Sears in small claims court and to perform a charge back on my credit card, Nikk then offered me a refund that would include all property damage of $150. I thought that would the most ridiculous offer I had ever heard and told her so. She then said she would have to dig deep and offered me a refund of $200, but again that would INCLUDE the PROPERTY DAMAGE. I declined and said that I will just do a charge back on my credit card. She said, "Well, you can do that, but they will just talk to me and I am not giving you a refund. So, that's up to you." I again asked for her manager and was told by Nikki that no one above her would ever speak to a customer.

I have never in my life experienced a customer service representative, and a manager at that, so rude as Nikki Courtenay. Before deciding to call my credit card company, I looked on the internet to see if I could contact Sears via another avenue. I called the customer relations department at 5:30pm yesterday and spoke to Christopher. He started a claim for me right away with Sedgewik, your insurance company, and seemed shocked that anyone from Sears would try to handle the property damage themselves as Nikki Courtenay did. I asked if it was Sears policy to refer any customer with property damage immediately to your insurance company. Christopher told me that it was. I stated that since Nikki lied to me and told me that all Sears could do is offer me $65.00 to cover my significant damage and that she as a manager was the only person I could talk to and I could not appeal my case further, I asserted that I would never speak to Nikki again. She is a liar who tried to DEFRAUD me by refusing to give me the correct information to resolve my property damage compliant.

Christopher further advised me that I should reschedule my appointment scheduled with my contractor to clear my dryer blockage since it would void the warranty. He said, just give us 24 hours to add the notes from our technician service from February 2nd to the system and they should be able to give you a refund since it clearly states in multiple places in your file that Sears admits they did not perform the service I hired them for. I was on the phone with Christopher until 7:30pm and combined with my earlier calls, that makes a total of 4 hours on the phone with Sears. So, I rescheduled my service with my new contractor to clear my vent. Christopher told me to call back the next day (today).

I called Sears around 12:15pm today. Spoke to a nice female customer service rep. She told me that a note existed in my claim for HVAC to call me. I said that it had been a week since my issues began, spent 30 minutes explaining the sequence of events above, and that I was told to call back to see if the notes from the technician on February 2nd were entered in the system (see Sears2.pdf). She stated that a note in my file explicitly stated, "Customer will not be given refund." The very opposite of what I was told yesterday. I explained that I did not want to speak to Nikki again and did not understand why I had to wait for someone to call me back. The customer service rep gave me this email address and told me she would open an "executive complaint" and give them 24-48 hours to call me back. Are you seeing a pattern here? Every single time I call, I waste 30 minutes of my time explaining my situation only to be told someone will call me.

Frustrated, I called back. Explained my situation and was told that no note of an 'executive complaint' was made. I was told someone will call me back again and that's when I decided to email Sears.

Reason of review: Poor customer service.

Monetary Loss: $2000.

Preferred solution: Full refund.

Sears Home Services Cons: Service not performed, Property damage, Lies.

Location: Columbia, Maryland

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