Complaint Review: Sears Home Services - Hoffman Estates Illinois

My GE Washing machine broke down a few days before Christmas.  I began looking on the Internet for a GE appliance repair technician.  I based my decision to use Sears Home Service on the part of the site that states there are 10,000 specialized service pros. 

This wording leads the customer to falsely believe that Sears Home Services is authorized to repair the brands they sell.  There are no warnings or disclaimers to the contrary, and as a result, I would either have to schedule and pay for another service call with an authorized service agent, or pay $580.49 to SHS for parts GE would provide at no charge to an authorized service agent, in addition to the $139.00 I had already paid.

This is what followed.

1.       12/19/09 scheduled service on-line with Sears Home Repair Service, on a GE Washer

2.       12/20/09 service technician arrived and determined the problem

3.       Service technician suggested that we call GE to see if they could help with parts or service since our machine was only a year and a half old and only some parts were under warranty

4.       Called GE and was advised they would pay for parts needed to repair the washer and asked what company what company would be doing the repairs

5.       I was advised by GE that Sears Home Repair is NOT authorized to repair GE Products

6.       12/21/09, 9:59 am, EDST, called Sears Home Service spoke to Georgiana

7.       Georgiana stated Sears Home Service most certainly is authorized to repair GE.  They do it all the time! I asked for a refund

8.       While talking to Georgiana, my husband was on Live Chat with Derrick Warner from your company. He stated your company is NOT an authorized GE service agent.

9.       Related this to Georgiana, who then referred me to billing, ending her call with an extremely sarcastic whatever!

10.   12/21/09, 1003 am, EDST called billing and spoke to Joanna

11.   I explained that I had paid $139.00 for a service call that included labor costs , but was not advised anywhere on the web site that the repair technicians may not be authorized service agents for the brands that Sears sells, and that the manufacturer would only provide parts for the repair to an authorized service agent. 

12.   Joanna told me that could not be correct and that she was sure the customer service representative I had spoken to was misinformed, stating that Sears Home Service could probably do the repair, its just that GE wouldnt guarantee the repair. 

13.   She actually suggested that I call  GE again, as if I were a First Time Caller and try to get a new representative who would give a different answer

14.    GE was very clear that only an authorized repair agent would be given the parts to repair the machine

I  asked for a refund of the $139.00 I paid for the service call, due to misrepresentation of service provided, in addition to the fact that two of their own customer service representatives stated that Sears Home Services is authorized to repair GE products and that I was misinterpreting what was said.

I have contacted Sears Home Services several times now, providing details and asking for my refund. My husband paid with a Debit card, so we cannot dispute the charge.

Sears Home Services has not responded to me about resolving this issue, even though I have given them the specific details twice.

I feel that I was ripped off and then ignored.

Customer Service is obviously not that important to Sears!