Lets see, it was about 5 days ago now that my hot water heater broke. Woke up one morning and there was a puddle of water in my living room. Since then its been cold showers for me and I am not very happy about that.
Initially, we blamed Blues the cat. After all, we had just gotten back from Seattle and Bainbridge Island and she tends to get offended if we leave her alone for a week. Plus, it is convenient to just blame the cat. After cleaning up the puddle I went upstairs to get a shower and get ready for work. “Hrmm” I thought. This water is really cold. “Well thats odd” I thought, as I turned the shower faucet over to the hot setting and nothing happened.
Went down to the garage and stepped into water. Opened the garage door and it was almost as if a dam broke. Looked over to the hot water heater only to see it gushing water.
“Well, isn’t this a shitty way to come back from vacation!”
I missed work that day as I tried to call Sears. The water heater was still under a full warranty as it was only 7 years old. In water heater terms, we had a teenager. It was supposed to be young and strong. Maybe, it would be able to stay up past 11 and not be tired, hanging out with friends. Maybe, just maybe it would be old enough to drive.
Nope, ours was old, shot and busted.
The first frustration with Sears came from the fact I had to deal with an automated system. Yes, one of those automated systems that thinks it can solve your problem through a series of inane questions. Then, by the time I had gotten through the maze of yes and no questions I get connected to a customer support professional who I don’t think could even speak (or comprehend) English. You’ve heard these stories before so I won’t go into a lot more detail. Anyway, needless to say, because the water heater was bought by the previous owner of the house, Sears was completely incapable of finding a record of it to check the warranty. To all of this I was less than sympathetic. See, I had water pouring out of my garage – i just wanted the damned thing fixed.
I was frustrated when the Sears rep told me they were booked solid and couldn’t have anyone look at our heater until the following day. What? You mean there isn’t a 10% unemployment rate in this country? There isn’t a contractor with his own small plumbing business that can come out and look at this water heater you sold a warranty on that has died after only 7 years?
Anyway, I told Sears thanks but I’d look for someone else to come out. Then, I realized that opting not to have the company which had warrantied us against such a disaster fix this was stupid. My wife literally called back 1 min and 28 seconds later and the wait time was moved up to 3 days. Thanks Sears!
Honey, you're shower is ready - thanks Sears!
Three days later, after roughly 6 or 7 cold showers, the fine Sears contractor comes out to “fix” our water heater. After about 15-20 mins they determined that it was broken and that it would need to be replaced. Of course, they don’t have a replacement so it is off to Sears to order a new one. Although it is under warranty, Sears wants to charge us over $300 in fees to replace the water heater which was still under warranty. These fees include a building code fee, as well as installation and haul away fees. By the way, they can’t get out to do this the same day, or even the next. We’re scheduled for Thursday, almost 7 days after we first called them.
Sure, it isn’t like our AC went out – it is only our hot water heater. But, think about how often you use your hot water.
- Showering
- Washing dishes
- Washing clothes
We literally boil water on the stove to bathe ourselves. I feel like a pioneer. Yes, we will survive this (haha) of course but damned if Sears needs to get its act together. First, its been said before but bears repeating – hire people who can speak the language. Second, employ more contractors if you have like a 7 day wait to service critical home appliances. Third, if you are going to have an excessively long wait to service, at least reduce or negate the installation, haul away or BOTH. A brand new heater is only $700 – you’re charging me half of that just to fix your own faulty stuff.
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1 comment
Sears Tech Specialist says:
Nov 3, 2010
Most likely if the water heater came with your home, is 7 years, and is now out of commission then it would be out of warranty. You would need to find the warranty information and documentation for it. There is no way for anyone to know how long a machine “should last” without proper documentation. Just because you believe it to be “young & strong” does not mean that it is. I would also like to know how you know the average life of a water heater? You have to have the model # & owner’s manual to be able to determine the warranty of the item. That is your responsibility, not Sears’. If you want them to be able to locate the warranty information you have to provide the proper telephone number/info on the previous owner.
If the unit was out of warranty: to get a technician out to service the unit there would be a service charge. This is because it is a service and it is common practice it our society to pay for services rendered. The CS rep cannot “find” your account because it is likely that the water heater was not purchased at Sears. Purchased with an old telephone number that no longer exists & you don’t know it. So its not the CS person’s fault that you don’t have the appropriate information that they need to look up the account associated with this water heater. That is IF the account ever existed. One cannot look up an account that doesn’t exist.
Service calls are booked in the order we receive them. They are determined by the availability of the technicians, service levels & where you live. If a CS person tells you that the date they are offering is the soonest one odds are they are telling the truth. Why would we go through the grief to lie to you? We have no reason to do so and its not in Sears best interests. Everyone thinks that their repair is the end of the world and therefore should be the center of the universe. There are other people that had their AC out, refrig and other things (they may have medical needs) and now by getting your appointment pushed up you have most likely bumped someone else who is just as deserving as you are.
On the warranty again, I’m confused because you said that the previous owner bought the item. Did Sears put an MPA or any other form of protection (purchased by you from Sears) on it? If you didn’t purchase any kind of warranty on it then how could “the company which had warrantied” you? If you didn’t purchase an agreement you would have no standing warranty with Sears. Therefore it wouldn’t be Sears that would be responsible for fixing the unit?
“Sears wants to charge us over $300 in fees to replace the water heater which was still under warranty. These fees include a building code fee, as well as installation and haul away fees.”
1.) Do you have documentation proving that the unit was under warranty? Even if the heater itself was covered by a 10 year warranty then you would still have to pay for the labor (if the unit was over a year old and had no protection agreement on it) associated with the repair.
2.) Someone has to pay for the old unit to be hauled away. Why should Sears eat the cost of a unit that is legally your property? That’s right, if you want someone to perform a service (haul away a piece of YOUR property. once you pay for it Sears isn’t responsible for disposing of it. Its yours. That’s like asking your car dealer to be responsible for towing your used car after 10 years that you bought it at the dealer. They would laugh at you) then you have to pay them. Services rendered = payment.
3.) See the information above about how the calls are scheduled.
4.) If we hire more technicians we have to pay them to do the job (there is that business services rendered = payment thing again). That means that the customer would have to pay MORE on average. Then the customer would complain I bet. See the catch 22 here?
I work in a call center in the United States, but we have people of all nationalities. It is ignorant, prejudiced and rude to assume that just because someone speaks with an accent that they do “not speak english” or have to be based out of foreign country. It may be hard to understand the person you are speaking with but at the same time you need to calm down, and treat them like a human being.
I’m betting if you slow down, calm down and spoke to them like a person (instead of a second class citizen which is how your post came across in the last paragraph) then I bet it would have been easier for you.
Your heater is man-made and God knows how you maintained the unit. Its bound to fail. It can’t be “faulty” if it worked just fine for 7 years. If it were “faulty” meaning a manufacturer’s defect then it would have crapped out long ago. How much maintance did you do for it? Did you have preventatives done on it? If the answer is no then its no wonder your unit broke.
Get a protection agreement on the item or buy a new one and get an extended warranty. Sometimes its best to get a new item then spend the money to repair the old one.
Just thought I would make you aware that some of your assumptions are inaccurate. The customer has to meet Sears half way because once we sell the item to you it is YOURS. You have to maintain it and care for it. If it breaks then you have to provide documentation of warranty and wait for Sears to perform the service. If Sears is providing service to you let them provide it. We have to provide service to everyone and to do that sometimes the customer just has to be patient.
Thank you for your time. Please get preventative maintenance if you haven’t already. It is often only $75 dollars and in the long run that investment once a year really beats all this, don’t you agree?