A & E Factory Service - Sears - Frigidaire Pitiful Customer Service and Lack of any clue ripoff Farmers Branch Texas
In June 2002 I purchased a Frigidaire refrigerator from Sears. Recent problems with it prompted me to call one of Sears companies, A & E FACTORY SERVICE. It has now been 8 days since I contacted A&E FACTORY SERVICE, one of Frigidaire's recommended factory authorized service companies. My refrigerator is still broken.
I called them 3/7/05 and asked for a service call. I told them at that time the compressor was bad and they should bring a new compressor with them. They did not. The tech shows up 3/9 and after 10 minutes announces the compressor is bad (HA) and they will have to order one. It should be delivered in 1 to 2 days.
After 2 mis-shipments by DHL, the compressor shows up on 3/11 but the required dryer part shows up 3/14 (only after I (not A & E) made repeated calls to DHL to locate it.
The tech shows back up 3/14 about 4:30 PM and announces the new compressor is bad. 3/15 they order another compressor. It may ship in 24 to 48 hours and this is an EMERGENCY ORDER. A & E tells me that the compressor MAY be here 3/16 so they have scheduled a tech for 3/17 as long as the part arrives. Of course I am responsible to call A & E to tell them their part is here. I had to almost require the service relations person to contact the right people to tell me when the new compressor would be here. Great service, right??
I do not believe that based on the situation that A & E could not locate a compressor locally and go pick it up and fix my refrigerator. It is probably shipping from a local site anyway. They are so "in the box" there seems to be not one thought of trying to resolve the problem. Just tell the customer to get in line and comply with what we here at A & E do.
This has been a farce from day one. All I can do is complain, but Frigidaire should expect and require more from their authorized service dealers and Sears should certainly expect and require more from thier companies.
NO MORE A & E FOR ME AND NO MORE SEARS/KMART SHOPPING FOR ME AND NO MORE FRIGIDAIRE PRODUCTS FOR ME!
Dan
DeSoto, Texas
U.S.A.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Chris Polk
Augusta,Georgia,
U.S.A.
Discuss issue
#4UPDATE Employee
Mon, July 14, 2008
I am contacting you on behalf of Electrolux Major Appliances in relation to your posting on Ripoff Report. I would like to apologize for the difficulty you have had with your appliance. I would appreciate the opportunity to discuss this issue with you, so that I can personally look in to this matter in order to do so, please send me your contact information and the best time to contact you. I would also need your model and serial number and a file number, if available, so that I can research this matter.
Again, I regret the disappointment with your appliance and look forward to resolving this issue with you.
Sincerely
Chris Polk
Escalation Specialist
Electrolux Major Appliances
chris.polk@electrolux.com
Joseph
Greenfield,Wisconsin,
U.S.A.
One thing that needs to be understood
#4UPDATE Employee
Mon, June 09, 2008
1) A&E technicians do not get even a days notice on what they will have to do the next day, you just wake up, sign on to your computer and up pops your route.. some times 10 to 13 calls with several hours of driving and oh yeah a 2.5 hour compressor call set up to arrive at 17:45 is every day crap
2) I have had plenty of calls where the customer pays someone to come out and tell them it's the compressor, or a friend of theirs did, or the husband is an electrical engineer (god you all are, I swear) and there wrong.. it's not, not even close, so how could we just send out a three hundred dollar part every time someone thought that.
3) now for all you people that have the Maytag's and Amanas with the buzzing and clicking compressors.... sorry, I know it's only (and it's always "only") 2 or 3 or 4 years old, it probably does need a compressor, and they should just send one out to you and set it up for us to have time to fix it...... we tell are managers that, they say they are working on it... I don't know like I said in point number 1
4) Appliances no a days are really high tech and complicated.... the information we have to use as technicians for the most part isn't as readably available as you would think. If we knew everything there is to know about a vast majority of the appliances out there, then we would have better jobs. What do you think they pay us anyway?
John
Moorpark,California,
U.S.A.
The way Sears service works..or doesn't
#4UPDATE EX-employee responds
Sat, March 26, 2005
I'm an ex-Sears technician, and feel that some clarification of how this sort of situation is handled would be helpful.
1) The customer told them to bring a particular part. The technician does not have access to any kind of parts storeroom/warehouse where he can pick parts "off the shelf".
2) The person you spoke with is a call taker in one of four national centres - he/she may even be in Puerto Rico! The call taker doesn't have any power to order parts. Also, the technician does not see the service call until the day it is due to be run - indeed, he can have calls added/deleted while on the road. It is a DISMISSABLE OFFENCE for a technician to order parts without having gone to the home.
3) The bad compressor line sounds to me like he didn't fancy starting a 2-3 hour job at 4:30 pm - JMO. I'd be hesitant to criticise the tech for going down that road without seeing what the rest of the day had in store for him (yes, he probably would have had calls to go to AFTER yours!)Also, the missing dryer shouldn't have held things up, that is a simple part which he should have on his truck.
4) Your compressor would have been shipped direct from Frigidaire - Sears does not hold large stocks of parts. The cutoff time for the manufacturers to ship "same day" is 3PM Eastern, so your order wouldn't have been dealt with until the next working day.
5) Perfectly valid comment re the customer having to fit the system, rather than the other way round. The system is inflexible and cannot respond to individual situations such as yours. Also, the tech starts from home, very rarely sees a manager and is effectively out in the field with little or no support.