Complaint Review: Sears Home Warranty

Firstly, it is important to note that I rarely have bad experiences with companies and generally find reasonable ways to sort out any differences when an issue arises. I was shocked at how bad my experience with Sears Home Warranty was - this is following 19 months of $69 dollar payments. 

In brief, I had a plumbing breakdown which, in the end, turned out to be a failed injector pump. Following a week of dealing on the phone with frustratingly incompetent employees (incompetent because they all varied wildly in their knowledge of issues and ability to contact service providers), I finally managed to have them find me a plumber to visit my home. Before that, I was given contact information of plumbers, but the plumbers would never answer their phones. I was also told that Sears had made appointments with the providers, but they never came during the time window. I estimate I lost about 2.5 full days of work waiting. Plus, I had to wait 24 hours for each service provider before I could request a new one. Additioally, the phone reps kept filing new claims and I had to constantly clarify that I only needed one claim. In the end, I finally got a plumber to my house, one week following a flooded basement. 

When the plumber confirmed with Sears on the repair, Sears said they would not cover a pump, even though it is under plumbing. Sure enough, within the contract, between all the fine print, injector pumps were noted as NOT being covered. I had asked on the phone when describing what I thought was the problem, that I suspected it was the pump and if it was covered. The customer service reps always assured me everything was covered. 

When I called back to explain the issue, Sears would not budge on paying for the reapir, so I said I would cancel my warranty. When transferred to the customer care line, I spoke with a remarkably rude woman who made absolutely no attempt to keep my business and offered no refund of my deductable nor monthly payments. Seeing as I had no legal basis to argue due to the contract, I would have accepted half of the repair cost or a partial refund of monthly payments. Nothing was offered. Needless to say, I immediately cancelled. 

So here is the total amount Sears has scammed from me:

19 monthly payments of $69: $1,311.00

Cost of pump repair: $800.00

Cost of lost work days: $2,245.00

Total: $4,356.00

Following this amount, I have absolutely nothing to show in home repairs from Sears. 

If the Sears reps had simply been honest up front, I would have paid for the repair myself and saved so much in lost time and money. They misled me most likely knowing I would get to the deductable side. What's worse, you have to spend at least 10-15 minutes on the phone system to even get a person. I am flabberghasted such a Home Warranty Company can carry the Sears name and act in this manner. 

I hope this report helps others to make an informed decision when choosing a home warranty company.