Complaint Review: Sears Home Warranty Service - HighPoint, North Carolina

Sears has refused to honor their Home Warranty Master Protection Agreement (MPA) which is paid through 8/13/2010 on my three home heating & cool units.

In 2005 we purchased a home in Savannah, GA with three existing heating and cooling units. Two are Rheem and one is a Galaxy. The home was built around 1990 and the Rheem HAC units were probably original to the home.

When our Independent Home Buyer protection plan ended in 2006 Sears solicited us and sold us a 3 year Master Protection Agreement. (MPA) We renewed the coverage in 2009, paid the Sears invoice and extended our MPA coverage until 8/13/2010. The MPA Certificate 15264238100011 clearly shows the manufacturer, model and SR # of all three units.

The units have operated fine with routine annual maintenance by Sears since the start of the coverage. Each year a Sears service HAC tech. performs an on-site seasonal check up and verifies the SR# and unit's information that Sears has on file.

On 10/5/2009 we requested a Sears service call when the units were not cooling properly.

On 10/6/2009 a Sears technician made an in-home service call and determined that the Rheem units could not be repaired and said that Sears would replace them under the MPA.

On 10/12/2009 Sear sent an independent Heating & Cooling Contractor to our home to verify the situation, to measure the units capacity and to order two replacement Kenmore HAC units. He gave us the Sears Work Order number for the two replacement units.

On 10/19/2009 we called Sears to make sure everything was in order and were told the service / replacement order was in progress. He verified a Sears case number had been assigned: # 2829685.

On 1021/2009 we received a call from Sears at 7:00PM by a "Sears Heating and Cooling Advocate" from the Sear HAC Dept in High Point, NC, (named Shawn) stating that Sears was not going to honor their MPA and/or replace the units. When asked why, we were told that the units were older than 2005. 

We said that was never raised as an issue since the original MPA went into effect 4 years ago and that our MPA Certificate had a "Purchase Date" of 1/01/2005 which was the date of the actual MPA agreement purchase.

The written terms of the MPA (on the back of the agreement) state: You represent that the product(s) listed on the reverse side is (are) in proper operating condition at the start of the coverage and the information related to the "Date of Purchase" is correct".  Covered products must have legible model and serial numbers. Coverage applies only to products which are located at 1 (one) address. We (Sears) reserve the right to inspect the products listed on the reverse side to determine eligibility for coverage.

Sears has had four years to inspect these units each and every time they serviced them. At no time was there any question regarding the date of manufacture which Sears was free to research using the model and SR# on the units at any time.

Clearly, Sears accepted the liability of the original three-year MPA when they accepted payment in 2006, 2007, 2008 when they again solicited us, accepted our payment and renewed the original agreement 2009, until 08/13/2010 by sending us a written Confirmation of Coverage document with all of the product information clearly printed on the face of the MPA.

As of today, 10/21/2009 we now request Sears honor their MPA and repair or replace these two non-working units under the MPA for which we have paid around $ 1,500 over the term of the last 4 years.