Public Mediation

My Claim vs. Sears Holdings Corporation

C. D. vs. Sears (Headquarters)
3333 Beverly Rd - B6-258B, Hoffman Estates, Illinois, 60179-0002, United States
Amount Involved: $1,682.33
    • Status: In Negotiation
      This claim has posted for public comment and negotiation. It will remain posted until resolved to the claimant's satisfaction. Suggest a resolution to help these parties reach a settlement.
       (seeking public comment)
    • Claimant Seeks: View.
    • Claim #: 3476502
    • Amount Involved: 1,682.33
    • Filed On: Jan 26, 2015
    • Posted On: Feb 06, 2015
    • Complaint(s):
      • Bad business practices
      • Problem with a product
      • Poor Value for Money
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Statement of Claim
Complaints Involved (3) - View
Claimant says:
"We purchased a Frigidaire refrigerator in Sept. 2010 and paid $1,682.33. It worked fine until May 2011 (just 8 months later) when we began finding water on the floor and ice frozen to the bottom of the freezer. A service man from Sears flushed the line and no plugs were found. 4 months later (September 2011), it happened again. Sears replaced the fan that time. One month later (October 2011), another defrost and Sears replaced the mother board. All within the warranty period. In June of 2014, the freezer stopped working at all and all of the panel lights began flashing. Sears service technician had no idea what the panel lights meant and said it would be 9 days before we could get a repair man to our house. We have lost count of how many times we have had to throw out produce, dairy and meat because we came home to a non working fridge. We feel we were sold a lemon since this appliance is less then 4 years old and has been a continual problem. Anytime I called Sears, they insisted that it could be fixed, but they were never successful in doing so. It simply can't be trusted to keep operating. I got no satisfaction from Sears on a replacement or refund, so I wrote to the MN Attorney General's office and Frigidaire Corporate Offices. The MN Attorney General's office felt I had a valid complaint and wrote to Sears Holding Corp. in IL. asking that they honor my request to replace the fridge at no charge with a more dependable one. That file # with Sears is AMZ/2014/507448/C. I got no response from Frigidaire Corp and Sears denied the request. At that point, the MN Attorney General's office suggested I send a report to the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, DC. I did that and recently heard back from them with a letter saying that while there are no state laws that require a company to replace a defective product after the warranty period, a company must still take care of problems that were first complained about during the warranty period, even if the warranty runs out before problems are resolved. If the company is unable to repair the product (Sears couldn't get it repaired after 3 service calls while under warranty) we should be given a refund or a replacement of equal value, even if the warranty runs out since the problems were not resolved. This refrigerator is obviously seriously defective, and after a number of repair attempts have been unsuccessful, we feel we have a right to a refund or replacement. MN. has an implied warranty that supplements the protection of any written warranty. That is an implied warranty of merchantability which promises that a product will be fit for the ordinary purpose for which it is sold.
After numerous letters to the State of Minnesota, Sears Holdings Corporation and finally the Federal Trade Commission, we feel that Sears is not in compliance with the implied warranty that is in place in this state.
This is a rather short version of our complaint, but I have all of the correspondence related to this complaint should you want to review it. In addition, all of the sales receipts and repair dates.
We can get no satisfaction from Sears Holdings Corporation, and even after I asked for a review of their decision, I got no response at all. They had closed the file.
I am happy to have you call or write to me."
...
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Additional Communication Between Claimant and Sears (Headquarters) Hide
  • Jan 30, 2015, () added:

  • To Whom it May Concern:

    Upon receipt of Ms. Dahl’s complaint, we reviewed our Point-of-Sale and service systems. Our records show that Ms. Dahl accepted delivery of the refrigerator in question in September of 2010; we have included a copy of the purchase receipt. Per Sears’ Return Policy, noted on the receipt, Ms. Dahl had 90 days to return the refrigerator for an exchange or a refund. Now that over four years have lapsed since the refrigerator was purchased, and the fact that the unit is over three years outside the manufacturer’s warranty, we are unable to honor her request for an exchange.

    Furthermore, a review of our service system shows that the last repair Sears Home Services completed on Ms. Dahl’s refrigerator occurred on October 11, 2011, over three years ago. Our records indicate that the control board was replaced. Prior to this repair, Ms. Dahl had two other repairs completed under warranty. On May 31, 2011, the technician flushed the drain; on September 19, 2011, the technician replaced the evaporator fan motor. Again, we show no service requests have been made since October of 2011.

    Ms. Dahl referenced the Maine Implied Warranty and we are familiar with this warranty. It applies to products purchased within the last four years from a Maine retailer and covers repairs that are not deemed necessary because of abuse or failures that did not occur because disposable parts simply wore out. Since Ms. Dahl purchased her refrigerator over four years ago, she is outside the aforementioned warranty timeframe and therefore, no longer entitled to any benefits under the aforementioned Maine Implied Warranty.

    Lastly, we reviewed our data base regarding Ms. Dahl’s model of refrigerator, and found no recalls or service bulletins issued by the manufacturer. There are no known issues for this model. It is unfortunate that Ms. Dahl is dissatisfied with her refrigerator, but there are no mitigating circumstances to warrant any accommodations. With that said, we have closed our file.

    Melissa Lando
    Regulatory Complaints Specialist
    SHC Corporate Compliance
    Melissa.Lando@searshc.com

  • Feb 09, 2015, Claiming party added:

  • I would like to point out that we first complained about this refrigerator being defective within 8 months of having it delivered to our house. Two more service calls were made within the same year (2011) and for the same reasons. On June 12, 2014 the same failure to work properly happened again (about 30 months later). We did call for service and were told it would be a 9 day wait for a service person to come out. It should appear obvious that Sears is unable to repair this refrigerator after numerous service calls. I began writing to Sears on the advice of the MN. Attorney General's Office on July 10, 2014, and followed up with a letter to Sears and Frigidaire asking for a replacement on July 28, 2014. Those dates put our request for a refund ahead of the four year Implied Warranty time limit. We feel Sears should grant us a refund of our purchase price of $1,682.33 rather then forcing us to keep an appliance that has never worked as expected.

  • Jun 26, 2015, () added:

  • We would first like to clarify that the law we mentioned applies to the state of Maine and not Minnesota. Even under the parameters of that law, which is probably the most generous in the United States, Ms. Dahl did not meet the criteria for relief. The most that law would do is provide a covered repair if it was determined to be applicable; not a refund. As we stated, Ms. Dahl is years' past the time frame when a refund would have been an option available. Ms. Dahl also filed these same concerrns through the Minnesota Attorney General's office last year and after we responded by indicating we were unable to provide her with a refund, they closed their case.

What Claimant Wants Hide
1. Refund: Purchase price plus tax, delivery & set up fees. Feb 25, 2015 $1,682.33
Cash total : $1,682.33
  • 0
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Respondent's Counteroffer

There has been no response to this claim from Sears (Headquarters). This claim will remain posted until resolved
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  • Comment: by Claimant On: 06-26-2015
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  • Buyer beware! You will get no satisfaction from Sear's Holding Corporation
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  • Contributed Solution: by Brian Ward On 04-15-2015
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If you are a party to this claim, click here.
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