The Consumerist tells us another little, dirty secret about Sears -- they charge a bundle just to show up at your house for a repair (and even more if they have to do something). Some highlights:
Dan and Marguerite found out the hard way that Sears uses a "minimum charge" to extort repair fees from their customers.
When their 8-year-old refrigerator suddenly started making noises, they called Sears and were told that a repair person could be sent to their house for $65. Naturally, the guy missed the scheduled time, but claimed that it was ok because he at least he called during the 4 hour window.
Anyway, when the guy finally shows up, he takes a look at the icebox and proclaims the ice-maker not hooked up to the water system. He disconnects the power to the ice-maker and all is well. Sort of.
This is when Dan finds out that the $65 dollars was just a base fee, and that since there was a "serious problem" Dan didn't qualify for that rate. The new price was $109. Of course, if Dan didn't want him to do the repair, he'd take his $65 dollars and leave.
Ok, so this isn't probably that much of a secret, but what a rip off it is. At least they could set an appointment time and live with it for $65, but nooooooooooo...it's the waste-half-a-day four-hour window for when they may (or may not) show up. Then they have the nerve to charge that much for a minor repair!!!!!
Consumerist actually has a whole category devoted to Sears (something I may need to consider here!) Some of my favorites include:
Sears s the absolute worst place to call for a repair. Any regular repair place will charge you less for the minor repair than Sear's "Base" rate. I learned the hard way. Never again.
Posted by: Special Ed | October 26, 2006 at 08:28 PM
We've bought a dishwasher, stove, refrigerator, chese freezer, and water softener from Sears all in the past four years. No problems. We made one repair call to Sears on our old stove. They were the cheapest house-call ($55), and they fixed the stove on the first try. Since it was less than an hour, they just charged the $55 trip charge.
Posted by: savvysaver | October 27, 2006 at 10:10 AM
Savvy --
That was pretty much our experience with Sears (we bought much of the same stuff you did from them) until our most recent problem with the Sears elliptical.
Posted by: FMF | October 27, 2006 at 10:47 AM