Sears review: very poor service! 64

Wow, I wonder if the only folks that go the the trouble to post service reviews here are only the ones that have had problems. I came on the board this afternoon to post a positive comment on A&E and found this highly negative thread.

I called Sears' computer voice yesterday, Thurs, afternoon and was scheduled a visit for this morning. I had no idea it would be an A&E repairman until he showed up.

I had fiddled with troubleshooting the problem in advance so had a pretty good idea what it was and wasn't. He worked on the washer for about an hour and a half, mostly trying to get it to work in some cycles (so my wife could wash some clothes) while waiting for the parts which wouldn't arrive until Tues.

While brainstorming the problem he must have gotten the impression that I could order and replace the suspected bad parts myself (which I could) and he volunteered that that's what I should do. He said if I bought the parts through them they would likely cost 50% (markup) more than I could get them for online (repairclinic.com) and that he would have to charge the "book rate" for labor which was much more than a simple hourly rate. Doing this myself will save me about $300!

And on top of it he said he would not charge me the $65 for his initial visit! I said that it was the least I could do for his time and costs in diagnosing the problem. He wouldn't allow it!

Frankly, I really feel guilty that he came out and spent 1 1/2 hours and wouldn't let me pay him anything.

You can be sure next time I have any appliance repair issues, they'll be my first call. I'm even going to look into the appliance service contract he mentioned they sell. I've really got to find a way to pay them back.

Maybe they're going out of their way to make up for the bad reputation gained in the past (mentioned fully above). They sure worked for me!

I have a similar saga, concerning a Whirlpool Duet high-end front load washer. A & E Factory Service is the worst repair service I have ever encountered.

A & E Factory Service... Oh, Lord! If only I'd known they were affiliated with that evil entity, Sears and Roebuck Co. prior to purchasing the extended warranty! My fault for not researching ahead of time, right? Also my fault for operating under the assumption that when the repairman came to my house, he would actually FIX the problem.

This is probably a typical story. Ten day wait for the original visit by a diagnostician to check out the problem with our Maytag front-loading washer. Another week to await the arrival of the parts and the repairman. So, to this point we are without a washer for seventeen days.

Seventeen days later the A & E goober shows up, spends fifteen minutes "fixing" the problem, leaves... and the washing machine, once we try to use it, still doesn't work. This is not ten minutes later, so I call their call center.

"Can you get Frank (the repair guy) to turn around and come back?" I plead.

"No, he has to get to his next service call," is the reply.

"But he got to MY house early because one of his earlier jobs cancelled! Besides, he needs to fix MY problem before he starts moving down the list!"

Nothing. No return. No return call. Just, nothing. Deafening silence.

I call the call center. I scream, bellow, cajole.

"We can schedule you for thirteen days from now. Would that be convenient?"

No. The only thing that would be convenient now would be if someone from A & E slid under a gas truck and tasted his own blood!

So, to sum up: "Arrrggghhh!

I just phoned A&E to schedule the 6th return trip to 'fix' my Maytag Dryer. The process has taken over two months - and it is still not resolved. My worst service experience ever. I wish I would have done more research on the company before dealing with them. Unfortunately - the next person that reads this will probably also be similarly furious with them.

I have been dealing with a&e for 3 years. I have their extended warranties on all of my products, and have never had any problems with there service. May be you should not have bought some junk maytag. There just might be a reason that maytag went out of business and was later bought by whirlpool. Do some research before you go and buy junk, and then blame it on the repairman cause your an idiot.

I have to agree with the others that A & E Service is crap. I don't have an extended warranty through them but through Maytag and they are the service reps in my area. Unfortunately. Now My Maytag Neptune is a piece of junk I admit, 4th or 5 th MAJOR service call since I bought it. have replace every part in it but the drum and outer casing - TWICE! A&E have been working the issue this time. The first time to get them out here took just 2 days. Came out, ordered parts. Then took 2 weeks to come out and put the parts in. Now during this time at least the washer worked, somewhat. 2 Technicians, 4 hours each and now guess what? Now the damn thing doesn't even turn on. The techs even left without telling us anything. We had to call the service center (HA) to find out they ordered the wrong parts in the first place and when I told them how they left their only response was " We're sorry they left without telling you". Such Crap. they won't be working on tech machine now though. Called my warranty people and told them what had happened and told them to find someone else to fix it. Immediately. A&E won't be fixing any thing for me any time soon.

This all started on August 1, 2007. Our 3 year old Maytag side by side refrigerator/freezer just died. We called the number in our manuel & was transferred around until they gave me A & E. I was told no one could be out until August 6th. Had I known what I know now I would have kept that appoinment. So I called a local guy & he came out-$104.00 later, told us it was the compressor-still under warranty. So, back to A & E who now said Aug 10th. We told them we had already had someone who looked at our fridge & that we needed a new compressor. "Oh no, that's not how we do business". So, out they came on Aug 10th. Sure enough, we needed a compressor. "We will order the part & your next appointment will be Aug 22nd between 8-5". We will now be without a refrigerator for almost a month! The part shows up 3-4 days later & we call to see if we can move our appoinment up. We are now on the "cancellation list". Hubby takes off work on the 22nd & lo & behold-no one shows up from A & E. He called twice to find out the status of the serviceman & was told, "We will try to find out where he is". It is now 5:30 & I call to see what the problem is. I was told, "No one was scheduled to come out to your address. You never called to say the part was in".
Of course we did! Then they offer us NEXT Weds., Aug. 29. We have been buying 2-3 bags of ice everyday & are trying to keep some food in our cooler. By this time I was breathing fire & asked to speak with a supervisor. She did nothing & said she would have some 0ther manager in charge of the servicemen who don't show up call me tomorrow. Well, it is now 3pm PST & I have heard nothing! Oh, & on top of that they now say they cannot come to our home until next THURSDAY, Aug 30 between 1-5. Damn this company & damn Maytag. Oh, & to the guy above who says we are all idiots & should do our research-when I moved into my new home the appliances were already there. And by the way, who's the idiot when you don't know the difference between there & their or your & you're?

I agree with everything. This is the worst company I have used in my lifetime. The first trip the bone head ordered the wrong part. After a week, the second guy tried installing the wrong part, only to break the wire harness that runs through the whole machine. Week three, a pair of guys come, tell me that the whole thing is messed up and the will have to order two more parts. No calls for a week. No parts for a week. I call A&E only to have them tell me it is on back order for a month. Again no calls. I source the part myself, and rebook. Now, as I type this, 45 days later, I am waiting for my 8 - 12pm slot for service... did I mention that it is 3:08pm?

I am calling everyone on the face of the earth and telling them this story, you should do the same. Call your appliance company, A&E management (not that they care), Best Buy, Sears, BBB and everything online.

Without a doubt, A & Eis the worst repair company that I have dealt with. They've been to my my home 9 times to make a repair to a refrigerator. Each time, I'm told that technical support says it can be fixed. What I suspect is that A & E has no interest in making a repair because they charge the product maker each time that they come out. I wonder if there is a Rule 23 class lawsuit out there that could get A& E attention. I will do some research and repost.

I am very unhappy with A&E. I had a repair man who came out to the house for a 2nd time. The Kitchen Aid that is only 3 1/2 years old which I had
fixed July 25th so I thought. He was rude, told me
I was making him nervous, made me cry and precedes
to tell me he can't fine the problem. There is water in
the floor pan that the washing machine sits on. I have
spent $166.33 for nothing. I am very disappointmented about the treatment and rudness
and the inability of repairman to fix the issues. Another unhappy customer. I will tell people not to
use them ever.

My wife and I have had a terrible experience with Sears A & E Factory Service. We purchased a Maytag/Whirlpool washer & dryer in July 2007. In August 2007 a part from under the washer fell out. We called Maytag/Whirlpool and was offered service through Sears A & E factory Service, a national company. We had never dealt with this company so we didn't know their reputation.

A technician came to our house on 08/23/07 and found a sound pad had fallen off. He ordered replacement sound pads and stated he had to come back. As he was leaving he scratched the panel of the washer with his screwdriver. He stated he will order a new panel and replace it when he returns.

We weren't pleased, but at least they were willing to replace it. However, this is were the nightmare begins. The parts were sent to my house, the sound pads are small parts, but the box with the panel is 4' x 4' x 4'. It was left outside my house, even though we were home, and I had to carry it in and store it in my house until the next appointment on 09/04/07. This box was an annoyance as it blocked my foyer.

The day of the 09/04/07 appointment comes and no one shows up. I call and find out the appointment was canceled, but no one told us. I took a day off from work to be home for the appointment. I reschedule for 09/10/07 and have to take another day off from work.

I confirm this appointment the day before. The day of the 09/10/07 appointment comes and I get a call at 1:30 PM (the time of the appointment was 1 - 5 PM) telling me that they have no technician available in my area and they have to reschedule. They have no Saturday hours available as usual and thus want to reschedule for another week from 09/04/07.

At this point I have taken 2 days off from work, have been inconvenienced by a large box in my foyer for over 2 weeks. They want to reschedule for 09/17/07. They again have no Saturday hours available.

I cannot believe I have to take a 3rd day off from work ! I would never use this company again. Here comes the real funny part, no other service company that services Maytag/Whirlpool under the warranty will service this unit because it has been serviced by Sears A&E Factory Service and they cannot put the parts ordered by Sears A&E Factory Service on the machine. They would have to reorder the parts and come back to install them after they arrive...

THIS WORST SERVICE I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED!

I'm not going to get into the whole thing about A & E, because I have wasted way too much energy on it already. I am going to say, though, that they are not a service oriented company at all!

With many phone calls, a tech that didn't show up, different versions of why the tech didn't show up (basically I was LIED to), rude and with a total lack of knowledge with customer service helpers, and much, much more NEGATIVE things to say, I hope Sears realizes this is a direct reflection on them. With as many back comments I have read about A & E I have come to the realization that Sear DOESN'T CARE and the conclusion to NOT SHOP SEARS OR ANYONE WHO RECOMMENDS A & E.

I feel your pain, I am going through the same thing with my GE front load washer that is only a year and half old. Only I can't even get a tech out here... they keep canceling the morning of the appoint. Called GE ... they were incredibly rude. I will NEVER by GE again.

10 weeks without a fridge and counting... My Jennair fridge died middle of August. I have been living ever since with a bar fridge. I am limited to Saturdays and have been on the A&E repair list ever since. Lie upon lie, I have had parts sitting here for 5 weeks- I even took a whole day off from work and it does not seem to make a difference.

The fat slob of a technician - Louis Rivera knows the place and just leaves stickers downstairs saying he came by and no one was home- Even though I have been calling every 10 minutes... I am tired of this. Just going to ask for my money back on Monday and go elsewhere... If I had more time, I would take them to small claims court and get out of them whatever I can!

Good luck to anyone who thinks about using them...

We didn't have trouble with scheduling but A & E charged my father-in-law $430 to repair a circuit board in his refrigerator. I looked the part up online and it retails for $118. They charged him $198 (plus tax) for the part and $198 for 30 minutes of labor. These guys are rip off artists.

I'm having the same basic problem everyone else is/has had. I'm completely depressed to read what is probably in store for my repair of a 3.5 yrs old Amana refrigerator. (I'm on my 3rd service call for the same repair.)

My question: How does this company stay in business?
And more importantly, isn't there somewhere we can call/write to get some real results?

Obviously, complaining to the supervisors at A & E is like talking to a wall... they've heard this a thousand times, and don't give a hoot to do anything about it except say, "sorry."

Is our only recourse to boycott products from Sears, Amana, Jenn-Aire, Kitchen Aid, Maytag, Whirlpool, GE and whatever other company falls under this umbrella?

I too have had trouble with the service.

So I have worked for Sears Holdings for about four months now. After countless hours of listening to people yell, scream, call me names and so on, I decided to "google" the company I work for to see what people are saying. I have seen all sides of the service we provide and have had mixed emotions for the company I work for.

First, I would like to state, the technicians do not drive 18-wheelers to your home. Why would you expect them to have every part for every appliance they repair? Not only that, but your manufacture has a contract with A&E Service and per that contract, the techs cannot pre-order parts. So if you have a problem call them. There have been some attempts at pre-screening service orders and ordering a part that they think might be the problem, but in most cases, the part does not arrive in time for service and the customer is still mad.

Second, it is just an appliance! Why would you spend a fortune on something that is just washing clothes, or dishes? Hello! Computers and water/steam do not mix! I am sick and tired of people ramming the cost of their appliance down my throat and then yell because the maid is going to have to wash dishes by hand. Come on! There are worse things in life to be upset about.

Third, are you kidding me with leaving your 15-year-old daughter in the house to meet a stranger and let them in? Why would you even think that that would be ok?

On the flip side, there are a lot of flaws in the system. The techs do run behind. They may get stuck on that first call and not be able to get out of the home. It happens! You are never promised a specific time for that reason. You also do have options. The manufactures do have other authorized service providers they can recommend for you. The manufacture can, in some cases, send you parts. Just hope you know exactly what is wrong, or you will have to wait anyway. A&E is not at fault because they order the part from them and it is on backorder. And stop asking "Are you sure that's the first available date?" Um... if it wasn't, I would have offered you a sooner date! Most importantly, it is a national company. If you used Billy Bob's repair service and had a bad experience, which would happen to some of their customers, I'm sure, you would have complaints lodged. It would be on a much smaller scale because they are a smaller company. Keep this in mind the next time you pick up the phone to yell. I know you work, so do I. I have two jobs, a husband and a kid. I know you are mad, but keep it professional.

If you are an example of a service rep for Sears then I see why everyone is complaining. Your job is to help customers not do social commentary on their life style. If you are not up to the job you should not be doing it.

Sarah is right. She is up to the job and understands whats going on.Rita has no idea what she is taking about.In order to help customers you need to try to get them to under stand the problems of running service. Some people get so upset over a washer not working ,what do they do when they have a real problem.The techs and service reps are trying to help people get there things fixed and all the complaining just makes it harder. Sears and a&e try hard to keep there customers happy, some people just want to much.

A&E is only payed a small amount to repair your washer by maytag/whirlpool.about 65 dollars. Its hard to give good customer service when you loose money on every call. You must have bought your washer from a place like Home Depo. If you had bought your washer from a company that has it own service you would be treated better. But hey buy from the cheapest place thats the american way.

Sometime we are quick to criticize but slow to compliment our good service. I do not like the policy of A&E in scheduling the service between eight oclock and four oclock which keeps you tied up all day, however I can see that they can't tell you exactly what hour the repairman can be at your home. Now I would like of compliment the service of an A&E Serviceman HERMAN FOX. HERMAN IS A VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE AIRCONDITIONER SERVICEMAN. He repaired an airconditioner for me which was still under warramnty from GE. The GE repairman had failed to repair the unit and had said that it was unrepairable. Remember this is a new unit still under warranty. I sure would not recomment the GE Factory service in Chattanooga, Tn.

Sears service is the worst I've ever dealt with. It's been 4 weeks since our refrigerator has worked. The tech came out and didn't fully diagnose the problem so did not order all the right parts. He came out a week later and had to order more parts. The parts never arrived. Sears couldn't tell me where they were so ordered them again. The parts came and the guy was scheduled to come out 4 days later. He called that day to reschedule for the next day. I called to check and we weren't on the schedule. We were scheduled for 2 days later.

Now, I have 2 sets of parts at my house waiting to be put in. Ridiculous.

I have 3 kids less than 5 so it is important to have a refrigerator.

Sears is at fault. Their repair people should be more knowledgable. They should track packages and orders better. They should hire more people so you don't have to wait a long time for the person to come to your house. They should allow for emergency situations, which a refrigerator is.

I am tired of companies passing the buck on responsibility. If you bought their product or service agreement, it is their responsibility to make sure repairs are done right and in a timely manner.

Reading Sarah's opinions above, I guess I can see why Sears doesn't do a better job. If people answering the phones don't understand the gravity of a situation, they will do nothing to help. Certainly, screaming at these people like Sarah is wrong but Sarah wouldn't get so many angry people if Sears did the right things in the first place.

After this fiasco, no more Sears for me.

The Maytag washing machine in the place that we're renting broke. Since we have an absentee landlord (who is really great), we arrange most of the repairs ourselves. I called A&E factory service to take a look at the unit.

Now a first point that speaks well for A&E: their repairman showed up exactly on time. Moreover, he was very friendly/helpful and pointed out that the washer needed substantial repairs. Even more, he noted that the parts were still under warantee. He'd order them for us, and someone would come back next week to fix the unit.

Then the problems start. The next repair visit is rescheduled since the parts aren't going to come in on time. Then we find out that the parts are back-ordered with a ship date 2 weeks in the future. "OK, " I think. "Even with two kids I can deal for a couple weeks." (I know, I know, as a renter, I should've just gotten a new washer at this point, but I'm an optimist.)

After two weeks, the status of the parts switches to back-ordered with an unknown ship date. I talked to numerous people at A&E, all of whom were very friendly and helpful (again, a check mark for A&E's service in my opinion.) But none of them could give me any idea about the ship date for the parts.

After six weeks (and two trips to Philly to do laundry at my sister's house), I called Maytag directly to find out if they had the parts. Again, to A&E's credit, Maytag gave the same answer - the parts weren't available and their availability date was unknown.

At this point, we ordered a new washer.

Now the fun begins. A&E ships parts directly to the person who needs service. After getting the new washer, we didn't need/want those parts, so I kept trying to cancel future shipment of the back-ordered parts. This turns out to be hard to do (and I'm still not sure that they won't show up on our doorstep sometime in the future.)

Even worse, we paid up front for future service by A&E (I'm not sure why, but I assumed that this reflected a "deposit" on future work and was their policy.) It turns out that getting that deposit back is like pulling teeth. Although everyone that I've ever talked to at A&E has been very polite and helpful, none of them have been helpful enough to get my money back to me.

Of course, I'll probably just forward that bill on to my landlord. But since I'm a nice guy, I don't like to screw my landlord when I get screwed. It's a shame that A&E puts me in a position where I have to do so.

A&E doesn't seem to be staffed with rude and/or incompetent people. But things just aren't very smooth with them.

I am on week 5 without a working refrigerator. I bought a Maytag, so that I would not have this problem...
The first "authorized" company came out 6 times and still no fix. They replaced a a compressor and the evaporator on the third and fourth visits. On the fifth visit, said the compressor was bad again. Sixth time, the tech said there was a blockage in the system and that it could not be fixed. Called Maytag who routed me to multiple call centers and they finally told me that they had no notes and no awareness of the issue. At that point A&E was sent out and the repairman told me that the previous tech from the other company had not done the correct repairs (dryer appeared to be blocked) and the dryer should have been replaced with the first compressor. This caused the second compressor to fail. So tech, with me standing there, orders a compressor and dryer, then scheduled a return visit to install. Tech never showed and when I call the A&E number, they said I didn't call them and that no one was coming. Tried to explain the situation and that I did have an appt. scheduled, that parts had been here. She was very rude, told me if I didn't like their service, I could use someone else. When I replied that it was under warranty, she said that I should be happy with the service I was getting and that it often takes many visits to fix an appliance. She was not very nice and threaten to hang up on me. I never cursed or was rude to her, although I did tell her that I was very frustrated with the situation.

This is crazy. I can understand two or three visits to fix an appliance when parts have to be ordered, but 7 times and refrigerator tis still down. I paid over $2000 3 yrs ago. Things break down, but it should not take 8 or more visits to get it fixed or replaced. This can't be cost effective for anyone.

Maytag Owner's Manual - side by side refrigerator page 21.

Second trough fifth year - Maytag Services will repair or replace, at its option, free of charge for parts and LABOR, any part of the sealed refrigeration system.

Isn't this false advertising by Maytag if you, the consumer are responsible for labor cost? In our situation, the A&E repairman made no mention of warranty, and in five minutes diagnosed that it was the compressor, charged us $75.00, gave us a repair cost quote and left. And, to no suprise to anyone out there, the part would have to be ordered. It was only when we called A&E the next day and discuss the estimate did they deny that they would charge us for the compressor. They do indeed fully intend on receiving an extra $177.00 from us though for installing the part.

Has anyone out there gotten a threat to be taken to collections by A&E for refusing to pay the labor?

***** BEWARE OF USING MAYTAG FACTORY/CUSTOMER SERVICE OR A & E FACTORY SERVICE *****
Last Saturday we had a 5 year-old Jenn-Air slide-in range serviced at our Oakland, CA home by A & E Factory Service. The appointment had been setup by the Maytag Factory Service Center. When I asked Maytag how much A & E charged per hour, I was told $72. I asked if there were any other less expensive service companies in the S.F. Bay Area and was told, "We get the best pricing and service from A & E ..."

The problem requiring service was that milk had boiled over on the cooktop and dripped down into the oven door, drying on the internal glass panels. When the technician arrived, he took a look at the oven door and looked up a "job code" in his laptop computer. Instead of an hourly rate, we were told that A & E Factory Service charges not by the hour but by a "job code." To clean the glass panels in our oven door would cost $134. If we did not wish to have the job done, then we would "simply" be billed $72 for the "trip time."

Well at that point, we seemed to be a captive audience, so we said to do the "repair."
The glass panels were removed and cleaned, with our own glass cleaner spray because he didn't have any. As he was cleaning the milk stains off, using our paper towels (he didn't have any), we asked if he would mind cleaning off a few other stains. The technician obliged us but could not quite get all of the stains removed. He stated that he had seen this situation many times before and that most customers simply replaced the glass panels because baked on stains can not be removed.

So it ended up costing us $134 to have the oven door internal glass panels cleaned (mostly), which took just over 1 hour, and was probably not the proper way to do it. But we were not offered the option of replacing the glass by the Maytag Factory/Customer Service Center, who on 2 occasions stated that they had not dealt with this situation before. The A & E Factory Service appointment center stated that they had no technical knowledge, so couldn't advise me as to options.

I phoned Maytag Customer Service and spoke to a supervisor, who couldn't quite grasp why I was upset. After venting for about 10 minutes, with the supervisor intermittantly interjecting stock replies, I gave her my daytime phone number. She asked why I gave her the phone number. When I said that I would like a return call to inform me as to how my complaint was handled, she stated there would not be a return call. I then asked if I could be sent a letter, for the supervisor had dutifully asked for the appliance details and our address earlier in the conversation. I was told, no letter either. I was so enraged that while she recited, "Thank you for calling Maytag Customer Service.., " I hung up.

I bought a Maytag stove with an electronic panel to turn on the stove and to run all the stove operations (clock and timer included).
The stove repeatedly turned off, would not keep the temp, displayed the incorrect time or just shut off clock, timer and oven. We had a GE warranty that covered labor and parts for 5 years. A&E was just one of the repair companies that tried to fix this stove. We had 9 repairs over the 4 year period, but not all were handled by A&E. Finally, after the third repair by A&E, the repairman said I should call the company and tell them to give me a new appliance. He called them in my presence and told them that the stove was defective and that I should get a new one. He cited three of the same repairs over a 12 month period of that warranty. I am getting a new stove, thanks to this repairman's analysis of the repairs. The stove was seriously flawed. He also showed me that Maytag had recalled two parts on my stove and that they should have notified me. I really cannot complain. Waiting for them to show up is a problem, as it is with a number of other service companies we used. A&E did call, on occasion to let me know that the call would be narrowed to 2-3:30p.m, for instance.

Oh my God! I cannot believe how many other poor souls were hoodwinked with this company! I can't believe how my story is so like so many other's...can't make the appointment because the guy called off sick - ordered the wrong part - rescheduled and part never arrived - UNBELIEVABLE! We purchased a cabrio washer and dryer from hhgregg, also the 5 year warranty for both appliances. Without going into detail, because the problem is not that the appliance malfunctioned - the problem is A&E! This company should be reported to the Better Business Bureau! They should not be allowed to deal with any human being at all. And if I would have to PAY for all their visits I would probably be insane by now. After 4 attempts (I won't even use the word tries) to fix my washer I contacted another Whirlpool repair service and can you believe...one phone call the the NEXT day my washer was fixed! NEVER...NEVER again will I dial their phone number for ANY reason!

A&E wins the All around award for worst customer service in the world. Whirlpool and A&E have taken terrible customer service and made it even worse. My dealings with them started in early April 2008 and after 4.5 months it still hasnt been resolved... Yes over 4 months and 4 trips by A&E technicians.

My saga started with a microwave from Whirlpool. My elderly mother had gotten the insurance for peace of mind. The microwave stopped working a year into the insurance. The first complaint was made on April 4th, 2008. She got scheduled for a technician to visit on April 18th. He ordered a part for the microwave after having spent 10min. The part was finally shipped 2 weeks later and then the appointment scheduled again which took another 10 days. The technician comes in and realizes that this is the wrong part and leaves telling her that he will order the right part this time. And here we go again. It takes 3 weeks to ship the part and another 2 weeks to schedule a technician. We are nearing end of June now -- about 2.5 months since the first call. The technician installs the part and it still doesnt work. He concludes that there is no issue with the microwave but with our internal electricity and tells my mom that she should look into this asap as it could have serious consequences. So she hires an electrician to come check the internal wiring. After paying $200 to the electrician we are told that this is a new house and there is nothing wrong with the wiring. He then goes on to clearly demonstrate that the issue is with the microwave. Great. Time to call the wonderful folks at A&E again. I also call Whirlpool to really get to the bottom of this. I figured they would care about how their outsourced company was dealing with their customers. I even asked that they send someone else than A&E. However, I was politely told by the supervisor that since the ticket had been opened with A&E, I have to complete it with them. There hands are tied and unfortunately they cant do anything to help. When I made the point that this insurance is not really buying any peace of mind and cant use the microwave at all, I was slyly told that it would be better if I just go buy a new microwave. Hmmm.. So why do they sell insurance in the first place. Ahhhhh. Bingo... Most customers would have given up after the second month and this is what Whirlpool and A&E counts on. It clearly improves margins for Whirlpool by screwing the customers. Get money upfront for value that is a mystery and let the customer end up holding the short end of the stick. I really wonder how are American companies are going to compete with the Asian companies. The rapid rise of companies like LG and Samsung taking away market share from Whirlpool doesnt surprise me anymore.

Well, enough about my rant on macroeconomics... I finally muster up the energy to call A&E and get an appointment for July 24th. The technician comes in and this time I am there since my Mom has been tricked by these guys 3 times already. I repeat the experiment that the independent electrician had shown us. He acknowledges and agrees that the problem is indeed with the microwave. Within 5 minutes he nails the issue to a corrupt power cord which now needs to be replaced. He calls in the part to be shipped. I had learnt about the serial nature of setting appointments and asked the next appointment to be scheduled rightaway. It got scheduled for Aug 8th as that gives enough time for the part to be shipped. I called on Aug 7th to figure out where the part is. I was told it was getting shipped on Aug 7th and that they have to now cancel the Aug 8th appointment. Well, ofcourse. What else should I have expected at this point. Now its Aug 14th and I call again. I am told that the part has still not been shipped and that it is the manufacturers fault. I asked to speak to a supervisor and spoke to Rebecca, who assured me that she will personally call the parts department and figure out why a power cord was taking so long. I now have an appointment set for Aug 22nd, 2008. Lets see if they can manage to stretch this even further.

Its been 4.5 months since this saga started. I have gone from frustration to amazement and seriously I am somewhat amused on how terrible Whirlpool's customer service is. I would love to write a business school case study on this.

btw: when I had asked to get A&E's corporate HQ phone number I was told that they didnt have it at the call center. The best she could do was to give me an address. Well, I am sharing it here if anyone feels like writing snail mail.

1300 Louis Henna blvd
Round Rock, TX 78664

Lesson learnt: NEVER buy extended insurance. Its far better to just throw the appliance and purchase a new one. This way you never have to deal with any customer service. Plus they should change the name from Customer service to Suckers beware.

Just so you know I don't work for either companies, but I do know a technician for A&E Factory services. You don't know what they have to go through in a day. Your problem could be more then one thing that they have to work through. They are human and don't get things right the first time always. Can you say that when you have some thing wrong with you and you don't know what it is. That when you go to the doctors that they don't have to run more than one test on you to find out what is going on with you.
Now for the ones who are having the problems with how long it is taking them to get to you. For your information A&E is short on technicians at this time, So the ones they do have have to work more area. So yes it is going to take longer to get to some of you.
All I have left to say is pull your heads out of your a** and grow up!

A&E SHOULD BE PUT OUT OF BUSINESS. Why are they still in operation? How can we all ban together to shut them down? They are the worst company I have ever delt with in my life. Completely unprofessional, horribly ignorant and totally incompetant. If I can Help take them DOWN, please let me know. They actually came into my home to "repair" my microwave and BROKE my oven! Weeks have gone by and they acutally HUNG UP THE PHONE on me, refused to help and said the part THEY broke was on a 1 month backorder! They must be held accountable.

I Completly Agree. A &E and Sears/Whirlpool are a complete disaster. We're on week four for our service request on a Whirlpool Duet dryer that is only six months old. The short story is A&E came in to fix one thing on our dryer and blew out our Heating Element and that part is six weeks away according to A&E. So between October 1st and Mid December we will be without a Dryer. (Keep these stories in mind when Whirlpool asks you if you want to extend your Warranty for $100+ a year...their service stinks and it's worth the frustration).

End Result is still to come..but we got tired of the run around and ordered the parts from Sears Direct (which is where A & E Sears gets their parts) and It should be here tomorrow not December. There is a big difference between October 30th and December 15th when you're waiting for a part to fix your Dryer.
Apparently getting a Warranty means your last in line to get parts.
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Full Story: Our Dryer broke with an F 25 Thermister error and it took a week to get A & E Service (Sears and Whirlpool) to our house between 8am and 12pm (arriving at 3:30pm). They told us we needed X, Y, Z parts..The parts took a week to arrive and they were shipped from a place that was only 20 miles away (but we're not allowed to pick them up and they won't pick them up for us either). Then another week for them to comeback to fix the machine (week 3). In week three they finally showed up at 3:00pm (for a 8am-12pm window) and a different technician said "These are all the wrong parts. The person that ordered these didn't know what he was doing."

This guy said that all that was broken was a safety switch and that he could permanently bypass the switch so we never have the problem again. I asked if it was safe to bypass this and he said that as long as I keep an eye on the dryer and make sure it doesn't get too hot it would be fine. I expressed my desire to keep my house from burning down and would prefer he just fix the part. After he tried to convince (bully) me for a few minutes, he finally gave up and said he could fix it a different way and replaced our Thermal Fuse. I now know that this was a temporary fix for him to get out the door.

The Dryer worked for two loads and then died again...A & E came back a week later..Yet again a different guy and he said "the previous guy didn't ground your machine properly and blew out your Heating Element". This heating element is out of stock and won't be available until mid-December.

HERE IS THE FUN PART: After complaining to A&E (owned by SEARS) for breaking everything..we calmed down and did some research. I figured out who they order parts from SEARS Parts and SEARS Parts Direct (.com). I called SEARS and they can ship the part the same day and even overnight it to us, but A&E will only talk to FSP Appliance Parts (also owned by SEARS) and A & E says they don't have a phone number for FSP Parts. So I found the address for FSP and did some web research..figured out that the number for FSP Parts (AKA Sears Roebuck Parts Dept.) in Glen Burnie, MD and called them...The part can be shipped from Texas and arrive in 7-10 days. Still a long time, but much better than A & E six weeks + one week to get a techinician to come.

End Result is still to come..but we got tired of the run around and ordered the parts from Sears Direct..It should be here tomorrow. There is a big difference between October 30th and December 15th when you're waiting for a part to fix your Dryer. (The only difference is no one will re-imburse us for the parts..but at this point that isn't important..I just want it fixed, so I never have to deal with this company again.)

Called for an appointment, stayed home from work, no one showed up, I called back, an THEY HAD NO RECORD THAT I HAD EVER CALLED THEM.

Just stole 1/2 day of my time.

Terrible, terrible.

A&E is the worst organized company that I have dealt with. But the major companies that contract with them are just as guilty of bad service. If an appliance is under warrenty, the customer should only have to make one phone call and it should be taken care of.
Right now our washer has been setting full of water for a month and a half, and I will not make another appointment with a&e, or will they be allowed back on my property.

Horrible service, extreremly rude, and after 4 hours of arguing - he left feeling that my dishwasher had been fixed. A day later - we started to have the same problem and now they will not return my phone calls. HORRIBLE COMPANY and I dont see why GE or any affiliate uses them. - Jason, San DIego

THE WORST EVER
After they left gas leak and did not call back
Bob Becker

I hate to read all this [censored]in and moaning, like ya'll so f*ckin entitled. I am a tech with ae and the worst part about my job is dealing with a bunch of cryin *ss babies who always want to know when you will be there or why you're late. Did it ever occur to any of you ### that there are 12 other b*thin little ### on our routes besides you. Instead of cryin like the p*ssies that you are, like just cause your washer dryer fridge out you got the right to disrespect the guy trying to fix your [censored], why don't ya'll take and go get f*cked in the *ss by mom and pop then you get a right to [censored].

Nice attitude Genie - that will solve a lot.. No wonder your company and reps are so horrible. If you would did YOUR JOB and fixed 'our ###' correctly the first time then you wouldnt see any complaints. NO DOUBT! And besides that - you seem like the whinning lil cry baby whaaaaaaaaaaaaa whaaaaaaaaa whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa my life sucks - your a JOKE! - Jack Bower

I have had Sears come and fix my dryer, my refrigertor my oven and had no problems. May have had to wait a little longer for an appointment, but the problem was resolved when the service technician came. With A & E Factory Service, it is the management that should be held accountable. They don't hire enough technicians to cover the service first off, so they can't schedule properly. They don't plan for the problem that was called in. I had a Calypso Washer...with a "CE Error". A & E Factory Service comes, but they don't have the boards on their truck or the U-Joint or the WashPlate so they can't fix the washer...order, customer, you check and be sure they arrive in good condition and nothing missing, then A & E will come back, unless you don't pick up on the first ring of the phone, then you will have to reschedule again and possibly again and possibly again...they have no concept of Customer Service. I will never buy any product that Sears or A & E Factory Service would have to repair. That wipes out most of the equipment out their in your home. They even own Magtag now...beware of what you buy or you will be stuck with that lousy SERVICE...if you can call it that.

I have been waiting almost 3 weeks and my washer still isn't operational...next date, 6/24/09 and you better be there all day and don't talk on the phone or you might not be able to transfer over on call waiting fast enough and be considered a "Customer Not Available or Home"... Maybe they just want you to purchase these warranties and then keep you waiting so long, you give up. I already told them, they will fix my washer, if I have to move it to the garage and have a new washer put in my laundry room...I can play that game too. I've already written the BBB about A & E Service and I written to the BBB about the Warranty policies too...they are part of the problem.

Check out your appliances and who owns the company...The technician told me the names of the machines that Sears owns now...even the 'dependable Maytag"...you're going to get A & E for service too...no more reliable Maytag Technician.