As part of a full kitchen upgrade, reader Sean purchased a $1300 dishwasher from Sears. Shortly after he received the unit, he realized it was defective. Sears directed him to an outsourced service company called OneSource. During the phone call to OneSource, Sean logged over 3 hours of hold time and was bounced around to 11 different CSRs, but they did nothing to help. Eventually, he got with Sears Executive customer service who said that they couldn’t replace the washer until July. Now, Sean can’t even wash his dishes because his hot water isn’t connected and his garbage disposal leaks water. Sean’s letter, inside…

This past weekend, I purchased a $1300 dishwasher from Sears.. They delivered it Saturday morning, less than 24 hours after order. Great! However the dishwasher that they delivered was defective, I immediately called the store where I purchased it, and spoke with the Sales lady.. She told me that Sears has outsourced their customer service to a company called OneSource and that I that she couldn’t help me..

I called OneSource and was put on hold for over 3 hours. After talking with 11 different people (yes 11!) I was told that they couldnt help me and that I would have to arrange a pickup through the store to get the exchange. I called the store back and talked to store manager Olivia, she told me that I would have to talk to the sales girl, talked to her, she said she couldn’t help me and that I would have to go back to OneSource.. I spent 2.5 hours in the store talking with various managers, no resolve and no assistance whatsoever.

I left the store upset and bewildered as to why I was told that they couldn’t arrange a pickup. Mind you that Sears came and took away my old PERFECTLY FUNCTIONING dishwasher, as the new dishwasher was an upgrade for the remodel of my kitchen.

I called Sears Executive customer service who listened to what I had to say, and then transferred me to delivery department, delivery department told me that it would be until July 1st before they could get an exchange out here. In the meantime, I can not wash dishes except in my bathtub upstairs because the hot water had to be turned off to the kitchen sink and that the garbage disposal leaks water without the dishwasher lines connected to it.

I told delivery that their answer was completely unacceptable, and that I wanted some sort of resolution other than “I’m sorry” … the answer I got was to be transferred BACK to OneSource… OneSource told me that she was “so sorry for the inconvenience” and that she would have to create a case for me and that the best they could do was offer me a pitiful $75 gift card…

$75 doesn’t pay for my time to HAND WASH my families dishes in the fricking BATHTUB for the rest of the month until which time as sears can get off their lazy butt and bring me a non defective dishwasher… They also told me throughout all of this that they were unable to bring back my old dishwasher because they destroy them moments after getting back to their delivery facility!

Even executive customer service has let me down on this one! Can Consumerist help!?

That sounds like a tough situation, Sean. We’re becoming convinced that Sears is nothing more than some phony storefront facades with a few long distance phone lines connected overseas that are in cahoots with some shady warehouses that deal in wonky merchandise. We don’t have the highest hopes, but you could try launching an executive email carpet bomb which could perhaps get the attention of an employee who is competent and cares about your problem. Since you have already spoken to Executive Customer Service, you may as well try their CEO at alewis1@searshc.com. Otherwise, we suggest taking that $75 gift card and buying some paper plates and plasticware.

(Photo: jritch77)

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.