When his washing machine from a Sears Outlet failed during its very first load of laundry, flooding the house, Rob thought that everything would be okay. Replacing the defective washer was a painless and easy process, thanks to the staff of his local store. Getting Sears to cover the thousands of dollars’ worth of water damage to his home…not so much.

Rob wrote to the CEO (more on that below):

On July 7th we received a floor model Whirlpool Duet Washer from one of your Sears Outlet stores (scratched with a full warranty). The next evening we started our first load of laundry before we went to bed around 10pm.

The next morning, we woke up to a flooded laundry room. Unfortunately, the valve that shuts off the water to the drum had failed in the washer. After filling up the drum to the top, the water then poured out all over the room. We sopped up the mess, contacted our local Sears outlet who assured us Sears would resolve both the broken washer and the flooding damage “right away”.

The local outlet made good on replacing the washer. We took a trip to the store, picked out a replacement washer and it was delivered the next day. They were very apologetic and even provided a phone number to follow up to get the water damage taken care of. Unfortunately, that’s where the good experience ended.

Dozens of phone calls, untold hours on hold and 21 days later, no one at Sears or it’s associated maze of insurance companies is following up regarding the water damage to my home. I have 3 different damage claim numbers from different groups within Sears. I have contacted the local outlet, the operations manager, several insurance companies, even your @sears twitter account with no motion. The claim has been re-directed from department to department, and right now Sears’ insurance group (Sedgwick) has directed the claim to the poor subcontractor who delivered the washer. Of course, the delivery service didn’t cause the problem and can’t understand why they would be responsible for the damage.

It almost seems like the claims process is intentionally slow and opaque just to wear down customers like me. One of the helpful people I spoke with was [redacted], a district Sears Operations Manager. Even in his roll he told me today, “ultimately I have no power to get this rolling.”

I’ve had a water extraction company quote the work for extracting the water at $2,140.99. That quote does not include restoration work which could easily double the damages. I need to get this resolved immediately to avoid further damage to my home (that said, I’ve removed baseboards and purchased fans to try to dry it out as best as I can myself).

I’m looking for someone with the power to get this rolling. Please advise.

He sent this letter what turned out to be an outdated address for the Sears Holdings CEO. He wrote to Aylwin B. Lewis, the CEO of Kmart at the time of the Kmart/Sears merger, and later CEO of Sears Holdings. He hasn’t been with the company since 2008, and the message bounced.

Changes in management happen; probably more often at troubled companies like Sears. That’s why research is important when trying to take your complaints to the top. Louis J. D’Ambrosio is the current CEO and president of Sears Holdings.

A better choice for Sears complaints on Twitter is the account @SearsCares. You can also e-mail the same social media team at searscares@searshc.com.

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