When should a new warranty begin? Reader ournextcontestant wonders this after purchasing a service agreement from Sears for a broken dishwasher. The new warranty begins on the day it was purchased, and not on the day that the appliance is put back in working order. Ournextcontestant doesn’t like this, believing that Sears is robbing him of valuable days of the warranty. Maybe weeks or months of the warranty, considering how long it takes Sears to actually fix things.

On Thursday, I contacted Sears Home Repair because of trouble with my Kenmore dishwasher.

There were two options for repair: $129 for a service call, not including parts and labor, or $229 for the full repair, plus a one-year service agreement/warranty and a credit of up to $500 if the dishwasher cannot be repaired. I chose the latter and scheduled and appointment for next Wednesday.

I received a copy of the service contract via email. It says the warranty began today (Thursday), the day I set up the appointment — and not the day the dishwasher is actually repaired. My appointment is six days from now, but what if it were three weeks from now? Would I lose three weeks of the one-year warranty? And what if the repairman comes and a part is needed to be ordered?

I have contacted Sears and am awaiting a response. But this whole thing is nonsense, that I would even have to ask them to start the warranty on the day the machine is actually working again.

Hopefully, you can save the next guy the trouble of emailing Sears (and emailing Consumerist) by getting Sears to stop this ridiculous practice.

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