My Kenmore Elite refrigerator stopped working and Sears is not fixing it

QIn 2017, I bought a full set of kitchen appliances from Sears along with its protection agreement. Among the items was a white Kenmore Elite Counter Depth refrigerator made by LG.

Less than two years later, and while still under the protection agreement, I noticed a leak coming from the freezer door and found that the ice was melting because the freezer was no longer cooling, and the refrigerator had in fact died. When I called Sears for a repair, a representative told me it would be a three-week wait for a repair.

I decided to follow your advice and appealed to Sears executives requesting a faster resolution. I did not receive so much as an automated response.

When the appointment to repair the refrigerator finally rolled around, the technician didn’t show up.

Over the next three months, I made numerous attempts to address the broken refrigerator. While I was on another weekslong waitlist for an appointment, Sears offered to cover up to $300 for spoiled food as long as we itemized what was spoiled and up to $115 for a refrigerator, but $115 would barely cover a dorm-roomsized fridge.

The responses from Sears have been sporadic at best. I have been in customer service myself for more than 20 years and currently lead a customer service team. At no time were my emails insulting, foul or sarcastic. I tried to be direct with our expectations and am happy to share the threads with you if that would help.

Thank you very much for your consideration in this matter, and we hope you are able to help us out. — Brent Wilkinson, Campbell

AYour Kenmore refrigerator should still work. The average refrigerator lasts about 14 years, give or take.

But appliances can break down. Since you paid for an extended warranty, Sears should have come to your house quickly to fix the unit. It did not. Instead, it asked you to wait — and then wait some more.

You kept a beautiful paper trail and refused to let a Sears representative steer you to the phone. That’s great, because you had a full record of its responses and non-responses. I’m sorry that the executive contacts I list on my consumer advocacy site didn’t get back to you. My research team does its best to keep our contacts updated, but given Sears’ recent difficulties, there’s been a lot of turnover at the executive level. Maybe it will be for the better.

I only have one small suggestion. It appears that you contacted the executives before you went through the customer service department.

The executives are far likelier to do something if you’ve already tried to resolve the problem in writing through regular channels.

Your experience reads like a book titled “How Not to Take Care of Your Customers” — long waits, canceled appointments, unsatisfactory offers to resolve the problem. I hope this is atypical for Sears and that, once its troubles are behind, it will begin living up to its reputation for “quality products and services at great value.”

I contacted the company on your behalf. Sears offered $1,900 toward a replacement and $300 to replace your lost food.