Warranty Legal Question

Captain

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Lotta armchair lawyers here, thought I'd see what ya'll thought;

I own a Kenmore refrigerator that I bought from Sears just over 2 years ago. Did not buy any service plan.

Couple weeks ago it stopped working. I went to Sears with the receipt and the sales guy told me it's not under warranty and it's just under $200 to have their guys go out and look at it. I said no thanks and had my guy out. He said the compressor is shot, it's common with this make and model, and looked it up on the Kenmore website and saw the compressor had a 10 year warranty, but I'd have to deal with Sears.

So, I call Sears national (not the local Store) and they send their guy out a week later and yup, it's the compressor and under warranty. But they want $408 for labor and will get to it in 3 weeks. He ordered the part and it was shipped directly to me (I have it now) and charged me $97 deposit.

That brings us to right now. I have the part. I'm out $97 for that deposit to Sears and $87 to my guy for coming out initially.

I have the part and could have my guy put it in this week for $200 total (I've already paid him $87 towards that) or I can wait until Tuesday and have Sears do it and owe them another $300.

Sears claims that if I have my guy do it then they'll charge me. Charge me for what I have no idea. The part is from LG (LG makes this particular Kenmore fridge) and is under warranty. They would not be doing the labor so could they charge me and if so for what?

Seems to me I own the fridge and I own the compressor that was shipped to me so shouldn't I be allowed to do with my property anything I choose? What angle could Sears use to charge me more money past the $97 I've already paid?

Thanks in advance!
 
Some credit cards will extend the warranty. Not sure if that applies to you, though.

I don't know what Sears could charge you for. If it's a parts warranty I could understand a shipping charge, maybe, but since labor isn't covered, then I dunno Unless they want to verify you actually do the repair and not resell the part...but their guy already verified the part is failed so it isn't like you are making a bogus claim as a way to get an extra compressor. I'm not even sure about that "deposit" was all about.
 
Captain said:
Lotta armchair lawyers here, thought I'd see what ya'll thought;

I own a Kenmore refrigerator that I bought from Sears just over 2 years ago. Did not buy any service plan.

Couple weeks ago it stopped working. I went to Sears with the receipt and the sales guy told me it's not under warranty and it's just under $200 to have their guys go out and look at it. I said no thanks and had my guy out. He said the compressor is shot, it's common with this make and model, and looked it up on the Kenmore website and saw the compressor had a 10 year warranty, but I'd have to deal with Sears.

So, I call Sears national (not the local Store) and they send their guy out a week later and yup, it's the compressor and under warranty. But they want $408 for labor and will get to it in 3 weeks. He ordered the part and it was shipped directly to me (I have it now) and charged me $97 deposit.

That brings us to right now. I have the part. I'm out $97 for that deposit to Sears and $87 to my guy for coming out initially.

I have the part and could have my guy put it in this week for $200 total (I've already paid him $87 towards that) or I can wait until Tuesday and have Sears do it and owe them another $300.

Sears claims that if I have my guy do it then they'll charge me. Charge me for what I have no idea. The part is from LG (LG makes this particular Kenmore fridge) and is under warranty. They would not be doing the labor so could they charge me and if so for what?

Seems to me I own the fridge and I own the compressor that was shipped to me so shouldn't I be allowed to do with my property anything I choose? What angle could Sears use to charge me more money past the $97 I've already paid?

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

BLUF: the part is warrantied, not the labor. Authorized service provider must be used for warranty to be fully executed.

What does it say in the terms and conditions of the warranty. I’ll guess that parts are covered, Labor is not.

I’ll also guess the warranty is void if not using an authorized service provider. Using your guy, Sears probably isn’t getting the core back, which I bet LG requires as part of the warranty exchange.

Add to it that your guy, however competent, could install a defective from the factory part. Since the authorized installer wasn’t used and the warranty is void, you’re up a creek without a paddle.
 
I thought I had said that but see I didn't. Yes, the part is covered, the labor is not. $400 is labor for a 1 hour job seems high to me and seems a bit unfair that I'm forced to use their labor. They could charge whatever they like.
 
If you need continued warranty coverage, use their labor. $400 is a little high, but putting a guy in a truck and going to customer's homes is not cheap.
 
I'd read the warranty carefully, but I'd be inclined to tell Sears to f**k off. First off, there are implied warranty issues that you could look into that might obligate Kenmore to pay the entire bill, parts and labor (depends on your state law, etc.). Second, there's a pretty strong argument that the Magnusson-Moss warranty act prohibits Kenmore/Sears from requiring you to use their "authorized service provider" to install the part in order to retain warranty eligibility. Generally, a manufacturer cannot deny warranty coverage because repairs were performed by someone other than their "authorized representative," unless they can prove that the "unauthorized repair" caused the damage.
 
Yeah, it will depend on exactly where the OP is from.

I looked for the OYB airport and couldn't find it, but the N in front would imply that he's located in Micronesia ;)
 
Personally, I would void my warranty before going with a Sears provider.

What would it cost to return the warranty part and buy one outright?
 
bflynn said:
Yeah, it will depend on exactly where the OP is from.

I looked for the OYB airport and couldn't find it, but the N in front would imply that he's located in Micronesia ;)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I should update that. I'm in Florida, in between KJAX and KEYW.
 
MauleSkinner said:
Personally, I would void my warranty before going with a Sears provider.

What would it cost to return the warranty part and buy one outright?
Click to expand...

Part alone is $350. (Trump tariffs aren't helping that)
 
Captain said:
Part alone is $350. (Trump tariffs aren't helping that)
Click to expand...
Sounds like $550 to have your guy do it vs $400 under warranty...like I said, I'd pay the extra $150.

Edit: actually less than $100 difference, since his callout fee applies to the $200.
 
After seeing this, I'm gonna check the compressor warranty on my Kenmore Elite fridge, which just hit four years. It would suck if it was "parts only". In the past, I have gotten parts for other "parts only" warranties, and installed them myself; it's possible that Sears gives a new warranty on the replacement compressor, and thus want "their" people to do it.
 
Sears may do what Apple does - give you an "exchange" price for the compressor. If you don't swap the part through one of their $400/hour guys, they will charge you more for the part. Similar to, but not quite the same, buying car parts and paying a core charge.
 
Yes, if you want a part under warranty, you have to use authorized repair. This is not abnormal for a lot if products where the parts are covered and the labor isn’t.
 
Clip4 said:
Yes, if you want a part under warranty, you have to use authorized repair. This is not abnormal for a lot if products where the parts are covered and the labor isn’t.
Click to expand...

In this situation, he already has the part, it was shipped directly to him. If Kenmore really wanted to force use of their "authorized repair" folks, they'd ship the part to the repair shop and let them deliver to customer and install. Here, not much Kenmore can do at this point IMHO. It's a warranty part, they'd have a hard time saying "give it back" after they shipped it to him. I'd still just tell Sears to **** off and have my guy install it. I'm guessing Sears doesn't have an enforceable agreement with OP whereby he promises to pay them to install it.
 
bradg33 said:
In this situation, he already has the part, it was shipped directly to him. If Kenmore really wanted to force use of their "authorized repair" folks, they'd ship the part to the repair shop and let them deliver to customer and install. Here, not much Kenmore can do at this point IMHO. It's a warranty part, they'd have a hard time saying "give it back" after they shipped it to him. I'd still just tell Sears to **** off and have my guy install it. I'm guessing Sears doesn't have an enforceable agreement with OP whereby he promises to pay them to install it.
Click to expand...

Could be, but if the part turns out to be defective or becomes defective in the future, don’t whine to Kenmore.
 
Clip4 said:
Could be, but if the part turns out to be defective or becomes defective in the future, don’t whine to Kenmore.
Click to expand...

Kenmore would likely still be responsible, unless Kenmore can establish that the part was improperly installed. While companies routinely attempt to do so, Federal law doesn't allow a warranties to be voided because work was done by someone that is not an "authorized" service provider.
 
So, update:

Total bluff from Sears. I him'd and haw'd and finally had my guy do it. It was faster and cheaper to blow off Sear's threat so I pulled the trigger and scheduled my guy. He just left and the fridge is rapidly cooling off...good news. I paid him his $113 and called Sears to cancel my service call with them next Tuesday.

Me: I'd like to cancel my appointment.
Sears Service Center: Okay, We recommend you have a checkup anyway. Would you like to keep the appointment?

Me: Ah, no..I'd like to just cancel the appointment.

SSC: Okay. We really recommend a checkup. If we give you 25% off would you like to keep the appointment?

Me: That's really nice of you. No, I'd like to just cancel the appointment.

SSC: Okay, I'll show your appointment canceled, but we really...

Me: <click>
 
We just had a Sears Kenmore Elite refrigerator hauled off as it was replaced by a local appliance store. The Kenmore Elite was made by LG. It replaced a Kenmore Elite that died a touch over 5 years ago. First "repair" was to replace the compressor. Second "repair" replaced the heat exchanger. Third "repair" didn't happen as the service tech determined that the leak was in the tubing in the body of the refrigerator and wasn't repairable. Sears offered us a bunch of money or a new refrigerator. We took the money. LG should return to their old name - Lucky Goldstar. It expressed their "quality" better. BTW, it took 6 visits (3 troubleshooting, 3 replacement) before the 6th visit resulted in the refrigerator being declared unrepairable. Started Memorial Day weekend and ran into early August. Fortunately, we have a second refrigerator in the kitchen that, while hurting for space, is very reliable. A floor model Whirlpool that we bought in 1992. Still works fine. We'll see how the Kitchenaid we bought holds up. Never again will I buy something from LG.
 
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