Massachusetts

NBC10 Boston Responds: Defective Dishwasher Dilemma

"I had felt as though I had been kicked to the curb"

A Merrimac, Massachusetts, woman thought it would be easy to get an appliance replaced when it didn't work upon delivery, but she was wrong.

When her dishwasher broke, Debra Little started getting the job done the old fashioned way, and she eventually went to Sears to buy a new one.

"I bought a General Electric model, and it was installed, and within half an hour after the delivery men had left, I discovered that the dishwasher was a non-functioning unit," said Little. "I immediately called the installers and informed them that the unit was not functioning."

Little says they told her they would order a replacement, but for weeks, the delivery was delayed.

"About a week later, I got another call, saying they had the replacement in, and they would deliver the replacement," said Little. "Week after that, I got a call back again, saying they had a snag, and wouldn't be able to deliver the replacement. This happened one other time, for a total of three times that the delivery of the replacement was cancelled."

Little decided to head back to Sears to pick out a new model, but she says they told her, because a month had passed since her original delivery date, she would have to call the company's solutions center, which she did.

"They called me back, and told me that they would not allow me to replace the unit, and that I had to keep the unit that was not functioning," explained Little. "After that, I called Sears Corporate, and the person that I spoke to informed me, even though it was a unit that never functioned, they told me that because I did not have an extended warranty, they would not take it back."

Little says she didn't know where else to turn, so she reached out to NBC10 Boston Responds for help.

"I had felt as though I had been kicked to the curb, which is exactly what had happened, and I don't think that anyone likes that feeling," said Little.

We contacted Sears and they fixed the problem quickly.

The company tells us: "At Sears, our top priority is the satisfaction of our members. We regret the difficulty Ms. Little encountered with the replacement of her dishwasher. She was able to select a different model that has now been delivered and installed at no additional cost to her."

"I had the unit on the day that she said it would be delivered," said Little. "It was the service I should have gotten in the first place. I was most impressed with NBC, because it was you that made the difference. I'm very, very grateful. It would not have happened without your intervention."

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