Sears Complaint - Purchasing a Warranty from Sears is worthless! - Toshiba TV

Posted by Venice09 on 2012-01-20:

This is exactly what happened to me with a washing machine. It went on for one year. Fortunately, I was still able to use the washer while they were pretending to fix it, but it took a lot of extra effort to make it work. That experience is the reason I will never buy an extended warranty or any type of service plan again.

Some people are under the impression that extended warranties are inexpensive. Those people must have connections because the average consumer pays through the nose ($600!!!) for something that just causes further inconvenience and aggravation.

Excellent review. It speaks volumes about Sears and extended warranties. You are not alone. Many people are in the same boat.

Posted by At Your Service on 2012-01-21:

Actually, just a few reviews down, another consumer was complaining about how they were being ripped off getting a Sony television exchanged. It hadn't seemed they had done much research on the matter because the model they were getting was light years beyond their old one.

In this case, I'd like to know what kind of Toshiba television it is. By replacing a light, it would seem it was one of their older rear projection sets. These are nice units, but are typically not that difficult to replace a lamp. It sounds as if, by replacing the lamp three times in very short time frames, they've decided that there is something causing the lamp to go out. This could be a ballast.

I agree that they should be respectful of your time and getting you serviced in a reasonable fashion. There's a lot said to them speaking with you politely and professionally, even if the answer is that it's really is just being worked on. Likewise, I've always agreed with the old saying about attracting flies with honey. I'm good about keeping notes about when and to whom I've spoken to. At some point, there's nothing wrong with calling them to suggest the proper solution would be the exchange of a like unit. If they're willing to work with you in doing so, look at Mitsubishi's line of DLP televisions. They're the only rear projections sets still being produced. They have both a 600 and 700 series that should be equivalent to the older Toshiba rear projections and fill the need nicely.

Please let us know how things progress.

Posted by Venice09 on 2012-01-21:

I fail to see the connection in the above comment and the review. I hope the OP gets more out of it than I did and comes back to let us know.

Posted by ok4now on 2012-01-21:

This sounds like my old Toshiba rear projection TV that I replaced 6 years ago. Irregardless the OP had a warranty and it should have been repaired properly. If the lamp was replaced 3 times and it's still not working this could possibly fall under the lemon law. Sears had three tries and failed. Give the customer a new TV or or a credit towards a new one.

I've noticed that with all of these Sears negative reviews SearsCare is rarely heard from. Not that they made any difference, it was all damage control. With over 125 stores on the chopping block and their reputation ruined they probably don't care anymore. The OP did everything right but was ripped off by Sears. Buyer beware.

Posted by Venice09 on 2012-01-21:

I wonder why OPs don't take the opportunity to contact Sears before writing a complaint.

Posted by trmn8r on 2012-01-21:

I believe some of these lamps are known to not have a long life. You don't state how often they have failed.

If this problem has been reported, in my opinion if the warranty expires while waiting for parts the repair should still be covered.

Posted by ok4now on 2012-01-22:

Many OPs have contacted Sears with little or no results. Their service dept has screwed them which is why they are writing a post. Many posts are complaints after contacting Sears. Then we discuss these posts where it can become quite heated. Speed Queen vs. Whirlpool. Buy the extended warranty, no it's a ripoff. This dialog weather you agree or not is what makes this site interesting. Now let's prepare for battle people. LOL!!!

Posted by Venice09 on 2012-01-22:

I was thinking along those lines, too. By the time a person makes it to this site, they've probably already been put through the wringer and are out of patience. They might feel that contacting Sears is futile.

Posted by At Your Service on 2012-01-22:

I agree trmn8r.

Posted by trmn8r on 2012-01-22:

Maybe a Sears rep will come here and offer to help. That would take things to a whole nother level of expectations.

Posted by Venice09 on 2012-01-23:

Not really. Not if the OP doesn't see it.

Posted by At Your Service on 2012-01-23:

If it should become a ballast issue, I could see them replacing it much easier than servicing it.

Posted by SearsCare on 2012-01-23:

Dear norm4sure,

My name is Robert and I am part of the Sears Social Media Escalations team. I am very concerned about what I have read here. I came across your post and I wanted to reach out and offer our assistance. Sears Social Media Escalations Team is a single point of contact for escalated concerns which means we step into a situation and handle it start to finish with one Case Manager.

At your convenience, please contact our office via email at smadvisor@searshc.com so you don’t have to continue to be frustrated by this. In the email, please provide a contact phone number and we will call you directly. Also, in your email, please provide the screen name (norm4sure) you used to post on this site, for reference to your issue, and we do look forward to talking to you soon.

Thank you,


Robert B.
Social Media Moderator
Sears Social Media Support