FF12: Company won’t return calls after Augusta man asks for refund

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - What if you paid thousands of dollars for something, and after it breaks, you can’t get a hold of the company you bought it from?

Tim McDougald is someone who believes companies should always do the right thing.

“Just saddle up for me. I’m not asking for the world. Just do what you should do; just do the right thing,” said McDougald.

For about five months, he said he’s been trying to get in contact with Sears because of a refrigerator he bought over four years ago. The fridge stopped working, and since it’s still under warranty, he’s had many people with the company try to fix it.

“The compressor went out. It’s got a manufacturer’s warranty of five years. We came home—we were at the lake—come home find the refrigerator was not working. All the items were spoiled. Cleaned it, called Sears tech,” said McDougald. “They came in and installed several parts including a new compressor. It worked for about a week, and then it went out again.”

It’s been months since he’s heard from the company. McDougald said he went through Thanksgiving and Christmas without a refrigerator.

On 52 different occasions, he’s emailed, called and texted Sears and hasn’t heard much about getting a new refrigerator or refund.

“They’ve come out nine times. Three times they’ve told me the refrigerator is unrepairable. Finally, they documented all their receipts from the original purchase and submitted all those, but I haven’t heard back anything from them. Every time you call, all you get is an automated system,” said McDougald.

FactFinder 12 found out he’s right. We tried calling Sears over and over again and struggled getting a real person to answer. We received automated messages including some trying to sell us insurance, medical devices, and T.V. services. When FactFinder finally got through to a real person, the woman on the other line gave us a number she said was her supervisor, but it took us back to the automated menu.

“It irritates me to death to know that, yes, it’s happened to me, but who else is dealing with Sears problems?” said McDougald. “Warranty issues, why don’t they take care of it?”

While he didn’t have a working fridge for months, McDougald said at this point he just wants his money back.

“Reimburse me for the refrigerator I had to buy since they haven’t done anything for us. You cannot contact them, you get automation. And if you do get a hold of somebody, they put you on hold, ‘Let me check on this for you,’ and it goes blank. They cut you off, don’t ever get back with you,” said McDougald.

FactFinder was never able to get in touch with company supervisors about his problem.

From the Better Business Bureau’s website, it shows the Sears headquarters has nearly 8,000 complaints in the last three years. Many people had similar situations to McDougald’s.

If you have an issue you need our help with, call Factfinder 12 at 316-831-6166 and leave a message or email us at investigators@kwch.com.

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