Sears customers who paid hundreds of dollars on extended warranty protection plans through Sears are fuming after the company stopped honoring those plans on Oct. 18.
Customers like Alex Fantillo of Coquitlam went to Sears demanding compensation but were told no.
However, since he paid for his Sears warranty with his credit card he has a good case to dispute his charges to get his money back.
Fantillo paid about $350 in February for a five-year protection plan on his new Kenmore washer and dryer and even though Sears is in liquidation he thought he’d at least be entitled to a coupon to buy merchandise.
The Sears Protection Plan brochure clearly states that buyers are entitled to an instore coupon equal to the price of their protection plan if they make no claims during the term of the plan.
Fantillo has made no claims, Sears has terminated his plan but still he’s not being offered any kind of compensation.
Sears is holding customers to the written terms of the protection plan contract even though they are not honouring it.
“A protection plan owner would have to wait until the end of the original term of the plan before requesting their coupon,” Sears’s spokesman Vincent Power told CTV News in an email.
“So I give you my money. You’re not going to be around, so I want my money back,” said Fantillo.
He says Sears can’t have it both ways. Armed with the Sears brochure and the response he received when he asked for compensation from the Coquitlam store he filed a dispute with RBC Visa, his credit card company, for services not delivered.
“They’re saying I’m going to get my money back in eight weeks,” he said.
We called American Express, Visa and MasterCard and confirmed there’s a case to dispute the charges for Sears Protection Plans.
“Basically just tell everyone to contact the bank. We have been working out if it’s the month to month one – we’re getting those ones prepared to start disputing. If it’s two years to five years, we’ve been working out the prorated amount and disputing the rest,” said a Visa customer service representative.
“If like, the merchant wasn’t able to provide the service for the extended warranty at all, we also have a dispute case for that. So yup we can dispute it here at American Express,” an American customer service representative responded.
It was the same response from MasterCard.
“If a customer has paid for an extended warranty with their HSBC MasterCard, and are not able receive the full value of the service due to circumstances as you’ve described, we are able to provide a prorated reimbursement as long as the company continues to operate,” stated Aurora Bonin with HSBC media relations.
Sears plans to continue to do business through the holiday season. So if you paid for your unused extended Sears warranty with a credit card don’t delay filing a dispute to get your money back.
Fantillo is glad he did.
“Yay, I did (it) but I want everybody else to know too.”
