3.1
Overall Score
Author: Kalicia Bateman
Attention: Sears declared bankruptcy in 2018.
Sears declared bankruptcy in 2018 and now operates as three companies: Sears Holdings, Sears, and TransformCo. If you have a Sears appliance warranty, TransformCo now manages it. However, the warranties are still marketed under the Sears brand.
Sears Home Warranty offers competitive coverage. Its plans are customizable with additional coverage options, which helps you find the coverage you need.
The company also offers one of the longest repair guarantees in the industry.
Despite these positive factors, customer dissatisfaction with the company is high. Consider other home warranty companies before making a final decision.
Read Sears Home Warranty Reviews
Attention: Sears has roughly 96% 1-Star Reviews on Best Company.
Sears reviews reveal overwhelming dissatisfaction with the company's home warranty services. Most reviewers are highly unlikely to recommend the company to a friend or family member.
Sears Home Warranty's plans have no product age limit, include one heating and one cooling preventive maintenance check annually, and offer coverage for unknown pre-existing conditions.
Warranties come with a 30-day waiting period. However, during this period you'll benefit from 25 percent discounts on repairs for appliances, HVAC, and water heaters.
You'll find three home warranty plan options through Sears: Appliance Plan, System Plan, and Whole Home Plan.
Appliance Plan
The Appliance Plan protects 10 major home appliances:
You'll also benefit from 25 percent discounts on HVAC and water heater repairs.
This plan costs $49.99 per month. The service fee is $75.
System Plan
The System Plan protects 11 major home systems:
You'll also benefit from 25 percent discounts on appliance repairs.
This plan costs $59.99 per month. The service fee is $100.
Whole Home Plan
The Whole Home Plan combines the Appliance and Systems plan into one. It costs $69.99 per month. The service fee is $100.
Each Sears Home Warranty Plan is customizable with the following coverage:
Sears Home Warranty has separate contracts for each of its home warranty products. Using the Whole Home Plan as an example, contracts last one year and include a 30-day waiting period at the beginning.
Each Sears Home Warranty plan includes the following:
These benefits are standard in the home warranty industry, but Sears' 180-day workmanship guarantee, and heating and cooling maintenance checks, are unique and stand-out offerings.
Sears chooses the technicians it works with and offers a 180-day service guarantee. Home warranty providers often offer a workmanship guarantee but typically of only 30 days. Sears' guarantee is one of the longest that you'll see in the industry.
You can submit claims online or over the phone 24/7. You'll receive a referral to a service technician within 2 hours during business hours or 24 hours for requests made outside of business hours.
Sears Home Warranty has separate contracts for each of its home warranty products. We'll use the Whole Home Plan contract as our reference for contract information.
Sears' cancellation policy is fairly consistent with industry norms. You'll receive a full refund if you cancel within the first 30 days and haven't made a claim.
If you've made a claim or decided to cancel after the first 30 days, you may receive a prorated refund for the remaining contract time. You'll also be charged a $25 claims processing fee and the cost of any service performed under the agreement. In some cases, you may be charged by the company for the remaining balance.
Sears Home Warranty has received a sizable number of reviews, although some competitors have higher review counts on Best Company.
Unfortunately, 96 percent of these reviews are 1 star. Reviews mention poorer service post Sears' bankruptcy, long delays with parts and repairs, poor customer service, dissatisfaction with claims and coverage, and difficulty cancelling.
These concerns are troubling because a home warranty's value is in the repairs and claims.
Sears Home Warranty also has a 71 percent lower average star rating compared to the industry average (3.8 /5).
The company's net promoter score is also much lower than the industry average: a 0.2 compared to a 5.8. The net promoter score measures the likelihood a reviewer would recommend the company on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the most likely.
As noted in the introduction, Sears declared bankruptcy in 2018, which resulted in a new operation structure. Home warranties are still marketed under the Sears brand, but they are managed by TransformCo.
Bankruptcy isn't a good sign, particularly for home warranty shoppers. You'll want to find a home warranty provider that has a good track record of meeting its claims obligations and is financially stable.
Using the Whole Home Plan contract as a reference, Sears Home Warranty's limitations and exclusions generally follow industry trends.
Home warranty contracts typically have limitations and exclusions. Sears' contracts are no exception.
You won't find coverage for permits, cranes, removal fees, disposal fees, modifications, abuse, misuse, neglect, poor maintenance, missing parts, power surges, fire, etc. Incidental and consequential damage is not covered.
Keep in mind that specific parts of equipment may not be covered, so review the contract to understand your coverage better. In some cases, you may be offered a cash settlement instead of a repair or replacement.
The warranty has an annual cap of $50,000 and a $10,000 cap for each claim.
You must receive prior authorization for coverage to be offered. If you get repairs done without working through Sears, you won't be covered even if the repair is normally covered.
Although Sears Home Warranty has many competitive features, the level of dissatisfaction among reviewers is quite high. You may want to consider another home warranty company.
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