Sears Appliance Repair

I paid for a Sears Protection Plan for my refrigerator/freezer.  Because of this, i must use Sears Appliance Repair for repairs. Over the past 5 months I have called Sears Repair repeatedly for the same recurring problem, which causes my refrigerator/freezer to completely stop working.  Every time I call for a repair appointment, "the earliest" is 12 to 14 days from the day I call.  There is no way to get a "rush" order because of an emergency (no working refrigerator), and Sears Repair does not care that without a refrigerator, you can't cook, no diary, cheese, eggs, no fresh vegies, no meat, no condiments, no frozen foods, no ice.  How would you and your family fare under these conditions?   
While waiting for the repair appointment I would go nearly 2 weeks without a working fridge.  The repair men would do a bandaid fix, and the fridge worked when they left.  Some ordered a part, which would be shipped to me UPS (takes 5 to 7 days), then a DIFFERENT repairman would show up on the scheduled day to install the part, or argue it was the wrong part, and order another part. Mean time, in a few days, the fridge would quit working again.  Very frustrating!  Eight repairmen later, and over 4 months later, three different parts were installed, never saw the same repairman twice.  Between ordering the wrong part and shoddy repair work (one repair man installed a coil heater and did not plug the part in, then left), I was at Sear's mercy, without a working fridge. After a 5 month struggle, the eighth repair man ordered an after-market part that was designed to fix this known problem with my Kenmore Elite (made by LG), and number 9 repairman installed it on Sept. 28.  So far a week later it still works, but I don't trust it. Sears has had access to this part for a year.
Bottom line, if you get tied into a Sears Protection Plan for your appliances, you are also tied to all the Sears Repair Service problems. They farm out all the repair orders to other local companies, who are seriously understaffed, you are at the bottom of the priority list. The "lemon" replacement program has a catch 22 (read the fine print), your appliance will not be replaced until 3 "major" or "vital" parts are replaced.  In my case, the parts that were ordered were not on "vital" list even though the fridge would not run without them. Also, with each successive "wrong" part, it was another 2 weeks to get someone out, and 2 weeks after that to get the latest part installed.  It's a very bad system, terrible customer service, not "customer first" but Sears convenience first.

The machine was under warranty. Two people came out to do the job. It only took about half an hour. It was done efficiently and competently. If I were going to tell a friend or family member id tell them to expect punctual, competent, and reliable service. Overall it was a good experience.