SALTSBURG, PA (KDKA) – A family from Saltsburg told KDKA it has been without heat since mid-December and feels cheated by a Sears warranty program.
“We can’t be the only ones. Maybe we’re the only ones who can get on like this all winter, ”said Jack Newingham.
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The family told KDKA that they have a Sears guarantee called the Master Protection Program. But when the time came for a replacement, the family said they had gotten the detour.
There are several electric space heaters on the floor of the dining room. The Newingham family say they survived the coldest winter of their lives and even turned on the stove because of the heat.
“(It went up) 50 degrees in here, 45 actually,” said Jack Newingham. “You see blankets behind you hanging in the hallway, blankets here, blankets out there.”
Jack Newingham showed KDKA the numerous notes he has kept since December 15, the day the stove broke down on the family’s first floor.
“It says here:” Service promise: We will fix it on our first service visit, “he said.
He reads the warranty, shakes his head, and stares at what he calls the “black and white problem”.
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“(It’s called) Replacement Warranty: If we can’t fix the problem, we’ll deliver and install a new one,” Newingham said.
But he says that no matter how many years he and his wife, Janet, paid into the Sears Master Protection Agreement, that didn’t happen.
“We’ve assumed over the years that we’ve paid $ 13,000 to $ 14,000 since 1974 on this maintenance contract so they could get their job done,” said Jack.
The couple told KDKA that they have been documenting calls to Sears and service appointments since they first reported the problem. A few months later and no replacement. Jack says an email came in a few weeks ago with an offer for Sears to write them a check.
“Run around, that was all. The complete workaround. And then it got to the point where they only want to give us $ 1,900, ”Jack said.
KDKA’s Meghan Schiller called and spoke to the public relations director for Transformco, the company that bought what was left of Sears when it filed for bankruptcy. The company said, “The satisfaction of our members and customers is our top priority,” adding that it will contact and work with customers directly.
Jack told KDKA that he paid another company to install a new oven on Friday, unable to let his diabetic wife suffer one more night in the cold. A difference of several thousand dollars, he says, over the amount offered by Sears.
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“I just can’t accept $ 1,900 for an oven replacement that doesn’t even cover it. All the years we’ve paid the Master Protection Plan, we thought we were getting close to the amount we had to pay. But not even half? “Said Jack.
