Botched Roofing Job by Sears Home Central

[Evy]

If you need home renovations of any kind, DO NOT call Sears Home Central !!!
In fact, stay away from Sears altogether.

My little video shows it all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpBJYlTPIsY

June 20, 2002, 25-year roof shingles and attic vents were installed by Sears Home Central. They installed the ventilation improperly, causing premature deterioration of the shingles, also water infiltration as a result of ice dams.

I had requested that they make sure there was proper ventilation at the time of contract. The salesman suggested the Maxi Vent system (Ventilation Maximum), and I agreed.

I called Sears within the next day, concerned about the placement of the Maxi Vent. Even an old woman knows it should be as high as possible, near the ridge. It is half way down the roof. The salesman looked from the ground, on one side, and said it was good enough. Against my better judgment, all I could do was hope for the best.

That summer, I noticed excessive falling off of granules from the shingles

July 11, 2009, I noticed shingles becoming bare, curling and breaking. I called Sears Home Central to report this. It took several calls before someone got back to me.

July 31, another rep from Sears inspects the roof. Without hesitation, he informs me that the ventilation was not properly installed, that this was causing the problem and it was Sears' fault. He said that Sears would fix the ventilation and reshingle the roof at no cost to me.

Afterward, I visit Maxi Vent website and found, according to their very clear instructions, that indeed the ventilation was all wrong.

Since that time, I have had the runaround, stonewalling, excuses and gobbledegook from Sears. Now they flatly refuse to fix anything. "Not our responsability", they say.

This is the most deplorable and shameful performance I have ever seen in my life. STAY AWAY FROM SEARS !!!

[Junerose]

I am sorry to hear that. When the roof system was first installed, did an independent inspector come in for a final evaluation before you paid them in full? When I shopped around to get my roof replaced, I think Sears didn't offer that, and I went with Rona instead.
Is there a guarantee you can fall back on?
If you have evidence that they installed the system incorrectly, your last resort would be small claims court. In my experience, going to the BBB is pretty close to useless and a waste of time.
Good luck and hopefully you can get this resolved without having to take legal action.

[amyt0915]

I am sorry to hear this too! A new roof is a big and important investment for your home- Too bad that they aren't going to honor their workmanship now that they have your money

[anisa]

homestars.com

great website to find reputable contractors in your area, give positive reviews of work done on your home, and give BAD reviews of shoddy work done. you can post pics and everything.

[Lynn49]

Sears, eh? Figures. We had a good ol' chat about that company in another thread....I'm sorry to hear about your troubles..I hope it all gets fixed soon...if not, can you go to some sort of small claims court or an ombudsman? I wish I could be more helpful...Good luck...

[Sally888]

Sounds horrible. I've seen some roofs that are 5 years old that look a lot worse then yours. I of course don't know if they were installed wrong or not but it seems that these 25 year shingles don't last very long. We just had to redo our roof this year and they were only 10 years old, but the back from the wind was to the point that there was not even any shingle left.

Anyways keep trucking along and hopefully Sears will just give in and fix it for you. It really seems that they had shoddy workers who thought they could pull a quick one on you! Shame on them! I do understand the wear and tear of the tile from our winters sure, but the vent system is completely wrong, they can't get out of that one.

[ricaroofers]

I'm sorry to hear you like that with that roofing company. Having a roof is really a big investment for your home so you might be considering some important things before you getting into a contract with a roofing company. You should consider the warranty first.SEO Services

[Evy]

No, there was no final inspection. It would not even have been up to the building code. I always thought Sears were rock-solid dependable. Guess I was wrong, big time. I have now had the whole redone at my expense. Anyway, check this out. A report copied from the BBB website on Apr 22, 2010.

Based on BBB files, this business has a BBB Rating of F on a scale from A+ to F.
Reasons for this rating include, for the last 36 months:

<DIR><DIR>669 complaints filed against business in the last 36 months
11 complaints filed against business that were not resolved.
Failure to respond to one complaint filed against business.
One serious complaint filed against business.

</DIR></DIR>

[Diver Dave]

Talk to almost anyone who has had a department store have a contractor do work for them. I had a similiar experience with the Bay and they just didnt care, they wanted to wash there hands of it completely. If your going to represent a company then you better stand behind them. And if you cant you shouldnt put your name to them.

[Evy]

Now that I had the roof fixed at my expense by someone else, I posted this brief update on Youtube. It also shows the latest available BBB report on Sears Canada.....UGLY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wawPU...eature=channel

[Midnightly]

thats horrid!, i've heard (i know the local sears does) that sears contracts out to local companies.. so you might be paying sears to do the roofing job BUT a whole nother company is doing the work

[Stuff]

sorry to hear that happened. cant say i have heard sears does that even!

try rattling chains higher up in the company? write some letters to sears HQ and the paper?

[Evy]

I got nowhere with Corporate Customer Service. All they did was take the word of the installation mgr in Ottawa. He of course says they did everything by the book. So, twice, I emailed the President & CEO, Dene Rogers. Twice it got hijacked by Customer Service.

Here is the reply from Diane in Customer Service, Belleville Ont—(Note "We apologize", but we won’t fix it)

Hello Ms **

As stated by our service manager, Sears is not responsible for this repair.
Please be aware that once you have reached the Customer Service level, you have reached the supervisory level and all final decisions are made and followed from here.

We do apologize for the difficulties that you encountered.

Regards,
Diane

[Nothing To See Here]

my suggestion is to take them to court and do it fast, I doubt they will be around in 2011. The company is hemorrhaging money and won't be able to last much longer.

I hate Sears.

[Evy]

According to the Globe and Mail, Sears Holdings in the US are poised to buy out Sears Canada within months. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe...rticle1544851/
Which explain why Sears Canada don't give a sh*t about their customers