Question re: warranty repair work (appliance, cleaning, carpets, cost)

[coastalnc]

My sister bought an appliance from a large national home improvement company. She also bought the extended warranty for the appliance. So, the appliance breaks and she calls the number given to her on the warranty receipt. The home improvement company sends out a local appliance repair service. Six weeks (and 4 visits by this local repair company) and 1. the appliance is still not fixed correctly and 2. the repairman from the local appliance company has tracked some kind of black grease all over her carpet. My question is specifically about the damage to the carpet. If the local repair company (who admitted to my sister that, yes they damaged the carpet) does not cover the cost to clean or replace the carpet, is the large national home improvement company ultimately responsible for any damage that is done to a customer's home from a local company that they contract with?

[underPSI]

Morally yes but good luck getting anything out of either company. Heck, I can't believe people still buy those extended warranties. It's been proven over and over that they are a waste of money. Take your sister's case for example. Yes, her appliance broke and, at first, she, I assume, was happy she had bought the extended warranty. Now she's 6 weeks into the "repair", the appliance is still not fixed, and now she's most likely going to have to pay out of her own pocket to have her carpets cleaned. It's rare that products break (in fact, only 3% of appliances and electronics sold have problems.) so the consumer is much better off saving the money on the extended warranty and if the product breaks either pay out of pocket to have it repaired or replaced.

[whiteboyslo]

i don't know if the national store is OBLIGATED, but a few angry calls to their HQ might get them to force the repairman to pay for it. that repairman probably doesn't want to lose the national store's business.

Mike

[little elmer]

The contractor should be bonded, and thus insured against the damage. They're liable (not the seller of the appliance) and should take care of it.

[JimRom]

little elmer has the answer. The contractor is responsible, and should have insurance to pay for things like this. If they have admitted that they damaged the carpet, they should be willing to take care of the damage (assuming they have any ethics or that they would like to keep getting customers). If they refuse to take care of it, I'd start by talking to the owner of the company, and appeal to their business sense. Statistically, a satisfied customer tells 5 people about their experience. A dissatisfied customer, on the other hand, tells 20. (A truly angry customer tells everybody they meet.)

Chances are, a friendly chat with the owner of the company will bring a resolution. If not, or if she runs into a lot of negativity while getting the situation resolved, I wouldn't expect the national store to pay for it, but I would contact them and file a complaint against the contractor, and send some pics of the damage if possible. At least that way there's a good chance that the contractor will be taken off of the approved vendor list, and not damage anyone else's property.

[southgeorgia]

a bond is not liability insurance.


the warranty company would be responsible unless you hired and paid the local subcontractor directly.

the subcontractor would have the warranty company added on their insurance policy as an "also insured" making them liable to the warranty company for any losses.

but something like cleaning or replacing a carpet wouldn't be something you would want to claim on insurance.

best bet is to call the warranty company and complain; they'll hold a contract over the local guy's head.

also read your warranty to see if damages like this are excluded from responsibility. i've actually seen contracts that relieve companies from damages.