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Call Kurtis: Sears Damaged My Kitchen

More than ten grand in damage she says. We first brought you the story in June. This Gold Star mother who lost her son in Iraq was getting no where with Sears.

So what's happened since we got involved?

"Well it's still a mess but it's a mess in progress," says Nadia McCaffrey, Tracy resident.

It's been almost a year since Nadia says the sub-contractor Sears sent out, broke pipes and tiles in her kitchen, causing what Nadia says is $12,000 to $15,000 in damage, including a water leak beneath her home.

It's a home Nadia's opened up to 27 veterans since losing her own son Patrick in Iraq in 2004.

"You know that's 27 lives changed," says John Keith, Navy Veteran.

John is one of them. When he got his first VA check, he bought Nadia a much needed dishwasher from Sears. Just before Thanksgiving, Sears sent out this sub-contractor to install it.

"He turned it on to show that it worked. So what did we have? A geyser going straight to the ceiling.... yeah, straight to the ceiling, and I'm not joking," says Nadia.

When Nadia complained, she says Sears told her to file a claim with her homeowners insurance. Nadia's response? "No. You broke it you fix it."

We contacted the claims administrator for Sears, Sedgwick CMS, in June. Months went by and nothing happened.

"They would refuse to settle even with you in the picture," says Nadia.

We contacted Sedgwick again and finally, they offered a settlement of $9035.13.

"It should be okay," says Nadia.

Nadia shows us the pipe the sub-contractor broke. Her kitchen is slowly coming together and she has a working dishwasher and a new sink, that doesn't leak.

Nadia can't wait for the day her kitchen is back to normal for her and the veterans she welcomes into her home.

"I'm looking forward to this Thanksgiving to come so I can move into this kitchen and I can cook some wonderful meal again," says Nadia.

We reached out to Sears and asked them why Nadia was told to file a claim with her homeowner's insurance.

Sears didn't have much of an explanation but say "it's not our policy" to tell consumers to do that.

Sears Statement

"All estimates of claims were handled by an independent third party contractor and were settled to the satisfaction of both parties."

Kimberly Freely
Spokesperson
Sears Holdings Corporation

Sears' Response To Question: Why was Nadia told to file a claim with her homeowners insurance?

"… it is not our policy to tell the consumer to file a claim with their insurance."

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