MELBOURNE, Fla. — A Central Florida family turned to Action 9 after their dishwasher purchase at Best Buy turned into a nightmare. They paid Best Buy for installation, but claim it leaked and caused thousands of dollars in damage to their home.
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“This is what happening. It’s just falling apart,” said Bob Abbate as he showed the Action 9 team damage on the outside of his Melbourne home. But it’s inside and underneath the home where he and his daughter Linda Bukowy claim the real damage lies.
Pointing to under the dishwasher, Bukowy said, “What happened was he dropped the pill down here. And when he touched it, it was like, it’s awfully wet.”
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They claim the home flooded after they purchased the dishwasher at the Best Buy near their home late last year. They paid Best Buy an extra $179.99 to have it installed.
It wasn’t until more than a month after the installation by a third-party that Best Buy hired, they noticed the moisture on the floor. They learned there was a large leak behind the dishwasher and believe water had been pouring into the bottom part of the home for more than a month.
“The vapor barrier guy came, he went underneath the house and took a knife and put a slit into the vapor barrier and the water was just pouring out of it,” said Linda Bukowy.
They did eventually get a new dishwasher from Best Buy, but local contractors estimate the damage to the home at more than $4000. The family believes Best Buy is responsible for it.
Consumer Investigator Jeff Deal asked, “Does it feel like Best Buy is even helping you at all?” Bukowy responded, “No.”
From her perspective Best Buy doesn’t seem to care.
“You can’t get a store manager, they say there’s no store manager on site,” she said.
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But she added, the claims service that Best Buy uses, Sedgwick, has been even worse to deal with.
Sedgwick has an “F” rating with the Better Business Bureau. The BBB has received complaints about a lack of response or a slow response to consumers.
Linda wonders if the companies are dragging their feet hoping they’ll give up and she fears it could leave her elderly parents, who live on social security, to be stuck with the bill.
“It’s almost like they’re taking advantage of my parents because of their age, like they’re not going to go any further with it,” she said.
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Be aware, Best Buy and other big box stores often outsource their delivery and installation and you don’t know who will do the work. In this case, Bukowy doesn’t know if it was poor installation or a defect with the dishwasher that caused the leak.
Last month, a Best Buy spokesman said they are working with their customer care team and will let Action 9 know if they have an update to share. Sedgwick said the incident has been routed to its claims team for review.
Only after Action 9 contacted both companies for answers, the family said Sedgwick approved paying the full amount of their claim.
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