When John Bartolotta's dishwasher breaks down, he asks Sears for help in fixing it. Then he decides to buy a new dishwasher instead. Can he get his prepaid repair fee refunded?

Q: I recently contacted Sears to repair my dishwasher. A technician diagnosed the problem and ordered a new part. I prepaid $506 for the repair, which included a new part for my dishwasher. Sears sent me the new part.

In the meantime, I decided I wanted to buy a new dishwasher, so I canceled the technician visit and made arrangements to return the part.

A Sears representative promised a refund in writing. But after a month, I haven't received the money. In the meantime, I have also opened a dispute with Barclays Bank to enlist their help. 

Can you help me get a refund? -- John Bartolotta, Wantagh, NY

A: Sears should have refunded you for the repair promptly, as promised. And the thing is, you have Sears' promise in writing given on an online chat. There's no denying that it would refund you $506. 

So what was the holdup? Well, one possibility is that credit card chargeback you initiated with Barclays Bank. When a company plans to refund you and you place the amount in dispute, it can freeze the refund until you resolve the dispute. And that can extend the wait. As I've noted in the past, a credit card dispute is a nuclear option for consumer disputes. Use them carefully. In your case, I think you might have waited before contacting  Barclays. 

Another factor was the complexity of your case. It involved a visit by a technician, a scheduled visit by a technician, a spare part sent to your home and a spare part returned to Sears. That's a lot to keep track of. It looks like Sears couldn't initiate a refund on its end until the part was back in its warehouse.

I could see the representatives struggling to make sense of the case in the online chat transcript. And by the way, nice job of keeping a paper trail. If you have to do a credit card chargeback, having a refund promised in writing is a slam-dunk. The credit card dispute department will often view that as a credit memo and side with you in the dispute.

I think you could have avoided this situation by carefully assessing your broken dishwasher and its related repair costs. You waited until after ordering the part before deciding you didn't want to repair the dishwasher, which created this case. Unfortunately, many electronics items are disposable, which is to say you use them for a few years and then send them to the junkyard. Sadly, this approach is unsustainable even though it's profitable to the manufacturers. But I'll get off my soapbox now.

Appealing to one of the Sears customer service executives I list on my consumer advocacy website, Elliott.org, might have also helped. Executives have the power to untangle even the most complicated and seemingly intractable consumer problems.

You reached out to my advocacy team, and I decided to contact Sears on your behalf.

"I’m in the process of refunding him," a Sears representative told me. "He might have to send a copy of his dispute showing that the charge was placed back on his account but I am seeing if we can refund without that."

You received a full refund for the $506 you prepaid for your dishwasher repair.

Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy (https://elliottadvocacy.org), a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Email him at chris@elliott.org or get help by contacting him at https://elliottadvocacy.org/help/