Media Room
Sharon Kruse
Sharon Kruse is a 63-year-old widow from Dundee, Michigan. She is a former part-time teacher, mother of seven children and grandmother of seven.
In 2006, Mrs. Kruse filed for arbitration against Sears to settle a dispute over the maintenance contract on the boiler used to heat her home. The dispute arose after the fall service that year, when Sears paid for the annual cleaning and maintenance of the boiler, but refused to pay for an additional $281 in repairs. Mrs. Kruse believed the repairs were covered by the contract and said that Sears had covered similar repairs during the 27 years she had purchased yearly maintenance contracts from the company.
Mrs. Kruse reviewed her contract and discovered that she could submit disputes with Sears to an arbitrator. She contacted the arbitrator and was given the option of a written proceeding or an in-person hearing, to which she could bring a lawyer if she wished. She chose to arbitrate her case in writing for a $25 fee and sent the paperwork to the arbitration company.
Within a few months of submitting her dispute, Mrs. Kruse received a letter from the arbitration company telling her that a hearing officer had decided in her favor awarding her $281 plus the $25 fee. She received a check from Sears within 30 days after that.
Mrs. Kruse says: "Arbitration worked for me. It was convenient and fair. It made me feel very powerful and proud that I had done the right thing. Two-hundred dollars isn't a lot of money, but it was a matter of principle and I didn't want to let it slide. Going to court would have made me very nervous because a lot gets wrapped up in the situation and blown into something it's not. It would not be a good idea for Congress to take arbitration clauses out of contracts. They shouldn't take that right away."