Sears appliance repair question

[BernDog]

Our 6 year old water heater with a 12 year warranty failed. It was leaking from the top, apparently at the cold inlet. I didn't know if it was the fitting leaking (which wouldn't be covered under warranty) or if there was something wrong with the tank (which would). I called the Sears repair "department" (call center) to see if a licensed plumber could make that determination, or if it needed to be a Sears rep. I didn't want to pay for a Sears call if it wasn't their deal, and I didn't plan on using their service (tank is covered by manufacturer warranty, which doesn't include labor). I was assured that they would accept the word of a licensed plumber if the tank had failed. Great. Called my guy. He saw that the tank was cracked. He called Sears and they said that their people needed to make that determination. I was at work, so I wasn't able to mediate any of this. Yadda yadda through some other stuff that's irrelevant to the question, and later today (after the fact) I was in the local Sears. They said the same thing, that any licensed plumber would do. They charge $99 for their official rep to come sign off in the replacement. Tried to call in and plead my case to get the fee waived (because, c'mon) once I was able to jump in and deal with this later in the day. Repair center rep and his supervisor both say, "Nope. Non-refundable." I get that they need to pay their guy, but the whole situation was based on inaccurate information I was given from two different sources (one of which was the same call center dept).

So, do I have any recourse at this point? $99 doesn't break the bank, but that's not the point. I paid my guy to come out (wasting his time), I paid their guy to come out, and I have to pay my guy again to do the job tomorrow.