You may have noticed that the URL for my blog is "searsstillsucks". Self-explanatory, but, there is a story.
Sears was my inspiration for this blog. Fittingly, they should get the first major contribution. Let me give you a little background:
When we were building our new home in 2006, we bought all of our appliances from Sears. 2 refridgerators, 2 stoves, 2 dishwashers, water heater, water softner and added a lawn tractor and some other outside lawn and garden equipment. I had always used them, grew up that way. They were my first choice for everything and all was well.
2 years into living here, the mower needed a blade engagement cable. I went online to purchase it. While I was there, I figured I better go ahead and get a blade engagement belt as well. I knew I was going to need one sooner or later. Both items arrived, I fixed the cable and put the belt on the shelf for later use. Later came. I went to the shelf and grabbed the belt, took the old one off and started to thread the new one one.................wouldn't fit. Too short. I looked at the packing list, looked at the book, everything showed that it should be the right one. I looked at the belt and discovered that they didn't pull the right belt by the number. Easy fix, right? Call them. So, I did.
Wow, what a trip through customer service hell. The person who took my call understood exactly what I was calling about, but had to transfer me to online order customer service. He got me there. I explained what happened to the new person. They basically told me they couldn't do anything about the situation but would be happy to place another order for me for the right part. I said, wait a minute, what about the fact that you pulled and sent the wrong item even though I asked for the right part. They said that the reason they couldn't do anything was because internet orders had a 90 day return policy. (might have been 30 day, been a while). I still objected, saying reminding the person it wasn't anything I did, it had everything to do with what they had done. Still got nothing. The customer service person was being completely unreasonable. I asked to speak to his supervisor (now I was probably being unreasonable). He said no. I asked why. He told me he was the supervisor and that his decision was final.
I wasn't done. I looked up the person responsible for Sears E-Commerce and sent them a very informative and professional email explaining the situation. I never recieved a response. Nothing. Nada. I almost felt violated and felt like my only recourse was to never purchase anything from them again. But it gets worse!
Shortly after that, our ice maker on our primary fridge started acting up. Guess who I had to call.......we set up an appointment, one of those, "I'll be there between 2-5pm" appointments. Repairman showed up, said that the icemaker was broken and that he would order a new one. I asked him how much that was going to cost me? Well, with his service call, the new ice maker, installation, tax, it was over $300. I was not happy.
The ice maker showed up a couple days later. I opened it and without even needing to compare the two, knew it wasn't the right one. Just to be sure, I went out, and made the comparison. Not even close. I started looking at how easy the ice-maker was to change. I took the old one out. I looked at the part of the ice-maker that the repairman said was cracked. There wasn't a crack...not a chip, not a dent..........nothing. There wasn't anything wrong at all!!! I tinkered with the ice maker, bent the water fill tube, tightened a couple of screws on the back wall of the ice-maker that were really loose, and turned it back on. A couple hours later........ice. That was 18 months ago! Still working like a charm.
So, now, we have two incidents with Sears that make me go, hmmmmmmm, I'll be darned.
After spending my entire life, 46+ years at that point, being loyal to a company and brand, I decided that they were no longer worthy of my loyalty. They were no longer entitled to my money. They were no longer on my list of retailers to purchase, well, I would just never purchase another item from them EVER! Not tires, appliances, electronics, clothes, shoes, gym equipment or lawn care items. All things that I've purchased from them in the past, now I would make it a point to go elsewhere for those things. The other thing I could do, and have, would ensure that my relatives, children and friends all knew that "Sears Sucks".
This blog should have been the first step in my damnation of what once was a proud and reliable retailer. They are anything but that at this point. Sears Holding Company, who now owns K-Mart, should probably use a little more common sense in situations like this. Hey, Sears.......don't bother to call, don't bother to offer anything as consolation, don't ever think about the potential loss of income that comes from this household alone....think about all the people I will ensure never shop at your stores again.
Sears Still Sucks.
No comments:
Post a Comment