Comments on: Sears Makes Good Despite the Fine Print (Part 2)

By: Philip Talbot

Philip Talbot — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 05:05:11 +0000

I bought Kenmore washers and dryers from Sears, their service representatives did a good job of installing the units, and the one time I had to get the dryer fixed, they came on time and did the job right!

By: Nick O'Gorman

Nick O'Gorman — Fri, 28 May 2010 16:02:49 +0000

After spending two days trying to get a craftman lawnmower (still under ‘warrantee’) repaired, I’m cruising the web to see if anybody else takes Sears’ brand of aggressively stupid/rude customer service as an early ‘going-out-of-business’ sign. I live on Long Island and Sears has closed its nearby service center. The closest option now is 13 miles away. So I’m figuring one round trip to get the mower there and another to pick it up. A fifty plus mile drive to get a lawnmower fixed!!

It took a day to come to that conclusion because the wizards at customer service gave me two other service location options. One was actually a fictitious address and the other, the nearby store where I had purchased the thing. I arrived at the store with mower in trunk. I walked in and asked where I could drop the thing. “We don’t take lawnmowers here”, I was told. So like Mom used to do in the fifties, I asked to speak to the manager(please stop laughing). At that very instant one of the bored clerks standing around told me that actually the store would accept my mower for warranty service…but it would be two months before i’d get it back!

Then I woke up. The mower has a Briggs and Stratton motor. This morning i made some calls and found a B&S dealer two miles from home who will honor the warranty and fix the thing. As I delivered the mower into the hands of the storekeeper I described my day of trauma with Sears customer service. “Well that was your first mistake”, he said, “buying something from Sears.” I agreed. No matter. I’m convinced Sears will soon be out of business. The signs are just that clear.

Nick

By: JMM

JMM — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 14:14:18 +0000

I will never shop at Sears again. I was looking for an oven, dishwasher and refrigerator, and was shopping online on Black Friday. Sears had an awesome fridge on special that met our specs, and I also found an oven and dishwasher. When I went to place the order, their site informed me that the fridge was not available in our area. Not that there were limited quantities which I would’ve understood, but that none of this refrigerator would ever be shipped to my area.

So I go online to customer service to ask why that is. The rep informed me that Sears sometimes offers products in only certain areas. When I asked why this wasn’t indicated on their site and could only be found when trying to order as they grab your attention with this great offer that you can’t get, and I had already wasted a couple hours researching the items, the sales rep rudely replied that certain areas weren’t important enough to get the products. I replied that I was preparing to spend thousands of dollars on new appliances, and the sales rep stated that my business was not important to them and ended the online conversation. I couldn’t believe they were that blatant about it, but they were. I was asked to complete a survey of my online experience and did a scathing review, not that it mattered. I then went to Home Depot and bought all my appliances there. I have to say time and again Home Depot has shown fantastic customer service, through my bathroom remodel, and now my kitchen remodel. Guess they get to serve the “unimportant” areas.

By: RS

RS — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 00:23:55 +0000

My story is not quite as good but had a happy ending (and this was about 5 years ago.)
I wanted to make my portable kenmore dishwasher permanent so I went to the store and order the conversion part. It eventually arrived and turned out to be the wrong part. I called to get this resolved and they indicated that I would have to pay to ship it back. I argued that THEY screwed up, not me. “Oh well!” “but you can exchange it in a local repair center.” This was about 30 miles away so I made a day of it. They exchanged the part, I brought it home, and it was the exact same wrong part! Eventually another trip and they gave me the wrong part again but I noticed it while I was in the center. Fortunately, an attentive salesperson worked with me for about an hour to locate the correct part, apparently because their database was screwed up and referenced the wrong part. I finally went home with the right part. (Unfortunately, before I had a chance to install it, the machine broke down and I chose not to repair it.)

By: Another Suburban Mom

Another Suburban Mom — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 13:38:00 +0000

I am glad that you had a nice experience, but as a fellow bay stater I had such a horrible experience with them that I still do not shop at sears more than 2 years later.

I bought an LG Washer and Dryer from them which was delivered June 30,2006. On August 1,2006 of 2006 the dryer dies. I call Sears to ask for a replacement, I get sent into repair hell.

Long story short, after more than EIGHT!!! weeks of phone calls, part ordering, back ups begging and tears, I finally got a new dryer.

When they finally agreed to a replacement, I asked for installation which they said I could have. When the dryer came, the people 1st refused to take the broken one, and then informed me that they could not install my dryer since its gas and they are not plumbers. I had to call a plumber and spent another 200 on installation.

So for all of the inconvenience, missed work to wait for delivery and repair people, time wasted at the laundromat when I had equipment at home, do you know what I got for all of that? A lousy $100 gift card.

I will never, every buy ANYTHING at Sears ever again. I told my husband that those damn Craftsman tools had better live forever, because if he brings home a craftsman product, he is in the dog house.