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