Reader Chris writes the CEO of Sears to let him know why he’ll never step foot inside Sears ever again.
Dear Mr. Lewis,We are writing to you to document the abysmal experience we recently had with Sears following break-down of our Kenmore refrigerator/freezer.
The unit broke down on November 2nd, less than 1 year since we purchased it, and we called for repair service under the factory warranty. We were surprised to find that it would take a week before a technician could come to take a look, but we treated this as just ‘bad luck’ and resigned ourselves to throwing away 100′s of dollars of frozen and refrigerated groceries.
The technician came out on November 10th and replaced what he thought was the problem part and left. Within hours the unit was no colder and so we immediately called Sears again and were dumbfounded to be told that it would take another week for someone to come out again!
This was not acceptable to us and so we emailed you to request assistance and as a result were contacted by Carla in Sears Executive Office. When we spoke to her it transpired that she was unable to get our local Service department to respond to her. She said that she would call us back if and when they got in contact. As we did not hear back from her we can only assume they did not respond. If the Executive Office cannot get in contact with the Service Department, we as customers surely stand no chance!
At this point we waited until November 17th until the technician came out again. This time he diagnosed that the compressor was broken and that he’d have to order a new one. The earliest appointment we could get to install it was quoted as November 26th . This would mean that we would have been without a fridge & freezer for some 3 ½ weeks and our big family Thanksgiving Dinner plans would be ruined.
We decided to approach the Sears store that we purchased all our appliances from to see if they could help. The floor manager on duty was extremely unhelpful :
* She said that she couldn’t help us as, in her opinion, this was purely a Service issue and the Service department “is a separate organization”. Clearly your employees do not feel that they represent Sears Holdings as a single entity.
* She said that Kenmore appliances were very reliable but that we should have paid extra for the Extended Service Agreement to get timely repairs. It is extremely annoying to be told this when we already have a broken appliance and are trying to it repaired UNDER WARRANTY.
* She said that if we wanted to buy a new refrigerator she could give us a 10% discount. You can perhaps imagine how angry we were to have it suggested that spending another $1100 on a fridge was a good solution to Sears not being able to repair our existing one in less than a month.
* Understanding that her powers appeared to be limited, we tried to be flexible in accommodating any reasonable alternative approaches to addressing the situation, but even when pressed she could not suggest how we could escalate the issue other than calling the 1-800 number again
We can only hope that this is not how Sears would wish to be represented.
We contacted the Store Manager, who is our one positive experience with Sears in all this. He was very apologetic, and really made an effort to listen to the problem and try to find reasonable and creative ways to address it. He made some calls and we were in turn contacted by Executive Level Customer Support who modified the service date to November 21st (still a huge 19 days after the original problem occurred). Although apparently only having been an employee with Sears for a month, we really feel that the Store Manager treated the issue as his own and with respect, unlike other Sears people we had dealt with until this point.
We hope you would agree that there seem to be some serious problems with Sears Service, and the communication lines between them and the rest of the company. While the Store Manager is a good representative for your company and did his utmost to restore our faith in Sears, we see no indication that we would not encounter a similar situation with Sears Service in future. We were without refrigeration for 19 days, which is bad enough, but if we hadn’t engaged in vigorous, time-consuming and stressful chasing of this problem we may have been without this crucial appliance for nearly a month. We know from frank conversations with everyone involved in this (from Sears technicians to executive customer support) that our problems with getting timely service are not unusual exceptions, but are persistent and endemic.
Your Vision Statement says that “Sears Holdings is committed to improving the lives of our customers by providing quality services, products and solutions that earn their trust and build lifetime relationships.” For us, you have failed spectacularly on all counts.
Our entire family has purchased from Sears for many years based on your historical reputation for good customer service, but they will no longer make any purchases in your stores. We hope that by bringing our problems to your attention it will allow them to be fixed promptly and permanently for the good of other customers. We will not be buying from Sears again.
Yours faithfully,
Chris
As Meghann mentioned in a previous post, SEARS customer service is hard to crack. Each division might as well be in another dimension. In fact, their warranty repairs are, they’re in the outsourced division. Lowest bid wins! That’s why Sears corporate can’t rein in the repair guys, they’re not even on the company payroll.
(Photo: j2dread)
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Ok can ANYBODY name the race that speaks Spanish? Careful it is a trick question.
So the comment by Quellman was NOT racist, besides he explained that it was a copy/paste error and the comment was made by a friend.
Let’s deal with the comment, no matter who wrote it. Look at the comment and you see 1) the writer gets pissed at his elected officials, 2) he gets mad at Sears.
What these two things tell me is 1) the writer does not the influx of criminal aliens, 2) does not like stores accommodating them. That is his right. That does not make him a racist.
I stopped shopping at Sears when they cost my Mother-in-law her franchise by demanding $50,000 worth of upgrades on a small town store that was not producing that much in a year. The store did not need the upgrades, it was in good repair and clean. She got a raw deal and it put her into bankruptcy. Thankfully she was a smart woman and recovered by opening up a sucessful used appliance business.
@trollkiller: Not everyone here who speaks Spanish is an illegal alien…..
Racist? No. Bigot? Yes. Asshole? Yes.
@yg17: I am glad you agreed about the racist part, I will have to disagree with the bigot and asshole part. We just don’t know if his friend is a bigot or an asshole, he may be just going by what he sees.
I live in an agricultural area, we have a very high percentage of criminal aliens vs. legal aliens. The Spanish/English signs in my area are attempting to gain the business of the Hispanic customer, and most of those are criminal aliens, not legal. So in effect the businesses are accommodating the criminal alien more than the legal alien.
Wait so let me get this straight. You bought the fridge from Sears. You chose not to get the extended warranty through Sears. It has almost been a year since you made the purchase. It is now messing up and you are mad at SEARS? The manufacturer warranty is just that. The MANUFACTURER warranty. That is handled through the manufacturer. Yes, Sears should stand by the products that they sell, but that is why they have the return policy. If it is out of the return policy, it is now in the manufacturers hands. The fact that Sears is willing to send a tech under a warranty that isn’t theres is good in the first place. As for having to wait each time for a new appointment what do you expect? If they were to say “oh, okay. Well let me push these people back so I can go back to your house tomarrow” then nothing will get done. If they were to operate this way then your appointment would probably have been moved back for someone else who has the same kind of problem. So before you start complaining about Sears take a look at the situation. You are angry at Sears. They are servicing your product even though it is under only the MFG warranty AND you turned down their extended warranty. In reality they don’t have to do squat. They sold you the product, they give you the return period. Past that, they are done unless you purchase an extended warranty. Be glad they are even working with you under the MFG warranty.
I’m now on the “never go to Sears again” train, even though I’ve been shopping there since they were Simpsons-Sears. I recently purchased a winter coat, and the zipper “split” below the zipper pull on the first wearing, so I returned to the store, and was directed to the Alterations department. The Alterations staff stated they didn’t want to replace the zipper as it was not damaged and had just become unzipped as a fluke. I should have known better, but left with the coat, and the next time I tried to wear it, the zipper broke again – so I went back to the store and after a long wait, got a manager who insisted that it was necessary to let Alterations have another go at the coat before I would be entitled to a refund. 40 minutes of verbal combat later, I finally got my refund, emailed Sears to complain, was emailed back asking for my address and phone number so that I could be contacted by a customer representative, provided it, and was sent a form-letter type of email as a response (“Thank you for contacting us at Sears. We’re sorry for any inconvenience…”). Not a big deal, or an expensive item, but when you find out that the “Sears Guarantee” is not worth the paper it is printed on, why continue to shop there, when there are so many other stores with worthwhile customer service and a hassle-free return policy?
@gsmumbo, if it’s a Kenmore refrigerator then Sears is the manufacturer, at least as far as the warranty is concerned. It’s not the customer’s job to worry about the OEM.
This post came just in time for me. I am buying a plasma TV sometime before Christmas. I have been including Sears in my research but I do not need these kinds of problems.
We used to be a Sears family. When I was a kid, all of our furniture, appliances, bicycles, Tv’s, tires and car batteries etc came from Sears. My mother never had a Mastercard or Visa in her life but always had a Sears card.
I have not bought anything at Sears in ages except for a few tools.
There is nothing bigoted about wanting people who make America their home and country be able to speak English!
Yeah, ok so no one will ever shop at Sears, Best Buy or fly this Airline.
The reality of it is that, most people will shop and buy anywhere they can save even a small amount of money.
This is the engine driving poor customer service in America today.
@ncboxer: It’s not your duty to “complain” about anything. If you don’t like how your taxes are being spent, do something about it. (Good luck with that.)
@Pylon83: Dude… we live in the United States… English is spoken here. When I’m abroad I don’t expect people to accommodate me by speaking english. Fuck em if they can’t learn English.
AFTERIMAGEB, I had the same experience . . . . I needed a new alternator, and didn’t have good experiences with my dealer, so I thought I’d take it to the Goodyear (where a colleague’s husband worked).
I called them and gave them all of my information – heavily emphasizing that I did not have a “normal” Taurus, I had the performance package with the larger engine and dual overhead cams. I asked if that made any difference to the price they were quoting me, and they said no.
So I jumpstart the car, and nervously drive it into town (1/2 hour drive) to drop it off. I signed papers specifying a price!
It’s early afternoon, and they say it’ll be a couple of hours, so I have my dad drive into town and pick me up. I get home, and get a call that it’ll cost an extra $100 or so, because it’s harder to get to than they expected – because I don’t have the normal Taurus. Never mind that I told them that before they gave me a price. Never mind that I’ve got paperwork specifying the lower price.
I wound up having to go BACK into town and have them jumpstart it for me so that I could take it to a shop down the street – where it wound up costing me $20 less than the original Goodyear estimate.
Haven’t been back to Goodyear for anything since.
“Not in English or French or Mexican”
George W. Bush
@yg17: “yeah, I guess they don’t speak english in England. The language was named after the country, but that doesn’t mean anything does it?”
The latest proof that the English no longer speak it: “Fans pelt telly perv at footie”
[www.thesun.co.uk]
@TexasScout: @guymandude:
What is it with the closed-minded, bigoted rednecks on here? I cannot believe that people with these radical opinions read such a liberal-leaning blog. We live in The United States of America, land of the free…This country has no official language because it is a melting pot of cultures. While English is the de-facto official language because it is (by far) the most commonly spoken, that does not mean that anyone who doesn’t speak it is wrong (nor illegal). Your broad generalizations are offensive, narrow-minded, and antiquated. I imagine neither one of you believe woman should have the right to vote either? I’m not advocating that the government, or private enterprise, be forced to accommodate those who don’t speak native english to any level, but where is the harm in putting up signs in both languages or offering a translator in areas that have a high population of people whose native language is not english? Some of them speak some english, but read and understand their native language better, and can make purchases/government transactions better and more confidently if they understand entirely. If you go to another country, you don’t necessarily EXPECT or DEMAND that you be accommodated, but typically anywhere that classifies as a tourist destination will likely have english speaking citizens (some), take the US Dollar, and if nothing else can find someone to translate for you.
And by the way, “mexican” is not a language. “Mexican” people speak spanish.
@TexasScout: Looks like English to me. Jackass.
@Pylon83: You know for someone that is bitching about broad generalizations I find it both odd and amusing that you paint with such a broad brush by calling those that disagree with you “bigoted rednecks”.
English children’s literacy levels ‘among the worst in the Western world’
[www.dailymail.co.uk]
@Pylon83:
I have no problem accommodating those that come here, visiting, not speaking English as a first language. Sure they need help and should be. What I can’t stand it the ones that come here and REFUSE to learn English even though they plan to live here the REST OF THEIR LIVES! They expect, nay DEMAND, we accommodate them. This is just plain wrong and we should not spend money and time catering to these people.
Try being online and shopping at Sears. I had items in the ‘cart’. I
checked and found they just put 5 Wiis out. I got one and put it my
‘cart’. Over several minutes passed and it was still there. Sears gives
you 30 days to complete the sale. There were several messages about the
system being busy and to try later on anything I did. But then it let
me do the sem commands. I went to check out and it slowed again. Then
they emptied my ‘cart’. Yep – had to keep those folks on ‘Wii-bay’ and
‘West Nile’ supplied with Wiis so that they can rip folks off. It was
in my ‘cart’. Dell gives you 15 minutes and when their system bogs down
in traffice you can call and complete the sale. Took an hour with
Sears. Then they said they didn’t have any. And that it’s S.o.P. to
empty the cart when the stuff is sold out. Well kiss my big fat hairy
behind! I didn’t know that! Everybody eles must have it wrong – when
it’s in your ‘cart’, it’s yours to get to checkout…
From Bloomberg.com 11/29/2007 :: Sears Holdings Corp., the largest U.S. department-store company by sales, reported quarterly profit that fell more than analysts estimated on lower revenue. The stock declined 9.7 percent in New York.
@Quellman: Don’t feel bad, Quellman; not everyone is an apologist. My ancestors came from Switzerland, and they not only learned English, but raised their children to speak it as well. That’s part of the “melting” in the “great melting pot” that this country used to represent. If the US had had German signs in all the stores back in the 1800s, who knows? I might be speaking it today, and unable to buy crappy appliances without a translator. Rock on, bro.
As a former Sears employee I can tell you exactly wear you went wrong. You said you had the “factory” warranty right? That means that the responsibility to fix the machine falls on the manufacturer.
But Kenmore is made by sears right? Wrong… Kenmore is a name of a product line made FOR sears. The refrigerator you purchased was MADE by frigidare and it is their warranty that you have. If you had purchased the extended warranty then it would be the responsibility of Sears… otherwise Sears has a 90 day policy. You opted not to get it yet demanded to be treated like you had it… in other words you wanted something for nothing…. but instead you got very little for nothing.
This is not a legitimate complaint against Sears… You may have more luck barking up frigidares tree (check the warranty… should have the numbers).
@Zenbenny: If Sears isn’t responsible for this, then why did they send a technician out, twice, and supposedly order a part, instead of just telling the guy to call the manufacturer in the first place?
Since Kenmore is made for Sears and is a Sears-only brand, they likely have a deal with whoever makes it that Sears will do all repairs and bill Kenmore for it. Much like how your dealer does warranty repairs on your car and then bills the manufacturer. If that is not the case here, then Sears should’ve told the guy right from the start to call Kenmore.
Kenmore! You’re kidding right? They’re the most UNRELIABLE applicances EVER. With the exception of those chinese wal-mart clones.
Thanks, all, for your SEARS stories. I won’t bore you with details, but my refrigerator quit tonight 6 weeks after the 3-year warranty expired. After reading your posts, and speaking with “customer service” at 1800 4myhome (what a joke- he isn’t even located in the U.S.), I can’t expect to get any satisfaction. This is obviously not the SEARS of my grandparents and parents. But thank you for your experiences, I will purchases a different brand – and never a SEARS product again.