They suck, pure and simple...

Couldn't happen to a more deserving company.

Oh yeah....

I got first...

My boyfriend buys tools there sometimes, but other than that I feel kind of creepy even being there. They sell no products that appeal to me (a woman in her mid-twenties).

Bought a stove and dishwasher there earlier this year. Didn't have any trouble getting anyone to help etc.
The DVD's, games etc I've seen there are much higher than elsewhere.
The price for toys at Christmas is outrageous.

There is just no reason to ever shop there. No deals, no decent products, no service, no clean stores, nothing. Not a damn thing Sears does interests me.

The last time I spent a penny with them was 4 years ago.

I'll still walk into a store now and then but always leave empty handed.

I went there to buy a lawn mower. I stood at the counter for 30 mins while 3 people worked on some complex transaction. Went across the street to Lowes and bought my lawnmower in 5 minutes.

I used to think Sears was good for tools and appliances. I'll never go there again.

Sears is so 20th century. Feels too much like my parents (or grandparents) should be shopping there. I think its just a tired brand. Whenever I contemplate a purchase, Sears just doesn't come to mind.

Never occured to me that Sears might even have a website.

The last time I bought something at Sears was last Christmas season. I wanted a digital camera they had on sale for my grandparents. Went to electronics and paid for it, I was told to go downstairs and pick it up.

Problem 1 - The customer shouldn't have to go out of their way to get a small item - why can't they just stock these things?

Problem 2 - When I went down there, the item was out of stock. How can they sell me an out of stock item? I was told to go back upstairs to get a refund or I could wait until the next shipment. I chose to wait.

Problem 3 - I went there when the next shipment came in, the item didn't come in. At this point, it was so close to the holiday's I had no choice but to get my refund and try elsewhere.

Problem 4 - It takes a week to get a refund back onto your debit card.

I vowed to never buy electronics from Sears again, and I haven't.

They only good thing that Sears has going is Craftsman and they don't even manufacture their own stuff.

I have a really hard time getting anyone to help me when I'm in the tools section. And when I do, I get really condescending advice.

The clothes are, let us say, not my style, nor the shoes. So that's out.

I can usually find better prices and brands for home electronics elsewhere, as well as for other home items, so that's out too. So basically, I may go there for tools, but I don't buy those on a regular basis.

I once placed an order for a chest freezer on their website (that purchase went well, no problems). But now I'm on their email list, and I probably get one email a day from them with info on sales, discounts, coupons, etc. I was just thinking that it's bordering on the desperate, and now I see why.

We bought our washer and dryer from them about 5 years back, and then just 3 years ago we bought a dishwasher from them. Were satisfied on both counts.

But when I tried to buy a vacuum cleaner (a highly-rated one on CR) from them, I was so angry at the piss-poor customer service that I didn't buy it and swore I'd never buy anything there again.

Sears is kind of synonymous with low-quality and unfashionable when it comes to clothing. They were more known for their tools, but now Home Depot and Lowes are taking over that department because they have more space and stocks more. When they tried to "show the softer side of Sears" they didn't do a good job because image of low-quality is worse than J.C. Penney.

99%?!?

Wow. Just give up & die already.

me, i'm just broke, but even if i wasn't, i'd still rather buy from the bay... cheaper

Their problem is they focus on to many things. It feels like a trumped up KMART inside their stores, and their selection of what they do have SUCKS!!!!

You don't find lawn mowers or tools at Nordstrom's or Macy's... know why, cause they know they cannot compete with stores that focus on those items.

Sears is the next Monkey Wards, old and out of date.

I'll give you one good thing about Sears:

Sears is an anchor tenant at my local mall (it's actually a pretty good mall as they go). The best place to park is in the Sears parking lot because nobody actually goes to the mall to shop at Sears--the parking lot is *much* less crowded, thus, I can get a parking spot right next to the entrance almost every time.

Sears should just call it a day. Fold the thing up. It should be held up as the go to model for poor salmanship and customer service. College business majors should be forced to study the company so as not to repeat Sears errors during their carrers. A great American brand name shot to shit by ineptitude.

It's sad that the nation's most historic retailer is in such a pathetic state, but as the chorus has said there's just no reason to shop there. They relied on so many different businesses, and they've all been cherry picked by specialty retailers:

Electronics: lost first to CC and then BBY.
Hardware: lost to Home Depot & Lowes
Appliances: losing to HD, Lowes and BBY
Clothing: what business the had they lost to many, especially JCP and Kohls in the Midwest

They specialize in nothing; they excel in nothing. Tis sad.

I think I bought my vacuum cleaner from a Sears about 3 years ago. Other than that, I can't ever really recall making any purchases from them.
I also agree that it seems more of a parent's or grandparents type of store.
With stuff like Ikea, Lowes, and Kohls to compete with it just seems like they aren't even trying to lure in ANY sort of new customer base.

I used to shop at sears, a LOT. I mean weekly. I bought all my clothes, xmas gifts, etc there. From about 14-19 literally every article of clothing came from there. At the time, they had a lot of styles that appealed to me, and the price was right. They always had a really great selection. I'd always end up leaving with something I didn't come in for, a picnic basket set, body sprays, sneakers...I remember them having little round tables in the main aisles that always had neat sale items on them.

I stopped shopping there for a few reasons. One being they seem to have edged out semi-stylish clothing & shoes entirely. Everything seems more geared towards "old ladies". While the mens sweaters aren't so bad, I can't say I'd shop for me there. The prices also seem to have gone up quite a bit, and the selection has gone down. If I happen to be walking through there and see a good deal, I'll pick it up. I recently got a new bedding set and some sheer curtains, and both were really great deals. Another reason I no longer shop there? My grandmother has had a Sears credit card for probably 12 years now. Last year she missed ONE payment because she was in the hospital. The jacked up her interested rate, hit her with a late charge, and now her minimum balance has almost tripled. I'm not such a fan of Sears anymore.

They have a crummy, unappealing selection because they try to sell a little of everything rather than specializing in some key area. They probably also don't have a solid identity because of that approach.

I see another stock scam coming. About 6 or 7 years ago as K-Mart was on a downswing I bought a butt load of their stock. After all would K-Mart ever really go belly up? Well no they didn't, but the K-Mart financial suits had it all figured out. They did some inside manipulating of the stock and to satisfy the terms of the bankruptcy the stock I owned became worthless. Unless of course you consider all the phone calls I got from my broker wanting me to waive any rights I had to this worthless paper so "they could clear it off the books".
Before too long K-Mart is so healthy it's buying Sears!!!!! WOW. If the guys at K-Mart were only running the Fed!

when i think of sears, i think of dusty outdated products being sold by 60 year old salesmen wearing plaid sports jackets. why the hell would anyone go into a sears? what the hell do they sell there that you can't get elsewhere cheaper and better?

do they still have the auto department that can hardly perform an oil change and or the place where you can get a family photograph with lazer beams as the background?

I swear I saw a car the other day that said "Land's End edition" or something like that.

I just laughed. It basically says "Look, my car is from K-Mart!"

You know, it's funny because whenever I called them to see if they'd PM a BF deal, I asked whether I should go to the customer service desk for help. Their reply? "Sears doesn't have a customer service area; each department is, apparently, a customer service section." I thought that was a great idea, but from the sounds of it, it's not working out so well for them.

Are the poor sales from Sears, Kmart, or both? Every Kmart I've ever been in lately is a complete dump, but the Sears are ok. I mentioned this before, but I had a REALLY easy time PMing a Sharp TV there on Black Friday; I thought I was going to have to be confrontational, but the guy just said "yup!" and rung me up.

Besides all the reasons listed above (and Craftsmen tools SUCK BTW) when they took over KMart, they treated the KMart staff for crap. A close friend's mother worked for KMart for over 30 years. When they took over, she had to re-apply for her job at the starting wage for a Sears employee and was guaranteed no specific spot in the store. Not much was changed in the store other than bringing in some Craftsmen crap, but everyone got the boot. And to re-apply for the job she had to sign a non-compete waiver! I haven't set foot inside a KMart or Sears since.

Sears, Roebuck & Co. is a company from another age. An ange where Sears actually manufactured some of the things that they sold. The days when 30% margin was good enough, they stood behind that which they sold. A time when people even bought home kits via mail order a a fair price from a longtime who actually gave a damn.

This was also a time when CEO and their multi-million dollar pay packages did not exist.

Sears makes nothing, sells nothing of quality, offers their employees low pay, no benefits and alot of heartache.

I would say to the real question should be what does Sears do right? I have no idea because they have work ed very hard to erase the positive impression I had of them that my parents helped foster during childhood.

Good luck Sears, this is the f***ing you get for the F***ing you gave your customers.

Actually KMart bought Sears and di it to their own staff... the end result was the same....

Side note, I wish we could edit our posts- if only temporarily. I HATE seeing my mistakes after I post!

Some of us in the hardware department discussed this one day - we think Sears is probably gonna last five more years. Maybe.

Hopefully we'll be out of Sears by then.

=]

The one thing I was always able to get at Sears was a decent can of paint. However, the paint department is nearly non-existent now and good luck trying to find someone to actually mix you a gallon. It's a shame, since it was one of the best paints on the market.

Sears and most other retailers need to take a page from Costco... they're doing well and have happy employees...

We bought our power tools there, but not much else. The website is horrible. If they don't have it in stock in the store, they shouldn't sell it. Sounds simple in this computerized age, right? Not so much.

I gave up on appliances there years back. I used to be a HUGE Sears Appliance fan. (ya know, mom and dad did well there....) ANYWAY, I was trying to buy just a regular dryer. Extra-large capacity and no extra bells and whistles. (you never use them anyway.) The sales force was literally standing in FRONT of the cheaper one. Yeah, I left.

Another problem, they dumped their Big and Tall department.

Alas Poor Sears, I knew them Horatio.......

That is scary stuff about their sales numbers. There are certain hardware that only Sears has so that is what's keeping them alive if you ask me. My dad shops there for the craftsmen's tools etc. But other than that, we normally go to Home Depot. They have great deals on treadmills though, $299 for the crappiest one and $399 for a decent one. I wouldn't mind picking that up from them but I need to do better myself with my bidness! :D

I bought several major appliances there a few years ago (awesome deals on all of them) and never had any problems with them. I buy all my tools there as well but that's the extent of my spending at Sears since the local store is small and carries nothing else. I can see why their sales are down though with the stories that pop up on here though. I shop at the local K-Mart all the time. It's clean, prices are comparable to the shithole Wal-Mart next door and the employees actually seem to enjoy working there (again, opposite the store next door). I'll happily pay more for those 2 things along with the isles not being clogged full of backwoods morons.

I think BACKBROKEN had it right - the brand is tired. When I think of Sears, it's usually after JCPenny, as an 'also-ran'. And I don't think of JCPenny very often. I think there's one in our local mall. I may have been there. I don't know, because there was nothing to differentiate it.

There's still Sears?

I feel that Sears definitely is on a down swing in quality. I remember growing up Sears was the store to check out and was still pretty good up to a couple of years ago (They were doing that thing with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition) but recently my local store has just gone downhill fast. My wife and I were in there a couple of weeks ago browsing for a new refrigerator and no fewer than three of the refrigerators on the floor contained the remains of what we could only assume were employee lunches. It was rather than disgusting. Then on our way out we saw two of the display bedding sets they had out had numerous rips and tears. Really not something to inspire potential customer confidence.

I have used their internet order/store pick up option four times in six years to buy a lawnmower, air conditioner, humidifier, and shop vac. I've been satisfied with those purchases and received efficient, helpful service when picking them up. However, I have no reason set foot in the store except to pick up compactor bags once a year for my trash compactor.

Sears doesn't seem to have the quality it used to. Also , it only takes a few bad experiences before you just decide to go elsewhere. All of that combined with the fact that it took them way too long to embrace the entire online shopping "fad" which seemed weird since their bread and butter used to be catalog sales which isn't that different from online shopping.

They basically have the image of a dinosaur on its way to extinction. Honestly when people start talking about Sears my first thought is usually "Are they still even around?"

I really like sears. I buy all my appliances and most of my tools there. Sears is fine, it's their CEO who is the biggest moron in the world. As other comments suggest, Sears management has gone out of their way to create a store climate that devalues their loyal costumer base. They just need a new CEO. Remember the Home Depot almost tanking, the HD workers used to actually run away from costumers because their CEO could not be bothered by retail. Now you actually talk to a whole bunch of HD workers who actually want to are able to help you. Sears could refocus and change, they just need a qualified CEO who actually knows how not to run a company into the ground. Although the HD CEO made out like a bandit....

sears = clothes for the 60-something set and overproced electronics.

I had to buy a small set of wrenches last month. Years ago I bought almost all my tools at Sears since Craftsman has a forever warranty, this is great if you actually break something.
Now they are selling cheap off brand tools side by side with the Craftsman ones. The Craftsman ones are now like professional tools (snap-on, Matco) expensive.
When I went to check out the majority of the transaction was me arguing repeatedly with the teenage sales clerk that I didn't want to sign up for a Sears charge card. He pitched it three times and when I told him know he came up with reasons why I should get one. I was paying cash for the tools but paying for them took longer than finding them. WTF?!?

I have gone in a few times and looked at clothes (kids and adult) we never find anything interesting, quality equal to the high price or that would fit.
They basically don't have a repair department anymore and they stock no parts on site.
I hear horror story after horror story about their appliances both in quality and service.

So no, they have nothing I want to buy. Future tools will be bought at Lowes.

To add to the sears sucks chain...

i tried to buy two treadmills from sears... both times they canceled my order a week later because they were out of stock.

I went to the manufacturer's website and bought it for less, free shipping, not tax, and got it delivered before even the first available delivery date sears had when I first ordered the damn treadmill.

clothes - it's no big secret why all the signs are in spanish. why would i buy jeans in the "caballero" section?

appliances - price matching doesn't outweigh sleazy salesmen and crooked repairmen...'nuff said.

tools - great quality/warranty, but i can get 10 sets of chinese crap for the price and break them for years.

worked great when there wasn't any competition, but i could not imagine ever purchasing a major appliance from them again after the ordeals i and many consumerist readers have gone through. hope these posts end up on the front page of google...

When everything is a lot more expensive then other stores then yes your profits will go down.

I am not talking walmart is cheaper I am talking I can get it cheaper in Best Buy and othe r big retailer stores. The one by me has very little selection in every department.

I must say sears hardware stores rock though.

My husband and I received a gift card to Sears last year from a family gift card exchange and we were entirely unsure what to do with it. I finally went to the Sears here thinking that I could get some towels or a plastic shelf storage unit.
The store seemed... creepy. There weren't very many people in it. Those that were there were elderly and had probably been shopping at that store for a while. I have not problem with that, but it echoes what others have been saying on this board.
I walked around the store, could not find anything, and went back home to order the storage shelving online. Within ten minutes I received a message saying that I could pick it up at the store. No problems at all.
Still, we opted out of the family gift card exchange in case we received one from Sears, JC Penney, random other department stores, K-Mart, or, worst of all, Wal-Mart.

Sears is just wayyyy too behind on things. About the only thing they still have going for them is the Craftsman brand. The clothes selection is terrible, basically every section in the stores by me seem overpriced with a poor selection of items. To top it all off, they compete against themselves by having separate Sears electronics/appliances and Sears Hardware stores along with the big stores - all in the same area. I think if they were serious about surviving, they would revamp everything - the technology they use, the products they sell, and their current strategy. I also don't get the whole bilingual thing in areas that aren't predominantly hispanic.

Im not going to retread my Sears repair horror story from this past summer on every bash-Sears thread, but suffice to say, other than their dedicated Sears Hardware store near me (which is still very nice) Sears is dead to me. My kitchen was furnished with all Kenmore appliances by the previous owner (mostly rebadged GE) but if/when they fail, I'll buy them *anywhere* else.