Robert found an amazing Black Friday deal on a cordless drill/driver/saw kit, and ordered it as a Christmas gift for his dad. Unfortunately, he ordered it from the notorious anti-capitalist pranksters at Sears, a company whose apparent mission it is to not successfully sell anything to anyone, ever. Sears shipped Robert a giant box of air filters instead of his backordered drill set. Fair enough: he arranged to ship the air filters back. Sears refused delivery of the package. He’s stuck with the air filters, and has no gift. He wants to know whether other readers have had similar experiences with their Black Friday orders from Sears.

On November 25th 2010 I ordered an online Black Friday special from Sears.com:
26325 20-volt Lithium-Ion Cordless 3-Tool Combo Kit Drill-Driver/Circular Saw/LED Worklight

It was on sale for half-price $199.99 with free shipping. A great deal and perfect XMAS gift for my dad who is in need of a more powerful cordless drill.

When the item arrived, the huge box felt very light. Not the 30lbs. or so i was expecting as though it was empty. It was also in a box that looked like it had been created by folding a large piece of cardboard into a box sized shape.

When I opened the box, here’s what I found:

It was a giant 3M air filter instead of the cordless drill set.

Initial call to customer service took awhile but went well. I would receive an email with instructions and UPS would come to pick it up just seal the box back up.

I called back 3 days later as I hadn’t received any email with instructions and this time a super friendly representative was surprised and said UPS would be contacting me for the pickup. As I had explained my concern was getting the correct item for a xmas present in time I was told they would send it out if they got more stock in time.

Two days later I did receive the email confirming the return and listing the return tracking UPS number. Great. I filled out the paperwork with the return reason: wrong item shipped.

The next day UPS picked up the item and gave me the confirmation receipt with the correct tracking number.

Yesterday I found out from UPS that Sears had refused delivery at their return center and the item is on its way back to me.

So as of today, I still have a non-refunded credit card charge and no XMAS gift for my dad.

My last two calls to customer service have resulted in first the representative not understanding my explanation of they had refused delivery at the return center to a disconnect after talking for only a few minutes. Waiting through the 20 minute hold time for customer service has gotten old. And I’ve been told no replacement is on the way and if I want the item I need to re-order it on Sears.com at the current price of $399.99 not the $199.99 free shipping Black Friday special.

The next thing I will try once the item makes it back to me is driving to my local Sears store and seeing if they can help me out. Before I was told on my second call I couldn’t do this because the UPS return had been setup so I couldn’t then return it to the store.

I never had problems with orders from sears.com in the past, but after all of the time spent on this one I think they’re going on the banned merchant list for me. Thought I would pass this one along in case anyone else has had problems with Sears.com shipments from Black Friday specials.

What’s interesting is that this same product is available for $199 right now from both Sears and its sibling store, Kmart. They claim that it’s in stock and ready to ship, and that there are seven of them available at my local Sears if I want in-store pickup. So why can’t they get one to Robert’s house?

We didn’t hear back yet about his trip to the brick-and-mortar Sears. Other readers have forced Sears into action by e-mailing the CEO and contacting the executive customer service team, and using Twitter.

More anti-capitalist fun with Sears:
Sears Still Has Customers, Can’t Manage To Sell Them Actual Merchandise
Sears Has Your Mower And Doesn’t Feel Like Answering The Phone
Sears Spares No Expense To Not Give You A New Dishwasher

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.