Sears is trying to coax actual customers into its stores with great sales, but don’t be fooled. They’re still Sears. Donald ordered some tools for in-store pickup in order to save on shipping, but the store didn’t actually have the items they promised. Not “didn’t have them waiting for him,” but “didn’t have them at all.” While he waited for forty-five minutes, he couldn’t help but feel insulted when he saw a sign touting in-store pickup as “fast, in stock, and helpful.” Zero for three, really.

He writes:

I saw a great sale @ sears.com on a cordless drill/flashlight combo set and put 3 in my cart. I was immediately presented with the option to save shipping cost by checking stock at my local store. They had plenty in stock, so I continued to checkout with store pickup. I also added 2 cordless soldering irons that were in stock & on sale.

I got the confirmation email almost immediately that they were ready to pickup. When I arrived to pick them up, they only had one of each item. I waited almost 30 minutes for them to verify that they didn’t have any more. The salesperson mentioned that he would look for an alternate item. However, he quickly realized that he’d lose money if he offered me a similar or better item. He even taunted me with a suitable substitute, but said I couldn’t have it because it didn’t come with a battery. He didn’t even offer me the option of taking the better drill w/o the battery (which I gladly would have).

He called another store and waited silently on the phone for almost 10 minutes while i just stood there waiting to see how he was going to resolve it. He then announced that the other store showed them in stock, but they couldn’t find any either. I asked him what he was going to do, and he said he couldn’t even order them anymore, so the only thing he could do was issue me a credit for the items that were missing.

During the whole ordeal, I was standing in front of a sign touting their online purchase/pickup as fast, in stock, and helpful. They were 0 for 3. To make matters worse, I discovered when I got home and looked up the item on their website, they were both available for shipping. As much as I’d like to have the items, I’m not about to pay upwards of $8 for shipping, and I’ll likely not bother to shop at Sears again.

P.S. I also discovered on the website that I was supposed to receive a $5 coupon for a future purchase if my wait was more than 5 minutes. Perhaps that only applies if I was actually able to pickup everything that I ordered.

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