Do you think there’s even a remote chance that you might need to change your Sears order after the fact? Then you should go to a physical store and place your order there. Heather was told that she needed to perform that bit of time travel if she wants to cancel her mattress order before two weeks have passed. She noticed a problem fifteen minutes after the order went through, but because the order had been placed, she can’t do a darn thing until after the proposed delivery date, March 15th. [More]
delivery
Sears Parts Direct Has A Different Definition Of ‘Rush Delivery’ Than I Do
By 2.12.13
Mike needs a part for his home’s heating system. He lives in Georgia, so the cold weather isn’t as urgent an issue as it would be if he lived up north, but it’s still necessary. He needed rush delivery, but instead Sears didn’t even notify him when the part went on backorder. After two weeks, it finally showed up. And by “it,” we mean “the wrong part.” [More]
How Decades Of Sears Loyalty Screwed Over My Family
By 12.18.12
Dee is a regular Consumerist reader, but her family’s 30 years of loyal Sears shopping outweighs the occasional tales of crappy service she has read here. When her mother’s dryer broke down, she ordered a few other appliances while she was at it and while Sears was sending a delivery crew. Things went smoothly, until they learned that they had been misled into believing that Sears would ever deliver and install a houseful of appliances on the same day. [More]
Best Buy Sends Me Wrong Microwave, Promises To Come Swap It Out, Doesn’t Show
By 12.12.12
This is an exciting but stressful time for Terry’s family. His wife is pregnant, and they also just bought a new house. They ordered new appliances: matching stainless steel items for the kitchen, including one of those space-saving microwaves that goes over the stove. Best Buy technicians delivered and installed the bigger appliances, and the microwave arrived on the doorstep a few days later. It was the wrong color. That’s where Terry’s battle with Best Buy began. [More]
Pizza Deliverer: If You Live In A $650K House And Don’t Tip, There’s Something Wrong With You
By 12.4.12
Tipping waiters at a restaurant is relatively easy — so long as you know how to calculate the standard 15-20% — but tipping for delivery is always a topic of much debate, as there are factors involved like the cost of the meal, the weather, how long you had to wait, and how much was being carried. [More]
Little Tikes Pizza Play Kitchen Does Not Come With 30-Minute Delivery Guarantee
By 11.29.12 — Updated: 11.30.12
JC’s child is an aspiring pizzeria owner, or maybe just a 3-year-old who appreciates a cool play kitchen. Whatever the case, the Little Tikes pizza kitchen of his kid’s dreams went on sale at Toys R Us back in October, and he ordered one to be shipped to the local store. Then it vanished. Well, it didn’t vanish, but the kitchen is stuck at “in progress” in the store’s delivery system. JC’s debit card was charged, but where did the toy go? [More]
I Have No Sandwich Delivery And Local Jimmy John’s Loses Business Because Of Stupid Manager
By 10.16.12
Jason would really like to give the local Jimmy John’s a lot of business. So would other people in his town, it sounds like. But because his closest store is a franchise, it’s not allowed to deliver to him. He can call for delivery from other area restaurants that are further away, but not the one four minutes from his house. Yes, of course he could go pick up his sandwiches, and he often does, but that’s not the point. Most of the time when we call for delivery, we could go get the food but choose not to because it would require removing snow from the car or changing out of pajamas or loading children into a vehicle. [More]
UPS Delivers Like Nobody's Watching, But I'm Home
By 9.13.12
Kate works from home, which means that she can observe the top-secret movements of UPS delivery drivers when they think no one’s watching. That behavior isn’t all that great. In her town, neither is their reading comprehension. She sent a few short vignettes about her struggles with UPS, where they hit her property with a truck and it almost looks like they deliberately went out of their way to ignore her posted delivery instructions. [More]
Free Shipping And Free Delivery Are Different Things
By 8.9.12
Kenny took advantage of a free shipping promotion from Best Buy to shop for a ginormous television. He found one that he liked, but the order had a $70 shipping charge. Wait, what? Turns out that getting a ginormous item like a 51″ TV counts as “delivery,” like a home appliance, not “shipping,” like a smaller TV. That makes sense, but it’s a distinction that should be made clear to the casual customer surfing the site. [More]
Who Is J. Cohen, And Why Do They Have My Office Chair?
By 6.20.12
Fedex delivered Spike’s expensive new office chair right on time, but they didn’t deliver it to her. Someone signed for the package, scrawling “JC,” which was recorded as J. Cohen. Spike doesn’t know this person, and they certainly don’t live in her apartment. FedEx insists that the delivery was successful, and won’t help. [More]
Home Depot Pushes Free Assembly That Isn’t All That Free
By 6.15.12 — Updated: 5.2.16
When shopping for a grill at Home Depot, Amy and her spouse had a requirement that they didn’t think was too onerous. They wanted a grill that had not yet been assembled, so it would fit in their car and so they would only be able to blame themselves if it were put together wrong. “But…but…but… FREE assembly!” insisted employees at their local store, dragging them into an illogical spiral where “free” actually means “we can rent you a truck for $19.99.” [More]
UPS And UPS Store Awaken Reader's Inner Groomzilla
By 5.8.12
Gus’s fiancée shipped the invitations for their upcoming wedding to him in Ohio from her current home in California. Only they needed to arrive before Gus leaves for a long trip today. Sending them 2nd Day Air from a UPS store, the future Mrs. Gus didn’t expect them to be held for a few days to a different city in California. It was finally on its way and… delivered to the wrong place yesterday. [More]
UPS MyChoice Feels More Like A Protection Racket
By 4.25.12
The UPS MyChoice program is supposed to be a good thing – it lets customers tell the company in advance whether to deliver packages without a signature or deliver them right ot a UPS store. But Holly ends up clicking in circles trying to find out how to sign up for the (free) program. The useful options, like redirecting packages to a UPS store or getting a delivery window, cost extra money. [More]
Best Buy Will Never Tempt Me With 'Delivery' Siren Song Again
By 4.23.12
Brian could have brought his new washer right home from Best Buy after purchasing it, but let the salesman talk him into delivery. Old appliances don’t just haul themselves away, you know. Only after he took a day off work, Best Buy didn’t even manage to get his appliance on the truck for delivery. This hasn’t reached Sears proportions yet, but Brian is annoyed. [More]
Where 'Delivery Date' Doesn't Mean 'Date When We Will Deliver Your Dishwasher To Your House'
By 3.21.12
In Paula’s letter to Consumerist, she said something unusual that caught our eye. She sincerely wished that she had ordered her new dishwasher from Sears rather than Lowe’s. What makes a person express such crazy desires? She had assumed that the “delivery date” displayed for shoppers on the Lowe’s site stood for the date that the appliance would be delivered to and installed in her home. Not quite. [More]
UPS: Pay Up And We Might Not Make The Same Delivery Error Twice In A Row
By 1.5.12
Keith’s brother gave him an old desktop computer as a Christmas gift, but this gift came with a catch. He had to ship it to himself, a few thousand miles away. Since packages can’t be delivered to his door at his apartment building, he sent the package to a nearby UPS store, flagged as “hold for pickup.” Naturally the UPS store refused the package and sent it back. Now UPS wants Keith to pay the shipping fee again. For that, they might actually deliver it to his house this time. Or they might send it back. Isn’t the suspense exciting? [More]
It Should Not Take Six Attempts To Deliver A Dishwasher
By 10.20.11
Ariel has read Consumerist for long enough that, given a choice, she probably wouldn’t order a dishwasher from Sears. But she rents, and her landlord is not so wise. Here is their sad but familiar tale: lots of delivery appointments, missed days of work, and no dishwasher. [More]
When Buying A Mattress From Sears, Maybe Also Invest In A Truck
By 10.14.11
This probably isn’t news to you, Sears, but you’ve lost another customer for good. This time, it’s reader Jeff, who had a nice experience buying a mattress at his local Sears store, but a terrible experience trying to get the mattress delivered to his house. People do not enjoy taking a vacation day from work and then not having the delivery person show up. Four times. [More]
