So far this year, we’ve mostly shared tales of people complaining about the process of purchasing items at Kmart using layaway. Last year, something inspiring started to happen. People, including our very own readers, would walk up to the customer service desk at their local Kmart and offer to pay off the layaway balance of a random family. The “layaway angels,” media outlets began to call them. The idea spread nationwide, mostly in Kmart stores. This year, Kmart has built an ad campaign around them. [More]
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Kmart Tracks Down Reader After 2-Day Shipping Became 2-Week Shipping, Tries To Help
By 12.19.12 — Updated: 12.20.12
You may remember reader Linda, who ordered a computer from Kmart with 2-day shipping as a Christmas gift for her mother. Kmart’s idea of “2-day shipping” that they charge extra for turned out to be “2-week shipping” once they actually got around to shipping the computer. That wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t, you know, a Christmas gift, and if Kmart planned to ship it before December 24th. Based on the information in the post, the nice people at Kmart’s executive customer relations department tracked Linda down, which is impressive and only a little bit unnerving. [More]
Kmart Overcharged Me For Layaway Order, Then Their Servers Ate It
By 12.19.12
Caroline’s Kmart layaway order was wrong. After she placed the order online, the contract came back $92 more than it was supposed to be. Well, okay, no problem: she could just call up Kmart and straighten it out. That’s why stores have a huge customer service staff. Except for how she called up Kmart and they told her to direct her problems to her local store. For an online layaway order. She’s been struggling with Kmart for a month now. The staff at her local store have been extremely helpful, but that doesn’t solve her core problem: she’s been overcharged for an order that still hasn’t shipped after being paid in full. [More]
Forget Christmas. This Kmart Has Already Moved On To Valentine’s Day
By 12.17.12
By now, you’re all familiar with Christmas Creep, the insidious inching of the holiday shopping season earlier and earlier into the year. But there’s a lesser-known holiday creep that is already showing up on the shelves of at least one retailer. [More]
Kmart Teases Me With Virtual Rebate That Vanishes Into The Ether
By 12.13.12
Shopping online and looking for the best deal like a good consumer, Doug bought his Nintendo 3DS from Kmart. Part of the greatness of this deal was a $30 rebate that would (theoretically) come in the form of a gift code. Sending rebates to customers in the form of an electronic code seems so efficient, doesn’t it? Yes, we suppose it would be, if Kmart had sent the code, and if anyone at Kmart had any idea what it is that he’s talking about. [More]
Kmart Goes Above And Beyond To Help Mother Of Triplets
By 12.5.12
Having one young child can be a hassle (or so I read on Facebook every day), but having triplets makes everything that much more complicated. So it was a great relief for one Consumerist reader when her local Kmart went out of its way to help her in her search for three car seats. [More]
Kmart Pretends I Gave Them Wrong PayPal Address, Is Now Out Of Wiis
By 11.30.12
Did you preorder a Wii U from Kmart? Chris did. Well, he tried to. He paid using PayPal, and Kmart now tells him that he typed in an incorrect PayPal address, and they’re sold out of them. The funny thing is that they must have had his correct address at one point: when he first placed the order, they debited his account or put a hold on it initially. So that’s weird. [More]
Kmart Changes My Layaway Item Prices, Adds Fees
By 11.28.12
Betty is trying really hard to make Kmart honor what she thought were the terms of the layaway agreement. She was supposed to pay the original price and not have any layaway fees. That’s how it’s supposed to work, right? Not for Betty, and she’s incredibly frustrated. [More]
The Future Of Sears And Kmart Depends On Cross-Selling, And They Suck At It
By 11.26.12
It’s Christmas tree buying season! Alan and his wife shopped around and found a spiffy fake spruce on Sears’ website. “In stock from Kmart,” said the Sears website. Well, then, they’re part of the same company: it shouldn’t be difficult at all to go to Kmart and get them to match the Sears price. Right? [More]
Sears Offers Great Gas Grill Price Match That Goes Up In Flames After Pickup
By 10.18.12 — Updated: 9.18.14
It’s fall, which means that it’s time for apple cider donuts, driving around to peep at leaves, and summer merchandise on clearance. Paul’s dad caught a really great deal on gas grills, and bought one for him and one for himself. We wouldn’t expect this to be successful, but he managed to get Sears to price-match the sale price then at Kmart.com. Victory! But Sears being Sears, the promised refund disappeared, and Sears magically forgot that their employee had ever promised the price-match. [More]
Not To Be Outdone By Toys 'R' Us, Sears & Kmart Also Drop Layaway Fees
By 9.7.12
UPDATE: A rep for Kmart and Sears tells us that the report we cited has it kinda wrong — right now the free layaway is only on for Kmart, and not Sears. Bummer! [More]
Sears Recalls Dehumidifiers Because Fire Is Not A Safe Dehumidification Method
By 8.6.12
Yes, it’s a story about a Sears appliance, but not about its misdelivery or problems with getting it repaired. Well, sort of. If you bought a Kenmore-branded dehumidifier from Sears or from Kmart between 2003 or 2009, unplug it right away and get in touch with the company. More than a hundred overheating units have been reported to the Consumer Products Safety Commission, and some have caught fire or melted. [More]
Plastic Hanger Shrink Ray Costs You 4 Cents Per Hanger
By 6.5.12
Jeff needed some plastic hangers, and found some at Kmart that cost just a little more than he wanted to pay. But the odd thing was that the signage wasn’t quite right: the price given was for ten hangers, and the packages actually on the shelf contained eight hangers each. Okay, it’s not a big deal. And broken down, only a few cents’ difference per hanger. That doesn’t mean it isn’t annoying. [More]
Police: Grandma Used Shoplifting Tips From TV's 'Cops' To Get Stuff To Bake With Grandson
By 5.31.12
Picking up some great DIY tips from TV shows is all well and good when say, landscaping the garden or learning how to crochet tea cozies. What isn’t a great move is getting ideas on how to shoplift after watching Cops a few too many times, even if it’s so you can bake with your grandson. [More]
Do-Gooder Buys Out A Closing Kmart To Donate $200K Worth Of Items To Charity
By 5.18.12
A Kentucky man was scoping out a Kmart set to close for good, trying to snag himself some good deals on the discounted items for his own business. But while he was at the register, a thought struck him — where does all the rest of this stuff go after the store is shut down? So he signed up to buy out the store and give items to the less fortunate. [More]
Worst Company In America Round One: Walmart Vs. Sears/Kmart
By 3.15.12
Just judging by appearances, this match-up has the feel of a strapping young heavyweight going up against a past-his-day bruiser who is clinging on to memories of his days as champ. But you never know if that elder fighter might have packed some bird shot and ball bearings in his boxing gloves. [More]
Here It Is, Your Lineup For Worst Company In America 2012!
By 3.12.12
Welcome to Consumerist’s 7th Annual Worst Company In America tournament, where the businesses you nominated face off for a title that none of them will publicly admit to wanting — but which all of them try their hardest to earn. So it’s time to fill in the brackets and start another office pool. That is, unless you work at one of the 32 companies competing in the tournament. [More]
Kmart Manager Shot By Robber, Still Manages To Stop Robbery
By 2.28.12
If you’re shot while trying to prevent a robbery, not many people would hold it against you if you just let the bad guy finish up the heist and leave. But don’t tell that to the manager of the Seattle-area Kmart who not only survived his gunshot wound but also held the robber until police arrived. [More]
