Jeremy blames the strangeness of his recent electrical cord reel puchase on Sears, but nothing about it was peculiar to that retailer. There was a $20 discrepancy in price for the same item online rather than in the store. Now, few stores price-match online retailers or price-match themselves. What they do offer is in-store pickup for your online order. Jeremy took this to its ridiculous but logical conclusion and purchased his item online, then carried it to the pickup area and out the door. [More]
sears
Sears Dishwasher Breaks After 3 Weeks, Or Doubles As Automatic Floor Mopper
By 1.14.13
Kat didn’t say why she thought it would be a good idea to get a new dishwasher from Sears, but it didn’t seem like such a bad idea at the time, either. As an American over the age of twenty, she most likely remembers a time when the Kenmore brand name denoted quality, appliance salesmen didn’t kick you out of the store to go home and shop online, and dishwashers were supposed to last for longer than three weeks. [More]
Sears’ Manifesto-Writing Chairman Eddie Lampert Will Take Over As Fifth CEO In 7 Years
By 1.8.13
Once upon a time, a man won an award for being the “Worst CEO of the Year” without actually being the CEO of anything. Who is this man? Well, he’s the next CEO of Sears. Constant readers of Consumerist will be familiar with Mr. Eddie Lampert, the chairman of Sears Holdings and mastermind of the Kmart/Sears merger. Eddie is a big thinker. He famously published a 15-page manifesto in 2009 which covered everything from the economic meltdown to civil liberties, and contained a suggested reading list that included free-market Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek.
[More]
Sears Sends Appliance Installer Who Charges Extra To Do Crappy Job
By 1.4.13
Josh needed a water softener for his new house, so he went to Sears and used their installation service. Maybe he should have known that things weren’t about to go well with the installer when they showed up and charged an extra hundred dollars. Then he got home and discovered a puddle in his basement. The install was sloppy, and the water softener’s drainage hose emptied into his basement’s sump pump and thus out of the basement. Or so the installer thought. Josh’s basement doesn’t actually have a pump. [More]
I Want To Buy A Sorbet Maker, Sears Keeps Hanging Up On Me
By 12.27.12
We have a hypothesis here at Consumerist. The Sears Holdings Corporation is no longer a retailer, but is only an anti-capitalist prank on a global scale. How else can you explain a company that has a global retail presence, yet seems determined not to sell anything? The latest chapter in this saga comes from Kelly, who wanted to buy a small kitchen appliance that turns frozen fruit into delicious sorbets. Sears, perhaps with a hangover and in desperate need of some personal space after spending the holidays with its more crass cousin Kmart, keeps hanging up on Kelly every time she calls to see whether the item is in stock. She’s taking the hint now. [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]
Land’s End Can’t Redeem Shop Your Way Rewards, Doesn’t Care
By 12.17.12
Shop Your Way Rewards are one of the delightful selling points for continuing to shop at companies that are part of Sears Holdings Corporation, such as Sears, Kmart, and Land’s End. Hayden has accumulated a modest balance of these points, and wanted to spend them at Land’s end. The website won’t let him. He reported this problem to Land’s End, and no one at the company seems to care. At all. [More]
Sears Demands Verification Of Order, Yells At You
By 12.11.12
Theresa is a regular Consumerist reader, and was aware of the complaints our readers frequently share about the retailer. Still, complaints like that are outliers, right? Satisfied customers don’t write to Consumerist. Neither do people who have extremely minor, easily resolved problems. (Usually.) She didn’t think that ordering luggage sets for her nieces would lead to any kind of problems, until her run-in with the very, very stressed out verification department. [More]
Should Appliance Makers Pay To Replace Stainless Steel Appliances That Rust?
By 12.10.12
One of the more widely held beliefs about stainless steel appliances is that they will never rust. Alas, this isn’t necessarily true, as the alloy’s corrosion-resistance depends on its level of chromium and nickel. As the demand for stainless steel has risen in recent years, more customers are learning this the hard way. [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 Will Do Just About Anything To Not Fix My Cracked Boiler
By 11.20.12
For almost two weeks, Consumerist reader Jim has simply been trying to get Sears out to repair his cracked boiler. Instead, he’s been given three separate appointments just to verify the existence of the crack, none of which have resulted in anything being done to actually fix the problem. [More]
Sears Parts Direct: Free Shipping Means We Only Charge You For Shipping Once
By 11.19.12
A chat customer service representative at Sears Parts Direct advised Jan about which part she should order for her garage door opener. They advised her incorrectly, which she figured out shortly after placing the order. It was too late: the wrong order couldn’t be reversed. A second chat agent offered to order the correct part, with free shipping. Jan interpreted this to mean “we’ll refund your shipping for the first, erroneous part, too.” Not so. [More]
Sears Has The Tires I Ordered In Stock For Anyone But Me
By 11.16.12
Ally is a tireless disgruntled former Sears customer. We don’t mean that she’s tireless in that she’s working without ceasing to take down Sears. We mean that she really needs some new tires, which she ordered from Sears last week. She called them up to make sure that they had her tires in stock, and they did. When the time came for her service appointment, though, she found out that Sears didn’t have the tires in stock for her, and they couldn’t explain why in a clear way. What they could provide her with was a hold on her bank account because she had originally ordered the tires with her debit card. So that was awesome. [More]
Returning Tools To Sears Should Not Be This Complicated
By 11.13.12
Oh, Sears. They sort of want to become a modern retailer, but don’t know how. They just can’t figure out this whole 21st-century retail thing. E-mail reminders? Returning items online that were purchased online? Too confusing. Too modern. Make it go away. Jim is the rare Consumerist reader who has no complaints about Sears, even though he actually shops there. But even he admits that his recent experience returning some Craftsman tools was needlessly complicated and required a lot more steps than it should have. [More]
Your Guide To Black Friday Start Times: Start Planning Extreme Shopping Strategies
By 11.9.12
We already know that Walmart is pushing back its Black Friday sale start time to 8 p.m. on Thursday (yes, that’s Thanksgiving!), but what about all its competitors? When are those doors going to come banging open to allow the frenzied flow of devoted discounters to get to work? Let’s just say it might be a good idea to scheduled dinner early in the day if you want to partake in the retail madness. [More]
Kenmore ‘Elite’ Means ‘Only Eight Months Until Rust Spots Show Up’
By 11.5.12
Reader Arglex recently remodeled their home and replaced all of the appliances. Like many Americans, the Arglex family have been loyal Sears customers for decades. They believed that Kenmore Elite appliances were, well, elite. Not that they would begin to rust after only a few months and not do their jobs properly. Like keeping ice cream cold. [More]
Sears Employees Demonstrate Shocking Levels Of Competence
By 10.10.12
We frequently mock Sears as incompetent and secretly a vast anti-capitalist prank, but we mock because we love. Kinda. We hate seeing such a venerable brand that a significant portion of the population still relies on and trusts. Well, that a significant portion of the population used to rely on and trust. That’s why Michael’s story stands out: it’s a tale of a Sears employee demonstrating competence and compassion. This customer service representative has probably already been fired. [More]
When You Can’t Find The Toy Your Kid Wants For Christmas, Blame Layaway
By 10.5.12
This holiday season, when your child looks up at you with tears welling in their eyes because they didn’t get that one toy they had really been hoping for, you can do two things: Tell him/her to grow the heck up and realize that you don’t always get everything you ask for, or blame all the parents who put toys on layaway in September and October. [More]
