My sister and I went in on a joint gift for my mom - a sewing machine! We debated purchasing it at various locations, but ultimately, decided to purchase from Sears because they carried the Kenmore brand. I have a great Kenmore sewing machine, so I know they're nice and reliable. Alternatively, we could have easily purchased a Brother machine from Amazon.com. About the same price, still free shipping and pretty much the same features as the Kenmore machine.
So, I called my mom today to see if she got her gift yesterday. She hadn't. Confused, I went back to my email to see if I was not right in thinking they had told me the delivery date was to be 12/20. I was right. Hmmm, hoping things hadn't fallen through the cracks, I went online to see what I could find on the website.
This was the first thing that caused me grief today - logging into the Sears system, I couldn't remember my password. No matter, I'd hit the lost password button to try and get it. So, I do that. Nothing appears, so a few minutes later I rehit that button. Finally something arrives in my email. I put in my email address and then the temporary password. It prompts me to change my password. Only, apparently, I don't pick a good enough password, so it does not accept it, instead, it tells me that I should read the password policy. Only, I'm locked into that screen and can go no where else on your site. I finally had to clear all my cookies (that was fun, retyping all my passwords for every website I visit) in order to go through the whole process again. I finally picked a good enough password.
Now, where my true frustration has come from. I look at the tracking information for the order that I placed on Saturday. It tells me it's in transit. So, I call the 800 number provided for Sears.com. I speak with an associate (I didn't catch her name). She was perfectly nice and all, but she couldn't answer my question as to why I was told it would be arriving in Belgrade MT on 12/20, but why she just told me that it was shipped on 12/20 so I asked to speak with a supervisor.
The supervisor that finally came on the line was a Christina (operator 64803). I can not believe that someone so rude could work in customer service, let alone be a supervisor. All she could do was talk over me and continually tell me that my item should arrive by 12/24. I started to explain that I wanted to know WHY this had happened (12/20 arrival vs shipping it on 12/20) and she proclaimed that I was not listening to her. Um, hello - you're supposed to be listening to me! I finally asked her to speak with her supervisor. She told me that she didn't have a supervisor.
When I questioned the fact that she had no supervisor, she finally admitted that she did have someone above her but that none of those people were there at the moment. So, I asked how I could talk to someone above her to complain about her rudeness. She said I'd have to talk to corporate. I asked for a phone number. She told me that they didn't have a phone number, only an address. I questioned how a corporate office could not have a phone number. She back pedaled and said they did have a number, but that they never answer their phone. I asked for the number and was finally given it. First call = 19 minutes, 41 seconds.
I called the corporate number given (1-847-286-2500). Surprisingly (since I was told they don't answer) the phone was picked up on the first ring. I was transfered to a Sandra. Upon explaining the situation to Sandra, I was told that she was going to transfer me to someone who could help me. Great, I thought. She transfered me to an Amber. Although Amber was nice, she was very soft spoken and generally hard to hear despite having my phone cranked all the way up. So, I explain my situation to Amber. She then tells me that my package shipped on 12/18, not 12/20. She also tells me that the email that says it will be there in five days is wrong, they know it's wrong and have asked for it to be changed. Finally, after running around and around, I realize that Amber is probably not the person I need to speak with (not that she wasn't nice, just wasn't able to help me, much like the first woman that I talked with). I asked Amber if she was at the corporate office or if I was transfered back to the general call center at Sears.com. I was. I told her that I needed to speak to whoever was Christina's supervisor. She explained that she wasn't able to escalate that, but she could get her supervisor, who could get his supervisor. I said fine, please do that. I finally get Neil on the phone and he wants to help, only at this point, I want to speak with someone above Christina - someone needs to realize how rude this woman is. He tells me that it would be at least 20 minutes on hold. I tell him that this is my second call and I'm already at 30 minutes, I might as well wait another 20. I wait around some more, start this letter and am shoved into a voice mail box.
So, now I've left a voice mail and never expect to hear back on that, since it seems like all that happens at Sears.com is to be shoved from one person to the next that just wants to create excuses for the other person and to never escalate things beyond the initial supervisor. I've also sent an email to the customer service email address on the Sears website.
So, a huge vent and a huge PSA - don't do business with Sears.com!
5 comments:
Thanks for the warning! It seems like customer service has gone down the drain these days.. Did it arrive in time?
Sears is Horrible! I have been without a working fride for 11 days now. I bought it brand new 5 months ago and the customer service has no supervisiors ever on staff and they never return calls! I will NEVER do business with them again! NEVER!
Do not buy fitness equipment from Sears either.
I bought a Weider Fitness Machine from Sears Boca Raton to use for physical therapy. After a couple times of month long repairs, I am now throwing the machine away. They refuse to give me credit or refund. If I didn't need it for physical therapy I would not have bought it. Service consists missed appointments, surveys, and long delays for part orders.
It's broken again and I will have to purchase another one. I'm out almost a thousand dollars.
Never Buy from Sears!
Wow I'm glad I'm not alone on this. We bought an elliptical trainer back in Sept 2007. We used it for a couple of months then it broke down in February. We got a service guy to come check it out, and he told us we'd need some parts. We order to parts, then when we call to check up on them, they tell me its been back ordered till June 2008. As lame as that was, we waited till then, and when we called back in June, they tell us its been back ordered till August. What kind of shitty service is this? I've been without an elliptical longer than I've had it working.
So I call customer service, they tell me they'll see if they can get me the parts faster locally, and get back to me tomorrow. Obviously they didnt get back to me. I call them back the next day, and they say 'oh we dont have it on file the person you talked to yesterday said they'd see if they could get you the parts faster.' So I'm like...alright. Then she said that she would see if she could get me the parts locally, and that I should be getting a call from them tomorrow. I gave them 2 days, no call.
At this point I decided to call corporate office. I talked to them and told them what had happened. She says (gee I didnt see this coming) she would send an email to my local parts place to see if she can get me the parts. She ASSURED me that she'd have an answer for me by the end of the day. I'm like this is the third time I've been told this. What if nothing happens again? At that point, she told me that then they would just offer me a replacement. She doesnt call back.
I call them today and explain everything AGAIN, to which the person on the phone said 'it doesnt say on file that we'll offer you a replacement.' Like wtf, seriously. She said she'd talk to the person that I had talked to yesterday to see what she had said (obviously she can lie) and that she would get back to me in 4 days..Screw Sears..never again. I'm telling everyone to stay the hell away from them.
I purchased a treadmill from Sears about two years ago. It had a one year warranty and of course as luck would have it the motor that elevates the treadmill went bad about a year and a week after purchase. After having a Sears repairman come to the house, we were told that it couldn't be fixed. We were charged $102.00 for this information. We wrote a letter to Sears headquarters and finally they said that if we paid $100.00 for the part that they would supply the labor We did that and after six months the treadmill doesn't elevate again. We've sent registered letters to Sears and have received the signed returned receipt but Sears seems to be ignoring us. This treadmill has cost us over $600.00 and we are very unhappy with the customer service that we have received thus far. All we are asking for is for Sears to stand behind their product. Obviously this treadmill is a lemon and should be replaced. Well We finally heard from Betty at the home office and basically she told my husband that there was nothing that they could do for us except give us $100 credit on a new treadmill. How insulting! We spent $400 on the treadmill and then another $200 for the repair and now they want us to buy another one from them! The thing is only 2 years old! I wouldn't spend more money at Sears for their inferior merchandise ever! I decided that I am going to take them to Small Claims Court and we'll see what happens. I'm sick of the lack of customer service, If you value your money, DON'T PURCHASE ANYTHING FROM SEARS!
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