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Sears: Poor Customer Service; Poor Systems

Update: My comments highlighted on Free Money Finance.

A bit off topic but I'd like to publicize this in an attempt to resolve the situation and to warn others about Sears lack of customer service.

I ordered a part from Sears for my refrigerator, attempted to cancel that part the following day, was informed Sears can't cancel part orders (huh?), followed the return instructions to a "T", and have yet to see a full refund after 60 days. I've had 6+ communications with Sears only to receive the run-around every time.

My advice: don't shop at Sears. If anything goes wrong, they will drown you in bureaucracy betting that they'll outlast you.

My comment posted to Free Money Finance received a highlight (scroll down) recently. FMF's author is fighting Sears on about a malfunctioning elliptical exercise machine.

Here are the full details of my tussle wrapped into a recent email to Sears. I'm posting the response which is consistent with the previous 6 responses, "can't help you...talk to department XYZ". Pathetic. Looks like I'm not alone:
complaints.com
planetfeedback.com
my3cents.com

Sears.com Customer Service Request
1 message
partsdirect@customerservice.sears.com Mon, Aug 28, 2006 at 4:00 PM
To: jeff
Please include the following line in all replies.
Tracking number: xxxxxxx

Dear Jeff ,

Thank you for contacting Sears.

We have reviewed the status of your order and found that your order was
placed through a local Sears parts and repair center. PartsDirect is
unable to obtain shipping information or process transactions for parts
and repair center orders. For further assistance with your request, please
contact the parts and repair center where the order was placed. To obtain
the phone number and address to your local Sears parts and repair center,
you may visit us at http://www3.sears.com and click on 'store locator'.
Enter your zip code, select the 'service centers' box, then click
'continue'.

If we can be of additional assistance with any of your parts needs, please
contact us at partsdirect@customerservice.sears.com or call us at
1-800-4MY-HOME (1-800-469-4663).

Shop sears.com now to pick up great products for the season.
http://www.sears.com/sr/entry.jsp?eid=1&sid=S0016300040000600081

Roger H.
Sears Customer Care
partsdirect@customerservice.sears.com
1-800-4MY-HOME (1-800-469-4663)

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jeff
> Sent: Aug 28, 2006 11:25:09 AM CDT
> To: custrel@customerservice.sears.com
>
> NAME: Jeff
> E-MAIL ADDRESS: Jeff
> MAILING ADDRESS:
> xxxxxxxx
> xxxxxxx
> DAY PHONE: xxxxxxx
> EVENING PHONE: xxxxxxxx
> BROWSER/OPERATING SYSTEM: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.12) Gecko/20050915 Firefox/1.0.7
>
> COMMENTS:
> Dear Sir/Madam,
>
> Action item: Refund me $56.84 for a part I ordered on 6/24/2006, tried to cancel, and returned on 6/28/2006.
>
> Order#: xxxxxxx
> Part#: xxxxxxx
> Phone: xxxxxxx
>
> On the 24th of June, I ordered this part for my refrigerator. The next day, I fixed the refrigerator without the part. I called to cancel my order on the 25th of June.
>
> The woman I spoke to on the 25th told me Sears was not capable of cancelling orders. Instead, I should take delivery on the part and return it to any US Post Office.
>
> On Wednesday June 28th, I received the part. On Thursday June 29th, I returned the part to the USPS office refusing delivery.
>
> I have yet to receive a refund for the $56.84. Today is August 28th, 2006 I've spoken to Sears 4-5 times now and am attempting one last time before taking this issue public.
>
> Contacts:
> 8/8/2006 - Bill (local rep), call 800#
> 8/8/2006 - Karen (800#), turned over to accounting, will call (Sears never called)
> 8/18/2006 - Julie (800#), re-submitted to accounting, will call in 2-3 days (Sears never called)
> 8/25/2006 - Maricella (Emp#: xxxxx), claimed she couldn't escalate the issue; call the local office
>
> Please refund the $56.84 to my credit card or send a check to my address for the part I returned to you.
>
> I'm a very good customer. I bought a house recently. All my appliances are Kenmore. All my paint is Sears. Almost all my hardware and shop tools are Craftsman. I've spent thousands of dollars with you all over the years.
>
> Please provide this refund or I will forever sever our relationship and do my best to publicize the pathetic level of customer service I received in this situation.
>
> Regards,
> Jeff...
>
>
>
>

Comments

Anonymous said…
jeff, I am sorry that you had such poor customer service, and hope they will help you to resolve this with integrity. What can be done to improve customer service in places we frequesnt, in your opinion. How can it become a win-win rather than this frustration we see in service after service? I'd love to hear your suggested insights on this one. Good luck!
Jeff Hunsaker said…
Excellent suggestion. It's here
Anonymous said…
Wow! I'm so happy to hear someone else that is unhappy with Sears service.... Wait...What Service? I too have a new dryer (2 yrs old) Kenmore. When the dryer quit drying I went into sears. Talk about great service! or so I thought... call the repair dept. only to be told that I should have bought the extended warranty. It is only 2 yrs old and the heating element went out!!!! It's a Kenmore!!! I was actually told that people like me think we deserve free replacement products because we buy top of the line equipment-- without the extended warranty. Did I mention that this is the 3rd thing we have had go wrong with it?? The washer that cost 1,500 has already had problems. Fortunately, it was still in warranty. When the repair guy repaired it.. it leaked water all over my floor. It wasn't put back together properly so when it did run it cut wires into. Still waiting on this one. I don't even want to call sears about this one. Service....Yeah Right? Rude... YES!!!
Anonymous said…
Sears just does NOT get it. It appears as if they want to go out of busines. They have employees that would rather about going to las vegas rather than help a money paying customer. There are other stores.
Anonymous said…
We purchased five appliances for about $8K and have had nothing but bad luck with Sears. We always brought everything from Sears but no more. The biggest issue we have is with Sears delivery. They do not respond, will not answer their phones and will not resolve any issues. I believe they have a code book on how to avoid helping customers or resolving any issues. All they needed to do for us was not to damage the appliances during delivery, but that is not the case. One appliance was delivered to the wrong house than delivered to us a week later after being half installed. One was the wrong appliance, two were damaged and one was correct. We had three dishwashers, five stoves and 2 refridges delivered to us over a four month period. We have been trying to contact delivery for a year to resolve these issues with no response. We have continued to contact delivery manager ED Ryan and Amanda Paul to no avail. We have even called the national customer service and they could not get a response from Ed or Amanda. I thought for the longest time that Sears was the place to buy things and wouldn't go to the big box store but after this last year, you won't find us at Sears. With all our calls and with all the complaints we have read, we are sure that Sears will not be in business for the long term. They have forgot how Sears was built and what a customer means to a business. A once loyal Sears customer.

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