How Sears Ruined My Life

No charges will be reflected on your credit card (but about those gift cards…)

admin — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 16:57:55 +0000

So, I got $65 in gift cards as a refund for the events of earlier this year. I decided to take advantage of those gift cards and Sears’ “Ready in 5, Guaranteed” thing on their website. I know that Wal Mart’s site-to-store seems to work quite well. So I place my order online and then wait for the email. Maybe “Ready in 5″ means “Ready in 5 Hours”, in which case Sears succeeded admirably. An hour later I get an email that states:

I think that, hey, the order would be cancelled like they said it is and they should give me my money back on the gift cards. Since a мебелиpurchase entails an exchange of goods or services for monetary instruments, and I didn’t pay with goats, chickens, or beads, I think that my expectation is reasonable.

I called their web order phone line this morning, and was told by the nice lady on the phone (she was probably the nicest and most personable of anyone I’ve talked with at Sears) that only part of the order was cancelled. I read her the email, and she seemed to agree that the email was WRONG. She cancelled the rest of the order, and we’ll see if the gift cards get credited back properly.

It AMAZES me that a company with such an amazingly vast retail presence, a HUGE service business, and an inventory chain that rivals a company like Wal Mart could be so completely clueless when compared to other companies and their modes of operating. Does Sears just have a bunch of high school dropouts and people waiting for TSA jobs working in their internet order fulfillment department calling retail stores to see if they have stock??? Sure seems that way. Why can’t they use a system like my employer’s SAP setup to immediately see what items are in which inventory buckets at a given moment? Their online systems could access that information and dynamically update, rather than “Ready in 5, once we send you an email after Tyrone calls the store to see what’s really up.”

Come on guys. It’s 2007, for God’s sake!

Getting Sears to do the Right Thing®

admin — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:40:53 +0000

For Ken and any other folks who have read this website and have a similar frustrating experience with Sears, here is what I suggest you do:

1. Check with counsel to see if recording a conversation is legal in your state. I did so because my agreement to Sears’ notice that they could record the conversation gave me the right to do so (according to my research.) I am not a lawyer, however. Check with your attorney.

2. Call back a few days later to speak with a customer service rep, ask all of your questions calmly and clearly. I made sure to ask all of my questions on tape so that I could get the myriad answers and conflicts documented.

3. Make the recordings easily accessible for those who need to access them. I don’t think you need to buy a domain, but find some free or cheap web host who is OK with you putting out a few MP3s at little or no cost.

4. Call Sears Holdings’ main switchboard number at 847-286-2500. I hit *411 to get to the company directory. The Consumerist states you should enter the name of Aylwin B. Lewis (the President and CEO) or William C. Crowley (Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer). I had litte or no luck with those two. Google Business’ page for Sears Holdings (SHLD)

turns up the name of John C. Walden (Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer). Going by his title, his job should be to work with customers who need assistance in matters such as these.

5. Leave a voicemail or speak with the person who answers. Always be calm and don’t use profanity. I work in customer service myself, and I’ll tell you that nothing makes me stick to the rules more than people who curse or threaten legal action willy nilly. Mentioning legal action may get you somewhere, but you don’t want to throw it around like it will be THE reason they’ll bow to your will. Make sure to provide your order number, receipt number, or other information so that they can verify you are in fact a customer.

6. Call back every other day if you do not receive a response.

I’d hate to have to see someone make another website like this just to get service from Sears, but that’s what the world seems to be moving to.

All it takes is talking to the right person, I guess

admin — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 17:52:57 +0000

So, on Wenesday June 20, a person “assigned to getting us our refund” called fiancée’s work and spoke with her about the situation. Oh yeah, by the way, one of the other reasons I was so pissed about this situation is that being out $572.58 makes it that much harder to buy a ring and follow through on the plans you’ve made. I wasn’t going to post that because I didn’t really want her to know. Buying appliances is probably pretty close to buying a ring in terms of commitment anyways, but you all know what I mean.

So back to the refund guy. The executive guy verified the amount, and fiancée told him a different amount (which we figured out later was a difference in sales tax rates.) She said he was really nice over the phone (which was certainly a change from the douche who hung up on me) and said we’d have the refund within a few days. Again, I was hopeful, but not expecting any dramatic changes.

So fiancée and I are in Las Vegas on a short trip (we’re not getting married here), and I forgot to check my debit balance yesterday. I checked this morning, and what do you know, I have the full refund amount on my debit card.

THANK YOU SEARS HOLDINGS EXECUTIVE CUSTOMER RELATIONS

I’m assuming that the voicemails I left actually got someone to read the whole situation on the site. It wasn’t unreasonable, but something HAS to be done about the Sears.com inventory management. It’s completely broken, not to mention the fact that the Sears.com website listing for the cheaper dryer (DBXR463GGWW) still shows the picture for the more expensive dryer (DWSR463GGWW), and someone else who orders from their website might have the same problem I’ve just experienced. It’ll cost everyone time and money that doesn’t need to be spent.

Legal research and other random bits

admin — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 05:10:54 +0000

I did do some research previously about the legality of recording phone conversations in the state of California, and I know I have the law on my side. In support of my argument:

California Penal Code §§ 631, 632 state that both parties must consent to recording of a conversation, and since at the beginning of every call I’ve made to Sears there has been a statement indicating “This call may be monitored or recorded for quality assurance purposes” or a similar statement of similar wording, there has been no expectation of privacy on my part and no reason to believe the call was confidential or privileged. I was fully within my rights to record the conversations.

Nixon Peabody LLC, in a primer on a recent California Supreme Court ruling, point out that in the state of California, all parties must consent to the recording of a conversation over the telephone, even if a party is outside of the state. I believe the ruling in Kelly v. Salomon Smith Barney was with regards to calls originating outside of California, but the point is that in the state of California, I’ve met the more stringent statute’s requirements for legally recording a telephone conversation.

Now, the guy I talked with today may simply have been complying with Sears’ policy on speaking with a customer while knowingly being recorded. As you all can hear, though, it is obvious that Sears was recording the conversation based on the loud *beep* when he picked up the phone. Why would he want to talk with Sears recording the conversation, but not me recording the conversation? Like I said before, Sears is either grossly incompetent or full of lies. I don’t think that either one is very attractive for them.

We’ll see what happens first: legal action against me by Sears or me getting my refund.

Sears will no longer talk with me about giving me my money back

admin — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 22:43:07 +0000

I ended up calling Sears about this problem again. Their message at the beginning of the phone call says that the call may be monitored or recorded. That notification basically gives me the right to record the conversation in the state of California, since I consent to being recorded by Sears. The manager I spoke with apparently doesn’t give his consent to have me record him.

Sears.com is now trying to say I cannot get a refund from them because the retail store picked up the item, which is wrong. I’m now going to have to go through other means to get my money back, since I know that this is not going to get anything happening through normal customer service.

Here’s the deal: Sears.com now owes me $572.58, including sales tax and the delivery fee that they promised to refund. You all have heard their promise to refund that money. Now they will not refund the money, and they will not talk with me despite their notice giving me the legal right to record the conversation.

I just left another voicemail for John Walden at the Sears Holdings corporate offices asking for a return call about this problem, and I again gave him my cell phone number and this website address so he can see what has happened over the past couple of months. We’ll see if this gets resolved, or if I have to go to court.

I will get my money back.

Here’s the conversation that got cut off because I exercised my legal rights:

conversation04.mp3

I call bullshit

admin — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 21:07:28 +0000

So I just received (about 15 minutes ago) a UPS 2-day air shipment of two gift cards, one $30 and one $35. Interestingly, the return address on the envelope is to a Maxine Snow in Des Moines, IA but the origin of the package is in Mesquite, TX. WTF?

Whatever happened to the gift cards being “re-sent” on June 5? Is this actually the third set of gift cards that have been dispatched my way? Whatever happened to two weeks delivery time because of the USPS? Last I checked, the USPS was not the same as UPS. And where the hell is my refund of the dryer that was picked up almost a month ago?

Going by their track record, everything with Sears.com (except for the refrigerator refund) has been either gross incompetence or a flat-out lie.

No response yet

admin — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 05:45:10 +0000

Nothing yet from anyone related to the Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer (or anyone from Sears for that matter.) Watch me get shelved by even their executive corporate relations. I really don’t want to have to go to small claims court, but I will if I have to.

Bastards.

Nothing from nothing leaves nothing (on my debit card)

admin — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 06:51:44 +0000

So last week I called about this problem again. I spoke with two agents on Thursday the 7th of June, one of whom I spoke with on May 8 about this same problem situation. The first agent wanted to send more escalations about the problem, so I said that that had been done already and I wanted to speak with a supervisor. That supervisor was the one who offered me my first gift card. I informed her that I’d not been issued the refund as promised and I had not been contacted within 48 hours as promised. She said that she would issue another refund, this time adding $65 for the delivery fee on top of the first $65 gift card. When I informed her that I’d not received the first gift card, she stated that it had been re-sent on June 5th. I was cautiously optimistic.

Here we are, almost June 14 and still nothing. No refund. No gift card. No other gift card. No contact from the “escalations” that were sent. The other funny thing that happened: I’ve not received a receipt in my email like Sears promised. Oh, I get their advertising spam. No receipt at all. No proof I’ve spent any money (aside from the missing $$$ on my card.)

I’m pissed, so about a half hour or so ago I left a voicemail for John Walden, Sears Holdings Inc.’s Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer. I don’t know what “Chief Customer Officer” means, really, but I’m sure someone was paid six digits to come up with the title. I informed him about my problems with the web order, provided the order number, and informed him about this website and gave my cell phone number. We’ll see what happens. I’m sure I’ll get hit with a C&D about the domain name being a violation of their trademark before I get a refund on this purchase. Who’s taking bets?

For reference, here’s the recording of the June 7 call:

conversation03.mp3

And if I do get served any legal paperwork on this one, I’ll definitely post it for all to see.

25 minutes on the phone, lots of dead silence

admin — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 18:17:19 +0000

I love getting snowed over. I’m going to be calling Sears’ executive customer relations on Monday because this is fraudulent what they are pulling.

Now my problems with not getting a refund and not getting my gift card need to be “researched” by other departments, even though I was told LAST week that they were all sent out and things were peaches and cream.

I was on the phone for almost 25 minutes, and I got the recording again:

conversation02.mp3

I can’t believe the kind of crooked stuff these guys are pulling. If I don’t get anywhere with the executive customer service people, I’m going to be filing a lawsuit. I’ll definitely be making them aware of this website and the recordings I’ve made.

No refund yet

admin — Wed, 30 May 2007 15:13:34 +0000

What a surprise. I’ll record this next phone call and post it for your enjoyment.

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

admin — Tue, 29 May 2007 16:01:41 +0000

So for the first batch of lies, I’ll be checking my mail this week for the $65 appeasement gift card. “2 weeks” turning into “14 business days” is rather annoying, especially when I catch the phone agent in a bold-faced lie.

For the damned lies: When I called Sears.com about my refund for the refrigerator, it was Tuesday May 8. I got the refund processed back onto my debit card on May 10. 48 hour processing time. What gives about this dryer refund? I seriously don’t see how it could be 5 to 7 days when a mid-week refund took 48 hours two weeks ago.

For the statistics: I’ll give them one more business day before I call again, since it was a holiday weekend. Everyone and their mother knows that merchant accounts don’t really need human input, but I’ll be nice and wait until tomorrow to call about my refund. Jebus, this is ridiculous.

Elucidation (or for those of you in Rio Linda: an explanation and some clarification)

admin — Sun, 27 May 2007 15:28:20 +0000

First off, I’d like to thank Carey at Consumerist.com for running an article on my situation, hopefully bringing a bit of exposure to this sorry affair Sears.com has managed to drag out for far too long.

For those of you who think my life was literally ruined by this, I put the subheading on the front of the site stating that it was an exaggeration. There is such a thing as humor in a bad situation, and this was certainly one of those cases. As for those who think that this is making a mountain out of a mole hill: Sears.com is listing completely incorrect information for certain manufacturer part numbers and has the wrong item pictures linked to the wrong units. I informed them about this almost 3 weeks ago, and they still haven’t corrected their mistake. I also ordered a fridge that said “In stock” but they lied about that and then tried to get me to wait until May 30 to receive the fridge. Sadly, May 30 still hasn’t arrived yet, and it seems like forever ago that I had that conversation.

And the “life-ruining” dryer situation is only the more drawn out of the two problems: remember, I bought a refrigerator that was “in stock and ready for delivery” to my zip code, but ended up being “Not in stock, and we don’t know when we’re going to get it from the manufacturer.” I don’t know how a company takes a person’s money with the understanding that something is in stock when they HAVE NONE OF THEM IN THEIR POSSESSION FOR DELIVERY. Isn’t that illegal? What kind of inventory management causes this to happen? Are they running Oracle .9i on DOS? SEP, the fake version made by CS students in Karachi? Or is it that Sears.com is just plain crooked and they like it that way?

My life hasn’t been ruined, thankfully, because though I do have some high credit card balances, I do have the financial means to not let this situation cause too much of a problem. Imagine someone who isn’t so lucky: someone who had to save their money, someone who didn’t want to use second-hand or found-on-the-sidewalk appliances so they buy their appliances on a sale at Sears.com, only to stay home from work two days and NOT get the correct appliances. What kind of a financial situation would they be in? Both of us deserve accurate information at the point of purchase, both of us deserve truthfulness when speaking to customer service reps on the phone, and both of us deserve not to have our money held an excessive amount of time. Would anyone care if this didn’t happen to me and it was a less well-off family who didn’t have the knowledge to make a website such as this? More importantly: would anyone notice?

If Sears.com Lies And You Complain, Is Anyone There To Hear You?

admin — Sat, 26 May 2007 17:32:22 +0000

So I called Sears.com and asked where the refund for the returned items was and they said it would sometimes take 3-5 business days, so just wait longer (basically.) I also asked about the status of my appeasement gift card, and she said that usually takes about 2 weeks. I asked if I should call back again soon, since it has already been about 2.5 weeks, and she changed her tune to 14 BUSINESS days (basically three full weeks.)

These tards are amazing, they really are. I work in retail, and I know that turning asshole on customer service agents doesn’t get them to help you out much, but when we look at notes for a customer’s experience and they show the customer having lots of legitimate problems, we go out of our way to make it right. These folks are just worthless in terms of helping people.

Thankfully they told me the conversation might be recorded on the phone. That gave me the legal right to do the same per the California Penal Code. Federal law is more lenient, so that wasn’t a problem. Here’s the recording from this morning, with personal information removed. Sorry I sound like a weiner with a cold, I had just gotten up and was still pretty groggy. How do you like that 1.5 minutes of dead silence in there?

conversation01.mp3

“Never ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by ignorance”

admin — Fri, 25 May 2007 14:20:17 +0000

Oscar Wilde gets it right, and I still don’t have my refund yet. I’ll give Sears.com the benefit of the doubt (though I have no idea why I’m still doing that) and wait until tomorrow to call them about the refund. If it shows up on my card between then and now, hopefully we’ll be able to say they got it right. Otherwise, it’s up the phone chain I go again.

Not good

admin — Wed, 23 May 2007 01:32:13 +0000

So I called Sears.com today about the refund for the dryer, and the agent on the phone asked for my order number and immediately said she needed to look through the notes. I believe that I’ve spoken with this person before, which would explain a lot. She asked if it was regarding the product that was picked up on the 18th. I informed her that it was about the product picked up on the 20th, and she immediately put me on hold again for a while.

She said the refund should be pushed through within 2 business days, but with this whole May 18/May 20 business, I’m not so sure. Let’s hope I get refunded for the service contract, too.

Still waiting for the appeasement gift card.

Hooray! The dryer is gone. Now to get my money back…

admin — Mon, 21 May 2007 03:39:46 +0000

I got home from work a little while ago, and the girlfriend told me that they picked up the dryer around 6PM today, which is awesome. What seemed a little shady is that they did not have any printed receipt to provide us with proof that the appliance was picked up. Girlfriend, being the smart one in our relationship, was wearing her thinking cap today and got a photocopy of the sheet she signed for the guy, basically their daily checklist. Don’t worry, all you other customers out there. She only copied our info; since we were dead last on the guy’s list for the day, it was easy to fold the sheet over.

Next step: getting our refund. I’ll certainly be calling tomorrow to ensure that the refund is going to go through. Hopefully they don’t try to say “We never received the dryer.”

Or even worse, “You returned the wrong dryer.”

Running a little late

admin — Sun, 20 May 2007 15:35:42 +0000

So yesterday there were two parties we had to attend, including one for my family where there were 3 of us having birthdays in May along with Mother’s Day. We were distracted, and I apologize for not posting our “estimated pickup time.”

We’re expecting them between 5PM and 7PM.

*crosses fingers*

We’ll see how this works out

admin — Sat, 19 May 2007 20:54:51 +0000

I just got off the phone with Sears Delivery confirming that they are in fact going to be picking up the incorrect dryer for a refund and that my two-hour time window will be available after 6PM. I’m hopeful, but not very confident.

I’m going to be at work tomorrow, so girlfriend will be at home to unload our undesired appliance. We still have a lot of junk to move from our old apartment, so it will be interesting to see when this pickup window is and how badly it will screw up our last weekend day before our official move-out date from the old apartment.

I’ll call after 6PM and let you all know when our pickup window is as soon as I know.

Some pictures to start the day

admin — Sat, 19 May 2007 17:03:11 +0000

For anyone who believes this site is relying on truthiness, here’s some photos for you:

home-dryer1.jpg: The 6 cubic foot dryer they incorrectly delivered. It’s living on my patio until Sears feels like getting it right and picking it up. Talk about feeling like white trash.

home-dryer2.jpg: The model number of the dryer they delivered, serial number redacted. Note this model number isn’t what is on the original order confirmation.

home-dryer3.jpg: The 7 cubic foot dryer I bought at the retail store, inside of my laundry room.

home-dryer4.jpg: The model number of the dryer I ordered from the retail store, serial number redacted. Note this model number is what I originally ordered from Sears.com

I guess I just sit and play the waiting game.

Proof of Sears not caring about blatantly incorrect information

admin — Sat, 19 May 2007 06:32:48 +0000

Upon request, I’ve documented some things from the Sears website that bring some clarity to these issues my girlfriend and I have been dealing with for 2 weeks now.

sears-order1.gif: A screenshot of our original online order, personal information redacted. Note the dryer model number: DWSR463GGWW.

sears-dryer1.gif: A screenshot of Sears’ page for GE model number DWSR463GGWW. Note that this page now says 6 cubic feet, not 7 cubic as originally stated in the order form when I ordered the dryer. That information was modified at some point after this situation commenced. Note the dryer’s appearance. This is the dryer we were originally delivered and the dryer they tried to deliver multiple times after that.

sears-dryer2.gif: A screenshot of a Sears page that has the picture of the dryer we wanted. Note the dryer model number tied to this picture: DBXR463GGWW.

ge-dryer1.gif: GE’s website showing the details of the DBXR463GGWW. Hey, that’s not the dryer on Sears’ page for the DBXR463GGWW!

ge-dryer2.gif: GE’s website showing the details of the DWSR463GGWW (the dryer I wanted.) That’s not the same dryer as Sears’ page for the DWSR463GGWW.

So, as can be plainly seen by the screenshots I took this evening, Sears.com has no clue about its inventory of GE dryers, and one can only wonder what other discrepancies are lurking in the darkness, waiting to bite other folks in the rear. On Tuesday May 8, Sears.com was informed of the problems with its website information. They have obviously not done anything substantial to correct its misleading information. It is worthwhile to note that this misinformation is not present in the retail stores, to the best of my knowledge, which is why I had ZERO problems with my two recent Sears retail experiences.

“Recipe For A .com Shopping Disaster”, or “How I Just Wanted To Do My Damn Laundry”

admin — Sat, 19 May 2007 00:06:01 +0000

On April 29, 2007, my girlfriend I and decided to buy some appliances on Sears.com. We found some OK deals, and wanted to ensure we got these before we had to move out of our old apartment in late May. Boy, are we sorry we bought from Sears.com. I’ll list our experiences, chronologically, so we can see how this all got to today:

April 29, 2007: We ordered a washing machine, gas dryer, and refrigerator from Sears.com

May 6, 2007: We receive a phone call from Sears delivery confirming delivery of our appliances the next day

May 7, 2007 (AM): Girlfriend stays home from work in order to receive the appliances. When girlfriend meets delivery guys, they don’t have the fridge. She calls Sears.com and they say the fridge is backordered and will be delivered on May 10. This doesn’t phase Sears.com, even though we are supposed to be out of town on May 10. We pray for early morning delivery of the appliance so as not to delay our trip that much.

May 7, 2007 (PM): Girlfriend is drying a load of laundry and hears loud buzzing sound. When girlfriend attempts to turn down buzzer sound, she realizes that we were given wrong dryer. Appliance matched the picture online, but Sears.com has the wrong part number from the manufacturer tied to the wrong Sears item number and incorrect description. Girlfriend calls to set up exchange that is to take place on Thursday. Awesome, we say. Appliances installed and off on our trip. Not so bad.

May 8, 2007 (AM): Voicemail from Sears asking for a call back about our fridge. Call Sears.com, they say the fridge is backordered until May 15. I’m angry. I ask for two different supervisors, one of which promised a $65 appeasement gift card for the trouble. Upon speaking with the second supervisor and trying to figure out what replacement fridge would be suitable, she informs me that in the time we have been speaking, the availability has been pushed back to May 30. I tell supervisor to cancel this order and give me a refund for the fridge. Supervisor obliges.

May 8, 2007 (Late AM): Go to a Sears retail store and buy floor model fridge. Experience is great. When asking retail person about our fridge model she says “Oh, that model has been backordered for a long time.” Awesome to know, considering that Sears.com said the model was in stock and ready for delivery.

May 8, 2007 (PM): I talk with Sears.com folks about our dryer exchange to ENSURE that the correct dryer is being delivered on Thursday, and I am told that yes, the correct dryer will be delivered.

May 9, 2007 (PM): Girlfriend stays home from work again to receive fridge. Fridge is delivered late in the day, but working great. Yay for Sears retail. Sears.com calls girlfriend to say our dryer will be delivered tomorrow morning. Sears.com calls me to say our dryer will be delivered tomorrow morning. How nice of them to call both of us about the situation, we say.

May 10, 2007 (AM): Girlfriend and I are at home when delivery guys come. The same WRONG dryer is at our door. When we tell the delivery guy that the dryer for girlfriend is wrong, he says that he has another of the SAME model dryer in the truck for me. I tell him that that dryer is wrong too. Speaking on the phone with Sears.com, they say that the dryer will be exchanged for the PROPER unit on May 18, when the girlfriend and I are back in town and I am off of work. Riiiiight, we say.

May 11, 2007 (AM): I get a voicemail asking us to call back about our exchange. We are on vacation, and I am unable to call back that day.

May 12, 2007 (AM): Girlfriend gets a phone call from Sears saying they are trying to exchange our dryer and nobody is answering the door. We tell them that the exchange was supposed to take place on May 18 and that we are out of town. They have no real response.

May 14, 2007: Girlfriend talks on the phone with agent who is willing to get it all sorted out and get us the right dryer, since all of these problems are stemming from incorrect information on their website. Girlfriend sets up exchange for May 18.

May 15, 2007 (AM): Today is my birthday. I decided that I wasn’t going to leave our dryer up to chance again, and I don’t want any more shit in my Cheerios on my birthday. I stop by another Sears retail store (different from the fridge location) and speak with a salesperson about the situation. She speaks with her manager, and her manager immediately approves price matching the wrong online price and sets up delivery for May 18. Wonderful experience.

May 15, 2007 (Late AM): Spoke with Sears.com, told them I wanted to cancel the exchange and have them pick up the old dryer for a refund of the dryer and the service contract. Agent stated that would be OK and ended the call.

May 16, 2007: Girlfriend gets a call from Sears saying that they are at our apartment trying to pick up the old dryer and deliver the correct dryer. Girlfriend tells them that this is supposed to be a pickup only and on May 18. Delivery guys say OK. I speak with Sears.com later and CONFIRM that Friday is pickup for refund ONLY.

May 17, 2007 (PM): Confirmed with Sears that pickup of old dryer and delivery of new dryer are both scheduled for late afternoon on May 18. Yay!

May 18, 2007 (AM): I’m at my grandma’s house telling them the story so far about our Sears.com experience and I get a phone call from girlfriend. Girlfriend says that Sears called saying that the product we had for exchange was damaged and that exchange would have to take place May 19. Girlfriend says that no exchange is set and this should be pickup only. They say OK.

May 18, 2007 (PM): Sears delivers the correct dryer purchased from retail 30 minutes before their scheduled window. Awesome! I asked the guys if they were picking up the old dryer for refund and they say no. Alright, I say. I gave the guys each a Coke (they looked really thirsty) and said thanks for moving the incorrect dryer to the patio for temporary storage. I then call Sears delivery to CONFIRM that they are in fact picking up the wrong dryer today. Sears says that they cannot pick up the old one since it was part of an exchange. They cancelled the exchange and now say that the soonest they can pick up the wrong dryer is May 20. I say fine, but this is ridiculous and they suggest I contact Sears.com. I called Sears.com where the agent said there is nothing I could do about it. I asked for a supervisor and, instead of connecting me with a supervisor, he said that his supervisor said there was nothing they could do. I hang up, register SearsRuinedMyLife.com and started to document this experience online.

So far, it appears that Sears Retail is 2 for 2 and Sears.com is 1 for 3. If you count EACH of the times they delivered the wrong item to us, Sears.com is even worse. I’m at a loss as to what I should do. I don’t have my token $65 gift card, my girlfriend is out two days of work because of Sears.com, and I’ve got a dryer I don’t want taking up space on my patio on the 3rd floor of my apartment building. This has been the worst customer service experience I’ve ever had to deal with, and God knows I’m never ordering anything from Sears.com ever again. If it weren’t for the reassurance of a friend of mine who is a manager at a Sears retail store and the extremely positive experience I had with the retail division of Sears, I would have given up on Sears long ago.

It seems like this behemoth of a company has a pretty decent supply and service chain with its retail business but obviously has no clue when it comes to running an internet business. I work for a major retailer, and I can tell you that if this were a customer of ours, he’d have probably been given new equipment at little to no cost AND given a full refund. This is unacceptable for any company to tolerate, but it seems that Sears.com not only tolerates it, they feel little need to change the status quo.

Any similar experiences? Suggestions? Questions? Please email me, or better yet, post your responses on the site. I’ll do my best to oblige.

Thanks for reading.