Sears, formerly Sears, Roebuck and Company, has been a part of life since I was a kid. Growing up in Aurora, IL, there was a big (well, big for small town Illinois in the 50′s) Sears store less than a mile from our house. My family shopped there regularly. While some kids’ parents spent the extra bucks for the Converse All-Stars canvas sneakers. My Mom felt that the Sears brand was just as good, and a few bucks less. Of course in those days, pre-brand consciousness we would just pull off the small round rubber labels on the ankles, and no one knew the difference. My parents always felt that Sears brand appliances were good products and often purchased them. Even as I grew up and bought my first home, I always looked at the Sears brand of appliances (Kenmore) and have bought them over the years.
Recently it became obvious that we would need to replace our kitchen range. We had already made one service call, and frankly it never heated the oven accurately, often off by 25 – 30 degrees. When we started looking, I was surprised by the few choices of retail outlets for major home appliances. It seems that most of the lolcal stores have disappeared, victims of the big national chains. So, we looked at the big home stores and I decided to also check Sears. Turns out that we found a range at Sears that had everything we were looking for and the price appeared reasonable.We decided to purchase it, and told the floor sales person to ring it up. That’s when the troubles began.
The sales rep said that free delivery and hook was included in the price. Whoops… we are on propane, and that requires a plumber to hook it up, so instead of free delivery, there was a charge. We purchased the range on Thursday, but the first delivery slot available was on Monday. Then at the register, the sales rep said they were heavily booked for deliveries on Monday, and Tuesday would be better. I said “fine”. The sales rep had a hard time entering the sale at their register (rather a POS terminal). She had to ask 2 other reps for help. I wasn’t in a hurry and didn’t mind the wait. BUT, when the transaction was finally completed, the delivery date had now magically slipped to Wednesday. The clerk was at a loss to explain this, and said that “the system” must have assigned the date. Alright, I would wait 7 days for the delivery.
Wednesday arrived. I was somewhat concerned that I had not heard from anyone at Sears concerning my delivery. So, I called the 800 number on my sales receipt. The woman that answered took my area code and phone number and then replied”Sorry, you are not in the system!” Hmmm, I suggested that she should try our old area code and phone number(the area code for our part of New Mexico changed 2 years ago). Ahh yes, there I was, but there was no delivery scheduled in “the system“. I informed the rep on the phone that I had a receipt showing a promised delivery date of that day and I expected to see a range delivered. After a few minutes of waiting, the rep promised to call me back (hopefully at the correct area code). My next call was to the store. Needless to say, our sales person was not available. However my wife spoke to another person who identified them-self as the department manager. This person told us that the 800 number rep did not know what they were talking about. She said that when she looked in “the system“, it clearly showed a scheduled delivery. Surprisingly, the 800 number rep, actually called me back. She said that clearly the store was wrong, but she would work diligently to straighten things out. She said that “hopefully” I would have my range delivered that day. She also assured me that she had changed my phone number in “the system“. After a couple of hours with no update, we called the store back. Our salesperson was still not available, and now, the department manager was too busy to talk to us! The 800 number rep said that our delivery was now in “the system“, and someone had accepted the delivery… but not until tomorrow. I told the rep that if I did not receive the range first thing on Thursday, they could cancel the order and refund my money! I finally received a call from the installer about 5 PM, and he promised to be at our house at 8:00 AM on Thursday. When he did arrive Thursday morning, (about 8:15), he said that we were unlucky to get the sales person we did, and that he had had numerous issues with her.
Well, we have had the range for about a month, and are quite happy with it. Like I said, I like Sears appliances, if only they could get the sales part right. Sadly, this experience is not unique to Sears. I seem to have trouble getting people to take my money on numerous occasions at various retailers. What has happened to retail that they are so totally incompetent any more? Oh, here’s the range, a Kenmore model 7748:
Stay tuned for my Sears sad saga – part 2!
