Horrible Customer Service At Sears
I have attached the following letter I written to the company that describes Sear’s horrible customer service
I have been a long time customer of your company but recently I bought furniture from your Scarborough store for the first time. I have had a horrible experience with your company since. Your logo reads “Quality, Value, Service, Trust†but your company fails in all four of these areas.
I bought a sofa and a set of tables from your William Kitchen Road Scarborough store on August 24, 2008. It was set to be delivered more than one month later on October 8, 2008 from 12 noon to 6pm. I took that day off to wait for this delivery. I received a call the morning of Wednesday, October 8, 2008 from your delivery department telling me that the items I purchased “did not get on to the delivery truck in time†and hence my delivery had to be rescheduled and the next available delivery date was the following week. I was very unhappy about this given I cancelled my patients that day in order to be home to open the door for the delivery people. I settled for having the delivery rescheduled for Thursday October 16, 2008 from 5pm to 9:30pm. I confirm this delivery the day before and the morning of. I cancelled my plans for the evening in order to be home again. I then got a call on October 16 at 6:30pm from the delivery man stating he was at 55 Rosedale Avenue West. I told him I was at 55 Via Rosedale. I told him I did not understand how he could be at the wrong address since my Sears receipt specifically has the address 55 Via Rosedale printed on it. Nevertheless, this delivery man refused to turn around (he states he was heading south and not north) even though he was only a 15 minute drive away. As you can understand, I became very angry as this was the second mistake your company made and the second day you caused me to waste. I phoned your delivery inquiry line. They were very unhelpful except to tell me that the saleperson Pedram at the Scarborough store entered my address incorrectly on the delivery system. They then transferred me to your corporate customer service line. There I spoke with an agent named Sarah who told me the best she could do was to arrange a special delivery with another truck for the following Saturday with a narrower delivery time window. She states she will call me back in a couple of hours to confirm this delivery time. When I did not hear from her by 9pm, I called your corporate customer service line again and spoke with Meridith and explained my whole story again and she states she could not help me and whatever Sarah promised to do was between me and her. And Sarah never ended up calling me that night.
I called your customer service line again the next morning at 8am and spoke with an agent named Tina. I had to explain my whole story again since she did seem to know what was going on with my delivery. She stated that my address on the delivery system was 55 Rosedale Avenue West. I told her that this was the wrong address and I did not understand why it has not been corrected yet. She told me that she will call me back after she looks into the situation. I got a call back from yet a different agent at around noon telling me that a Saturday delivery was not possible now and the next available delivery date was October 20 from 1 to 6pm. I told her I could not cancel more patients in order to wait again for this delivery for the third time. She told me that the next evening delivery date was October 22 from 1 to 9:30pm! I asked her why was the delivery window larger than previously offered? She told me that this was the only option offered in my area. That was ridiculous! Basically, your company made no attempts whatsoever to make up for its mistakes. Your company instead expected me to settle for an inconvenient larger delivery time window and expecting me to waste more of my time. I got very frustrated and asked this representative to cancel my order and to get a refund. She told me that she will notify the store. I could not believe that I already paid my bill in full and still have not received the items I bought almost two months ago.
Given the experience I had with your company staff not keeping their word and the evidence of poor communication within your company, I drove all the way back to Scarborough from Brampton to speak to the salesperson Pedram on October 18th. I explained the situation to him. The store had no idea that I requested a refund. Pedram had the audacity to ask me what the problem was since the furniture was scheduled to be delivered on Monday. Not only did he not apologize for entering my address incorrectly on the delivery system, when I told him that I wanted a refund, he brush me off and walked away stating that he could not help me any longer. Luckily, I got help from another office staff and got my refund on my American Express card. I could not believe how rude Pedram was and how he did not show any regret on his sloppy, inaccurate computer entry that cost me wasting my time. It is also ironic that when I got home, I got a phone message from your delivery department stating the furniture was set to be delivered Monday. Again, this is evident of your company’s poor communication within itself.
The bottom line is that I can’t believe that a big company like yours would have such poor customer service. Part of the problem is outsourcing your delivery service; having sales people who are rude and do not treat customers with respect and who do not take any responsibility for their mistakes; and having customer service agents who do not take any responsibility nor follow up on what they say they will do. I spent $20 on prepaid calling cards on my cell phone alone just talking to your customer service department. I am totally frustrated and am seriously contemplating on whether or not to ever shop at any of your stores again and whether or not to share my experience with the larger community. Basically, your company can never make up for the frustration and time I have wasted as a physician. But the least your company can do is offer an official apology from your company and from Pedram. I am asking that Pedram get reprimanded for his disgusting customer service. I appreciate you reading through this letter. I may be only one customer but having poor customer service like this will eventually affect your bottom line if not already. I hope lessons can be learned from this case so that your company improves and another customer will not have to go through the same horrible experience as I did.
Sincerely,
Lien Luu
Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.
November 2nd, 2008 at 10:09 pm
I am not surprised in the least by your experience, but sorry it happened to you.
December 15th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
I’m posting a complaint letter to Sears also, since I’m sure I will never get a response from the company.
I’m writing in regards to refrigerator purchases I recently made at a Sears outlet store. When the original refrigerator I bought was delivered, it began running and never stopped, nor did it ever get cool. I tried several times over the next two days before I got a hold of an actual person to speak with, only to be told that I would have to call back the following day because they were closing soon. A repairman couldn’t be sent until the next day and by then, all of my food had to be thrown away. A new compressor was placed on emergency order and the repairman was supposed to return in another two days. The night before the repair was scheduled-anywhere between 8am and 5pm-I got a call cancelling the appointment, because although the part was on emergency order, it was still stuck in the factory. They promised they would call back the next day to reschedule for a time as soon as possible. Two days and no phone call later, I went back to the store to see what they could do for me.
At the store, I was told they could sell me another one if I wanted, but I couldn’t get my money back for the old one until it was back in the store. They also couldn’t pick the old one up at the same time they delivered the new one, because that had to be scheduled separately. I was getting desperate at this point, so I made the mistake of buying another one and cancelling the part for the first one. I was told they don’t deliver on weekends, so unless I want to take it with me, it would be 2 or 3 more days.
I received confirmation from 3 different people and the automated system that the delivery would be made after 6:30 pm so that I would not have to take off work. I got a call at 11:30am asking if I was going to be home in the next hour, because it needed to dropped off by 5:00pm. He had someone call me to reschedule for the following day, but I couldn’t be given a time until the automated system called. It never called. I went back to the store and the store manager called a regional manager to deal with the situation. Neither of us has ever received a call back from him.
A few days later, the manager and I spent three hours on the phone with eight different people just to set up the pick-up and refund of my old fridge. They couldn’t set up the delivery of the new refrigerator yet however, because they couldn’t locate it. Apparently, it got lost in the shuffle between the store, which is about 4 miles from my house, and the warehouse, about 20 miles away, where it first had to be taken in order to be brought to my house.
The next day, the refrigerator was tracked down and delivery was set up for Sunday, although I was previously told no deliveries are made on weekends. I got the confirmation call and an hour after my window passed, I called to see where my delivery was. I was told that the team was just running a little late and would be there any minute. They never showed up.
I called first thing the next morning, expecting an apology and an offer to bring it over that day. They offered to reschedule in another 2 days and couldn’t even give me an explanation as to why it wasn’t brought the night before. After more phone calls, I finally got someone from the local distribution center to arrange delivery of the new one and pick-up of the old one all at the same time for the next day. That was 2 weeks ago and I still haven’t received a refund for the original refrigerator that was returned.
I am extremely unhappy about this situation. Between throwing out about $50 worth of food and $40 worth of medication that needed to be kept cold, missed work, 2-$65 delivery fees, eating out for almost 3 weeks, and interest on my credit card, I have spent almost twice what the original refrigerator cost me. While I didn’t purchase the protection plan, I would expect some reimbursement considering the product I bought was brand new and defective from the beginning. Although the store staff was very helpful, I certainly expected better service from the company itself. I have since heard numerous and similar complaints about Sears and I thought you needed to be aware of these situations. I can tell you that I will most certainly never shop with Sears again and will make sure none of my friends and family will either.
January 13th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
“BUYERS BEWARE OF SEARS CUSTOM FIT WINDOW TREATMENTS” I orders $300 worth of custom fit shaded I mearsured twice research and finally committed and ordered the shades that I thought were best described to my needs. However when they showed up I hated them!!!They were nothing like they were described , they were advertised as fabric , but are more like a type of screen with holes all through them , they offer no privacy , you can see right through them ! Which kind of defeats the whole point of shades. I phoned sears made my complaints three times and they will do nothing from me because there is no returns on custom fit shades. They take no resposibility for there false advertising , I get better customer service on ebay which is very sad and dissapointing. I will never shop at sears again!!!!!
January 23rd, 2009 at 12:13 am
I am writing in regards to a problem I had on my LAST day of shopping at Sears. Jan.18/09 I was buying a coat that was on sale for half price, when I thought I would put the purchase on my credit card, it did not go through I never paid my $30 on time so was declined. The associate called the store credit dept. she put me on the phone,with many people behind me. While on the phone she asked me my name, address, birthdate and phone number,only to say I was behind in my payment by 30 dollars so could not use my card. I was embarrassed and find this sure is not good customer service, and now with the new Pepita law for privacy. I did buy the coat paid cash came home and paid my bill and will never buy another thing from Sears. and for the girl from the credit dept. asking me these questions only to say they would not let me charge it. So for thirty dollars you lost me as a customer. I feel you need to change this policy as this should be a private matter, concerning the Pepita law.
February 5th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
On Dec. 21st I purchased a Christmas gift. I paid by Visa. I asked for a ‘gift receipt’ and was told that they would have to void my transaction and put it through again if I wanted a gift receipt. I said please do that. They voided my transaction; put it through again, but, this time the sales clerk forgot to input for a gift receipt. They had to void a 2nd time and put it through the 3rd time. So at this point we have 3 sales and 2 voids.
Looking at my credit card balance (on-line) about a week later it showed 3 sales and only 1 void. I called the credit card company and they temporarily removed one of those transactions. They got in touch with Sears and told them the issue. Sears verified that those sales were correct and even sent in the sales vouchers without sending in the corresponding voids. So the temporary void I received from the credit card company has been removed.
I contacted the store and one of the supervisors went through the receipts. She verified that yes there were 3 sales and 2 voids. She asked me to bring in my credit card statement so they could verify that I had indeed been charged for the same product twice. I did this. I also brought in the documentation from the credit card company showing how Sears had supplied them with 2 sales vouchers but no voids. Now they are saying they want my next credit card statement.
How is it possible for a company the size of Sears to have no auditing process? The supervisor says by looking at her receipts everything is fair & square. I told her to verify all receipts sent to Visa that day and it should show they are OUT by the amount of my double billing. Her response was “oh, I can’t do thatâ€. Of course not, but, someone in the billing department should be able to.
After all my phone calls; inquiries etc.. everyone keeps pointing to someone else. I finally decided to give up. I’ll pay twice. For less than a $100 transaction they lost a pretty loyal customer forever.
February 27th, 2009 at 11:40 am
What is going on with Sears? I have had a miserable time dealing with them on my dishwasher installation and repairs. Their customer service agents are rude, disrespectful, and all-around ridiculous.
I purchased from Sears because it came with the expectation of great customer service. Needless to say, I will NEVER buy from Sears again.
March 2nd, 2009 at 7:48 pm
The stove was purchased in December 2007. A couple of minor repairs were put off until we dripped something in the door, a design flaw. This third thing caused me to call since we had paid the 3year service warrantee.
I took a vacation day to be at home regarding the service call. At 5:00 that day the technician called to say that he could not come but would clean the oven door free of charge because of the inconvenience that he had caused. He stated that he would come the next week and phoned when we had something in the oven cooking and said that he would be there in 5 minutes. Since the repair had to do with the convection fan in the oven it was not practical for the oven to be looked at that point.
Nothing else happened until we arranged another service call. A vacuum repairperson arrived at the next call. We have a stove!!
Nothing was done again until we called and again arranged a time for another technician.
He did come and assessed what next should be done. I believe there were 2 other cancellations of times and another ½ day of vacation was taken.
My time is valuable!!
The technician eventually arrived and repaired the problems with the stove but refused to do anything about the oven door until I agreed to pay which I did because I wanted it to be cleaned. I, of course, registered a complaint that day and am completely frustrated and angry with all service at Sears.
Again I had to call to ask what was going on because no one returned my call to tell me what the problem with the service was. After a lengthy complaint, the service person agreed to compensate with a $100.00 gift certificate. It never arrived so I called again today, only to be told that you would not be sending this certificate, the first time I was told this and indeed I had to call to ask. Another angry and frustrating call with your service department but was asked to accept a $50 dollar gift certificate.
They will lose a customer for life unless I hear back at least an apology for such shoddy business dealings and I, in fact will tell everyone I know never to buy anything from Sears and expect to get the service that any reputable business would offer.
March 13th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
I believe that my story is no different than the above…on all of these accounts, there is no reputable dignity to this company any more..my story has to do with their maintenence and warrenty..where do they get these people , their mannorisms are completely rude and will continue to lose business because of these people…one by one will become many and there will be a day where sears will falter and will no longer be a company..will they actually have the mindset to wonder why?..knowing how the company is run..im sure they will be that ignorant.
May 11th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
I amde this complaint April 22 2009 and have still had no response.
——-
Brent Hollister
President and Chief Executive Officer
500 College St. East
Belleville, Ontario
K8N 5L3
Mr. Hollister,
I am writing to you in utter amazement at how horrible the service has become at Sears Canada. It is absolutely incredible, in this recession, that a major store like Sears would permit the kind of experience we had last Monday to have occurred. I also deplore the way Sears handles its retail business now – it is completely anti-consumer.
We went to the baby section on the second floor of the Sears store at Fairview Point Claire to buy a crib. We went to one salesperson who took us over to the baby registry computer screen. She opened the screen and when my wife said she’d like to see it in English so that she could understand the information this person gave my wife a tired look, changed the screen to English, and then asked another salesperson to help us. The crib (Monique style) was reduced $30 from $319 to $289, and had to be paid for now even though delivery would not be until July.
The bill was given to my wife – $319. My wife reminded her it was on sale. The bill was changed and then it was $299 – the salesperson thought the price was $329. Finally it was adjusted to $289 which had been clearly indicated on the sales card on the crib.
I strongly object to paying now, in full for an item that we may not have for another 100 days. You now have $327.33 of our money for this period and we have nothing. Sears is charging account clients almost 30% interest rate. No other store we know requires a person to pay in full unless and until the product is delivered.
Other experience at Sears does not even give us much confidence in the July delivery. We have had our name on a call list for a 4 slice Kitchen Aid toaster since last Fall. No one has ever called us. On Monday I asked it had ever come
2
in. I was told yes, two months ago (however I don’t know if this was true). We were also told last year that Sears doesn’t order stock; the manufacturer decides when to send stock – a fascinating way to run a retail business today.
Overall we’re not very impressed with Sears Canada lately. If ever a store deserved to go out of business it is Sears because of the sloppy way it is managed and the way customers are treated.
Trevor Smith
June 10th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Sears is the worst for customer service. Should you require any service from them it’s like pulling teeth. You never get a straight answer and the service sucks. I will no longer purchase anything from Sears. Pretty sad when you purchase a big item over $ 1000.00 and it breaks down after 5 months of use. Then having to wait for a month for a contractor to show up and then be told he needs to order parts. We have now waited 2 weeks and still am not able to use the appliance. What has to be done in this life time to get proper courteous service ?
June 21st, 2009 at 12:21 pm
I need proper complain no of sears canada, not a call center complain no. So kindly give me any athentic contact no then I ‘ll contact them regarding my issue.
July 2nd, 2009 at 1:20 pm
No big surprise. Most companies farm out services to call centers where they will hire anyone who can operate a computer and talk reasonable English. I worked at one of these call centers and it’s a modern sweat shop where only the most desperate characters will put up with the idiots in charge. There are hundreds of people in the same room taking calls, never allowed to talk to each other and the call times are monitored. If you speak to someone too long you get in trouble. A terrible place to work, so no wonder the people are rude, they have to be to get rid of you to keep out of trouble.
July 2nd, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Email sent today:
To whom it may concern:
As you can see from the information below (which contains the order number and my information) I recently ordered a portable air conditioner. If you look at the history of my account you will also note that in the last year I have spent a considerable amount of money with Sears on some large ticket items and until this week I had planned on some more purchases.
The purchase of the Air conditioner has now changed my opinion of Sears and how they treat their customers and view their customer’s time, I don’t think I will ever order anything from Sears again.
When I placed the order for the AC unit I was given two options for delivery: 1) Pick it up at a store free of charge or 2) have it delivered for a fee of $60. When I looked at the expected dates of each of these options, having it delivered to me for the fee of $60 was fastest way to get it and I was given the option of having it delivered on the 30th between 8 and 1 or 5 and 9. If I chose to pick it up the date would be the 2nd of July and due to the humidity and the holiday I wanted it sooner than later so I chose the delivery to be on June 30th between 5 and 9. On Monday I received a phone call confirming the delivery and making sure that someone was going to home during this time and of course I agreed someone would be. On June 30th I left work early and turned down invitations for Canada Day parties so that I would be home to receive the shipment. I arrived home at 4:30 and began the wait. 9:00pm came and went with no truck or phone call as to why the delivery was late. At 10 minutes after 9 I made my first call to the delivery centre and was advised the AC unit was on the truck and that truck may be tied up but it should come eventually, but if didn’t hear anything by 9:30 call back. When 9:30 came I was angry that I wasted my night sitting at home waiting for a non-existent AC unit to arrive and I called the centre back again. At this point the agent refunded the delivery charge but stated that the truck may still arrive and if it didn’t please call back at 10:30pm my time. So at 10:30 I call once again to hear an agent tell me that we need to reschedule the delivery for either Friday between 8am and 1pm or Saturday between 8am and 5pm. I think my exact comment to her was “You have to be kidding me, my AC unit is on the delivery truck now and I have to reschedule for either Friday morning when I am at work or Sometime during the day Saturday and of course I have to sit and wait all day until it comes?†It was at this point I suggested they drop it off at my local pickup centre so that I can have it for Thursday, which the agent then informed that redirecting the unit could take 4 to 5 days for me to get it at the pickup centre. When she told me this I know I started to laugh and said to her “My ac unit is on a delivery truck now but has to be taken off the truck and rescheduled for a delivery two or three days from now, how come they can’t either drop it at a store or bring it to me Thursday late afternoon or evening since it is already on the truck?†I was then told that delivery times cannot be narrowed down any farther then they currently where and scheduled deliveries take precedence over store shipments, that the reason they could not deliver it Thursday to me was they already had a full schedule of deliveries to make and the reason it could not go to the store on Thursday was they needed a full truck load before they would send it out.
So this morning I called the customer service line to see if there was any updates on what was going to happen and a lady named PAM informed of a couple of things:
1) The AC unit was never on a truck for delivery Tuesday
2) The $60 compensation I was given (yes not a refund for a service I didn’t receive but compensation) was more than fair for the situation and frustration I am dealing with.
3) That the special deliveries team was now handling the “case†as the item was now marked missing, this was right after she told me that she could tell it was sitting at the delivery dock and the reason it didn’t get shipped was it didn’t arrive on the dock until 1:45pm on Tuesday and the drivers load their trucks early in the morning.
My questions at this point are:
1) Why didn’t someone call me to say the item was not going to be delivered? They called to confirm the day before, because the delivery guys time is so damn precious we wouldn’t want them to come all the way to my house and have me not be home so why is my time any less valuable?
2) Why would a customer who was promised a delivery one Tuesday not be priority on the next Business day?
3) Can you have your customer service agents stop calling a refund compensation? Sears has not, and by the sounds of what is now happening, will not provide this “Delivery service†to me so why should I have to pay for it?
I honestly thought that Sears was a better company this, I guess it was due to the fact I almost always dealt with my local store when I wanted anything. Well Times have changed in Canada and guess what Sears isn’t the only store buy from. If I ever get the AC unit, it will be the last thing I buy from Sears for a very long time.
No repsonse as of yet, but I will update the site with what happens!!
Fliehigh
July 10th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Sears has pushed me too far. Their customer service is horrible and I am in the process of cleaning my home of all Kenmore and Craftsman products. I live in Saskatoon Saskatchewan and urge others to shop elsewhere. They care so little about customer satisfaction that they no longer should be in business. I will never shop there again!
July 14th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Does anyone have the email address or phone number of a corporate official for Sears? I have had an ongoing, daily battle, with Sears for 1.5 months regarding a refund.
July 25th, 2009 at 12:14 am
Well, I also have a complaint too about items on sale. I wanted to buy a Vogue bra that were advertised 45% off that applied to a range of prices. We went and paid for it and I was charged full price.($31.00) I went to the department and showed her the sign. Today is Friday and she said : “Oh that is for tomorrow..see”. She lifted the signage out of the holder only to reveal the dates effective in really fine print, which was covered at the bottom of the sign. Why couldn’t they put the effective dates in bold at the TOP of the ad? That cheeses me right off.
Reluctantly I had to accept the bra and she said you can return it tomorrow but you know what? I can only imagine what troubles I can encounter by returning undergarments.
To put it plainly, the way they advertise sale items is sooo lame!
Why do they have the mentality of “taking the money and run”?
I can’t shop there ever again. Alright SEARS…you’ve just made ‘The List’. I don’t even want to get started on their poor quality clothing.
I will shop at the BAY. Sears sucks.
August 1st, 2009 at 6:20 pm
I am very disappointed with my new Jenn-Air dishwasher. I had a friend recommend Jenn-Air to be last May (2008) when we were renovating out kitchen. In June, it wouldn’t start and I phoned Sears (where I purchased the dishwasher) and they said that it was past the warranty date by 3 weeks and I would have to pay for a service call which was 64.00. When the service technican came out, he indicated that I required a new panel which would cost approx. 300.00. This shouldn’t happen with the normal day to day with 2 people living in a household and washing the dishes every second day. Normal wear and tear should be able to last longer than 13 months. Needless to say, my old Kenmore of 10 yrs. has never been serviced, and a Jenn-Air which we spent 1300.00 on lat May, needs dollars put into it already. I am really disappointed with the customer service with Sears and Jenn-Air appliances
September 16th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
I have a top of the line Kenmore Elite stove ($3000). The stove is less that 4 years old and two evenings ago the control panel started on fire and black smoke spewed from the back of the range. I called the service department and explained the situation (I had previous errors with the electonic control unit)but the past service “advice” was to flip the circut breaker on and off to correct the problem! The service rep that I spoke too was very sympathetic and stated that due to the past problems the range would be fix under full warranty. The next day the service tech comes out to diagnose the problem and states that the ECU needs to be replaced (big surprise) and is would cost $411 plaus labor. I told him that he service rep promised it would be covered under warranty. The service tech called the service center and told me that there was no record of this repair being under warranty. Sears has lied to me, basically committed fraud in order to permit a service tech to come to my house so that they could charge me for the repair. After hours of telephone calls and discussions, I finally gave up. But, being as short sighted as they are, Sears does not realize that they have lost not only me as a customer (I have spent over $15000 on appliances over the last 5 years), they are going to lose many more, courtesy of me.
Thanks Sears for wonderful customer service!, see you at your bankruptcy sale.
September 25th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
I am laughing as I sit on hold, currently connected to sears call center for assisting in locating the status of you insured repaires.
SEARS YOU ARE IDIOTS.
The phone choice clearly says to push 1 for this information but the person at other end says call the store were you took the repair.Then the store says to call the nuber that said to call the store,Anyway round and round we go.The store is clueless and the guy at the help number says he is only a call center and knows nothing and I must call the store.
OMG help.Finally I lose it, I insist that Mr.call center either get me someone who can help or his immediate boss as I am not running around any more.I feel sorry a bit for the poor kid as I absolutly lost it with him.But I have watched and listened to my wife three times now get her blood pressure so high she is ready to blow a gasket. These poeple shpoould spend a little more money on the services they promise and less on putting a tree killing catalogue on my door step every other week.Anyway It seems the kid at the call center gets the last laugh as I am still on hold hahahahaha. Well I guess its all good because my next step is go were I bought this repair insurance and ask for a replacement if they cant locate mine in a reasonable lenth of time.I am smell a small claims court here.
thanks everyone for listening I feel a bit better
September 25th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
omg You wont believe it
the guy comes back after leaving me on hold for 15 minutes and tells me my ticket number. awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww thats right in front of me on my ticket.
he says ok i can call the store and they will tell me were it is, I asked why didnt you ask when you spoke to then. on hold again awwwwwwg
now i am being transfered to customer service by the way he cannot give me the number in case this transfere wont work . ?????
I am thiking I have fallen down the Rabbit hole and have conversed with a crackhead caterpillar.:(
October 7th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
I ordered parts for lawnmover in September.
Credit card WAS CHARGED THE SAME DAY.
Shipment was peomissed next day.
Week later nothing so I called parts dpt.
Was assured IT WAS SHIPPED!!
two weeks later nothing
I called and was told
IT WAS SHIPPED YESTERDAY??!!
I called yesterday (month later !@#$%)
Was told sears DOESN’T HAVE THE PART!!!!
Wanted to cancel order
CAN NOT DO!!!!
I can not get credit refund
they do not know when the parts will be available!?>
THEY KEEP MY MONEY AND LET ME WAIT!!!
is this legal???????
October 13th, 2009 at 11:53 am
Sears is the worst store ever!!!!Don’t ever buy furniture from them again. They sure don’t stand for “Quality, value, service, trust”! This is an on going battle with them for months….ordered furniture it came damaged, now 5 months later still have the damaged furniture! They won’t refund my money but will replace the furniture! WORST COMPANY EVER!!!! SEARS!!!! I don’t want to deal with them anymore and will NEVER buy another thing from them again!!!!!!
October 19th, 2009 at 10:24 am
I bought an elliptical machine from Sears a couple years ago and a protection agreement. When I moved last year, a screw and a couple washers got lost when I took apart the machine and moved it. I called to order replacement parts and they were very nice and didn’t charge me for them as it was covered by the protection agreement. I received the package of screws a couple weeks later except the parts were wrong. I called again to order the right pieces and the woman I spoke to told me that the agreement had changed and that now I would be charged for the parts. I tried explaining to her that I wasn’t charged before and that they sent the wrong things but she was very rude and kept insisting that the agreement had changed and that there was nothing she could do. It was only $11 so I said ‘fine’. The next package came and again the wrong parts were delivered. Now I was really angry. I called Sears again and this third person told me that the parts were indeed covered by the agreement and that I shouldn’t have been charged for them. She told me that I refund was not possible but after arguing with her for a while, she agreed to put in a request to get me my refund for the parts. The third package of parts finally had the right pieces in it and about 6 weeks later I got the refund on my credit card.
Last week the console wasn’t working properly. I called Sears to get someone to look at it and after giving all my information they told me that it wasn’t covered by the agreement. After arguing for a few minutes trying to explain to them that it was covered. The guy finally said “oh yes, that would be covered”. The whole time on the phone, I kept fiddling around with the console to see if I could get it to work. After a few minutes I realized I must have pressed something on it because it was on a different program and that’s why it wasn’t working properly. I was happy that there was nothing wrong with it so was the guy on the phone and we ended the call.
A few days later, I get a voicemail saying that I Sears technician would be coming on Mon to fix the machine (even though I hadn’t actually made an appointment). I phone them back the next day and they told me that the appointment had been canceled and that no one would be coming.
Monday morning, at 8:30AM, my doorbell rings – it is someone from Sears. I explained that there was no appointment and he left. I then called Sears to complain. After speaking to someone from the repairs department who told me that I have a protection agreement and that I wouldn’t be charged…charged for what exactly I don’t know… I was put through to customer service.
The woman I spoke to in customer service told me that even though I had called to cancel the appointment, it didn’t get to the technician in time. I explained to her that there was no appointment to cancel and explained the entire story to her again – even though I already had because she obviously wasn’t listening. She apologized for that and then I went on to explain the issue I had with the missing parts – she apologized again. As with other companies I’ve dealt with, I was expecting them to offer an extension on the agreement, a credit to the store, something… nothing was offered. I even went so far to ask for compensation and she informed that nothing could be offered.
After spending 20 minutes waiting to talk to someone in customer service, nothing came out of it. They did not care whatsoever. I shouldn’t have even bothered complaining. I’m sure my complaints will go nowhere and that nothing within their customer service or repair departments will change.
The original post in this thread was written a year ago and the same problems and lack of communication seem to be occurring. I assume they are not going to change anytime soon.
If anyone is thinking about making a large purchase from Sears – don’t. The customer service hassles are not worth it. The company doesn’t care about their customers or compensating for mistakes the company has made.
Don’t buy from Sears – I will certainly never buy from them again.
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:30 pm
I cannot believe this store still exists. I have had a bad year with Sears and the lack of customer service they have. My Mother is fighting again for her second washing machine in 10 months and has no way to get through to them they won’t give her a new one but has been waiting for parts for 21 days and still told another 8 days at LEAST!!! I can’t believe it and hope no one else has to deal with this company. The out sourcing is a problem but overall Sears doesn’t care. I even cancelled my credit card which I have purchased all my appliances in the past, have a high limit with nothing outstanding and they didn’t even respond when I cancelled it. Shame on Sears and sorry to everyone who is going through crap with them. Pass the word around maybe they’ll get it one day!!!
October 24th, 2009 at 11:48 am
My wife and I bought a chest freezer at Sears in Sept. The first available delivery date was for 3 weeks later!! (our old one crapped out so we kinda needed it soon). So, my wife left work early to make the delivery time and she was greeted with a message from Sears saying “Sorry but your freezer never made it on the truck”, so we called and re-scheduled for a week later. Again my wife comes home early and again there’s a message, “Sorry but your freezer never made it on the truck”. The delivery guy on the message said he could re-schedule (again) for Saturday, but there’d be an extra charge!! Well, that was it, we called and told them to cancel the order and refund the Sears card. No problem said the (actually quite nice) lady on the other end. Today (Saturday) my wife and I get home from breakfast with some friends and are greeted with yet another message wondering why we weren’t home for our delivery time!!! We have bought all of our other appliances for Sears and have never had a problem, but this was just ridiculous. They say it takes a lifetime to gain a customer but only a minute to loose one, well, I can now safely say that this is the last time I buy anything from, or even set foot into Sears. There’s lots of other places around that I’m sure would love to have our business.
October 29th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
I bought a Kenmore H3 front loading washing machine 2 years ago, and paid for the extended warranty. I have now been without a working machine for 7 weeks while they take their time processing my warranty claim. The technician has been sent back to my home 3 times to make unsuccessful attempts at repair, and every person I have spoken to a sears “customer service” line has made promises to call back or follow up and then has not done so. I am still waiting, still being mislead and shuffled aside.
November 16th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
I bought a Craftsman lawn mower last September, and used it once before it was put away for winter.
My story is so very, very long, it is not even funny, nor do I have the time to write it all down of what I went through with many, many frustrating phone calls, unanswered phone calls and generally, nothing being done.
After 2 months of absolutely terrible service (yes, it is under warranty) to get it fixed, I finally got it back.
I started it up, and within 10 minutes the EXACT same thing happened and it wouldn’t start again.
I kicked the *^*&^* thing all the way to my backyard where I have left a $500 piece of equipment to sit and rot.
Sears has NOT honoured their product at all and have sold me a defective lawn mower that even their own repairman cannot fix, but refuse to replace it.
AFTER 25 YEARS OF BEING A FAITHFUL SEARS CUSTOMER, I WILL NEVER, EVER BUY A SEARS PRODUCT AGAIN!
Thanks for nothing, Sears. I hope everyone who reads this changes their mind about spending money at your store. You care nothing about customer service, backing up your warranty, or pride in the products you sell.
November 22nd, 2009 at 4:25 am
I just finished a fight with Sears also. They paid me off with 40 dollars in gift cards which is not enough to cover the frustration and physical suffering caused by their total disregard for their customers. This is of course damaging their reputation but they do not care. Bottom line is all that counts. as soon as enough customers get mad enough to change their bottom line, they will go out of business and we will all be going to Walmart.
November 26th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
I am writing to complain about the poor performance of Sears customer service department and how Sears
is sending out technicians to repair appliances without being trained on the specific models.
On Nov. 24/09 at 5:40 p.m. a service technician came by to tighten a lose control knob on the Bosch 30inch
Convection Range – stainless steel HEI7052C/05 bought on July 25/09.
The technician had a great deal of problems trying to remove the knob, he did not know how to remove it, then he started to remove one screw after the other, he took the screw driver and started to pry the knob off at about 10 – 15 places each pry damaged the knob more. He also nicked the paint off on the underside of display unit.
The end result is a damaged control knob, a display unit that does not work the way it did before the technician arrived and a spring that I found on the floor after the technician ran off which belongs to the control unit/display unit.
I am very disappointed on this turn out, and lost hours of work to be there. I had to hire an alternative Bosch repair service company.
The issue with customer service is that their is none, I wanted to complain about the technicians poor performance and could not. I was told the customer service manager would phone me, however when I phoned on Nov. 25/09 12:00 p.m. I was told that there was no record that the manager would phone me and that my compliant was not recorded even though I
could hear all this typing in the back ground. This is very bad service.
November 29th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
OMFG, do not get me started on Sears. We bought furniture there with gift money from our wedding, and everything was a disaster. I’d type the whole story, but I don’t have all night. Wrong products, wrong prices, bad attitudes… My wife cried every time she had to deal with them. We won’t buy a single thing from that company.
December 4th, 2009 at 10:05 am
Hi
Sorry to hear about your problems. Sears biggest problem I can see is there call center. You get the run around. I had a similar experience with a dishwasher, although it wasn’t even a year old. Turned out it wasn’t a big problem but after all the calls and emails and repair out 4 times it turned into one. Please read my discussion on Facebook under sears customer service on ATV FB page.
December 9th, 2009 at 8:38 am
I had my bathroom renovation with Sears around Jul 2009. Now the fan in the bathroom is not working.
I started to call the sales guy from Sears a week ago but still can not get the schedule for maintainance.
They never call you back and I have to call them again, again, and again. What a LOUSY service from Sears and I had made up my mine to stop spending any penny with Sears for my life. BYE BYE SEARS FOR FEARS.
December 11th, 2009 at 7:05 am
I had central air installed by sears, the unit works great the problem I have is with Sears Credit, they offered 0% for 12 months, I should have paid it off in full as now with the accrued interest they dinged me for being over my credit line and have added charges and a 30% interest rate. They are con artists, giving me a line of credit for the exact amount of the ac install knowing they can hit me with this high interest rate and all the over the line charges. I will never shop at Sears again and can’t wait to pay off there rip off credit card.
December 15th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
I bought from Sears a whirlpool calypso washer 5 years ago that kept breaking down. I thought that the extended service warranty that I kept renewing from Sears will keep us away from worries of our appliances breaking down. Like the experiences shared above, their customer service from their warranty department to service repair is horribly terrible. The turn-around time for service was outrageously long. There was a time when I waited 3 months before the washer was fixed only to breakdown again. After the “pain and suffering” of persistent follow-ups I got sent a $50 Sears gift certificate. I have to beg and be angry for a loaner machine which I got after 2 months wait and they did not reimburse our trips to the laundromat. Again, our washing is broken. The technician explained that it’s no longer repairable yet the customer service insisted that their technician will come back on December 29th to fix it which will add up to 1.5 month wait that we don’t have a washer. Again, I’m begging for a loaner or a reimbursement which none from whom I talked could decide and I’ve been passed from one department to another and instructed to follow-up day after day after day. Is there a banner where we could put : Do not buy appliances/home reno from Sears – extremely poor customer service!?
December 17th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Here is a copy of the email that I just sent to Sears….To whom it may concern,
I am writing this in hopes that I will “finally” be able to reach someone at Sears, who actually “cares” about the fact that you have just lost my patronage . Not only am “I” frustrated, upset and angry about the following transactions, but so are my friends, my husbands friends, our co-workers and family members.
As a former member of Management in the Retail Industry for over 20 years, I think it is common knowledge, that when one customer is lost, it’s never “just” that one customer, but many, many, more. As I tell my story to people that I know, I always hear another story..similar in nature, different circumstances, but always the same theme. The Customer Service at Sears (in Canada) is horrible. Nobody seems to “care” anymore. I am speaking “specifically” about your catalogue office , Customer Service Line , “and” your President’s Line.
The employees( at least the ones on the catalogue line), seem to be so busy reading from the “script”, that they are not “listening” to the customers questions or concerns. When you ask to speak with a Manager, you are never forwarded to one, and when you finally reach someone from the Presidents Line , you still get absolutely nowhere. You may eventually get an apology, but not before you’ve had to speak to 15 different people and have spent “hours” on the phone repeating yourself. . At no point are you “ever” voluntarily offered any form of compensation for your troubles..Not a gift certificate…not a discount off your purchase..NOTHING….and I know this from experience. It doesn’t matter how extreme the situation, or how upset you get, or how polite you are…you get absolutely NOTHING.
Again, as a former Manager, we did “whatever” was necessary to keep our Customers happy. I have seen nothing in this regard from “any” of the employees on the Presidents Line , nor from the people I spoke with in Customer Service in regard to my particular case. At one point, it took my being “very” rude to someone on your Presidents Line before I was offered anything. What a shame that I had to resort to being rude before I got someones attention. Even at that, I was told that when (and if) I did receive my order, that I was to call back to the Presidents Line once I received my order and that whoever I spoke with (once given “Yousra’s “ name ) would give me a discount. Yousra, couldn’t tell me how much of a discount though. Thank God , I never had to have “that” conversation, as I can only imagine how “that” would have gone given what went on from this point forward.
So here is my Sears story and hopefully this will be the final time I will have to tell it. I have also submitted a letter on “many” websites that discuss Sears “lack” of Service, and I will also be going to the Better Business Bureau. I no longer care about my order, nor am I looking for compensation. I will never shop at Sears again. I will buy everything that I previously purchased through Sears, at either the Bay or any other of your numerous competitors (as will everyone I know)
In “July” of last year, my husband and I ordered two sets of blinds from the Sears Catalogue. We were told that the blinds were back ordered until October . This was fine as we very much wanted these blinds.
Prior to the scheduled delivery date which was approx. mid October, I called and advised the catalogue clerk that I would like to order a third set of blinds to go with the other two sets that were due to come in , in the next week or two. This order was almost $400.00
The clerk advised me that my initial order had been cancelled. I was more than a little surprised, as this was the first that I had heard of my order being cancelled. We had never been notified by either phone or mail. Had I not called to order this third set, I would probably “still” be waiting today.
I asked the clerk why we had not been notified. She advised that they did not make calls to notify their customers that orders had been cancelled. I was upset about the fact that we had not been called, and when I asked “why” it had been cancelled, she responded that she was not sure, but that they were available to be ordered “now” . Despite all of this and against my better judgement I ordered the third set of blinds anyway. The employee I spoke with on “this” date was “Arienne” and her employee I.D. # is TCDE556.
The promise date that I was given, was December 17th.
After I hung up, I got to thinking about this “lack of service” and I called back to speak with a member of Management.
I wasn’t satisfied with the fact that the “prior” clerk had offered me nothing -not even an apology , for the fact that I hadn’t been notified about the cancellation of my order. In short, I thought that this was “terrible ” service.
After being passed from person to person, (and having to repeat my story over and over again ) I spoke with someone who apologized, and told me that the problem was , that the manufacturer had stopped making the blinds after my original order had been placed in July. When I asked why we weren’t notified, she said that we “should” have been. I advised her that the clerk I had just spoken with , said that Sears did not make courtesy calls such as this . The “Manager?” advised me that this was incorrect information and assured me that she would make the associate (s) aware that the Customer was indeed to receive a call.
I asked her if she was prepared to give us any form of a discount or compensation for the fact that I was now having to wait until December for my order. (keep in mind that the original order was made in July to have delivered in October) She advised that no, she couldn’t do that , and that all she could do was apologize. She assured me as well, that the blinds were now being made again by the manufacturer and that my order was in the system. The promise date was December the 17th. I asked her if she was “sure” that my order was in the system and she advised me that “yes” it was. I decided at that point to let the matter drop and just wait for my order to come in , in December.
Then November came and we received a bill in the mail from Sears. The bill showed an order of blinds with the amount oweing, and then the same order being removed, and then a handling charge that we were now being billed. My husband called immediately to see what this was all about.
Are you ready for this?
The blinds had come in. I still have no idea where they were sent. I had been asked which location I would like to have the blinds sent, and I had requested Sears in Dieppe N.B. So, the blinds had come in, obviously much earlier than the date that I had previously been given, and because we weren’t called or notified in “any” way, they were SENT BACK TO THE STORE. As if that wasn’t enough, we were now being charged a “handling fee” for the blinds that we NEVER GOT….
My husband was furious, but still remained polite when calling and speaking with another associate in Customer Service. . She asked him if we would “still” like to have the blinds and he said “yes”. He was given a promise date of December the 3rd or the 7th -”not” December 17th -as I had been advised previously. He was offered nothing in the way of compensation, gift certificate..discount.
When I heard about this, I decided to call back in the evening when I got home from work. I felt that at the “very least” we should have been offered “something” and I wanted to discuss this with someone. I repeated to each and every person that I spoke with that I felt I was owed “some” kind of compensation, for the lack of service I had received, and nobody was able to assist me.
This was on November the 23rd and I was on the phone for at least one hour. I spoke with Michelle and then I spoke with Emily. They both advised that there was nothing they could do for us . Emily had me put through to the President’s Line and someone by the name of Yousra proceeded to tell me that she couldn’t “find” my order??????
Keep in mind, that I’d been on the phone for an hour, there was no disputing the fact that I “had” an order. Then, doesn’t “someone from the “President’s Line” comes on the phone to tell me that she doesn’t see” my order”. Well…needless to say, I lost it.
After “everything” that we had been through, now I was being told that my order was non-existent? I yelled at Yousra and I told her that I would be contacting the President of the Company. I had , had “enough” and I hung up on her. Within minutes, Yousra called me back and told me that she did indeed have my order. She also advised that when I got my order, I could call back “to the President’s Line”, and ask whoever I spoke with for a discount on my purchase. I was to give her name as a reference.
Yousra also suggested that I call back to check on my order. Yousra advised me that my promise date was December the 3rd. I have all of this written down, so please feel free to check your records, or listen to any recorded messages.
After this, we just decided to sit tight and wait for our order to come in. In early December I called the store to check on the order. Since we had been given a promise date of Dec the 3rd- I didn’t want to take any chances. I called and the “first” thing I was told, was that there was no record of my order-“again”.
I was “stunned” to say the least. The operator finally did find it , but not until I had to go through the “entire” story all “over” again…..She said that the order was not in yet.
Yesterday, December 16th my husband called the catalogue office again. This time we were checking based on the second of the two dates we had been given, which was December 17th. This is what he was told……..
The blinds -”one” set of the “three”..had been sitting at a Dry Cleaning Store in our city. We never asked for the packages to be sent there! I specifically -”when asked” of my choice, said that I wanted them delivered to our Sears Store Dieppe N.B The blinds had been there , for God knows how long and “again” we had received “no” call advising us that they were in. My husband asked where the other “two” sets of blinds were and he was told “again” that these blinds were back ordered “indefinitely”-“again”.
So at this point, you have got to be thinking that A) you need to let that Dry Cleaning Depot on Coverdale Rd. know that the Customer’s need to be notified of their orders coming in. and B) the manufacturer that makes these blinds? Now you sell them , now you “don’t?” …Not great business …
My husband called me at work and said that he wanted to close the account .I was still hesitant as despite “all of this” , I still really wanted these blinds. He didn’t agree , and said he wanted nothing further to do with Sears. He called back and spoke with several people and had the account closed and also requested that they send the one set of blinds “back” that were at the Dry Cleaning Store.
He did not want the order and advised that we had better not be billed for them,or for another handling charge. By the way, if we ever do get a bill in the mail for this,(or a handling charge of “any “ kind) we will take this “much, much “further .
Needless to say, I was of course very , very disappointed , that after all of this , I was not going to get the purchase that I wanted. I have been waiting since last July for this order.
I called Sears again last night and called directly into the Presidents Line.
What started off as a pleasant conversation with one of your employees turned very ugly. It was “not” my intent to call and give whoever answered the phone a “blast” (as I was accused of doing) .. It is not the employees fault that I was speaking to , that this happened, and I knew that before I called. In fact, I believe I even told her that I knew it was not her fault. I was polite when I called, and simply wanted to “talk” and to have someone “listen”. I called to let “someone” know that I was upset . I was hoping that “someone” would actually say that they agreed with us…that we were treated badly..and that there was “No” excuse for any of this to have happened.
What I got instead, was this:
Although she was sorry …there was nothing she could do. If the blind manufacturer wasn’t making the blinds anymore , that this was not her fault. I agreed with her, but stressed that “that was the least of my concerns”. It was the fact that the Sears employees had made next to no attempts to appease us. It was the fact that we never received phone calls to advise us of “anything” that was going on . It was the fact that I was given different promisory dates, each time I called, and different dates than my husband was given. It was the fact that the packages were sent to the wrong drop off and that we were never called…It was the fact that are merchandise “did” come in and was sent ‘back”…and on..and on …and on…
The woman that I spoke with last night, advised me that it was our responsibility to have called to find out if our orders had come in. She advised that Sears did “not” make calls to let their Customers know that their merchandise had arrived. I advised her that I “always” got calls before when I ordered merchandise. I used to receive an automated message and we had a certain amount of days to pick the merchandise up before it was returned. This is the “first” time I have never received a call.
At any rate , I “had” been calling your catalogue office to find out , and had I known that they were sitting at a Dry Cleaning Outlet in Riverview, I “would have called there, but that , that was “not” where I had asked them to be sent….In other words, how was I to have known? Nobody told us until “yesterday” that, that was where our “one” set of blinds was sitting.
The employee that I was speaking with became agitated , probably due in part to the fact that she “knew” I was right. She couldn’t dispute that we had been treated badly. She started to raise her voice and said that “you were doing the best you could”. I asked her not to raise her voice..She then responded that she wasn’t speaking loudly, but that “now” she was going to start yelling” At this point the conversation went downhill. We were speaking over each other..and nothing was obviously going to be dealt with.
I assured her that I would be sending my card to the CEO of the company-with a copy of this letter -which I am now doing, and hung up the phone.
Why, am I not surprised, that the final person I spoke with on this horrible ordeal , ended up screaming at “me”. Unbelievable.
You have a serious problem somewhere and I suggest you fix it before you lose more Customers within Canada. As I mentioned before, I hear these types of stories “all” the time. Has anyone bothered to check the countless letters that are being posted on the Internet about Sears poor service? The stories are countless, and I would like to think , that someone, somewhere within the company would be more than a little concerned about this.
At any rate it is not my problem anymore-thank goodness, because this has been “exhausting” to say the least.
Best of luck! With todays economy being what it is, and your many competitors , you’re going to need it-especially given the total lack of respect and empathy you show your Customers.
January 3rd, 2010 at 5:23 am
Sears is a dying breed. I wonder even how there still in business, there prices are high and service sucks. I just ordered from them out of convince for the holidays because I thought it would be cheaper then buying and shipping the item myself, boy was I wrong, they screwed the order up and could not find it and would not give answers when I called or emailed, just terrible service, never again will I order from them.
Dave
January 4th, 2010 at 3:42 pm
No proper customer complaint department the customer service is disgraceful have got a whirlpool dishwasher have hadtechnicians out several times. Of course Sears only records the initial calls not the numerous times they come back with parts. The diswasher is not over used as there are only two of us in the home. I have gone several times for weeks without a working dishwasher. The latest is they came out saturday saturday ran it and it stopped on its own NO POWER!! then came back on itself. Called again today stated they could now take out the machine and take it to the shop!! When does it stop what is warranty about. If it doesn’t work then REPLACE IT!!! I can’;t beleive they continue to replace numerous parts it would have been less costly and also less inconvenient to replace the darn thing. Last thing I will ever purchase from Sears. They obviously don’t care about keeping customers.
January 4th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
If anyone has the actual name and address of the Sears Complaints in Ontario I would very much appreciate it. I would like to send a registered letter along with contacting the local newspaper as the customer service dept told me “Send a letter it will just come to us anyway” What a wonderful attitude. Little do they realize consumers pay their flippin wages. I am totally exasperated over the continual battle to have my dishwasher in proper working order. Its obviously a “LEMON” I think they will be sorry they didn’t replace my machine if my house goes up in fire as there must be an electrical problem within the machine, it shuts down all together then starts up itself. Now thats a huge problem.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
I just read all or your stories and comments. I was employed with Sears Canada since 1988 they laid me off due to “corporate restructering”? Corporate restructering has caused all of you this aggrevation. They relocated their customer service to Belleville (centralized) now I’ve heard they sent their catalogue operations to Phillipines? Moving customer service to Belleville segregated all the employees so customer service, the stores and deliveries communication broke down. The employees in Belleville have no clue what deliveries is all about!! I used to work in the delivery department – they are run by an independant contractor. The contractor does not care about customer service – please note the “hourly paid” employees are frequently left on their own to deal with the brokers( the delivery drivers) whom can be very difficult. Manager exit for the day as quickly as they can they have executive shifts their day usually ends at 2pm 3pm or 5pm. Meanwhile deliveries go on until 11pm at night. The employees are left with no one to back them up or help them deal with the drivers. There have been nights I had to deal with irate customers and reschedule a delivery for the next day to save the sale and make the customer happy. The next day I’d get questioned as to why I did this, and never do it again. God forbid we make the customer happy?? Sears and deliveries is all about money and time. They DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE CUSTOMER. On occasion I’d try and call a manager at home to get “his” advice and there’d be no answer, we were even told not to bother them at home. Sorry customers for all you’ve been through I just wanted you all to see the reasons and its not the fault of the “hourly employess” its poor management. Sears has really gone down hill – I will not be surprised to see them fall soon. Its a shame – I was a dedicated employee who cared about the customers but upper management has let us all down.
January 7th, 2010 at 8:58 am
To the gentlemen who lives on Via Rosedale – I cannot count how many times this address came across my desk and it was incorrectly routed. In Toronto there is via rosedale and rosedale – sears in-house computer system DEX (delivery Express) did not recognize Via Rosedale only Rosedale therefore the system would spit it out change it to Rosedale and no one would notice so by the time it was routed, merch was on the truck and driver on the road it was too late. The salesperson then gets the blame the driver and the delivery customer service rep. The people to blame is Sears upper brass – this was brought to their attention several times and no one did anything about it. But as soon as there was a complaint sears management would take care of the customer they’d look like the “good guy” and all other employees would look bad. Please the salesperson does enter the correct info. at the register – the register then communicates with DEX and DEX does not recognize the new address and automatically changes it to what it thinks it should be. NO kidding this is how it is. I remember litterly cringing when I’d see things like this because I knew the customer was going tobe upset. ANyway sir I know this is not solving the issues you experienced with sears but I am just trying to explain how bad sears delivery was managed. To the lady Moira send your letter and complain – I believe you have to send it to the Presidents Line they are also located in Belleville. Call Sears central customer service line and ask to be transferred to the Presidents Line. Or call downtown T.O head office.
January 20th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
Wow! I wish I had read the complaints on this website before my husband and I bought our Davenport from Sears we paid $400 for a Davenport that lasted five months and the wood platform cracked in half. After some run around, Sears replaced the davenport with the same exact one. This one lasted 10 months and the wood platform cracked in half. Needless to say, Sears wont do anything to replace, refund, exchange…nothing…no help…except to give me the customer service number at Decor Rest Furniture because the furniture has a “Life Time Warrenty on it”. The Sears Customer Service Rep told me to tell them that I, ‘Know there is a life time warrenty because the store told me so,’ just in case Decor Rest Furniture tells me there is no warrenty. Are they kidding? In other words Sears does not stand behind their products and expects the companies who supply them with those product won’t stand behind them either. I am crossing my fingers that Decor Rest Furniture of Woodbrigde Ontario will stand behind their products as I wait for my phone message to be returned… but of course… I won’t be holding my breath. So much for buying from a North American Company and buying Canadian made products. Loyalty doesn’t seem to count for much of anything anymore.
January 29th, 2010 at 1:29 am
Our email to Sear@home.ca for our broken oven:
To whom it May concern,
In November 2008 we received our new fridge, oven and dishwasher that we purchased from Sears . They were delivered on 08Nov2008
The oven that we purchased is a Kitchenaid Model # YKERS807SS01 (Smooth Top, Convention Oven with Self Clean). One of the reasons we bought the stove was for the self cleaning feature.
On December 26th, 2009 – we went to self clean our oven for the first time. The oven broke. The Self clean only went part way through the self clean process and an error appeared rendering our oven unable to work. Apparently the high heat during the self clean process blows out some sensor. The error code is ”F3E3 Meat Probe Sensor” ). On December 28th my husband called the Sears repair department to get someone it to fix our stove. We were told the soonest a technician could come in to repair it was January 11, 2010. We requested a sooner date but none was available. We found another appliance repair person in town who would be able to come in on December 29th but Sears informed us that any other repair person, other than Sears, that repaired our oven would void any other warranties on our stove.
On December 28th, my husband spent most of his day off trying to get some answers. When we search online, we find out that the problem we have is a KNOWN ISSUE and neither Sears or Kitchenaid are willing to do anything about it. Apparently it is not uncommon for the self clean feature to cause this problem and break the stove. He first visited Sears where we purchased our appliances (where our salesperson told us she could do “absolutely nothing” for us). So he started making phone calls, to Sears and to Kitchenaid. Initially Sears told us it was a Kitchenaid problem. Next, Kitchenaid told us it was Sears problem. Back and forth we went. We tried to get numbers and names of people to talk to and got nothing but a run around, both from Sears and from Kitchenaid. Kitchenaid finally told us that because they sold their product to Sears, that it was now completely a Sears issue. So we wait for the SEARS repair person – 2 weeks.
January 11th, 2010 – a repair person comes to our house. My husband has taken a day off work (unpaid) to be here at the house. The repair person looks at our stove, agrees it is broken, and tells us he needs to orders parts to repair it and that he will be back on January 20th. We were told that the repair person would order all the parts but only charge us for the ones needed to fix the stove, and of course his labour.
January 20th, my husband takes another unpaid day off of work. He is waiting for the repair person. At about 1pm on the 20th my husband gets a phone call from the Repair Dept/ repair person stating they do not have the parts. Apparently the parts are still in Burnaby BC (we live in Victoria BC) and that he won’t be coming to the house. He will come the following week on January 28th.
We have now been without a working oven for 1 month.
January 27, 2010: My husband called the Service & Parts number that we had been provided (they are located in Burnaby BC) requesting that we need to have the service person who is due to come to our house on Jan 28th, to please complete the work by 3pm on Jan 28th. We need to have the repair completed as we HAVE to leave the house at 3pm.
January 28th ,2010 (yet again my husband takes his 3rd day of unpaid leave from his job to be here for the repair person).
The Service and Parts department calls back this morning (Jan 28th) and tells us that the she was having a hard time finding someone and didn’t know if someone would even be able to come to our house today! Finally, she called back again to tell us that yes, someone was coming but she did not know when. At 2pm today, Jan 28th a different repair person arrives and they do not even know what the problem is. He did, however, have some parts that had been ordered (temperature sensor, door lock assembly and a control board). He ends up replacing the Latch Assembly and then “wiggles” the meat probe receptacle , reset the display board and then told my husband the stove was fixed. He cannot sign off on the stove being fixed, he still needs to replace the Meat probe receptacle and needs to order that part. The repair person was scheduled to come back AGAIN for the first week of February to replace the Meat Probe so that he can sign off on the repair.
We pay him $283.76 for his visit/parts/repair on Visa. The repair person leaves by 3pm. At 4:30 when my husband returns to the house, he goes to heat the oven for dinner and IT DOES NOT WORK: Error code” F3E3 Meat Probe Sensor” again.
I am sure, by now, you can imagine our frustration.
One would think if the error says “Meat Probe Sensor” that the problem might have something to do with the meat probe and that would be a part to bring when repairing the stove. I have attached a picture of the error that has been on our stove since December 26th, 2009.
We contacted the Service and Parts department immediately and they said they could not do anything until tomorrow (Jan 29th morning). We were told we should expect a phone call tomorrow morning (Jan 29th). No guaranties of a repair person, but a phone call. I then stepped in and made anther phone call to the Repair Department. Karim (the Representative) has logged my complaint and ASSURED me that the $283.76 on our VISA will be reversed. When I demanded a contact person to complain too and who could actually do something, this email address (home@sears.ca was provided and the name “Mr. Dene.” I was told to call back tomorrow and they would put me through to another department to talk about my issue.
I want a working stove. We purchased from Sears thinking they would back their products and provide good service but this has been a most frustrating experience and beyond reasonable.
This whole scenario is not acceptable. We have been patient up until now. I have a family to feed. My husband and I have jobs that we need to be at. He has lost 3 days of work to be here for repair people and to date it is still not fixed. How many more days are we expected to take off work to repair our oven?! The stove is just over 13 months old and was expensive ($2000.00) AND IT IS STILL NOT WORKING! I want this fixed now or I want a replacement oven now. We have paid $ 283.76 for repairs and it is still broken. The stove does not work. It has now been ONE MONTH and sadly no one seems to care.
I had no idea when purchasing our appliances that we were bound to using ONLY Sear Repair department which, although have been courteous, have been disorganized and beyond reasonable in terms of time frames for fixing the problem.
I have provided you some links with similar complaints about this same issue. If this is known as a faulty issue with the stove, why has there not been a recall or offer to fix it. Does legal action need to start to address this issue?
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/kit_stoves.html
http://forum.kitchenaid.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=23232&whichpage=1
I would appreciate a response within 2 working days as I am tired of being given a run around. I need a name, phone number, email address and mailing address of someone who can actually do something to rectify this. Please help demonstrate that Sears does care about its customers and customer service.
I shall await a response.
January 31st, 2010 at 5:53 pm
By the time I read all of the above I must say I concur wholeheartedly with, rude, uninformed, and rediculous service and comments. I was sold a 630JVC camera on premise it had ‘audio in’, as I own a studio and am doing YouTube uploads. When I discovered it had no audio in, I returned it to uptrade to the much more expensive model with ‘audio in’ . I was told I would have to drive 50 miles to Kitchener or London to trade-up. After much crap they agreed to bring one in when it became obvious there would be no refund to buy one from their competitor, as it was needed THEN for an ongoing 3 day series of concerts in the studio and this was day 2! They at last agreed to bring one in. When i got home there was a phone call that I had to contact customer complaints in Toronto, before anything could be done. After 35 mins of arguing, threatening publicity, and one employee stating “I’m from your town and I know who you are” (wonder what that inferred ? ) they begrudgingly agrreed to a refund if my wife drove back again the 30 miles to/from Stratford. The camera by then at the competitor’s was sold and the concerts went unvideoed- lost ! as is all of my families future ‘large purchases’ with Sears. We’ll still patronize them for the nickel,dime stuff. I can’t believe the crap I read about Sears. They were always tops to us for dependable ‘stand behind everything’ service but certainly not anymore.
February 12th, 2010 at 12:27 am
My (84 year old) Mother, in good faith, purchased a top-line washing machine, HE, front loading, etc., total over $1300. Since installed, it’s decided to go off balance, and move across the floor. Not every time, just often enough that Mom is almost afraid to use it. Mom has put up with this for over a year, machine has been serviced 5x for the problem. I got involved over a month ago. I managed to get past “Customer service”, and on to Corporate customer service, where I was dealt with in a sympathetic manner, promised return calls, some sort of soloution, replacement machine, etc. etc. etc.
It’s gne on 5 weeks now. Today I get a call saying there’s nothing they can do, but they’ll try talking to a “manager”. I told them I’d try talking to my lawyer.
I can’t understand what’s happened to Sears, their demographic is the elderly, who went to Sears even though more $$ than the alternative, thinking they’d be taken care of.
This company is going to go the way of Eatons, unfortunately. If they can’t understand the most BASIC elements of after sales service, I wish all their employees a long enjoyable time unemployed. They truly deserve it.
February 12th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
I too have just had a terrible experience with Sears. I bought a Kenmore Elite dishwasher (made by Whirlpool and rated as a Best Buy by “Consumer Reports”) 20 months ago. I did not buy the extended warranty, however, the outcome would not have been different if I had.
I had a technician come out and I paid $114 for the privledge. He advised me that I only had a one year warranty. He also said that because of a design flaw in the food macerator, objects can work their way into the motor and destroy it.
After discovering on my warranty after the service call that I had a two year warranty on the motor, I called customer service and was hooked up to some poor soul from the Phillipines who barely spoke English. She eventually put me through to someone in Canada who said that since I did have a two year warranty he would send an e-mail to the local service centre to have them call me. No call for a week. Called again and got someone else in Canada. Another e-mail was sent to the local service centre to call me. Again no call for a week. Called again. Now I am told no one will call, the local service centre will receive the e-mail, look at the work order and determine that I am not worth calling because they won’t cover the motor because it is my fault that something worked its way into it.
I am out $1000. I’ll never darken the door of Sears again. I won’t even write to the president of Sears Canada. It clearly would be a waste of paper, ink, a stamp and time. They just don’t care. It is a racket.
February 22nd, 2010 at 9:36 pm
I have noticed that Sears does not seem to action the hundreds of blogs I have seen complaining about things. I have decided to take a different tactic – a catchy rap about my various problems with Sears on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj9NnUocvtw
I think some media attention would turn up the heat.
February 24th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
DO NOT BUY ANYTHIG FROM SEARS if you can get the same product from Home Depot, WalMart, Canadian Tire or anywhere else. Sears Customer Service in my experience is worse than one can imagine. The salespeople and Store Managers are anti customer satisfaction in contradiction to the Sears stated policies. They do not respect their own written return and warranty policies and probably as in my experience with a department manager have never bothered to clearly understand these policies.
In my particular case, I returned a snow blower. I found it difficult to operate because of the position of the drive control lever. Naturally to test the product I had to put a small amount of gasoline in the gas tank of the snow blower. Needless to say that this is the only way I could determine if I would or would not be satisfied with the product. At the time of purchase I was told that I can return the snowblower within 90 days. I was astonished to be told by the Sears salesman that because I had put gas in gas the tank, the snowblower is now considered “used”, thereby a 20% restocking fee applies. I was even charged taxes on the restocking fee; the taxes on the restocking fee was corrected after some debate a few days later. I believe that this is a gross misinterpretation of the content of the Sears Returns Policy statement which is also posted on the Internet. No reasonable person can accept this definition of “used” which normally applies to second hand far from new condition products. Definitely this definition cannot be deduced from the text of the Sears Return Policy printed on the back of the receipt or on the detailed version posted on the Sears Internet webpage.(www.ca/content/customer-service/shipping-and-delivery/returns). Talking to the Department Manager, Irene Chapman, or the Store Manager, or Emailing the Sears Customer Service was a waste of time. Their decision was made before considering any posibility of a reasonable fair solution. To show their real colors, the snowblower that I returned was on sale the next day for $100 more than I received on my refund.
February 26th, 2010 at 11:59 pm
Sears are appalling at customer service: if you want a company which is fair and doesn’t try to rip you off – don’t deal with Sears.
February 27th, 2010 at 12:14 am
If you have a rotten time with Sears – and my experience tells me they are terrible then complain to the local Consumer Protection Agency, the Better Business Bureau and your local MP. You are not going to get satisfaction from Sears. Their strategy is to wear you out so complain to someone who will force them to do something. Also get the media involved. The more bad publicity these clowns get the better.
March 4th, 2010 at 10:36 am
Iam very much disappointed I am very old customer of sears but they lost a good customer but I realized they dont care about customer ( Money first not customer I am victim by bat attitude and worst return policy God bless sears
March 4th, 2010 at 10:39 am
Please reader believe what the people saying but sears dont care through advertisement they rip you and there refund policy is worse in world God should not bless sears
March 4th, 2010 at 10:43 am
My experience tells me that Social Media is the way to get satisfaction from Sears. Click on my Username MadAtSears to visit the Blog I created. Senior Management at Sears Canada called me within 4 days of my video on YouTube, apologized and refunded my money. The credit showed up online on my credit-card today. Social Media worked better and faster than I ever expected!
March 4th, 2010 at 10:46 am
I buyed four matress and two of them was worse to sleep two time they send the person to check first time the person said make it clean i spend $60.00 to clean it up and again they guy came now they said we cant take it back it was not on the bed frame I told them i put it on basement floor because i buyed another matress I a cant wait either the customer service act to be idiot or they are but the higher authority closing there ears and eyes with big salary dollors they dont care about customers feeling i am saying from heart God should not bless them because i earn my bread and butter by hard working and they should know ( higher paid officer who do nothing )
March 6th, 2010 at 12:22 pm
I recently went into the Brantford Sears store, to purchase replacement parts for my central vac. I needed a new hose and powerhead. The total price was going to be $500. So, I figured I might as well buy a whole new unit, since mine was going on 6 years old, and for only an extra $100 I was going to get a whole system. Well, the one I purchased was rated for 3500+ sq.feet, and my house being only 2300 sq. feet, I thought it should be more than enough. I brought it home, hooked it up, and the unit was not near as powerful as my old unit. So, I packed everything up and took it back to the store the very next day, and they told me I would have to pay a 20% restocking fee. I argued with the sales person, that it’s not my fault that the unit doesn’t do what it’s advertised to do, and that not even a spec of dirt was even picked up by the unit. So then I was refunded the full amount. The next day I recieved a phone call saying that there will be a 20% restocking fee applied to my credit card because the unit was no longer new. I talked to a supervisor and she was extremely rude, and just said that it is policy, and there is nothing she can do. So I told her I was going to come back to the store and pick it up, and that there’s no way I was giving them over $100 for nothing. Then she tells me the item has already been shipped away, and that if I want another one, I have to pay full price on top of the 20% restocking fee. This is when I really started to get frustrated. Why would I want another unit, if I wasn’t happy with the first one????? I told her I will never step foot in a Sears store again, and she had no response. I still have a bunch of stuff given to me as a christmas gift, (which hasen’t been open yet), and they will be going back to the store out of spite. I will never give them any business again. Please, stay away.
March 30th, 2010 at 9:41 am
I share your feelings of disappointment and frustration with Sears. Recent experiences with service people not showing up and not calling, then not having the parts to do the repair when they finally do, even though I have told them specifically what that part should be, resulting in a total of four days of lost time for me and piles of laundry to haul to the laundry mat. I won’t go into the details but I can assure you that Sears just isn’t listening and really does not care about customer retention. This recent experience mirrors one I had with Sears last year for the same problem with the same appliance. Apologies all round from the repair person (sincere) to the corporate customer complaint person (scripted and insincere) just don’t cut it and I will be taking my business to another retailer in the future.
Ellen Linton, Brampton, Ontario
April 16th, 2010 at 11:54 am
Sears is the worst of the worst.
April 19th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
Sears does not follow its own ” return policy”. The second line of their policy states: If you are not satisfied with your purchase return it with the receipt for a refund. I didn’t have my receipt but Sear’s policy does state if you don’t I can exchange or get a store credit for its store price now. Sounds fairs , right !! The catch is this, I wore the pants once. Since the pants were used once, they would not except the pants. Is it far fetched to Sear that a custumer might not know their satisfaction level unit they use the product. Anyways be very sure when you buy clothing from sears.
May 4th, 2010 at 7:09 am
Do not purchase clothing or anything for that matter from Sears. I purchased a winter jacket for someone as a Christmas gift. Purchased from the catalogue in advance of Christmas. Found out (before Christmas) that it was the wrong size. Tried to return it. Faced numerous delays from Sears (dealing through a countertop outlet and head office). Finally their response was that I (returned it too late). The delay was caused by them. Now I am left holding a winter jacket that does not fit anyone I know and I had to purchase another Christmas present for the person. Of course I did not go back to Sears and will never shop at Sears again. The funny thing is I have been a loyal Sears customer for over 40 years but their response has ended that loyalty. They are not the store they used to be. Tell your friends not to shop at Sears.
May 6th, 2010 at 8:37 pm
I was just in a Sears today for the first time in ages. I spent about 20 minutes in the menswear department with no one having approached me to ask if I needed assistance. I then sauntered over to the shoe department, where I spent about 15 minutes looking all over the place to see if they had a style I liked. Meanwhile the woman on duty in that department acted as if I were invisible. Then, as I exited the store, I noticed two sales clerks standing with hands in pockets gabbing with one another as I walked past. Neither made eye contact. I felt like saying, “Say goodbye to my wallet as it travels with me out the door and to a competitor!”
May 19th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
My washer broke, it does not go into spin, so even though my clothes are clean they are still soaking wet. I called in maintenance form Sears since i bought it with them. They said the repair man would come between 8-4. This time window is unbelievable!!! Thats a practically the whole day for me! but luckily I had nothing planned. The cost of a consultation would be 70$.. a little steep but fine. They guy comes at 8:30 am and Im still drowsy from a bad nights sleep and i get the bill for 100$. Ill so off I cant even speak right so i let it go to fight when I’m feeling better. Long story short, they transferred me around like a soccer ball for 10 min where i had to repeat my Home Phone, Cell phone, Home address and all that just to get to some prick that tells me “we wont give you your refund, even though the charge was added without you knowing, cuz it is impossible to know if this could be added or not.”
June 24th, 2010 at 6:01 pm
I have had numerous problems with Sears service. I bought 4 appliances in 2007 and was convinced to purchase the 3 yr extended warranty plan. Boy, was I mistaken. Trying to get someone to come and do their annual maintenance check is like pulling teeth. They set up appointments, I take the day off for it, then they call me and tell me they can’t make it as they are overbooked. This has happened every year and I have booked three days off for these. No apologies – just smart-ass remarks by their call centre people. Their credit card company (Chaisse Banking) is another story – very arrogant – calling me for payments that they say I haven’t made; however I have cheques to prove that I made the payments. I cut up my cards and will never buy or set foot in Sears again! It’s a wonder they are still in business. I would not be disappointed if they went under.
June 28th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
I WON’T GO INTO A VERY LONG DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF MY PROBLEM WITH SEARS CANADA INC, BUT I WILL TELL YOU THIS I AM A RETIRED COMMISSIONED SALES PERSON FROM SEARS WITH 37 YEARS OF DEDICATION. THE GOOD OLD DAYS WHEN THE NUMBER ONE PRIORITY WAS TO SATISFY THE CUSTOMER AND WE DID,AT WHATEVER IT TOOK NO MATTER THE COST. WHEN I RETIRED, I WAS SELLING THIRD GENERATION CUSTOMERS AND WHY,BECAUSE IF THEY HAD A PROBLEM WE DEALT WITH IT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE( NO RUN AROUND ). OUR MOTTO WAS SATISFACTION GUARANTEED !!! AND ALL OF OUR OFFICES AND WORK AREAS HAD A SIGN THAT READ -DON’T LET A COMPANY POLICY BE A SUBSTITUTE FOR COMMON SENCE !!! ( WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT, I DON’T KNOW ) I AM EMBARASSED TO SAY THAT I WORKED THERE, BECAUSE OF THE WAY THERE IS A VERY NON EXISTANT CUSTOMER SERVICE. I MYSELF HAVE PROBLEM NOW AND GET NOTHING BUT A RUN-AROUND AND I’M VERY,VERY PISSED AT SEARS CAN. INC. ( I AM CUTTING UP MY SEARS CARD, EVEN THOUGH I GET AN EMPLOEE DISCOUNT, AND EXPRESS MAILING THE PIECES TO THE PRESIDENT OF SEARS CAN. INC.) THANKS FOR LISTENING !!!