Sears
reviews and complaints

My husband and I purchased a deep freezer from the on line Sears Store in March 2006. On the morning of June 23, my husband went out and noticed there was water on the garage floor coming from underneath the deep freezer. When he opened it up, he discovered that not only was the food not frozen, but it was rotten. Apparently the deep freezer had not been operational for at least a day, but we had no way of knowing it because the power light was still on.

I call Sears Service on June 24 in the morning, and the nightmare began. They first told me that it would cost me $59 for a service call. I corrected them on that because ti says in the manual for the deep freezer that it is under manufacturer warranty for one year with no service fee. The supervisor ( yes it had escalated to one at this point because I was not happy with the first agent I had spoken to. ) The supervisor prompted to tell me that someone would be out Wednesday. I advised him that it would have to be Thursday because I was already off that day and could not take Wednesday off. He told me that I had no choice that it would be Wednesday because of where I lived and that I would have to live with it. Trying to remain calm, I told him point blank that was nothing more than discrimination because of where I lived ( I live in a small town south of Wichita, Kansas) and that Sears did not have a problem delivering it a convenient time for me , so I didn't see why this was such an issue. We went back and forth and the conversation ending by the supervisor ( his name was Lawrence) stating that he would see what he could do and would call me on Monday, and that if he could not get any other day we would get it scheduled for the following Friday.

No call came on Monday, so I called on Tuesday June 27Th, and the real nightmare began. After 3 phone calls and a wasted lunch break, much to my surprise, there was a service call scheduled for the following day. I tried getting it changed to another day, but they refused, saying it had to be that day.

Fortunately, my husband was able to get off work. But this in itself was an inconvenience to his employer, because they were under mandatory overtime and really could not afford to lose him for an entire day. Not only that, but Sears stoutly refused to give me anything but a window of 9am to 5pm. I again told them that this was unacceptable. They were inconveniencing us and my husband's employer, and that the least they could do was to give me a smaller time span. After going back and forth with this , ( yet again another wasted lunch break) they finally told me that we were third on the list, and that he would be there about noon.

The repairman arrived and quickly discovered the problem. A connector linking wires to the thermostat had disengaged. He went on to say that it was in fact faulty workmanship that was at issue because it was not put together properly at the factory. The repair man also attempted to make a claim for the food that was lost. Sears promptly denied that. My husband called me and told me that it was repaired, and that the claim had been denied. At this point, I had had it with them. I called the service number yet again and asked to speak to a supervisor. Four phone calls later, I still had not spoken to a supervisor. I was told :

1) that there was no supervisor
2) that they were in a meeting
3) that they did not have supervisors in that department
4) I stayed on hold for so long that I got a recording telling me to hang up because my transfer would not go through.

Needles to say, I was irate and angry at this point. I called the Executive Offices of Sears, and the nightmare got worse. I was told that a claim could not be made for the loss because it had to be made under the extended warranty. I explained to her that was not possible to do because the deep freezer was still under manufacturer warranty and that I had been advised that the extended warranty was not applicable until one year had passed from the purchase date. All I wanted was compensation for the food that we lost. Through a lengthy, aggravating conversation, I explained that I had been:

- lied to
- given absolutely nothing but the run around
- inconvenienced in more ways that I could count ( this including the fact that I had to go to the store every day for portions of that nights dinner because I no longer had the space to store frozen food for 2 adults, 2 teenagers and an 11 yr old)
- my husband lost time from work, and had to use the last of his vacation time

Sears offered nothing more that what amounts to a slap in the face. A $20 gift card.. Yes, a $20 gift card, which by the way, I was advised, I would have to use at the store in Wichita because it was not usable on line. I firmly advised the representative, that she could keep her gift card because I, my family, nor my extended circle of friends, had any inclination to set foot in a Sears store again.

Someone from Sears contacted my husband the week of July of 3rd, with nothing more than an attempt to keep our business. At point, she explained that claims of this nature had to be made against the manufacturer.

I returned from a week long business trip on July 9Th. I attempted to do a web search to do just what she suggested, contact the manufacturer. Every contact source leads right back to Sears, and quite frankly I'd rather not repeat the nightmare all over again.

All I'm asking for is compensation for the food that was lost. $300.. that's all.. $300.
But you would have thought that the amount was the yearly operating budget for this company based on their reaction. And that is just not right.

Sincerely,

Cara

I purchased through your Sears catalogue, picked up the item, paid for it, then proceded to try it on. Upon neither of the two items purchased fitting, I then returned them to the counter, same day, didn't even leave the store. Upon being reimbursed the sales clerk informed me that there was a $2.00 handling charge. However, prior to paying for the item I was asked if I would like to get a Sears card, and have $10.00 off the purchase, and then was informed that if I had a Sears card that I would not have to pay for the handling charge. Also, if I had a Sears card, I could have the purchases sent to Lorraine Ave Depot, where I could walk from my home and pick it up. I had a Sears card for years, so therefore, I never knew about these things, I find it very discriminatory, that I would be forced to have a Sears card in order to have purchases sent closer to my home, and also not to have to pay for handling charges, isn't it the same amount of work to put packages together and load them onto a truck whether or not it is on a Sears account or not? I feel that you are forcing people to have an account with Sears in order to be served to their best interest, and also that my cash money isn't good enough. Also, I find it odd that your department won't put stuff back onto your debit card when returning a purchase, and I had to take the refund back in cash, good thing it wasn't a $5,000.00 dollar purchase! I am very upset over this whole situation, so much so, that I will probably never purchase anything from your department again. Also, I will recommend to my family and friends, and co-workers that they do the same, unless they want to continue having a Sears account or wish to purchase one.

Nelza

Kitchener ON N2B 2N2