i have been trying to get my range (Kenmore) fixed for over three weeks now and i'm not happy with the shortage of parts that were shipped the first time and now it's being rescheduled againfor another two weeks. The expensive service call was not nearly worth the LONG wait and I'm mad. My complaints will not stop here!!! Jay Williams 496 Scott Street St. Marys, Ohio 45885 419-300-9168

UNBELIEVEABLE EMPLOYEE ACTIONS
I have been a loyal Sears customer for ages. My wife and I purchase kid’s clothing, shoes, and a lot of retail items, as well as tire purchases through Sears. I felt it necessary to send in this complaint because I was appalled by the treatment I received today at the Sears in Killeen, Texas. Being in the military, we get moved around quite often, as was the case this holiday season. We purchased a cargo bag from the Sears in Arlington, VA on 12-11-09 for our move to San Antonio, Texas (which is my next duty station), and we left VA the next day. The bag stated that it was “water-resistant”, so we loaded it with our luggage of clean clothing and other items. We were on the road for 3 days, experiencing patches of rain showers along the way; we never had any concerns of the items in the cargo bag. We had a scheduled stop along the way to visit relatives in the central Texas area. It was not until we arrived at our relative’s home in the Killeen area that we realized, to our horror, that everything in the bag was saturated, including items in our suitcases. Everything had to be re-washed, dried and some items were ruined and had to be discarded. We lost $20 worth of laundry charges plus about $75 worth of kid’s clothing that was ruined, not to mention the extra work that was added to our already hectic schedule of having to re-launder 8 loads of clothes. We let the bag dry out with the intention of returning it to the store as soon as was possible, since it did not own up to being “water-resistant” as the box indicated. The problem was that the box was discarded in VA because we were packed to capacity and had no intention of ever returning it.

With the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping and visiting relatives, we were not able to address this matter until 12-23-09. When I attempted to return the item in Killeen, Texas, the associate referred me to the auto center manager, “Shelly”. I do not know what the sales associate told Shelly; however, when I walked up to the counter where she was, the first thing she immediately told me was, “the only way to return this product, without the box, was to have returned it within 24 hours of purchase, even with a receipt”. This was even BEFORE I had a chance to state the reason for returning the item. I had the receipt in my hand; however, she NEVER asked for, or even looked at the receipt. I was never given the opportunity to state the problem. It was clear that she had already made up her mind not to accept the item, offer a credit or listen to the issue, even BEFORE giving me the opportunity to talk to her. Note that the cargo bag was, and still looks brand new, as it did when it was purchased, as we allowed it to fully dry before returning it. It has its original bag and paperwork that came with it.

Her explanation was that, “people use these bags and return them after they have reached their destination.” There are three problems with this explanation: (1) Based upon this policy, I would have had to return the bag before even starting the trip, before I could have known that there was a problem with the product yet, (2) I am not yet at my destination (3) If my intention was the one she suggested that it was, wouldn’t I have retained the box? Nowhere on the receipt does it state anything about a 24 hour return policy on these items, or items without the box. My intention was to exchange it for a hard, waterproof cargo, which I was prepared to pay the difference for, but “Shelly” did not give me the opportunity to be heard. I was summarily refused credit, store credit, or offered the opportunity to exchange this defective product or even upgrade. It was clear that she had made up her mind that she would not take this item back, regardless of the circumstances or the fact that I had a very-recent receipt. Now I’m stuck with a misrepresented/defective bag, which I cannot risk using again, and still in need of replacing the bag for storage in order to continue on to my destination.

In all the years and the countless Sears stores that I have shopped at across the nation, I have NEVER been treated as I was at the Killeen store. I understand that there are people who lie, steal and cheat retailers; however, I don’t feel that associates should assume that the customer is a crook, refuse to hear their complaint, and treat them as such. It was as if the customer is guilty of dishonesty unless proven innocent. I was being treated as a common criminal, when I am not. I have been a loyal Sears customer for years, have no criminal history, and an A-1 credit and fico score. Most of my purchases are purchased by major credit cards and cash.
I cannot believe the way I was treated by that manager, dismissed from the Auto Center and how I was not given the benefit of doubt, but rather treated as a common thief even with a reciept! Is it a Sears policy to question the integrity of all Sears customers who are holding a receipt in hand, and summarily dismiss customers before allowing them a chance to explain the circumstances involved in the return? I realize that this is the holiday season and sales associates are busy and frustrated, but listening to the customer should be paramount. My wife and I have A-1 credit and have NEVER had a problem like this before, OR been treated like this by any other retailers. We are in shock over this treatment and are questioning our loyalty.

LTC John H. Davenport
Cell #316-250-7596 Our new address will be: 125 Burning Trail, Cibolo, Texas 78108, which is a suburb of San Antonio. We will not be at our new location until December 29, 2009.

We purchased a microwave/oven wall unit from Sears in May 2009. In July, the microwave stopped working. A Sears technician came out to look at it and it happened to be working at that time so nothing was done. In October, the microwave again stopped and a technician came out to look at it ( he arrived at 2:30 pm despite having been told that the time slot was 8 am to 12 pm ). He could not determine what was wrong, so he decided to order some parts and return in 2 weeks. He did come back in 2 weeks with another technician and said that they were unable to take the unit out of the wall because it was installed incorrectly. So we contacted Sears who sent the installer to look at it. My husband took time off from work on this occasion and he watched the guy take it out very easily. So we again called Sears who suggested that my husband should be at home to show the technician how to take out the unit. Huh ? So in the middle of November, a technician comes to the house and is unable to take out the unit(and in fact cuts himself). So I have no working microwave for Thanskgiving because Sears schedules the next appointment for the Friday after Thanksgiving when 2 technicians will be available. Sears calls at 11:30 am to say that the technicians will be at the house a little after 12:00 pm. The next time we hear from Sears is around 4:00 pm when they call to say that they were unable to get a 2nd technician. Really great customer service ! So they reschedule for December 12. The technicians arrive and say that the wrong part has been ordered. So they order another part and schedule an appointment for December 22. Given that this situation has continued for such a long time, I asked for the courtesy of being given the first appointment of the day. It has been very frustrating to take off for a morning from work and end up using the whole day because Sears never shows up in the time period stated. I was assured this would be done only to find out an hour ago that this is not the case and in fact they would most probably be getting here in the afternoon. I have had enough of the incompetence and lack of customer sensitivity. In fact I am inclined to believe that they are purposely dragging this out so that the 12 month period would be reached and there will no longer be a warranty. My advice to people out there - DO NOT BUY FROM SEARS. THEY SELL INFERIOR PRODUCTS AND THEN TRY TO FRUSTRATE YOU BY NOT PROVIDING SERVICE.

I was in the store and there were several Kenmore Elite Appliances on sale ...all of them in the same price range..$61.24. There was a food processor which is the Kenmore Elite 14 cup food processor. When I went to purchase the price rang up as $122.49. The cashier was very nice and asked one of the other workers to go check the price because she had several other customers to wait on. The girl walked over there and got the tag which was tagged to the processor and stated it was not that price..she said it was $87 and that it was not that appliance. We stood there 20 minutes and still the store manager hadn't come. The cashier called again for him to come to that area. The other worker kept arguing that it was placed on the wrong product which wasn't my problem. She admitted to placing the tag on the appliance. She had an attitude when I told her it was false advertising and it was their mistake, not mine. I wanted the food processor for that price because it was advertised for that price. Then looking at the tag she states it says coffeemaker...once again not my problem because it was attached to the food processor. But in these HUGE bold letters the price is $61.24. Finally some assistant manager, William Tompkins comes after 20 minutes of waiting and states he will give me 10% off but not the price "they advertised" it as. This is wrong...the price placed on the appliance was $61.24. He was rude to me...and I still feel like he should have sold me the processor at that price. It was their mistake, not mine. My family has bought thousands of dollars of appliances, tools, etc from Sears over the years, but we will no longer buy from Sears at all. Maybe they should adopt WalMarts policy...sell one and save a customer.

On November 20, 2009, I purchased a A2750 Norditrac Treadmill. After one week of use, I started having problems with it. On December 18th a technician came out and told me that the motor and the control box had to be replaced but since it had been less than 30 days, I might want to check with Sears for a replacement. I took the treamill back to the University Store in Little Rock, AR on 12/19/09 and that store did not have the same treadmill in stock but told me to take it to the Niorth Little Rock store and a replacement would be no problem. We took the unusable treadmill to the North Little Rock store and a salesman named Craig immediately told us that we would have to take it back to the University store for replacement. He did not want to help us. With much reluctance, he decided to see if there was a treadmill like ours in stock. After one was located, he talked with the manager Shaun and agreed to replace the treadmill.
I had to unload the broken and load the new treadmill with not much help from the return department. When asked for help every employee in this store seemed to be annoyed about having to help me with this expensive purchase. I will never shop at this store again.
Hopefully with your awareness of the problem with customer service at this location, another customer may have better service in the future.
Thank you,
Mike Bennett