A fairly new Sears dryer my wife bought with no prior consultation with me wouldn't start. She made an appt for repair using the Sears web site. The appt was not kept and there was no call or notice. She made a second appt. and two days prior, she was called to be notified that it was being rescheduled for 10 days further out.

This was not acceptable as we were now almost two weeks without a dryer. So, I called customer support (taking 4 tries and being disconnected when the call was transferred) to escalate the request and register a complaint.

I finally reached a manager who stated that he would resolve the problem and reschedule it to the original date. He also said he would call me back next day to verify . There was no returned call and the contact phone number he gave me for "just in case" was for another department (installation) that did not know that manager.

Now, I called customer service (2 more tries) escalated it to a manager and finally asked for and was given a number for the "routing office" to reschedule for the following day. I called the scheduler who understood, was apologetic, and rebooked original appt. This appt was not kept and again there was no call or notice.

This morning I called customer support with no help. I was given a number for the corporate office and called asking to speak to the office of the vice-president responsible for customer service. I was routed back to a low-level take a message staff person in the call center, Sears corporate staff do not take calls, I could not speak to management, and they would not take a number to call me back.

So now, 3 1/2 weeks later we have no dryer, no appt. , and I am out between 3 and 5 hours of useful or billable time.

I will throw out or donate the washer/dryer to a charity, buy new Samsung units, and ensure that no one in this family ever deals with Sears again.

Deal with Sears at your risk.

We have also had ongoing problems with Sear's customer service / warranty repair. Not only will they only come to our area on a Friday (not our days off), but the repairman responds without a helper knowing he is to work on an over the oven microwave/stove vent unit. Upon arrival, he said he can't work on the unit because he can't remove it by himself.

Then, when we complain that the refrigerator is too loud we are told that that is just how it is - loud.

Sears - never again.

Sears has to be dying the slowest corporate death in American history.

At one time, Sears was the industry standard; now they suck. Big time.

I quit dealing with them years ago when I couldn't talk to a real person to make an appointment!

I think I might have to bring it back to the store where I bought it and unload it in the store manager's office!

I'm getting to the point where I really believe that alot of appliances are just disposable and not really meant to be repaired, just replaced.

Perhaps it isn't the appliance itself but the lack of TRULY qualified service people.
Plus another knock against Sears: At one time a service person kept a supply of basic replacement parts in his truck. Or based on what your beef was, he would pick up some parts. Nuh uh, not no more. They come out, trouble shoot your appliance, and then tell you that they'll have to order parts and come back (in several days).
This comes from a bean counter deciding that it is not cost efficient to stock parts but rather order them only as needed from the suppliers.

Wrote an executive-level complaint to the Sears Holding Company with copies to the Better Business Bureau and the State Attorney General's Consumer Affairs Office referencing a paid extended service agreement that is not being honored as well as the lack of service this morning. It will be interesting to see if that generates any response. It won't change my plans or opinion about he unacceptable customer service but at the very least I can get their attention and possibly cause them some some irritation as payback for the frustration they have heaped on me.

WTG!!
phone calls, beefing at a local level, etc, don't do shit. You just become a mark on a tally sheet, if that.
You write a professional, adult letter to the big dog and things will often happen.

quote:

Originally posted by wasbeeman:
WTG!!
phone calls, beefing at a local level, etc, don't do shit. You just become a mark on a tally sheet, if that.
You write a professional, adult letter to the big dog and things will often happen.

And, let the big dog know that if the issue isnt resolved to your satisfaction you intend to release the details of your story to the press and television stations with the intent of generating as much bad press for Sears as possible.

I've never liked Sears and have had as little to do with them over my lifetime as is humanly possible.

We have a refrigerator like that. Kenmore used to the the best made out there. It lasted nineteen years with one service call. So we bought a new one. Two years old and the service guy sees us more often than some of the relatives.

Never again.

Rich
DRSS

Craftsman hand tools are still excellent. Near as I can tell, pretty much everything else is awful.

I wound not buy anything from Sears anymore.We had the same problems with both washer and dryer from them.The bearings are all made of plastic. I had taken a broken part and a bearing into the appliance repair shop and the guy said "Sears". Without looking up the part numbers, he came back with steel replacement parts. I don't even want to talk about the riding lawnmowers! It seems they cannot sell their own products anymore so they are trying to sell other companys products. That is one store I do not even like going into anymore.

I had my "Sears experience" back in the late 1990s. I had a repair done on a TV-VCR combo. I paid; they fixed it. It went belly-up again in about two weeks. They did not want to fix it under warranty, and wanted to charge me to fix it again. I threatened to trash them all over the internet, to put a letter in the local paper and to stand out front with a sign trashing their service. They saw it my way before we got off the phone. It ran for a few more years until I retired it. I still have it, but who watches VHS anymore?

Sears is still in business?

The last time I set foot in a Sears was when I bought a snowblower on sale for $150 off. It was a one day only sale and it happened to be the day we had 17" of snow. Before that, I hadn't set foot in a Sears since the early 80s.

I'm surprised they are still in business.

For what it's worth, I've had stellar customer service with appliances from Lowes and Home Depot.

It's an old business model. I don't even get excited about their tools any longer since they started selling them in KMART.

quote:

Originally posted by strapman:
It's an old business model. I don't even get excited about their tools any longer since they started selling them in KMART.

that's because Kmart bought sears afew years ago to get the KENMORE name