Sears warranty repair morons at work

[Ulysses]

If Sears was the only place to buy anything I wouldn't buy anything.

[Dr Doom]

problem: lawn mower under warranty, throttle cable retaining pin to handle snaps.

simple swap out of cable assembly 5 minute job.

sears response: you have to bring in the ENTIRE mower, and we'll ship it out so they can swap out the cable.

my response: listen to me, i'm trying to save you time & money, just order the cable !

sears: sorry, can't do that, it would void the warranty.

so we escalate it to the "lead" , who says it's their "policy" to send out all warranty repairs.

now this is a "parts & repair" store mind you (the one in Lakewood, NJ - in case anyone wants to know).

the moron brigade is well represented at that store !

i'll just steel epoxy the cable myself and save the 3 weeks it would take to ship out the mower, wait for mower, pick up mower (all because of a simple cable that can be changed in 5 minutes), but since they can't think out of the box, i'll do the job myself.

common sense among "customer service" nowadays is dead - but i'm sure you all know that.

[TURTLE]

This is Turtle.

Sears and RoeBuck started as a Fur Trader company and went into the pots & wood Stove business by mail order. Sears was a white fellow and RoeBuck was a black fellow and never really got along with each other but the two put up with each other because their business was working. Then in the last 30 or 40 years Sears family bought out RoeBuck's family and the Sears family took over. I don't know the story as to they being sold on the open stock market but they could have been taken public. I could go look but just too lazy to look. Now to answer your question.

Sears & RoeBuck was a mail order company and made good money because if you ordered it. You had to send it back to have it repaired or replaced. If you had a $5.00 wood burning stove and cracked the leg on it under warranty. You would have to ship it back to them at a rate of 5 cent going and 5 cents coming back to you. That was 10 cents it would cost you and most black smith could fix the leg for less than 10 cents. Sears & RoeBuck hardly ever got a stove or item back because of cost of shipping.

So now they are going back to that practice to not have to make repairs under warranty but now it's not the 10 cent leg on a stove , but the pain in the ass as to bring it in to be repair 50 cent clip on it. This works to make a bigger bottom line but when it catch up with them. they will try something else.

TURTLE

[Fred]

Not only Sears but other companies are doing it too. One little part broke and they wanted the whole thing send back instead the broken part as proof at customer's expense. Often times the shipment is more than the original equipment cost so off to the junk pile or fix it at customer's expense. So many warranties are just worthless. At least Sears pay for the shipment.

[wkearney99]

So escalate it to a regional supervisor or just buy a new cable. Your time is doublessly worth more than what a cable would cost. But slapping some sense into the regional manager would certainly be worth trying.

[Travis Jordan]

My response would have been to return the mower to Sears, telling them that you aren't satisfied with the reliablity of the product and their service policies.

[Steve Richardson]

Richard Sears worked for a railroad before branching out into watches. Alvah Roebuck (not black) was a watchmaker who entered into a partnership with Sears. They diversified and created mail-order sales as -- well, I started to say "as we know it today" but actually "as we knew it when I was a boy in the 1950s" would be more like it. Anyway, sorry to nitpick but Sears (and Allstate) paid for my college education so I thought the least I could do would be to cast a little light on their history. Not that it matters to the basic post, dealing with today's Sears and their service policies...

- Steve Richardson St Louis MO

[Duane Bozarth]

....a completely bogus fake history of Sears Roebuck...

Man, where you come up w/ this stuff and why do you post when you don't know a thing...a 2-second google would lead you to

which chronicles that Sears was working as an agent for a midwestern railroad and started out peddling watches to other station masters. Hired a watchmaker by the name or Roebuck (w/ a nice handlebar mustache and straight hair, btw) and they grew the business from there...

[TURTLE]

This is Turtle.

I read what you wrote but this was spoken to me by the old timers who ordered from them in the late 1800 that was born and raised up . the word black was not then what we call now. they used the word person of color which include all races from Chinese to black. the old timers counld have had him wrong but this is what they said.

Sears & RoeBuck was into the trading or buying of fur to be shipped to New Orleans for clothes made by Sears & RoeBuck. My Grand Father was born back in

1880 and a few of his friend was born before that. His friends was into trapping business which sold fur to the trading companys and they told of selling to Sears & RoeBuck as good prices for their bear, coon, Alligators , mink, and Fox Furs. this is where it come from me saying Sears & RoeBuck was in the fur trading business then to all other things.

I looked up sears & RoeBuck and did read about the Watch and mail order business. I sure didn't think it was that way with Sears & RoeBuck.

TURTLE

[TURTLE]

This is Turtle

Some times History is what a company wants it to be by telling it their way ! Or Can't be that away.

TURTLE

[Stretch]

I needed a new AC adapter for my Toshiba laptop (under warranty) The warranty reps, none spoke decent english, sounded like they were from India. They wanted me to ship my laptop bact to timbuc-too to have them check the ac adapter. they would put a new one in the box and ship it back to me. Turnaround of 2 - 3 weeks. The ac adapter plugs into the laptop and outlet, not actually part of the computer. If they just sent me one I could ship the bad one back. But no. they couldn't do that. So I bought a new ac adapter for 99 dollars, rather than give up my computer for 3 weeks. Next time I buy the Dell.

Stretch

[Duane Bozarth]

>

Well, can you substantiate your bs?

[TURTLE]

> >

This is Turtle.

Well can you substantiate that everything you read on the internet is true ?

TURTLE

[Duane Bozarth]

TURTLE wrote: ....

No, obviously. But I can at least corroborate the basics of the establisment of Sears/Roebuck w/ past knowledge obtained from grandparents who were around at the time amongst other ways.

There's no indication that virtually any of the "history" you posted had any basis in fact.

[Duane Bozarth]

I didn't say they were living, did I? In fact, I said "w/ past knowledge". I was 12 when my grandfather passed away at a reasonably ripe old age in 1957. A calculation from there would show him to have easily been cognizant of the time period.

It just so happens that my grandfather as a young man also worked for a railroad and used watches (and in fact, we have two still--one works and keeps nearly perfect time to this day, the other was damaged in an accident) similar to those initial ones which he purchased through Sears. Being as he was interested, he did have specific knowledge of the past history which I am confident is much more nearly accurate than that TURTLE posted which was just blantantly wrong in gross areas, not just detail.

He was mixing in stuff from things like the Hudson Bay Co and all that sort of lore which I just knew was not correct. It would, as you note, certainly not take too much effort to disprove any major facets of the history as posted by Sears.

[George E. Cawthon]

I doubt you can corroborate anything from your grandparents. Old enough to know anything in 1990 would mean being born in 1880 or earlier so they would be at least 125 years old? Hard to corroborate anything from dead people. My father worked for Sears for a while in the 20's or 30's, and can't corroborate anything either. I can remember stuff he told, but that isn't corroboration since corroborate means to confirm and that means question and answer. My father isn't answering anything and neither are your grandparents if they were around at the time Sears was established.

Oral histories are notoriously inaccurate. So you generally need oral histories from from a lot of unrelated people to get anything that approaches accurate. Just look at Turtles interpretation of the history of Sears. His family probably all repeats the same distorted view. You listen to an often repeated message when you are young and it is very hard to break from that when you are mature, even if the message is internally inconsistent with what you know.

As for the Sears site, publishing lies about the history of the store, which can easily be check by a historian examining newspaper clippings and other data, would be remarkably stupid. There would be no upside, only downside. Besides Sears has a right to be proud of its early retail history.

[Scott Willing]

At least they're not sending them out to India yet (where apparently some of their call centres are). Actually I bought an extended warranty from a lovely Indian lady one evening and it ended up working out really well.

Only because the local service centre really is local though. Who'd have thought being out in the boonies could actually be an advantage?

-=s

[TURTLE]

This is Turtle.

A lie is a Proven fact with facts in history which will comfirm your words. In the late 1800's nobody knew Sears or RoeBuck from Tom Dick or harry. My Grand Fathers Buddies [ one being Emile Skinner ] Sold Furs to a Fur Trader that was hired by Sears & RoeBuck and the sold furs to them in New Orleans in the Late

1800's. They would trap for 3 months at a time and then fill up a wagon with furs and go to New Orleans to sell the to the Sears & RoeBuck Fur trader. They would get $90.00+ for big wagon load of mink, coon, fox, and White Wolf skins. The wagon they filled would be about the size of a 16 foot tadon trailor now days for hauling cars and trucks on. They were fur wagons and were real big to haul them a long ways.

Yes Sears & RoeBuck bought the skins and loaded them on a train heading north to be processed. then by 1900 Sears & RoeBuck did not buy anymore and they told the fur trappers that they were going into other things that made more money. So i'm speaking about what sears & RoeBuck told the People down here in Louisiana in

1900 as to what they was a doing and as to if they lied to these people. Well so be it and I could care less.

Also another note here. Sears and other did not do well in Louisiana for people here could go to New Orleans and get most anything they wanted off the ships from all over. If you wanted a wood stove. You and a buddy got on a wagon and made a 4 day trip to get one. If anybody else wanted something else. They would give them a dollar or so to bring back them some item they wanted. Sears & RoeBuck Did not have a chance. Now I was told that states without Sea Port on them. Sears & RoeBuck Did good in them. Back then a 2 hole Cook Stove was about $5.00 to $6.00 in New Orleans but by mail order it was also $10.00. The only thing a family would order would be a Stove and some fancy cloths. You bought everything else locally from the area smiths.

I'm not disrespecting Sears & RoeBuck at all but telling what was told to me by the people at the time that dealt with sears & RoeBuck at the time about 1900. I am sure proud of Sears & RoeBuck and what ever is said about them seem very good to me. Now just the Sears of today i have a different opinion of them as dealing with them.

TURTLE

[TURTLE]

This is Turtle.

I don't Read a Excellant review of the history of a company but i listen to the old timers who dealt with Sears & RoeBuck in 1900. Weither they were lied to, You was Lied to, or everybody was lied to. I really don't care but I stated what was told to me by the people in 1900 that dealt with them on furs. These people probley never knew of anything else the Sears & RoeBuck was doing but just see what Sears & roebuck was doing at their part of the country. they said Sears & RoeBuck was Buying Fur before 1900 and then stopped buying furs on the year

1900. After 1900 I , they have no ideal as to what Sears & RoeBuck did after that time.

Also when you say Blantantly Wrong about some company doing something. You need to find out what Sears & RoeBuck was buying furs in 1880 to 1900 and for what reason before assume you know it all. They were buying fur but we don't know why.

TURTLE

[Stormin Mormon]

I'll add a bit more. someone else add some, and we'll see where it goes. Last man with a marshmallow gets to put out the fire.