Sears, what a pity the right hand doesn't know about the left! LONG diatribe.

[Bob Bowles]

Recently ordered some tools on-line from the west coast of the US for delivery to our son on the east coast. Shortly thereafter received E-mail that the credit card number wasn't accepted and the order was cancelled by Sears. Next day received mail that a tool set wasn't in stock and wouldn't be delivered. First ? mark with more to follow.

I went to the Lowes site and placed an order. Shortly after that our son reported a tool delivery from Sears. I went to their site and requested authorization for him to return the tools and for them to a credit to our credit card account. They said a credit could be issued for the tool cost but not for shipping. Shipping credit would only be allowed for an error in shipping. They wouldn't accept that the shipping after order cancellation by them was their error.

Things went downhill from there including several E-mails from them asserting they didn't cancel the order so I sent a copy of THEIR mail cancelling the order to them. They then asked what else they could do the help. Help?

Our son finally waited in line at the store for an hour to return the stuff and they refused to issue a credit to our account as he didn't have out Mastercard account number so they issued a Gift Card to him. Why they couldn't refer to THEIR records using the tool set number and common name to back into the debit to our account escapes me!

I've notified Mastercard of the fiasco enclosing E-mails while protesting the Sears charges including shipping but haven't received confirmation of concurrence. Have asked them twice for concurrence that they'll accept the Sears gift card on account and if they would settle the shipping charges with Sears. No answers, yet.

I have NO INTENT of using the Sears gift card and would feel less that honest offering it to anyone I respect. Guess if there is any type of up side to this saga is all of the names in their E-mails appeared to be domestic although not one of the names was repeated!

Someone observed a couple of years ago it would take a certain type of talent and attitude to destroy what Sears spent YEARS building as a positive reputation and apparently it resided in the front office of Sears. Pity!

[Ralph E Lindberg]

.... Pity!

Recall that K-Mart -bought- Sears, you are describing the K-Mart attitude on returns to a "T"

[WD]

I have an experienced almost as complicated as yours. It took more than two years to settled. After that I canceled Sears credit cards and have never bought anything from them again no matter how cheap or good!

[jo4hn]

It's been by experience that Sears will screw things up beyond all recognition and then bend over backward to make it right. War stories? That would probably make an entertaining book. My uncle (a farmer in northern Minnesota) had them, my father (who worked for Sears in MN for some years) had them, and I had them. There was always a feeling of apprehension and excitement before the appearance of a Sears delivery or repair person. The event was usually followed by phone calls to friends and family of the "you'll never believe what Sears did this time" type.

mahalo, jo4hn

[J. Clarke]

Basic rule in dealing with _any_ mail order--no matter what they say the order isn't cancelled until two weeks have gone by and UPS hasn't delivered it.

[mp]

Sears just got nailed again for false advertising, this time in Canada.

[rcook5]

A pity indeed. Sears has been lysing into a puddle of goo since the

60s. They managed the transition from mail-order to store operations successfully, but when their store model started to fail they were utterly lost.

They have been doing stupid things in varying degrees of panic ever since. One of the most stupid was to utterly destroy their reputation with their customers. That was longer in coming than some of their other mistakes, but they have managed it.

In another five years there will be no more Sears (I predict) and for my money it has taken far too long.

--RC

"Sometimes history doesn't repeat itself. It just yells 'can't you remember anything I've told you?' and lets fly with a club. -- John W. Cambell Jr.

[bf]

What made me never go back to ours is when they wouldn't open the screwdriver cabinet and sell me a screwdriver when it was only 30 minutes till closing time.. 5 minutes, I could see.. but 30 minutes?

[WD]

I won't shed any tears, they deserve it.

[Dave Balderstone]

If you read the details the case says more about our "consumer protection" agency than about Sears' advertising practices.

[Roger Haar]

HI,

Mail order has always had troubles. In the 60's a great aunt bought some drapes. She did not like the color and sent them. Two weeks later a refund check appears in the mail and the next day an identical set of drapes arrived. She wrote a letter explaining things and sent back the drapes. Two weeks later a second refund check appears in the mail and the next day an identical set of drapes arrived. I think she ended up with

4 refund checks and a set of drapes before she gave up.

Thanks Roger H

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, Not only at Sears, common occurence everywhere. If anyone dares, name a place where there is true customer service. Every time I am at store, bank or whatever, feels like I am there to serve them, Sigh! Tony

[mp]

Sears has, in my experience, often been misleading about their pricing. The ruling stated that Sears exaggerated the savings on it's tire ads. The ads suggested a savings of $248, whereas the actual savings were $12. Often you'll see Craftsman tools listed in sale flyers for 50% off, when in reality the sale price is usually the normal selling price.

The Canadian Federal Competition Tribunal is coming down hard on retailers who advertise misleading price comparisons or false bargains, and I applaud them for it. It's about time.

[Dave in Fairfax]

LV

Dave in Fairfax

[Bob Haar]

Not just mail order. Almost any organization big enough to have separate departments for different activities has a serious risk of not talking with itself.

I had a serious of problems with Comcast when I returned the rented cable modem because I had replaced it with one that I purchased myself. It took six months, numerous phone calls and several letters to get it straightened out.

Bob

[Dave Balderstone]

They also assume that consumers are complete idiots.

[bridger]

I'll assume that their charter or whatever mission statement docs they use have language about protecting consumers.

at least some of whom *are* complete idiots. hell, from what I see, probably a lot of them are...

[Richard Clements]

reminds my of my RCWilly VCR experience

got a TV, DVD, and VCR from RCWilly, set it up, didn't use it for 31 days (d> HI,

[Bob G.]

I though Sears no longer had their own private Credit Card...?

I did read the original post BUT I honestly forgot what the exact problem was...(more like problems not problem..I remember it was a total screw up My current Sears card is really a Master Charge card...So the original poster could have disputed the charge by calling Master Charge NOT Sears... and dumping the entire thing into their hands...

Bob Griffiths

[Art]

Actually Wachovia banks in NC seem to have great customer service though their rates suck.