I made an appointment over a week ago with Sears to send someone out to repair my stove.
The arrival window they provided was from 8am-12noon, which of course, required me to take the whole morning off from work (without pay).
After making the appointment online, I also confirmed by telephone. The day before the appointment Sears contacted me by telephone to confirm that the repairman would arrive the following day between 8am and 12 pm. I was home the entire time, and guess what - NO ONE SHOWED UP FOR THE ENTIRE FOUR HOURS! I couldn't believe it, so I called Sears to see how late the guy was going to be. Amazingly, they said NO ONE WAS COMING AT ALL TODAY.
I asked why but they said they couldn't give me that information. Ok, I don't want personal details, but THEY DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER TO CALL TO TELL ME that no one would be there. They obviously had to know that early in the morning. If they had at least had the decency to let me know, then I could have gone to work for the morning, but apparently that was too much to ask.
I called customer service and the next appointment they could offer me is A WHOLE WEEK AWAY (the same time I would have gotten if I hadn't already made an appointment that they missed). This seems totally unfair. Why should I have to go to the back of the line because they screwed up.
They apologized for "breaking their promise" to me but offered no true accommodation or compensation for the fact that they wasted my entire morning, didn't have the courtesy to pick up the phone and cost me an half-day's pay. They also refused my request for an appointment sometime during the next three days, a shorter arrival window (less than 4 hours), and a discount off the cost of the fee they charge to come to my house. They said it is not their policy to pay for lost time or wages and they can't "force" an earlier appointment unless they have been "two broken promises" within the last 5 weeks. So, apparently in their view, its OK to break a promise once before taking any responsibility.
That's no way to run a business, and I certainly will no longer be a Sears customer. My time is more important and I won't do business with a company that has a policy that permits them to lie to me twice before they consider that a problem.
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