Here's a copy of a letter I sent to Sears, to which I'm sure I will never receive a response. Just wanted to warn others after my experience.
I’m writing in regards to refrigerator purchases I recently made at a Sears outlet store. When the original refrigerator I bought was delivered, it began running and never stopped, nor did it ever get cool. I tried several times over the next two days before I got a hold of an actual person to speak with, only to be told that I would have to call back the following day because they were closing soon. A repairman couldn’t be sent until the next day and by then, all of my food had to be thrown away. A new compressor was placed on emergency order and the repairman was supposed to return in another two days. The night before the repair was scheduled-anywhere between 8am and 5pm-I got a call cancelling the appointment, because although the part was on emergency order, it was still stuck in the factory. They promised they would call back the next day to reschedule for a time as soon as possible. Two days and no phone call later, I went back to the store to see what they could do for me.
At the store, I was told they could sell me another one if I wanted, but I couldn’t get my money back for the old one until it was back in the store. They also couldn’t pick the old one up at the same time they delivered the new one, because that had to be scheduled separately. I was getting desperate at this point, so I made the mistake of buying another one and cancelling the part for the first one. I was told they don’t deliver on weekends, so unless I want to take it with me, it would be 2 or 3 more days.
I received confirmation from 3 different people and the automated system that the delivery would be made after 6:30 pm so that I would not have to take off work. I got a call at 11:30am asking if I was going to be home in the next hour, because it needed to dropped off by 5:00pm. He had someone call me to reschedule for the following day, but I couldn’t be given a time until the automated system called. It never called. I went back to the store and the store manager called a regional manager to deal with the situation. Neither of us has ever received a call back from him.
A few days later, the manager and I spent three hours on the phone with eight different people just to set up the pick-up and refund of my old fridge. They couldn’t set up the delivery of the new refrigerator yet however, because they couldn’t locate it. Apparently, it got lost in the shuffle between the store, which is about 4 miles from my house, and the warehouse, about 20 miles away, where it first had to be taken in order to be brought to my house.
The next day, the refrigerator was tracked down and delivery was set up for Sunday, although I was previously told no deliveries are made on weekends. I got the confirmation call and an hour after my window passed, I called to see where my delivery was. I was told that the team was just running a little late and would be there any minute. They never showed up.
I called first thing the next morning, expecting an apology and an offer to bring it over that day. They offered to reschedule in another 2 days and couldn’t even give me an explanation as to why it wasn’t brought the night before. After more phone calls, I finally got someone from the local distribution center to arrange delivery of the new one and pick-up of the old one all at the same time for the next day. That was 2 weeks ago and I still haven’t received a refund for the original refrigerator that was returned.
I am extremely unhappy about this situation. Between throwing out about $50 worth of food and $40 worth of medication that needed to be kept cold, missed work, 2-$65 delivery fees, eating out for almost 3 weeks, and interest on my credit card, I have spent almost twice what the original refrigerator cost me. While I didn’t purchase the protection plan, I would expect some reimbursement considering the product I bought was brand new and defective from the beginning. Although the store staff was very helpful, I certainly expected better service from the company itself. I have since heard numerous and similar complaints about Sears and I thought you needed to be aware of these situations. I can tell you that I will most certainly never shop with Sears again and will make sure none of my friends and family will either.
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