Sears returns cash.. but their systems are still seriously flawed

backstory

We finally received the last of our money today. Thankfully.

With all the lies about when the money from the first mistake was to come, we finally received it 3 weeks later.

The second refund for the broken unit? The only reason we got it is two-fold.

1. I tweeted and wrote that first post, and it got attention (thanks for the hundreds of hits guys!). Our rep was being pressured to settle this matter. Although he did tell me that it “does no good to blog about it because it only goes to him”. What he clearly didnt get was that I blogged because I was frustrated and needed to get my frustrations out (and this is my venue) AND that this wasn’t about THEM it was about ME and the horrible response I was getting from a national retailer.

Anyway…

2. I also had proof the AC unit was picked up. Why is this important? Because our rep told us that UPS HAD NO RECORD OF THE PICKUP AND DIDN’T KNOW WHERE THE AC UNIT WAS. No busted AC? No refund.

What the ??????

Luckily, I um.. you know.. kept the receipt of pickup (!!! do people throw these away before the matter is settled?) from the call tag that Sears issued (dont they keep track? I guess not) which indicated the AC was delivered to their warehouse over a week ago… even though noone knew where it was. I at least had proof of pickup and delivery.

*headdesk*

But we got our money (and quickly for the second payment)

and Sears was nice enough to issue a Sears gift card for $75 to us.

That was dripping in sarcasm in case that didn’t quite come across. I wasted WAY more than $75 worth of my time on this.

But its over.. we have our money back. We’ll still never buy from Sears online again… and we’ll steer everyone we know to do the same.

The End

You can’t have a great brand when your customer service sucks

*Updates at the bottom of post*

Let me give you the story… its a little long, but worth it.

3 weeks ago, my dear husband did some research and chose a new room air conditioner for us to purchase. We chose a Kenmore model and ordered it through the Sears website.

The next day we get a call from someone in a Sears store in Pennsylvania saying that they thought they had the model, but didn’t. They had claimed they did and we were charged at their store for the unit so they would have to refund our money. We would have to place a new order and PAY AGAIN for the air conditioner if we wanted it shipped.

WHAT? We ordered online, not from your store. Can’t you just put it back in to your Sears system and send it from another store? Apparently not.

Apparently, how it works when you order from Sears.com is that a store will claim the order and charge you and ship the item. Except when they don’t actually have the item. Then you are screwed.

So fine.. we re-placed the order with them on the phone, were charged again and a few days later we received an air conditioner. That was crushed inside the box. And not the right model.

Sigh

So we called Sears. They said they would send a call tag. And told us we would have to PAY AGAIN to receive the air conditioner. Pay? a THIRD TIME? You have to be kidding me? So we asked where our first refund was from the store that claimed they had the a/c but didn’t. Sears customer service wanted to know when we returned that a/c to the store. HUH? First of all, we ordered the a/c online and never received it and second of all, the store is in Pennsylvania and we live in Massachusetts!

Then we were put on hold for 15 minutes. And got silently hung up on.

My sweet, polite, calm husband was livid at this point.

We called back.

And were told they would have to research this because they couldn’t access our account. Someone else had it open.

So now we are out a lot of cash (put it on the debit card) and all we had was a broken air conditioner. And me being me, I tweeted about it to see if I could get the attention of someone who could help in their customer service department.

It worked and I got a call from someone in the Sears Cares office who swore he would take care of the problem and HE was going to be my savior. He talked a good game in that first phone call and said it would take 5 business days for the refund of the first charge. Fine, we’d wait, that seemed reasonable (even though I still think their whole system of eCommerce is archaic for putting through the charge in the first place). He sent a call tag and then once they received the broken unit, they would immediately start the process for refunding that money.

Oh and we’ll give you 25% off the air conditioner if you still want to buy it. I told him if we can pick it up at our local store with that discount, we’d be interested. He never got back to me about that.

A few days later I called him to ask why we haven’t received our first refund. This time he was rather rude and said that he had told me the process had been started and it could take 14 days. Which is NOT what I was told in that first phone call. First in a series of lies.

Then I asked about the 25% discount and if the unit was in a store for me to pick up. I was put on hold and several minutes later he came back and said my local store didn’t have it and it was last year’s model anyway so it was unlikely any store was going to have it. I said, well you are selling it on your website, why would you sell something you don’t have.. and he said.. “because there could be a store that has one laying around in a back room.” He was not nearly as nice in this call and was rather snotty when he revealed we ordered last year’s model. Like they make that clear on the website and we should be aware of this year’s air conditioning fashion.

That certainly explains the crushed a/c we received though.

Meanwhile.. The chatter in the social media world shows Kenmore and Sears courting bloggers and throwing large parties for them in Chicago and supplying some people with free washers and dryers and other pricey appliances*. Talking about how their brand really cares about people and bloggers and the world and small puppies and bunnies.

And here is me. Small personal blog (I wont involve my work in a personal matter), Decent twitter following, medium (but influential) Facebook audience and I can’t get a straight answer OR my money back. For something we were willing to pay for and still dont have, not even being offered a discounted anything any more.

If you are going to center your marketing around how well you treat people and listen to your customers? You might want to actually take the time to find out that your customer service is doing none of that.. even to the people you yourselves are courting. You have to actually care, and listen and make sure the people buying your brand are as happy as can be, are given straight answers and treated as the most important people on Earth.

And I can’t believe I’m saying this.. but you know who does it right? Comcast. and Zappos. Learn from them. Update antiquated eCommerce systems and policies and actually FIX problems when they arise.

And here we are .. a few weeks later. Heard from our Sears Cares rep yesterday who said the money would be in our account today (it isn’t) and the email we received from a different department said 72 hours after the refund was initiated (?? that would have been weeks ago according to what we were told). Just another lie in the mix. The broken a/c has long been picked up but noone can give us information about THAT refund. They’ll need to “research” it.

And we are still waiting for our money.. and anticipating the heat wave this weekend without a new air conditioner.

* I am pro-blogger outreach and by no means think any of these bloggers are at fault in any way for receiving goods or services (or parties) offered to them by a brand. I believe bloggers can be a valuable asset to a brand but the brand has to back their words with their actions, which in this case, they are not.

UPDATE: 8/27/10: Still no refunds. We have not been called back about the status of the 2nd refund, I cant imagine it takes 2 days to “research” if they received the broken unit back.

UPDATE 8/27/10 3:30pm: Was told for a second time that the refund on the 1st charge will take 5 days.. which is not the 24 hours we were told 2 days ago or the 72 hours we were told on an email 2 days ago. It is also the same thing we were told 2 weeks ago and didn’t receive the money then either. Also, now we are being told they dont know where the AC unit is that was picked up by UPS. Of course I have the pick up slip, but its home and I’m at work. So there hasn’t even been anything done on the 2nd refund at all.. noone has even touched it or looked at it this issue in the least.

8/27/10 6:00pm: I now have proof of delivery from UPS that the AC unit was delivered to the Sears dock in Manteno IL a week ago

Conclusion to this story

Good House, Bad House

In the last 5.5 years, we have lived in 3 different residences in Salem, Massachusetts.

The first one was a beautiful old sea captains house, it was built in the 1820′s. We really loved that place despite its flaws. The house was a solid build for its time. But had no insulation. The owners did quite a bit of updating before we moved in, which I am sure improved many old features.. however, all of the electricity for our livingroom, office, downstairs bath and one bedroom upstairs were on one circuit breaker (crazy) and our downstairs neighbor kept turning our hall light on and off because the switch was downstairs in the common hallway. The new windows were put in place crooked, so they didnt quite close at the top, which when added to the fact that there was NO insulation (the walls were ice cold in the winter) led us to very high heating bills, even keeping the heat at 68*. Recap for this house: Solid old construction, cosmetic upgrades were nice but the ball was dropped when it came to actual construction upgrades. Work was clearly done on a small budget and minimal work (mostly done by the owner) was done to make it habitable.

After living there for over 4 years, our landlords served us notice to move because they needed their daughter to move in (note: their daughter never moved in and they ended up renting the unit to someone else for over $250/month less than what we were paying)

We went through hell trying to find a place to live.. and were blatantly discriminated against for having a small child. One prospective landlord even outright told me that he would rather have his place sit empty for months on end then to rent to a family with a small child… which, you know, is ILLEGAL. But thats not what this post is about now, is it?

We found a place, brand new. We were the first people to live in it. Residence #2 was built in 2008. Brand new you say? Should be great, right? Lets take a look…

The cosmetics were beautiful. Crown moulding, granite counters, stainless steel appliances, big garden tub.  Once we moved in, we couldnt believe it when everything started falling apart. The plumbing was incorrectly installed, which started with a giant leak under our master bath sink our first week living there because they just didnt connect the pipes. Any time you used the water in the master bath, you could hear the water dripping through the walls, even after the initial leak was repaired There was always a sour smell and I suspect much mold growing in the walls. The windows on the lower level leaked water. And the heater broke and leaked water throughout the downstairs. The landlord fixed the heater, but never cleaned the water and after repeated phonecalls, the lower level became unusable because of the black mold growing and staining the walls and floors and making my family sick.  The only upside? Central A/C… glorious glorious central air. Dont even get me started on the neighbors who were owners who hated the renters so much, they refused to do any work on our side (condo association work such as painting, planting, mowing). Our neighbors had a fishbowl for a dining room light because of the leaking from the bathroom in their unit. Months later, it has never been fixed. Recap for this house: Abysmal construction, uncaring landlords who just want to unload the place on some unsuspecting first time buyer.Unsafe, horrible, falling apart, place to live. Frankly, I have no idea how this place passed inspection in the first place.

The only reason we didn’t call inspectional services? We needed to have a place to live while we purchased and closed on our first home. Moving to a temporary place in between would have been expensive and stressful and we knew we were getting out of there. Also of note, they rented this place out as we were leaving. They did not fix the moldy floors or any of the problems we brought to their attention. In fact, they made sure to cover up any problems so they just looked as if they were fixed. They had no intention of ever fixing that lower level and I cant believe that rental agent let them get away with the charade.

Now for house #3.. our first, very own home. Built in 1956 and has had ONE owner until us. This house is solidly built. Plumbing, electrical, heating systems are all in great shape. Construction is solid and in some cases, hand done, lovingly, by the previous owner. This house, the construction is all superior quality. But you know what the downside is? All cosmetics. We have some work on our hands, wallpaper removal, painting, some kitchen and bathroom cosmetic renovations… but I will take that ANY day over the poor craftsmanship and sub quality construction work of the last two places. Recap for house #3: our home, we love it.

What this experience has showed me is that in today’s housing market, people want things to look nice instead of the construction being solid and long lasting. Is it the work ethic of today’s builders or renovators? Is it that they want to build cheap and sell high with no regard of the craftmanship involved? The homes that are built today will not be around in 200 years like the beautiful older homes that adorn my sleepy seaside town now. They just wont make it that long. Be diligent about checking the quality of a builder’s previous work. Be thoughtful when looking at a new home to buy or a new apartment to rent. Dont be swayed by the gleam of the granite and the shine of the stainless steel. Be smart, be aware. Appliances are easy to replace, black mold covered floors? Not so much.

Tales of cardboard and newspaper

The moving has begun.

We are moving across town here in Salem to a brand spankin’ new townhouse. We’ve been packing for what seems like forever and now we are in that point in time where half our things are at the new house, and half our things are at the old house. Saturday is truck day and Dave with three of our friends, will move the furniture.

I hate moving. Does anyone really like the process of moving? We are ready to be settled into the new place and make our home there. Right now it all just seems chaotic, frantic, and well, just plain messy.

I am anxious to set up the new kitchen, with its shiny granite and stainless steel.. I’m ready to break it in.
I am ready to take a long luxurious bath in our new giant tub
I am looking forward to unpacking and organizing

We are ready to be in our new home.

See you on the flip side!

photo used by creative commons license from flickr user Mpopp

We’ve got the whole wide world in our yard to explore

After being in the home we live in now for 4.5 years, we are moving. Not by choice, mind you. Our landlords have asked us to vacate the property so they can give it to their daughter who has fallen on tough economic times. I cant blame them, but it does make me a little sad. This is the home we celebrated getting pregnant in. The home we brought our infant boy home to. This is the only home he’s ever known. I’ll miss our big yard, our gas stove and being so close to our wonderful neighbors and a short walk away from Forest River Park. We’re still staying in the same town, but now we’ll be in a new and different location.

Oh there are things I wont miss.. the peeling lead paint on the ceiling of the bathroom, the non-insulated freezing cold walls in the winter that turn our home into a literal icebox, the worrying about Alex being too loud for our elderly downstairs neighbor (whom we adore and she has never said anything was a problem, she loves Alex), the windows that dont quite fit right in their places. I could probably make a long list.

The new place is very nice. Brand new construction that noone has ever lived in before, a townhouse with noone below us or above us, attached garage, open floor plan, giant garden style bathtub, granite countertops, fireplace. It has its flaws and we’re paring down to fit into it (its a little crazy that we cant fit in it, we’re purging alot) but ultimately we’ll be happy there for a year or two.

As a renter I shouldnt get attached.. but its emotionally hard to leave our home, even with its many flaws.

and the moving part.. the physical packing and moving.. sucks. But here is to new beginnings!