Why Sears sucks...

Dear Sears,

We bought a washer & dryer from Sears a couple of years ago. Last week, when we moved from Utah to Florida our washer began acting strange. I called the Sears hotline and explained in detail the initial whirring noise and the fact that after a couple of loads, it started jumping all over my laundry room when it spins.

I was told that someone would be at my house Monday morning between 8 & 12. Since I had to work, my father in law kindly agreed to sit at my house and wait for someone to show up. The problem? Nobody showed. I called Sears and was told that a message would be passed on to the technician to call. My husband called Sears and was told the same thing. Nobody called until 3:00. My father in law cleared his schedule for the day just to sit in my empty house full of nothing but boxes.

We were later told that we were his 8th appointment out of 8 appointments. Why schedule that many appointments if you know there is no possible way for them to make all of them on time? If you know the technician won't make it Monday morning, tell the caller there is nothing available until Tuesday. Don't overbook in hopes that someone will cancel. That is unfair to the rest of your customers.

The technician finally decided to show up at 3:00. He was here all of 15 minutes and knew exactly what was wrong. Of course, he didn't have the correct parts to fix it. Now we are expected to schedule another appointment and wait around for another person (who may or may not show up on time) to come back into my house and spend a couple of hours fixing it.

Tell me something. What is the point of having the caller troubleshoot if the technicians aren't going to be prepared with the correct parts? A quick search on the internet could have told me that the ball bearings were bad.

Since your employee wasn't prepared, he now has to have the parts delivered to my house. Your "customer service" couldn't provide me with any answers. How could they not know if it is in the contract whether or not UPS will deliver supplies overnight? How can they not know if someone will need to be available to sign for the delivery? How come I can't speak to a supervisor or be directly transferred to the supplies / repair department? Why must the respective departments call me back at their leisure?

It is comforting to know that Sears is immune to the current state of the economy and that they don't need their customers. How else can the total disregard for your customers' valuable time be explained?

I understand that the work being done under warranty doesn't take top priority for your company. But someday soon that warranty is going to expire. And I'm sure that repairs will need to be made further down the line. I'm also sure that I will not be burdening Sears with any repair calls that will need to be made on my dime.

Furthermore, I will make sure that any other business that I require will not be done at Sears. I'm sure Home Depot would appreciate our business when it comes to furnishing our new home...and I'll be sure to let our friends know how great your customer service is.

Thanks for your time.

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Added 29 April

Yesterday my FIL received a phone call saying that the parts were being delivered to a warehouse in Daytona and that they would be installed today.

The ball bearings were replaced along with the drum. And then they decide the motor should get replaced. So I'm essentially getting a new washer for free.

I am so glad I purchased that warranty. And just to think I almost said no.

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Added 1 May

This morning, my FIL was told that the motor wouldn't arrive until Monday.

So guess what was waiting for me on my door step when I got home from work?

The motor.

I called Sears to let them know that the part arrive and I made sure the appointment was still on for tomorrow. The girl confirms that the appointment is still on for sometime between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm.

At this point, I explain that this is our third appointment in which we were told "sometime between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm" and that I wasn't about to wait around all day for a person that may or may not show up until 5:00. Of course she couldn't tell me where I am at on the tech's schedule. I would have to call back the next day and spend another 30 minutes on hold to speak to a customer service rep. (This is an issue because I only have 200 minutes!) The girl apologized because there was nothing more she could do.

Fine. I get that.

Me: "Can I speak to your supervisor?"
Sears: "Ma'am, she is going to tell you the same thing. We won't have schedules until tomorrow."
Me: "I understand that. I know that this is not your problem. You have nothing to do with it. Can I speak to your supervisor?"
Sears: "Ma'am, she is going to tell you the same thing. We won't have schedules until tomorrow."
Me: "Yes, you said that. But there is an inherent flaw in the system and Sears needs to know that this is not okay with their customers."
Sears: "Ma'am, she is going to tell you the same thing. We won't have schedules until tomorrow."
Me: "Just let me speak to your supervisor."
Sears: "Ma'am, she is going to tell you..."

And then she hung up on me.

Fifteen minutes later, I get a phone call from Sears. I was on the phone with Jaysen and joined the two phone calls so that he could listen in.

Sears: "I'm calling to verify that the part has arrived."
Me (a little perplexed): "Yes, it has arrived."
Sears: "Can I verify your address?"
Me: "Yes, that is my address."
Sears: "Okay. The technician is going to call your phone. If there is no answer, he will assume that nobody is home and will cancel your appointment."

At this point, Jaysen pipes in and startles her.

Jay: "Yeah, this is Mr. Melendez."
Sears: "Okay."
Jay: "Your technician will not cancel the appointment. He will go to our house whether or not we answer the phone. This is our third appointment this week for this issue. The first day, we were told from 8:00 - 12:00 and the guy didn't show up until 3:00. The second day, the guy didn't show until almost 5:00. Tomorrow, we are not going to spend the entire day waiting for a person who may or may not show. So, annotate it in your files that the technician is to call us before he arrives and he will show up to our house whether or not we answer the phone."

God, I love him.