@&$^!#!! Sears.....

[PowderKeg]

RANT ON: The past day or two has really reminded me why I just plain hate dealing much with Sears anymore.

Sat. evening I saw the GearWrench micro driver set listed on SlickDeals for 1/2 price (ending Sat. night), then subtract the 20% off sale and the price ended up at @ $10 - cheap enough to say "What the Hey", so I ordered one and selected in-store pickup. Sears showed it out-of-stock for mail order but in-stock at two of the three stores around here. Got an email from the @#$tards today saying they canceled the order because they were wrong and it wasn't available at the store I'd selected, "However, we know you wanted to pick up these items as soon as possible, so we would like to offer you some different options:", which included returning to the shopping cart and selecting another store. Funny thing is, the sale ended Sat night, so the price now - if I "want to pick up these items as soon as possible" - is double what I originally ordered them for. Now I realize that might not meet the technical definition of "bait and switch", but dang if it isn't close. Sure, we took the first opportunity to cancel your order - at a very good price - because of a goof on our part (can't keep track of inventory for ****), but since you must really want it, we'll give you a shot at it again, at double the price this time. The @ssH---- can't give you the options first before canceling the order - no, because that would actually be REAL customer service.

Yeah, I know, it's only a $10 item (at least it was when I ordered it), and a spur-of-the-moment purchase that I really wasn't looking for but thought "what-the-heck I'll try one out anyway for that price" deal. It's the email that's got me ticked off - sounding all concerned about customer service and "providing the best customer experience" while in reality screwing the customer and insulting him (me) by offering "different options" AFTER cancellation at a significantly higher price.

Screw 'em, they can ram that set where the sun don't shine. I want to pound out a nasty-gram to their poorly named "customer service" email, but I think I'll wait and be sure the other order I placed (for the ball-hex sockets at 1/2 price) actually gets shipped first. Don't want to give 'em a reason to suddenly find out they goofed again on availability....

To top it off, ordering that GearWrench set was a real PITA - went round and round trying to get the system to accept the password I had just created a day or so earlier. Finally had to reset the password to a temporary one - and reset it again after getting in, then re-enter it several times more while trying to place the order.... It also managed to stir up bad past memories of inept warranty handling, crappy quality control, et.al.

@&$^!#!! Sears..... RANT OFF:

 

[jay50]

Go ahead Powerkeg, light the fuse and let'er go at Sears....don't hold back...LOL

 

[wilbilt]

At least you got a notification of the cancellation and a reason.

My orders always get canceled without notification and without explanation.

Screw Sears.

 

[Merkava_4]

I love that thread title.

 

[Danglerb]

This is the sort of thing customer service should be able to sort out on the phone in a few minutes.

 

[nissan_crawler]

Key word "should".

When I was fraudulently charged on one of their "sales", I was hung up on twice, transferred to 8 departments, two of which were the same ones twice, spent 2.5 hours on the phone, and they still managed to **** it up. Six more call backs after that still didn't fix it.

Screw sears. It's to the point I would rather pay for new Snap-On than deal with Sears BS. Don't even get me started on trying to warranty something at Sears anymore.

 

[Cummins_Powered]

Key word "should".

When I was fraudulently charged on one of their "sales", I was hung up on twice, transferred to 8 departments, two of which were the same ones twice, spent 2.5 hours on the phone, and they still managed to **** it up. Six more call backs after that still didn't fix it.

Screw sears. It's to the point I would rather pay for new Snap-On than deal with Sears BS. Don't even get me started on trying to warranty something at Sears anymore.

I took a broken wrench and a 8mm allen head socket to OSH for replacement. I even got to pick the replacements off the shelf. easiest thing ive ever done, didnt even want my phone number.

aside from that i dont really deal with sears enough to know weather they are good or bad. so far so good...

 

[ImportTuner]

I tried to order the same GearWrench micro drivers on Saturday afternoon; it showed all the stores being out of stock and when I went to order it online, it went from $4.99 to $9.99. I just said cancelled and not order it ...

 

[Ducroix]

sears is going down hill and i do not expect them to climb back up, I would like them to but probably wont happen

 

[nissan_crawler]

I've posted my stuff in here many times.

Dad had a lifetime warranty torque wrench (old one). They would only exchange it for a 90 day warranty one. Hmm, not really a lifetime warranty.

He has a lifetime warranty tap and die set, brought in a few broken ones. The only way they'll do it is if he trades his Made in USA set for a chinese set with no warranty. Hmm, not really a lifetime warranty.

I brought in a flat tip screwdriver, the 16 year old gave me hell because "It was obvious I had broken it prying open a paint can." I'm an aircraft mechanic, not a freaking painter.

I bring in a 1/4" C-Pro wrench with a stripped out open end. They try and tell me it was wear and tear since it was used professionally. The ******** thing has "PROFESSIONAL" stamped in it!!

I break a gearwrench and take it back. They say I haven't bought it from them, no warranty. I point out on the screen the set I bought right in front of them. They then say because it was a set, they can't warranty a single wrench. So, I told them that was fine, I would go break every f'in one of them and bring them all back if that's how they wanted to handle it. Amazingly, they could warranty a single wrench all of a sudden.

I broke my big pair of dykes (have a nice snap-on set for small stuff). I take it back, they look it up and say they no longer carry it, and I'll have to step down a model. The old one had a large head, and was spring loaded, new one wasn't. Fine, I needed one for work, whatever.

I'm in the store a few weeks later and guess what? There's my old style dykes on the shelf. I go home, get the receipt from the warranty exchange, and go to work and get the dykes, then go back to sears. I told them the story, showed them the receipt, and said I wanted the other style back. "we can't do that." "umm, why not?" "we can't upgrade." "it's not an upgrade, I had them" "yes, but now you have a cheaper version, and we can't upgrade you" "look, I had the expensive ones, you told me they didn't exist, gave me the cheap ones, and it turns out, you lied. You do have the expensive ones, and I want my model of dykes back!" "but you accepted this other style, and it will be an upgrade now" ARGGGGGG!!! At that point, I demanded to talk to the store manager, he showed up, and I demanded to get on speaker phone with the regional manager. They pulled up my records, saw I had been downgraded to the other ones, saw I had spent thousands of dollars there, and finally agreed to swap them. At that point, I told him they weren't going to get a cent of my money again.

There are 500 mechanics where I work, probably 75% of which were loyal sears customers 5 years ago. Now you would be lucky to find 25% of them that are, I bet. Sears is going to hell in a handbasket and taking their loyal customer base with them.

Recent Snap-On warranties. "Anne, I have two broken picks." New shafts put in, no questions asked.

"Anne, I need a rebuild kit for my 1/2" round head ratchet." She hands me a kit, I hand her my old guts. No questions asked.

"Anne, the shaft on my water pump hose puller (a.k.a. my favorite cotter pin puller, which she knows and sells it to us for that purpose) spins in the handle." Old handle pulled off, new handle slapped on. No questions asked.

"Anne, need a rebuild kit for my 1/4" round head ratchet." She hands me a kit, I rebuild it with tools in her truck, hand her the bad guts. No questions asked.

I'll gladly pay more for that kind of service.

 

[Deafautotech]

Recent Snap-On warranties. "Anne, I have two broken picks." New shafts put in, no questions asked.

"Anne, I need a rebuild kit for my 1/2" round head ratchet." She hands me a kit, I hand her my old guts. No questions asked.

"Anne, the shaft on my water pump hose puller (a.k.a. my favorite cotter pin puller, which she knows and sells it to us for that purpose) spins in the handle." Old handle pulled off, new handle slapped on. No questions asked.

"Anne, need a rebuild kit for my 1/4" round head ratchet." She hands me a kit, I rebuild it with tools in her truck, hand her the bad guts. No questions asked.

I'll gladly pay more for that kind of service.

My Snap on guy will do that to me! that reason why i am willing to pay more for better service!!!

 

[billymade]

There is no question that the service you get from a truck that comes to you is superior; especially if you have a nice and reasonable sales person. Sounds like you do; wish I had access to your dealer! My dealer is a twerp and probably makes 25% of what your dealer does; being a "real" customer at a shop always helps! When I was at the body shop the last thing I wanted to do was go to Sears after work for warranty replacements; I wanted to go home, take a shower and relax!

 

[MAD]

I had a similar experience with a Sears order the other day. I had ordered a Gearwrench screwdriver set and the order was canceled when the store did not have the item in stock. It was a bit annoying to have my order canceled on a great deal but I actually look upon it as an improvement over some of my past orders that were not filled by Sears. My Credit card was never charged so there was no waiting (and calling,and emailing and begging etc...)for Sears to refund my money. It seems that they are not charging cards now until the item is confirmed in stock and ready to ship or pick up. They seem to be at least working to correct their past problems.

I did email them and asked if I could order the item at the sale price and I was instructed to call customer service. I have not decided yet whether to risk disappointment on this one or just let it go.

 

[Stuey]

I bought one of the microdriver sets for $12.49 in-store even though online it was $10.50 or so. ($10.62?)

Sears is not really to blame for this. This deal was plasted all over the deals sites, and some guys bought MANY each for resale or as gifts. People also flocked to the stores and cleaned them out of this and a few other products.

Many/most other retails have similarly flawed inventory systems. I've experienced similar problems with Staples and Circuit City for example.

If you REALLY wanted in on the sale, you could have headed to your local Sears and asked for a rain check.

An alternative would be to head to Lowes and use a $10 off $25 Visa coupon. They have the microdriver kit for $20 there. So... pad the order with $5 of additional tools and you can theoretically get the microdriver kit for $10.

Some of you guys know already that I am extremely critical of Sears and have a love-hate view towards them. In this case, the inventory "problem" really wasn't their fault.

 

[PowderKeg]

Sears got alot of my money in the early days - remember the old catalog only stores? The nearest department stores to me back then were in Baltimore or Hanover - hour+ and 45min+ respectively. But the catalog store was right in town. Many, many evenings spent perusing the sale and tool catalogs and calling in or dropping off orders. The local folks at that store were right pleasant to deal with and there was hardly ever a problem with an order. Only real disappointment was when I got a set of Craftsman branded wrenches that were made in Japan - were returned post-haste. Nowhere near as enjoyable now.

Warranty problems were becoming an increasingly bigger hassle (much like Nissan's experiences) until I started swapping out Crafty's for Snappy's - many problems solved. Nowhere near as much Craftsman in the (Craftsman) cabs now...

Now it takes a REAL deal to consider Sears anymore - and surprise! the service and experience continues to get worse.

 

[T56 Impala]

I know you had a bad run with Sears. I feel your pain but remember, IT NOT JUST SEARS. This is a sign of what is happening to ALL customer service across the board. Its *****. I can't name one GOOD store to buy things from these days. The only positive CS story I can relay is from BMW. They have never disappointed me but do tend to take their time making me happy. I know many others who would disagree with me though.

As soon as you find some place that is good, let us know. Before someone jumps in with SNAP ON....... I know and have heard many BAD stories about them too.

 

[jimvannoy]

This is the sort of thing customer service should be able to sort out on the phone in a few minutes.

HA HA HA good one. Is it still April 1st?????

 

[paramudduck]

I pity you guys who are touting Snap On service. If your good dealer leaves and you get one of the many pricks what are you going to do?

Sears seems to be ran by teenagers any more. It is a mess at some of the stores.

 

[nissan_crawler]

I pity you guys who are touting Snap On service. If your good dealer leaves and you get one of the many pricks what are you going to do?

Send it to corporate. Sears won't fix their problems even at the highest level, at least Snap-On will.

 

[PowderKeg]

Send it to corporate. Sears won't fix their problems even at the highest level, at least Snap-On will.

That, and with Snap-On being a much smaller company, there's far fewer talking heads to keep passing the buck (and phone) around to, waiting for the the customer to get pi$$ed and hang up.

It seems with more and more big companies, real "customer satisfaction" and "customer service" are of little interest - if they can keep plenty more new customers coming in, they don't need to concern themselves with steady repeat business, at least not until it starts showing up in the profit and loss columns.

 

[paramudduck]

Once you get Corp to send you a RMA they will fix it. It's taken several calls to get past the script of you have to deal with you local dealer before. Actually took a friends Law Office letterhead one time.

The thing is for the price you pay. You should not have to jump these loops. The sell on the basis of the dealers service. They should all provide it.

 

[nissan_crawler]

So far, I have 11 calls into sears, probably over 4 hours of time, have been hung up on 7 times, and I still don't have the $45 they f'd me on. Now that the sales are done, they actually try and tell me I should have paid more.

Point?

Both Sears here ****. Dad has been to 4 in Minneapolis, they sucked. The three we went to in North dakota sucked.

Both Sears and Snap-On have good/bad stores/dealers.

 

[paramudduck]

Not argueing on Sears sucking any more. They do big time.

The thing is the alternative being offered can be as bad or worse.

I was browing ebay today and I saw this in one of the auctions.

QUOTE: " If you are a good customer of the Snap-on Co. you can no doubt have these repaired or replaced for little or nothing, on the other hand, if you are a Joe-blow like me, Snap-on will not even answer your written request for warranty info."

It's pitiful when you see stuff like this posted on ebay.

 

[Stuey]

Not argueing on Sears sucking any more. They do big time.

The thing is the alternative being offered can be as bad or worse.

I was browing ebay today and I saw this in one of the auctions.

QUOTE: " If you are a good customer of the Snap-on Co. you can no doubt have these repaired or replaced for little or nothing, on the other hand, if you are a Joe-blow like me, Snap-on will not even answer your written request for warranty info."

It's pitiful when you see stuff like this posted on ebay.

People on this board have written about similar experiences but eventually mailed the tools in and got new tools mailed back.

Maybe that guy's written request wasn't answered because Snap-On execs were too busy trying to see which new cheap imports that can slap their name onto. I'm sicking of seeing the imported S-O flashlights at retail stores. What's next, a 100+ S-O tool set at the local discount store? Crescent and Channellock's been doing it, so why not SO.

 

[kythri]

People on this board have written about similar experiences but eventually mailed the tools in and got new tools mailed back.

I don't know about you, but it's that kind of convenience that keeps me a loyal Snap-On customer.

I don't have time to make a 5-minute drive to the local Sears, grab the new item off the shelf, and leave with my replacement.

It's far more convenient to argue with the Snap-On driver when they finally show up at my shop after ignoring me for 7 weeks, then finally decide to mail the tool in to Snap-On corporate, and wait 6-8 weeks for a replacement.

Time is money!