My problem with Sears.com

[Stuey]

My problem with Sears.com is that it is unreliable and buggy.

So tonight is there "VIP 10% off" sale, and there's a special Sunday&Monday flyer with special pricing.

The 10% off sale was supposed to start at 6pm. It wasn't until sometime after 7pm before it started appearing at checkout. Odd, but okay, maybe they're running on central time.

I placed an order at about 1am for shipping. After the order's placed, I'm taken to an error page. This has happened after my last few Sears.com orders, on several computers. Okay, so they have a buggy order confirmation page, it happens.

I go to place an order for in-store pickup. I split up the orders b/c I found a $5 coupon code and both orders would be over $50.

I didn't place my orders earlier b/c I was still considering which tool storage unit to purchase. I settled on purchasing a 2 drawer 16"deep intermediate. $75 on sale, from $150. 10% off and $5 coupon means a final price of $62.50 - not bad for what it is.

The flyer says prices are good from 11/16 through 11/17. The product page says it's on sale for $75. I go to checkout, it says $150-$15 = $135. What the heck? The 10% sale ends at 6am, so even if the $75 price is restored during the day, my final price would be 10% more than it would be if the pricing system wasn't bugging out right now.

This is not the first time that a Sears.com product page says one price, and the checkout price says another. Are they ever going to get their act together?!!

Following is a screenshot to show what I'm talking about.

 

[mkdive]

same thing happened to me tonight. (this is after me swearing just a few days ago I wouldn't order from sears.com again). AGHHHH!$#@!@#

Here is my order showing sale price + 10% off...but the subtotal and total doesnt reflect that at all?!?!?!?!?!?

 

[Nuit Damnant]

Ditto yesterday, tried to order an item that was 134.99 on sale, kept ringing 149.99 in the cart. Finally went to another tool vendor and bought the same thing for 145.00. PS why is it that all the discounted stuff is always "Not in stock"?

 

[Stuey]

I don't even want to talk about how I bought a saw in-store the other day for $13, only to find out that it's $10 on the Sears website. I've gotten quite a few good clearance prices from them, so I cannot really complain.

At least my wife will be happy that I'm not getting any more storage units. *grumble grumble*

I guess I'll wait until black friday to see if the intermediate drops in price again, but at this point, I almost don't even want to bother.

 

[Vinko]

Me too.

I tried getting this 12 gal. shop vac for the garage:

Was supposed to be 49.95 marked down from 79.95. I got the 10% off the $79.95 at check out price, but not the 49.95 price.

So forget it.

I'll try at another sale time.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00917765000P

 

[nissan_crawler]

I spent 7 hours on the phone with 10 different people trying to get this resolved on a previous deal, and never did get my money back, even though they said they did a refund 3 different times.

Don't bother.

Here's the deal, the system ignores the first value, and defaults to the second deal.

Example all my stuff was 50% off CC member $100 set, $50 CC. go to checkout, plus 15% off, price...$85. I spent $150 and got hosed out of almost $70. I learned my lesson, no more sears orders.

 

[Tool Pants]

Today was the first time I ordered online from Sears. There was something on sale I saw yesterday at the store, and I wanted the 10% but did not want to go to the store this evening.

It said my email (gmail) was invalid. It is the same email they have been sending the flyers and Craftsman Club stuff to. So I used a non gmail email.

Then you enter a 3 or 4 digit security code on the back of the credit card. My card has both a 3 and a 4 digit code.

Finally accepted the order and I received an email that the store was closed, and I would receive another email when the order is ready to be picked up.

The store is 2 miles from my house. Next time....

But it did get the sales price right and took off the 10%.

 

[Stuey]

Hmm... new rule - don't shop at Sears.com between 12:50am and ~9am.

Their "tool deal of the day" is released sometime between 1am and 2:30am, but its sale price isn't activated or even shown online until 8-9am or so. There were times when there wasn't any sales price activated at all.

Ah well. Some of these products will be on sale for the same price on black friday, probably not with 10% extra off though.

 

[eschoendorff]

Hmm... you guys are having problems with the Sears website????? Say it isn't so!!!!!


Seriously guys, the issues with the Sears website are well documented here. Any GJ member who has been through the archives would know that buying at Sears.com is a lesson in futility.

 

[Stuey]

Now some products are getting 10% off for the "all tools on sale" sale, and 10% more for the "VIP" promo. Some tools are now saying "free shipping on orders over $99 until 5pm 11/16" and of course the promo does NOT apply since it's 11/17, but c'mon...

Eschoendorff, I am very well aware of Sears' shortcomings, but felt that this was a concrete example of one of their major flaws, and really wanted to rant about it. I also wanted it documented for exposure readons. There are likely those who are not familiar with Sears' poor website storefront practices, and hopefull this will help a few of them out by instilling the same caution and hesitation we have all come to consider Sears' online sales with.

 

[paramudduck]

I was scared on my last Sears.com order it went through without a hitch. Did the discounts right and they even shipped the right items.

Bad part is I'm totally serious the time before that it was a total mess trying to order two small wrenches. I half way expected a couple of Hooters girls to knock and say "Hi Sears sent us!" Well I can dream can't I?

 

[Crawlin]

I have ordered from sears three times, I am actually getting a box from them today, and each time has been a pain in the ***. Each time I did not think it was going to go through. The biggest problem I have, is I do not get mail at my house, so my billing address is a PO box and the shipping is different and I tried for 30 min to get it right, becuase they kept reversing my billing and shipping. Finally had to re do alll my saved addresses. What a PITA, I only order from there when I absoulutly have to which I did, because I got foam wrench racks, and a couple large PRO wrenches which my store doesnt have either of.

 

[paramudduck]

Crawlin I've found the PO box route to be an absolute pain with most companies. A small town I lived in a few years ago had no home delivery. Everything was PO Box. It is impossible to tell some of these people that the mailman don't come to your door.

 

[Crawlin]

Crawlin I've found the PO box route to be an absolute pain with most companies. A small town I lived in a few years ago had no home delivery. Everything was PO Box. It is impossible to tell some of these people that the mailman don't come to your door.

This is true, lots of companies don't understand, but I have found lately, its no big deal except with Sears. Thats why I try to get everything I might "need" from sears when I order something.

 

[5.0vert]

I actually got an email today about my order that said some items were not instock and I could pickup the items that were ready up or cancel the whole order.

In the past they have just canceled my whole order if one item is not instock. Very frustrating last year on Black Friday when all my oders were canceled.

Is this a sign that they are better prepared for all the online orders? or am I being an optimist?

Anyone else have this happen?

 

[Stuey]

You're being an optimist. When they're overloaded with orders, customer service goes out the window, and anything goes.

 

[paramudduck]

Probably a sign that sales are out the bottom. So they are trying to keep all they can.

 

[gatewaysysop]

I spent 7 hours on the phone with 10 different people trying to get this resolved on a previous deal, and never did get my money back, even though they said they did a refund 3 different times.

Don't bother.

Here's the deal, the system ignores the first value, and defaults to the second deal.

Example all my stuff was 50% off CC member $100 set, $50 CC. go to checkout, plus 15% off, price...$85. I spent $150 and got hosed out of almost $70. I learned my lesson, no more sears orders.

I would agree with many of the sentiments I've seen in this thread and, in particular the futility of dealing with the customer service at Sears (especially the Sears.com folks).

I also got hit with the same kind of pricing errors, one price in the basket, another in checkout and it took the better part of a week to find someone to fix it. I got every line you can imagine, even people telling me that I would be charged the correct price, even though the checkout said otherwise (who would believe that ).

After this and many more issues related to shipping (in particular weeks of delays that nobody could explain to me, multiple times), I have sworn to never order from them again unless it's something I desperately need that cannot be obtained in the store or from a competitor (even at Snap On prices). That has yet to happen (already got full set of the round head fine tooths ) and I don't see it happening any time soon.

 

[mkdive]

same thing happened to me tonight. (this is after me swearing just a few days ago I wouldn't order from sears.com again). AGHHHH!$#@!@#

Here is my order showing sale price + 10% off...but the subtotal and total doesnt reflect that at all?!?!?!?!?!?:wtf

UPDATE!!!!!!!!

Well I called sears.com this morning. The representative that answered my call was no help whatsoever. She did admit that their website had serious problems (with what we all were experiencing last night). She said they have been working this whole morning trying to fix orders that were placed. But since I didn't place an order last night she couldn't honor the sale. She then went on to tell me to take my printout of my online shopping cart showing the errors to my local sears and see if they would honor it? (I thought this was a hell mary/ shot in the dark). But I figured what the heck.

I decided to call my local sears to see if they could help me, before wasting gas & time driving to be told "they cant help"....

I explained to the first sears rep my problem with last nights order...he told me he would get his manager on the phone. Well I sat on hold for 35 minutes!$$@!#!@$ I decided to hang up and call back. I got a hold of a manager & tactfully and patently explained my problem again. He told me to come on down and they would "help me out". I asked his name and If he would be there if I drove over right now. He told me he would be there until closing tonight & if I could bring the print out, that would make it easier for him.

Still skeptical I drove to my local sears. Meet with the manager..he briefly looked at my print out and quickly saw the errors. He got one of his sales associates, and had the sales associate grab a shopping cart & help me find all the items on the shelves! The ratchet set was a online only part number...but they gave me the store version of it. When we found all the items he rang it up at the register (matched each sale price & 10% off everything). He then asked for my email address and my CC#....he told me he was going to email me a $25 dollar coupon and mail me another $25 off coupon for my troubles. When I got home I got a email with the coupon.

To say the least I was surprised at the effort and the customer service.
I was happy to see that kind of response. Its funny but that made my day, just to have some help me and not just dismiss the error. The guys at Costa Mesa Sears are pretty damn nice to deal with.

 

[eschoendorff]

Crawlin I've found the PO box route to be an absolute pain with most companies. A small town I lived in a few years ago had no home delivery. Everything was PO Box. It is impossible to tell some of these people that the mailman don't come to your door.

I am currently in that very situation. I just add another line to my address, giving both the PO Box and the physical address... seems to help.

 

[Stuey]

mkdive, that sounds like a great experience! The thing is, Sears managers seem to be as inconsistent as the website - some are polite and very helpful, others are useless and don't even stop to listen to a customer.

I mentioned this previously, but after having to adjust my hammer/mallet price since the sales system wasn't registering a sale, a manager instructed an employee to take down the flyers mentioning the sale so that other customers wouldn't know about it.

 

[5.0vert]

The thing is, Sears managers seem to be as inconsistent as the website - some are polite and very helpful, others are useless and don't even stop to listen to a customer.

This is true... @ the store by me the hardware manager will not honor any online orders in the store.

I now got to a store little more remote and they are happy to see me anytime I come in.

 

[janarvae]

mkdive - I've ordered only once from sears.com and (thankfully) had no problems. I even got my CC discount even though I have yet to receive my card (which I ordered almost a year ago).

I can say though that my local Sears store and all tool sales associates there (with the exception of one) have always been more than helpful in matching online prices, combining promotions (sometimes overriding the system manually), and even giving me a price match on an item I bought more than 30 days earlier. This item was the platinum/black BB chest and bottom and the current promotion included a free intermediate BB with take-away tool box. I bought another one and they gave me one of the intermediates for the box I had bought earlier.

However, when I decided to drop off my click-style torque wrench for warranty repair at ANOTHER Sears store, it took more than a month until they finally decided to just give me a new one!!

Since I first started seriously shopping at my local Sears, the store manager and most of the salesmen know me by name and will always check in the back for items not on display. I will say that the 3/8 in teardrop ratchet is absolute sh!t (here I come F80!), but otherwise, I have been pleased with all their products (from air compressor, jackstands, beam torque wrenches, air tools, and more) and their customer service at my local store.

Sorry to hear the OP and others in the past have encountered difficulties with the online functions, but I am glad I was forewarned.

 

[Stuey]

Take a look at today's "hot tool deal of the day." Hansen socket trays. I first saw it at 8am. Clicked on them, normal price. Tried again at 8:30, 9:00, and then again right now. Normal price.

It's as if Sears.com is run by children without any organization skills! Plus, they all have a "special offers" link that only brings up the Sears home page.

Argh!

 

[Need4racin]

There are likely those who are not familiar with Sears' poor website storefront practices, and hopefull this will help a few of them out by instilling the same caution and hesitation we have all come to consider Sears' online sales with.

I didn't know. I was going to order from sears website, not going to even try now. If they can't get their **** together, they don't deserve my money.

 

[Stuey]

I didn't know. I was going to order from sears website, not going to even try now. If they can't get their **** together, they don't deserve my money.

Don't get me wrong, sometimes the risk of some trouble is worth the benefit, but other times, it's much safer just to steer clear.

 

[gatewaysysop]

I didn't know. I was going to order from sears website, not going to even try now. If they can't get their **** together, they don't deserve my money.

I will gladly second that!

 

[Bolster]

Here's another reason we can all 'hate' Sears (I'm being sarcastic here):

Sears is extremely generous with its employees who are military reservists. Most companies, all they do is guarantee you can have your job back (or one similar) when you return from duty, which is mandated by law.

Sears MAKES UP THE PAY DIFFERENCE. Yep, they pay servicemen and women whatever their government pay is lacking, so these employees get their full Sears-level pay as if they were still working at Sears, when in fact they are downrange and the government is paying them much less.

I don't know about you, but I can forgive Sears a lot of website screwups and pimply-faced know-nothing salespeople when they support our military the way they do.

 

[MAD]

Here's another reason we can all 'hate' Sears (I'm being sarcastic here):

Sears is extremely generous with its employees who are military reservists. Most companies, all they do is guarantee you can have your job back (or one similar) when you return from duty, which is mandated by law.

Sears MAKES UP THE PAY DIFFERENCE. Yep, they pay servicemen and women whatever their government pay is lacking, so these employees get their full Sears-level pay as if they were still working at Sears, when in fact they are downrange and the government is paying them much less.

I don't know about you, but I can forgive Sears a lot of website screwups and pimply-faced know-nothing salespeople when they support our military the way they do.

The other thing I really respect Sears for is their commitment to domestic manufacture of Craftsman Hand tools. Although there are a few non-U.S. made Craftsman hand tools now, most of the line is Made in USA. Sears specifies "Made in USA" for many tools as part of the contract. If not for that, I don't think many of the tool makers that still have domestic production would continue to make anything in this country.

It is a shame that Sears customer service is so inconsistent these days. I think it is even more annoying to many people because they remember when they set the standard.

 

[Stuey]

I will gladly shop at a store that treats both its employees and its customers well.

I will avoid stores that treat its employees poorly (Walmart) and those that treat its customers poorly. In some cases, such as with Sears, I will shop with great reservation.

While noble, Sears' policy towards reservists has no bearing on the quality (or lack thereof) of their business practices or customer service.

 

[gatewaysysop]

While noble, Sears' policy towards reservists has no bearing on the quality (or lack thereof) of their business practices or customer service.

Absolutely agree. I applaud what they do for reservists and I have no problem with it whatsoever, but for me that doesn't have nearly as much weight as the way you treat the customers in your store on a day to day basis. It's not the only consideration, but it's one of the big ones for me.

 

[Bolster]

While noble, Sears' policy towards reservists has no bearing on the quality (or lack thereof) of their business practices or customer service.

Opinion. I think that a generous policy toward reservists is precisely what I would define as a 'quality business practice.' And no, it's not customer service, it's employee service. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[Stuey]

Opinion. I think that a generous policy toward reservists is precisely what I would define as a 'quality business practice.' And no, it's not customer service, it's employee service. Nothing wrong with that.

One fresh red rose in the middle of a landfill does not make the odorous experience any less unpleasant. Sure that rose is nice and all, but nobody will wade around in all that muck just to get to it.

Sears' business practices are very questionable in this day and age.

Let's examine Sears' BBB record... 15,393 complaints in the past 36 months, with 6377 closed in the past year. After searching for 10 minutes, I could only find one retailer that even came close to this number of complaints - Best Buy, with 12,005 complaints in 36 months.

Plus, just because Sears treats its reversists well, doesn't mean that it treats all their employees well. I've heard from a lot of disgruntled Sears tool guys, and they all seem displeased with many current administrative policies.

 

[mkdive]

One fresh red rose in the middle of a landfill does not make the odorous experience any less unpleasant. Sure that rose is nice and all, but nobody will wade around in all that muck just to get to it.

I couldn't even think of a better way to say it....well done Stuey!

 

[Stuey]

I couldn't even think of a better way to say it....well done Stuey!

Thanks! I pride myself in my occasionally bizarre analogies. =)

Another example - yesterday the tool promotion was $10 off $75. Today there's a banner advertising $10 off $50, yet the checkout process is only registering $10 off $75.

Well, at least Sears's inconsistencies are somewhat predictable at times.

 

[Bolster]

First, it's clear that some people really hate Sears. If they're truly victimizing you, you should stop shopping there. You don't have to be a Sears victim, nobody's forcing you to shop there.

Even on this board of tool snobs (myself being one of them) it's still widely recognized that Sears offers a decent, if not great, tool at a bargain price...a 'value' leader. If Sears really were a tool "landfill" you would not find so many posts alerting people of sales at Sears, and others enthusiastically driving their pickups to Sears to load up.

Now the argument about number of complaints? They're high because Sears does a LOT of business. It's not raw number that counts, it's proportion. Pro-por-tion. In any business, the more customers, the more complaints. Show me a business with no complaints and I'll show you a very small business.

For this very reason, the BBB link provided above gives them "satisfactory" rating (only two choices, satisfactory or unsatisfactory) which means "free from an unusual volume or pattern of complaints." They've been accredited since 1926!

Truth is, as much fun as it is to ***** about Sears, we keep going there to buy tools. That shows we KNOW they're a good deal, and they're giving us a lot for the money.

 

[Stuey]

You see to be making several inaccurate assumptions.

It's not that Sears is victimizing me - they're victimizing everyone. Why should I stop shopping there? As you suggest, good deals are occasionally worth the effort. It's the frustration when things don't transpire properly that annoys me.

I never tell people to avoid or boycott Sears. In fact, you should have noticed by now, I post quite a few of Sears deals myself.

I did not say that Sears is a tool landfill - I implied that one good aspect about the way they treat a fraction of their employees does not make up for bad customer experiences.

So you're saying that Sears has more customers than Walmart and other large department stores? The BBB rates Sears as satisfactory b/c they handle complaints very efficiently. When weeks of emails and phone calls to Sears customer service resulted in stalemate and them still owing me money, a BBB complaint got the attention of a supervisor who was able to rectify things rapidly.

Anyways, this thread is about Sears.com. I've had far better experiences at Sears itself than Sears.com which is why I treat them as separate entities.

My local Sears has a few great people in the tool dept, and I try to buy things in person from them as much as possible.

But then Sears.com... c'mon... Can you really defend their lousy phone and email customer service, terrible web-store practices, and atrocious way of dealing with "deals" that don't seem to have been activated?

I've had orders that weren't shipped and couldn't be cancelled because they were "lost in the system" and money that wasn't refunded despite being "owed additional monies" even after several "forwards to the research department."

I will still shop at Sears, and I will brave possible frustration with Sears.com since the deals are good, especially on certain items that I cannot find elsewhere. Why pay $24 for an Armstrong wrench when Craftsman offers the same thing for $15.

Like everyone, I want the most for my money, and am willing to endure a certain amount of frustration and hardship. The thing, Sears.com likes to dish out more frustration than I can deal with - writing about it helps me out though.

You still haven't addressed these direct points. What's your justification for the flaws that I pointed out? Sears.com provides good deals - that's great, but of what value are those deals when customers cannot actually take advantage of them? Worse is when something goes wrong with a deal or even a routine purchase, and nobody on the support end of Sears.com can rectify the situation.

I hate Sears.com but I like shopping at Sears, I like Craftsman tools, I like Gearwrench sales, and I like good deals. The problem is that Sears.com's management know of its flaws, yet they fail to do anything about it.

I believe that there are two types of problems that lead to Sears.com frustration not only for myself, but for countless other voices here, at slickdeals.net, and elsewhere. There are the routine problems, such as the website errors I mentioned, and my order being "stuck in the system." Then there are the errors that result from people "enthusiastically driving their pickups to Sears."

That last source of headaches - when people flock en masse to Sears, results in problems due to poor correlation between Sears and Sears.com. There are occasional fiascos where there will be a price online, the same price on signs in-store, and managers saying that the price is wrong. If it's wrong, then why is the sign still up five days later after people started coming in to get their orders fulfilled! Let's not even talk about that $5 coupon incident from last year, which is still online.