this is why sears is failing

[joelowrider]

this is the last time I will shop at sears

 

[bgarrett]

maybe they are hiring the handicapped

 

[G-Ram]

Wow..

 

[CNGsaves]

I detect pretty big language barrier.

 

[wingnut_1]

Geesh that was painful to read!

 

[captain14]

That's like a phone call I received after some issues about an online order I placed. English is not the language used by the call center, yet that where they do their business.

 

[nwdustin]

prime time for keeping an eye on their blowout sales while they continue to fall into oblivion...

 

[LumpyMusic]

The Sears communication failed to use correct English grammar.

Your post complaining about it also failed to use correct English grammar.

Nearly all the follow up posts about it also failed to use correct English grammar.




Sgt Lumpy

 

[naturalgas]

Sounds like the same dude that emails me, and wants to send me 10 million US.so please send him my banking info. They really butcher the English language . Back to Sears, they really do ****. I went through hell trying to get a refund on a tractor part I was never going to get (their words) but was billed for it and it took months to resolve.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[four.cycle]

I went over to my local Sears store two weeks ago, on a Thursday - maybe about 4 or 5 in the afternoon.
The tool department is at the very end of the building, so I go in that way to avoid "The MALL". I just wanted to drop off a payment.

There was a young man behind the counter, who was very slowly picking through a huge pile of stuff that a customer had brought in for warranty replacement: old broken screwdrivers, stripped ratchets, hammers with broken handles, etc.
One at a time, he's picking up each (new replacement) item, slowly entering numbers into the register (as opposed to scanning them), dropping each one into a bag, and then picking up the old (broken) one and dropping it into a bin.
He's working with well over 50 pieces.
As I'm waiting, no less than four more people show up, and the five of us are standing there waiting to be helped.
The young man picked up the telephone and called over the in-house intercom "Tools code 2." Presumably this is some secret code for "Help!"
After about 10 minutes another employee came out of the back room with a ratchet. There was a brief exchange between he and the young man, which made it clear that he was the manager, and the ratchet he'd just brought out was one he had just repaired in the back room, and that he still had five more he was working on in the back room with another employee.
In the meantime, five of us are standing there at the counter waiting to be helped.
Another 5 or 6 minutes passed, and the "manager" guy came out again with another ratchet and handed it to the young man, who was still entering numbers into the register and processing each of the warranty items one at a time and dropping them slowly into a huge bag.
The manager then returned to the back room to tend to the urgent task of repairing ratchets.
I took advantage of a brief pause to interject "Hey, can I just give you some money here? I need to make a payment on my account."
"Oh, sure... okay... just a minute," the young man replied.
He then picked up the phone and called over the intercom "Tools code 3". Presumably this is a more urgent call for help than "Tools code 2."
He then moved over to a different cash register, where he scanned my Sears card, took my money, and gave me about 12 feet of receipts.
By this time the other four customers who had been waiting had wandered off.
As I signed on the little "scan" device on the counter to verify the payment I asked him "Which is your top-of-the-line roll-away tool cabinet here? Can you just point to it?"
He said "Let me get somebody to help you," and walked out of the tool department toward the lawnmowers and riding tractors.
The man with all the warranty tools was still standing at the counter.
The other four customers were nowhere to be seen.
The "manager" and the other (as yet unseen) tool department employee were still in the back room rebuilding ratchets.

Again, as I do most every time, I walked out shaking my head in disbelief.

After I got back home and made a cup of tea, I picked up the phone and called 253 471 7100 and after pushing many buttons on the keypad of my telephone finally got through to a human who said they were in "Customer Service."
I very patiently related to them the details of my experience at their local store, and was told "I'm going to take down your phone number and pass this over to one of our senior Customer Service people and have them call you right back."

Two weeks later I have yet to receive a return call.

 

[RVDan]

I went to Sears this morning for a ratchet repair only to find that my Sears is now only an outlet store full of all the scratch and dent appliances and discontinued tools. There's some awesome deals on refrigerators and winter jackets, but no ratchet parts.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Oh, boy - a Sears bashing thread. We haven't had one of those in a long time.

 

[Ponchoguy]

this is the last time I will shop at sears

I recently had an order issue with Sears and it got resolved with no problems at all.

 

[Ponchoguy]

I went over to my local Sears store two weeks ago, on a Thursday - maybe about 4 or 5 in the afternoon.
The tool department is at the very end of the building, so I go in that way to avoid "The MALL". I just wanted to drop off a payment.

There was a young man behind the counter, who was very slowly picking through a huge pile of stuff that a customer had brought in for warranty replacement: old broken screwdrivers, stripped ratchets, hammers with broken handles, etc.
One at a time, he's picking up each (new replacement) item, slowly entering numbers into the register (as opposed to scanning them), dropping each one into a bag, and then picking up the old (broken) one and dropping it into a bin.
He's working with well over 50 pieces.
As I'm waiting, no less than four more people show up, and the five of us are standing there waiting to be helped.
The young man picked up the telephone and called over the in-house intercom "Tools code 2." Presumably this is some secret code for "Help!"
After about 10 minutes another employee came out of the back room with a ratchet. There was a brief exchange between he and the young man, which made it clear that he was the manager, and the ratchet he'd just brought out was one he had just repaired in the back room, and that he still had five more he was working on in the back room with another employee.
In the meantime, five of us are standing there at the counter waiting to be helped.
Another 5 or 6 minutes passed, and the "manager" guy came out again with another ratchet and handed it to the young man, who was still entering numbers into the register and processing each of the warranty items one at a time and dropping them slowly into a huge bag.
The manager then returned to the back room to tend to the urgent task of repairing ratchets.
I took advantage of a brief pause to interject "Hey, can I just give you some money here? I need to make a payment on my account."
"Oh, sure... okay... just a minute," the young man replied.
He then picked up the phone and called over the intercom "Tools code 3". Presumably this is a more urgent call for help than "Tools code 2."
He then moved over to a different cash register, where he scanned my Sears card, took my money, and gave me about 12 feet of receipts.
By this time the other four customers who had been waiting had wandered off.
As I signed on the little "scan" device on the counter to verify the payment I asked him "Which is your top-of-the-line roll-away tool cabinet here? Can you just point to it?"
He said "Let me get somebody to help you," and walked out of the tool department toward the lawnmowers and riding tractors.
The man with all the warranty tools was still standing at the counter.
The other four customers were nowhere to be seen.
The "manager" and the other (as yet unseen) tool department employee were still in the back room rebuilding ratchets.

Again, as I do most every time, I walked out shaking my head in disbelief.

After I got back home and made a cup of tea, I picked up the phone and called 253 471 7100 and after pushing many buttons on the keypad of my telephone finally got through to a human who said they were in "Customer Service."
I very patiently related to them the details of my experience at their local store, and was told "I'm going to take down your phone number and pass this over to one of our senior Customer Service people and have them call you right back."

Two weeks later I have yet to receive a return call.

It's obvious that the one guy doing the work needed more help and tried to get it but to no avail.

However, I will say that as a former retail person, there is just so much one person can do. If I was busy, I would tell you, "Let me call for someone, as I'm with this customer and I'm going to be busy for a while". If I kept trying and there was no help, I've done all I can.

If you persisted, many retail people would probably slow down even further to prove a point. Maybe his scanner wasn't working right, who knows?

I do agree you should have gotten help faster, but the guy tried. LOL. I fault management for that one.

 

[58Yeoman]

Okay, so I won't bash Sears. Sometime this past year, I bought a NuTone vent/light/heater for my bathroom to replace the old one. It's either been too hot for me to go into the attic to run new wiring (this one needs a dedicated circuit).

Today, I drag out the new box and look inside at the vent fan. Hmmm...no switch. I look in the instruction booklet, and it says that a switch is no longer included, in order that you can get one to match your decor. I thought "that's cool, as I have oiled bronze" switches, etc. Wife says that since it's a rainy day, let's go to Lowe's and get a switch. No luck...all 3 toggle switches are either white or almond. A helpful employee comes by and says that he can special order one. He looks on the puter, on the NuTone site, and sees that only white and almond are available. No black ones available to match our others. We go back to the aisle, and see oiled bronze switch/outlet plates hanging on the rack...just no black switches/outlets to use with them.

We left and went to HD. Sorry, no black 3 switch gangs, but they did have black 2 switch gangs, so I got one of those. I have two sets of lights in the bathroom, so I can use two of this type switch to control the 2 lights, vent and heater. We also stopped at Menard's on the way home, and see the same thing. BUT, the 250' roll of wire that I bought at HD for $48 - 10% veterans discount, costs $51 at Menard's. Both Lowe's and HD were cheaper on the wire than Menard's. SAVE BIG MONEY AT my competitors.

 

[reader2580]

and heater. We also stopped at Menard's on the way home, and see the same thing. BUT, the 250' roll of wire that I bought at HD for $48 - 10% veterans discount, costs $51 at Menard's. Both Lowe's and HD were cheaper on the wire than Menard's. SAVE BIG MONEY AT my competitors.

I find that on commodity items like a 250 foot roll of wire that Menards and Home Depot are usually priced exactly the same. Today, Menards is slightly higher than Home Depot on wire which is unusual.

Now, Lowes is usually priced higher than either Home Depot or Menards on almost everything. I don't go to Lowes hardly at all due to pricing and the fact that there are many more Menards and Home Depot in my area.

 

[ishiboo]

Oh, boy - a Sears bashing thread. We haven't had one of those in a long time.

Yeah, plus I love the fact they're always someone's idiotic minor issue, versus the complete failure of Sears to adopt to modern retail and customer demand.

That said, stupid CS reps can look pretty good (and save a lot of time) if they simply used template-based responses... seems odd this one wasn't.

 

[dslabuda]

this is the last time I will shop at sears

I hate when people don't be speaking no good english...

 

[Bigbandguy]

In my late teens (a LOOOOOG) time ago. I ordered a replacement exhaust fan motor for a Sears window AC. Same part number just found the motor in a catalog and ordered it because it was easier. Motor arrived, was duly installed and upon turning it on it burst into flames. Closer inspection revealed that Sears had ordered THEIR motors with the color coding changed so that a generic replacement would do what mine did. That was over 40 years ago and I STILL have not bought anything more than a screwdriver from Sears... I later talked to a TV repairman who said that everything electrical they made was "outlaw" (his term) in one way or another. In my opinion that corporate attitude is why Sears is failing. Now they carry major brands instead of "Silvertone" but the damage is done.

 

[Jeff95TA]

The "Thank you for shopping at Sears.com" was really the only main point of the email. Everything in the parentheses is non-essential.

 

[justanengineer]

So Sears hired a former writer of HF tool instruction manuals, who cares?

 

[nehog]

Wow..

You replied with the same number of periods as in the original message from Sears! Good job.

 

[ishiboo]

I not see issue with email, is fine. Sears not good since long time. Me love you wrong time!

 

[404]

Buying from Sears! How quaint! Back in 1972 or so that is the place my parents got most everything, as did I in my short pants. Even back in 1984 I was buying Sears tools from the discount catalogs. Not quite sure how it happened, maybe mail order, but over time I completely forgot to go there.

Shame really, it used to be a great store. Back in 1976 they sold arsenal refinished Mauser rifles for like 21 dollars, and would ship anywhere in the USA. My dad would not let me order one, the *******.
I expect they sold hand guns as well before 1967.

 

[wasfuzz]

BUT, the 250' roll of wire that I bought at HD for $48 - 10% veterans discount, costs $51 at Menard's. Both Lowe's and HD were cheaper on the wire than Menard's. SAVE BIG MONEY AT my competitors.

I just purchased 250 ft of 14 2 NM w/Grnd for $33.50 at my menards in MN. menards sku 3691322, is that what you purchased?

 

[Cato]

So, you cancel an order last minute and a real live person responds (albeit with grammatical mistakes) and you vow never to grace their store ever again?


The outrage! lol

 

[truckman5000]

The Sears communication failed to use correct English grammar.

Your post complaining about it also failed to use correct English grammar.

Nearly all the follow up posts about it also failed to use correct English grammar.




Sgt Lumpy

Youres two

 

[Ponchoguy]

this is the last time I will shop at sears

Simple solution: Call your credit card company and explain/dispute the charges. Problem solved.

 

[some zilch]

who physically goes to the store to pay their credit card bill?

seems like you're the dope for standing in line, when it could be done at home via online

 

[Ponchoguy]

who physically goes to the store to pay their credit card bill?

seems like you're the dope for standing in line, when it could be done at home via online

I'd agree, but I believe he's a little "old school" and maybe doesn't trust paying online and wants to do it in person. Some folks are like that. I work with several guys that still write checks for everything, even though they can probably "E-check" through their bank.

 

[dogdog]

It is a skeleton Level 1 support offshore (probably India), their off-line team is probably some one from the states. You can see in the response that they are trying to respond professionally, nothing wrong with that response.... just a generic response.

 

[Steevo]

Geeze.
I just cancelled a purchase through Amazon, and the response (from China) was in concise English and assured that they had cancelled the order and refunded the money to the credit card.
Amazon immediately credited the funds. I guess eCommerce is the future.

 

[stevenhs]

It seems customer service chat is better

 

[Ponchoguy]

It is a skeleton Level 1 support offshore (probably India), their off-line team is probably some one from the states. You can see in the response that they are trying to respond professionally, nothing wrong with that response.... just a generic response.

I have gotten US reps for Sears without a problem. Also, most of the credit card companies farm out their customer service, except for Discover. I've always gotten, "This is (insert name) from the Phoenix location, how may I help you?"

 

[ishiboo]

Geeze.
I just cancelled a purchase through Amazon, and the response (from China) was in concise English and assured that they had cancelled the order and refunded the money to the credit card.
Amazon immediately credited the funds. I guess eCommerce is the future.

Amazon also has times where the order is not shipped but cannot be cancelled. it depends what stage the order is in, and the level of automation at work.

 

[joelowrider]

I guess I should of posted the back story.

November 3rd I ordered 2 sets of socket holders, off the website.
I called 2 or 3 times, with promises of the order being shipped.
Last call I canceled this is the email I was sent.

 

[BDT/NWMN]

Times have changed..

 

[JDMopar]

Sears is owned by K Mart.....so things obviously got dumbed down over the years. I worked for CP&L/Progress Energy for years, and then we got bought by Duke Energy. Same thing.....trying to dumb us down to their level instead of stepping up a few decades to catch up!

 

[scott917]

It slightly saddens me to see this one great retail giant failing right before my eyes. I used to live to look through the Sears toy catalog or as they called it "Wishbook". Also their big catalog was fun to look through as well. The range of goods that they carried to me as a young boy was amazing! It was like a one stop shop. We used to keep their catalogs under the couch in the den and if we needed something that was our go to place to start looking.

I used to live in Arkansas and going to Memphis or Little Rock and going to one of Sears large stores was an adventure when I was young. The downtown store in Memphis during Christmas was a magic place as a kid.

The Sears Tower in Chicago was also proof to me of their retail power when I was young. But oh how things have changed. It know I am being dramatic, but it is almost unthinkable to be that they have tumbled down so low. I fear their permanent closing is not as far away as they think it is. I miss them already.

S

 

[ford33]

This is just a simple business transaction not the "Bill of Rights".

For those of us who work in multi-national companies this is acceptable. My colleagues in Germany, Japan, Italy, China and Russia tolerate my English language emails with difficult to understand questions and some improper grammar. They make an attempt to respond to me in English and I appreciate the effort. I certainly cannot write or read in their native language so it is a fair trade. Excuse my English and I will excuse yours. Let's get the job done and just communicate. It doesn't have to be perfect for simple communication.