Sears
Reviews and Complaints

Due to economy and personal finance issues, I had to setup payment arrangements on my Sears account. At the time the arrangment was made, Sears was full aware of my account and past due status. I was explained that if I setup monthly automatic payments for a specified time frame, at the end of the time frame --- my account would be in reinstated and resume a normal payment schedule. I fulfilled my end and monthly payments were automatically withdrawn from my bank account. I am at the end of the agreed time frame and now being told that my account will not be reinstated. The reason for the account not being reinstated is too many past due payments --- taking into consideration that I was on automatic payment withdrawals. Ultimate conclusion - Sears Collection Department made false promises and basically lied to collect money. Understandably, the money is owed. But deceiving customers that in my case have been a loyal customer for years in not right. Basically Sears Collection protocol is to make empty promises just to collect their money without consideration of prior year loyalty and kick a person when they are down. By the way --- was told Sears does not have a complaint department. That's one way to not have to deal with false promises!

I recently purchased the 3 person sauna from Sears with high spirits and expectations. Figuring that I am purchasing a product from a well known and respected home improvement center, I figured I would be getting an A+ product. For $1, 995 I could get a 3 person sauna that would help with my arthritis and my wife’s back problems…..or so that’s what I was told.

I’ve had several surgeries on my right knee, and I constantly suffer from chronic arthritis. My doctor informed me that Far Infarred heat would help alleviate the pain and help in detoxify my body. The salesman from Sears said that these Carbon heaters in this sauna would alleviate all my arthritis pain and help with my wife’s back issues.

After waiting 20 minutes the sauna FINALLY heated past 120 degrees, this after I set it to 140 degrees. After sitting in the sauna for 10 minutes I finally produced a small sweat. 20 minutes later my timer turned off and it felt as if I had sat in a really hot car for 30 minutes. I figured that the sauna might be working out the kinks since it was new; however, after 2 weeks of use, I have nothing positive to say. There was no profuse sweating, my knee experienced a very small amount of relief, and my wife could not tell any difference with her back. With a 3 person sauna only having 6 heaters in it, how can they expect to heat the entire unit? The salesman claimed that these Carbon heater would provide a soft constant heat; he was right on the soft part. You can put your hand next to the heater, and it feels no more powerful than a space heater! Not only are the heaters weak, but as is the wood. They claim to use hemlock as the wood of choice; however, hemlock is not a hyperalogenic wood. At least I don’t have to worry because this sauna can’t heat up enough for the wood to emit toxins. Cheap wood, cheap heaters, CHEAP SAUNA.

This sauna does not delivery what it promises to do, and for spending $2, 000 this sauna deserves an F on the report card.

-Sauna for sale by un-happy customer

Hello, I purchased a Kenmore ELite Stainless Brushed Stainless Steel Refrigerator in late 2003. I went top of the line because I wanted something that would last. Well, Yesterday I noticed everything in the freezer was thawing and a strange noise coming from the back of the unit. I had a repair man come out today and was told the Compressor is out. Repairs of over 600.00 if im lucky. After paying this amount of money for this refrigerator and purchasing an extended warranty you would figure a refrigerator would last you alot longer. When I called sears they told me that compressor warranty is 5 years and the extended warranty I purchased did not add any time to it. Then he tried to sell me another 1 year warranty for almost 300.00. You have got to be joking... What a ripoff! When I purchased the extended warranty THE FIRST TIME, the salesperson told me the warranty would be the amount of years AFTER the manufactures warranty expires. I am so disapointed with sears. All my appliances in my kitchen are Kenmore Elites and I Have spent alot of money on them. Never again. After doing research on these Kenmore refrigerators, I have found out that there are alot of people that have had the compressors go out. This refrigerator is a lemon and the warranty they sold me is a joke. You would think that such a large company would stand behind their products. I guess not.

this re: a cancelled transaction, I did at sears on the 19th of Dec. I purchased a 52" samsung tv with a blueray dvd player, I cancelled the purchase 1.5 hrs after I paid for the mercahdise with a check well this has turned out into a nightmare cause the cancellation was due to that Best Buy had a better tv a free blueray d vd player.with a savings of 578.00 dls cheaper people staff were so slow in doing the cancellation, cause I was rushing so i could go to Best Buy so I could buy the better deal well they dragged on that I lost the deal at best buy cause the sale ended on the 19that 11pm, after cancelling the transaction at sears and calling the bank mon sunday the 20th to cancell the check, they are still submitting it for payment my checking acct. is red flagged I think that sears should compensate me for all this trouble, by this time I should get this tv for free after all this embarrasemnet they have caused me by denying me my checks for payment up until now nothing has been resloved and telecheck says they're going to get their money somehow I said what money this transaction was cancelled on the same day, the supervisor I have been dealing with at sears is Diane in electronics, please help me in resolving this problem telecheck suggested I take you to court, my phone # is [protected] my name is ismael azua your immediate response is appreciated thank you

My oven is a Kenmore 665.95781. It is 9 and a half years old. I had the same problem as others.

I cooked a pizza, and I noticed it was burned. Then I turned off the oven and went to get my son from wrestling practice. When I came home, the broiler was on. I tried several times to turn the oven on and off, but the broiler just stayed on. The oven got so hot I couldn't pull it away from the wall, so I went down to the basement flipped the circuit.

This oven should have been recalled.

Dear Sears,

Your representative has just left my home and I am extremely upset and disappointed about the way my wife and I were treated. We had made special arrangements to be here today and confidently expected we would be fairly treated because of Sears excellent reputation and our past dealings with Sears. We were understanding when Sears called and changed our appointment from 11 am to 3 pm on short notice. Your representative, Mr. Don Becker from Grand Rapids, arrived promptly at 3 pm and then took 4 hours to get everything done. He showed us quotes for siding our house and we were pleased. He then said he needed to take a break and everything was saved in the computer and he would come back after his meal. It had seemed such a long time that even though we wanted to complete the sale we agreed. True to his word he returned and showed us our final quote. What a shock he had increased the price by $10, 000 dollars! He seemed mystified as to why we were upset and when we asked him to show us the quotes he said he saved earlier, he would not. He could not give us an explanation about why the price increased. I never dreamed I would be treated this way by Sears.

David and Debra Hockley

We brought a 3, 000 double oven from the Sears Outlet, Sears came and installed it. The oven doesn't work and we call the customer warranty line and no one can help, they have hung up on us several times, we have been on the phone for several hours no help. We paid 300.00 for Sears to install the oven plus delivery fees and haul away cost. Now we have no oven and no one to help us get our money back

On January 6th 2010 we requested service on our 10 month old Kenmore refrigerator freezer from Sears. Our second warranty repair.
This time the unit blew out the control panel which regulates the temperature and the unit was already warming up.

After speaking with the scheduler I was told the soonest we would see repair would be the afternoon of January 14th (8 1/2 days later.)
I explained that this was a problem as our perishables would be destroyed in a few days and we required the refrigerator to cool insulin and another drug used by a kidney dialysis patient. The agent put me on hold and insisted that was the best.
When I asked who would pay for the lost food I was told that there was a $250 refund available under warranty. I was told to ask the technician for the form and to fill it out and return it at the time of the repair.

Since I had 8 days to wait I did my best to expedite the service in the meantime.
One individual (who worked in local repair) said that some areas were backed up two-three weeks and I was lucky it was just 8 days. Hardly a selling point and as my food was melting I felt anything but lucky.

If I would have been told at the time of sale that this type of dreadful response was normal I would have left the store instead of buying the unit.
I would assume 99% of your customer base would do the same.

i began researching complaints made by others online and saw that there was an email address that kept recurring [protected]@searhc.com. Whenever they found a complaint online they posted a cheery little response advising disgruntled customers to work with them to resolve the complaint. I emailed my problem

On the 6th day of my wait [protected]) I received a phone call.
A rude individual by the name of “Edwin C.” called to help.
His take on helping was that he would call me back after the original repair date to make sure that they fixed it. I explained that this wasn't helpful but if I needed any help filing the food loss claim I would keep his number.

He then informed me that there would be no compensation for the hundreds of dollars worth of food that melted. I explained that I had discussed this on my original call and had mentioned it in subsequent calls to expedite the repair.

He said they were wrong and we would have to assume the loss.
Naturally I was irritated and when I expressed my irritation he finally offered two options.

1) He would send us a check for $100.
That was better than nothing but still unacceptable. I wanted what I was promised and $100 didn’t come close to paying for our loss.

2) He would give us a 2nd year of warranty for free.
This wasn't helpful as we already had a free 2nd year of warranty service because we purchased it with a Visa card that included a double warranty up to one year. Besides who in their right mind would tolerate service delays like this twice?

He said that was all he could do and I said I may take this issue to small claims court. At which point he told me "If you're going to take that attitude I'll hang up on you.

Before he hung up he promised to follow up with me following the repair on the 14th to make sure I was pleased.

Further efforts to expedite the repair were useless.

January 14th finally arrived and the repairman came as promised at 2:00 PM.
Although I described the exact part that failed the service tech didn't bring one on the call. He was however helpful enough to check with a local supplier in Dallas who then couriered the part the same afternoon. He promised to make one other call then swing back and fix it shortly after 5PM

The parts arrived at 5:15PM
At 5:20 I received a call from the tech who apologized and told me that he was told he could not return until Monday January 18 to complete the repair so we would have to wait another 4 days without refrigeration for our food and medical supplies. The routing department in Ft Worth said he could not come because they would not pay the overtime. (15 minutes to complete the repair.)
I asked for the name of that individual to call and was told she was gone for the day but was given the number.

As a last resort I spoke with the local Sears store (previous calls were unsuccessful) here in Plano and spoke with Patrick who is the Appliance Manager. He pulled strings and got the call rescheduled to Friday (Jan. 15th) and apologized profusely.

The next time I spoke with "Sears Cares" Edwin called me on January 18th and asked if I was pleased with the service. I told him in no certain terms I was extremely displeased and would never buy another product from Sears.

He insisted the service was done as promised on Friday.
I corrected him because his notes were again incorrect – the promise was Thursday and then later Monday.
I reminded him that he didn't bother to follow up on Jan 15th as promised and he had done absolutely nothing to help alleviate the problem.

Then the lies continued. I asked to speak with his manager. He informed me he was THE manager. I asked for his last name. He advised me he "didn't have to tell me". I asked who he reported to and he informed me it was Bruce Johnston the CEO of Sears. I told him I believed he was lying to me. Silence on his end. I asked if the CEO did his performance review. After a lull he said "No, that's done by the Board of Directors" another obvious lie. I asked again for his manager's name or to be transferred he said he couldn't because he didn't know his managers phone number.

This has been the worst service experience of my life.
I will never buy another Sears product and will warn everyone possible that they should consider my experience before spending hard earned money with Sears.

After researching other people's complaints online I realized how much the service at Sears has degraded. As one person put it "They're not the same company your parents bought from". That is so true.

I worked at Sears scheduling service calls when I was working my way through college. In that entire time I was never asked to be transferred to a manager because this type of response was unheard of and wouldn't have been tolerated.

Sears is one of the largest resellers of appliances in the world.
To expect customers to wait 12 days to fix an in warranty refrigerator-freezer is ludicrous. To expect warranty customers to absorb the loss of food on top of that just throws salt in the wound.

Don't do as I did and trust these jerks, you'll regret it just like I do.

I am in the process of having my kitchen remodeled, and purchased a Sears induction cooktop. When they went to install it, my contractor saw a recommendation in the instructions to use a 'Granite Countertop Kit' if installing on granite. We looked it up online, and found it for $92.08 at Sears Parts Direct, but there was no description of what was in the kit. We chatted online with Joyce, who couldn't give us any more information than we had. We spoke with a customer service rep, who also told us that he had no idea what was in the package, but that we obviously need it if installing on granite! I asked to speak with an installer, who would certainly be familiar with the installation kit, but that is apparently impossible unless you are paying him to do the installation. I had purchased the cooktop 2 months earlier, no one asked if I was installing it on granite, and there was nothing on the box to indicate I needed an installation kit. Then they wanted to charge me $40 for expedited shipping! I got them to waive the shipping cost, after some cajoling. The kit arrived, and contained one 300ml tube of Silicone sealant ($5.44 online) and 6 L-brackets! You're supposed to choose the 2 that best fit. (Two were already in the original cooktop box, and my contractor said he couldn't use any of it, anyway.) With tax, it was $98.54! So, they insisted I purchase an unkown kit for $100, which proved worthless, and contained about $10 of product. No wonder no one was willing to admit what was in the kit!

Has anyone ever dealt with Sears, and having damage done to house while
they made a delivery? Trying to deal with my small local sears has not been easy.
Does anyone have any suggestions, or know of how to surpass my small local Sears, and go to a higher level? Any suggestions on how to deal with this most effectively?

This evening I called customer service dept. regarding a $45.00 charge that apparently is now being applied to Sears charge accounts as an annual fee. My father who is 85 and very ill with Parkinson's Disease is not able to verbally say that he no longer wants the card, and even though he has not used the card for years, my mother who is able to say that they know longer need the card, was also not able to close it out over the phone. We were told that it would be necessary to send a power of attorney paperwork to Sears and then they could do it.

I feel that this is terribly wrong, to put older people through this. Also, how unfair of them to charge a $45.00 annual fee for someone who has not used the card in years. I wonder how you can get away with that...and hopefully when some of you are older, you will not have to go through this type of stress.

Anyway, we will go through the hassle of the paperwork, as we were told that if we did not pay the bill we would be sent to collections...so "Kennedy" the supervisor who might be reading this now, says. He also says there is no one higher than him to complain to...so we will comply, although, there truly must be someone else who oversees his department.

My mom no longer wants anything to do with Sears, and I too, will cancel my Sears card as I do not want to go through this hassle someday myself.

J.Hobbs

I ordered a Schwinn Eliptical in the beginning of January worth $1500 at 1/2 price, so $850, incl. taxes. They called today and said it was ready for pick up. I went to get it, they put it in my trunk and I came home. My husband was going to take it out of the car, when i noticed it was the wrong item. I called them on my way back to the store. They told me that they substituted it for another brand because what I ordered they couldn't get. They gave me a Natulis worth $999 and now selling for $749. Do the math. Anyway, the store manager was a ###. His english was poor and he was an arrogant, little chinese man, that could only say that I should go on google to see that this one is better. After the millionth time, saying that's not the point, that they should have told me that i wasn't gettin what I ordered at receiving. It was totally unethical of them to throw some piece of ### in my trunk instead of giving me what I ordered. His two little ### sales ladies came out and ignored the whole thing, saying it wasn't their fault that it was the manufacturers. Who really cares, I gave them $850 didn't I? Sears gladly took my money didn't they? So now I'm left with a poor quality product...yes mr. ###head, I googled it...and yes...it's a piece of ###, like I said. At the end of the day...I will NEVER BUY ANYTHING FROM SEARS. Pay an extra $20 and buy your products elsewhere.
In the line, there was another customer who had the same problem. He was sent his a week ago, so they store DID know that there was a problem, but instead of taking their thumbs out of their ###, they keep putting the product demo on the floor and in the flyers to con more consumers. Be aware, SEARS SUCKS ###, it shows on the Sales Managers breath!

I tried to apply for a credit card, a card that you only can use in the store. The online service just puts you on a halt and sends you a messege saying they will decide if you get it or not, and you know that is bull and they will not give you a simple card from a place called Sears. Their system and the way they created it is very strict and is not very user friendly especially the online site. Their customer service is awful. I wish things will just lighten up there. It's like you are calling the Navy Exchange and you have to be in the Military to get a Sears card.

My microwave is 3 1/2 years old...used for heating & defrosting only. It is like new, however, it will not heat. Sears told my husband it was probably the magnetron and it was under warranty and they would send out a repairman from A&E Applian ce Repair. He came out on January 21, 2010 and informed us that it would cost us $60-$90 to give us an estimate of the problem. If the broken part is in deed under warranty, it would cost us $193.00 labor to fix it. The cost of the part is approximately $94.00. This is highway robbery. When a car is under warranty they take care of parts and labor. Usually labor is more expensive than the part that is broken. This defective part is Kenmore/Whirlpool's fault not mine and I do not feel we should pay the labor to fix their shoddy appliance. I am retired, living on a fixed income, purchased this new house so as not to worry about replacing old appliances and now our microwave does not work due to a defective part. I live in a new neighborhood and all the residents have the same appliances and I am telling everyone to be aware of this shoddy product. We declined A&E's service call to fix this microwave. Believe me, I have purchased a lot of products from Sears but I can promise you I have purchased the last one. Shame on you Sears and your lousy warranty!

I have nearly exhausted my options for getting the refunds due to me and you have definitely lost a very loyal and good customer.

I placed two different orders that were guaranteed to be delivered by christmas. Neither of them were, putting me in a very difficult position for finding replacement gifts the day before christmas. The entire reason I placed my order through sears adn kmart online, was the christmas delivery guarantee of the (At that time...in stock) merchandise.

When I discovered I would not receive these goods, I immediately requested a refund. To make a long story short, I have requested by phone, a refund, over ten times! I even contacted "escalated" customer service at the corporate office of sears and spoke with a representative named michael, who assured me that he had personally taken care of it this time and that the other nine times I had made contact and been told my refund was being processed, there was apparently an "error" of which no one ever informed me.

Michael called me back tuesday to check on the refund from my end. I told him "no refund, no change in order status" etc. I asked him to call me back today to follow up, yet again. I have not heard from michael, nor is there any change to my order status, bank account, refund, etc.

This is not what I expect from a large company like sears or kmart. I received all my refunds from walmart, the very next day! I received refunds from mail order items that were incorrect from other very small companies, within 3 days.

My first order was mid december. It has been nearly 6 weeks, since my first phone call. I have spent over five hours online, on the phone, etc trying to get my refunds for the following order numbers:

[protected]

[protected]

This is ridiculous. I expect to see my refund money in the bank on monday or I will ask my neighbor, who is a reporter for nbc to do an expo story on this, as I am sure I am not the only one. I wouldn't think, in these tough economic times you would treat customers this way or would welcome the kind of negative publicity my case would bring to your online business. It won't bring your company down, but it won't do your reputation or your economic growth any good, trust me.

I work hard for my money and was careful where I spent it this christmas. Sears and kmart both let me down, broke their word about christmas delivery and now have stalled in a completely unprofessional and irresponsible way in refunding my money for items that were never sent. You make interest off of the money you have used of mine for the past 6 weeks, I lost interest on it and the ability to take advantage of current deals as my funds are tied up with you.

Make this right immediately. This is unnnnnnreal.

Kym helms

On 19 Nov 09, I purchased a Star Trac Elliptical from Sears.com. It was delivered 3 Dec 09. After 2 weeks of use, I threw the box away. It was so big there was no place to store it except my garage and park outside in the below zero temps. After another week, the machine failed. I called Sears and was told they had no record of my order and that they could not look it up via the order number. After 2 hours on the phone, I finally got someone who looked it up using my credit card number and input all the information manually. I finally got a repair appt 16 Dec 09. The repairman tried to tell me Sears doesn't sell that product even though I showed him my receipt. He said Sears doesn't even sell this brand. Well they sold it to me! He listened to the noises it was making and said the bearing were shot already after 3 weeks of use. He said he can't fix it because it is not in his database. I call my local Sears in Aurora, CO to see if I can return it. Yes I can for a 15% restocking fee! WHAT! What are they restocking it is defective. You know very well they will find an old box, get the 100% refund and make an extra 15% from me. I filed a BBB complaint. Sears is on the second notice with teh BBB since they refused to answer. Never again will Sears get my business. I have at least 20 people who promise never to shop there too

I am sharing my experience with Sears online. My experience is horrible and I never ever place any order from Sears.

I have ordered an Elliptical from Sears as they had free shipping. They said that I will get my item in two weeks. I called up after two weeks as I did not receive the order; they said that it will take one more week. I called up again after 3 weeks, to my surprise they said they canceled the order long back as the item was out of stock. I did not receive any email or phone call; they charged my credit card for the amount. They said that computer did not generate the email and sorry. The item was still available online. I would have got better deals in other stores, because of these stupid guys, I lost everything. They said that they will refund the amount but it will take 10 days but they can charge the credit card within one day. Never order anything from Sears, even if you do, be very careful.

I placed on order with SEARS for a major appliance on line and paid with my debit card. They said that the item was in stock and available for delivery (the only reason it was ordered). A delivery date was set and the order went thru. I received a phone call from SEARS the day before the scheduled delivery and was told that the item was not in stock and would not be available for another 2 1/2 weeks. I INSTRUCTED THE CALLER TO CANCEL THE ORDER. She said she would cancel the order and I was surprised to learn that SEARS had already taken the money from my account. I was informed that the money would be refunded in 5-7 working days. Here it is 19 days later and no money has been refunded. Within the past week, I contacted SEARS customer service who informed me that the order was not canceled correctly (incompetence) and that is the reason for the delay in refund. I was told that this mistake would be corrected. However I have not yet received an email confirming the cancellation of the order and the status of my refund. It is unheard of these days that a company would take funds for merchandise which they do not have in stock. Most companies will charge you once the item is shipped, but not SEARS. SEARS has lost a valuable customer and I hope to educate others about their incompetence and unethical business practices.

We purchased this model when our previous Kenmore front-loading washer died (Model 26-41042 - bearings fried). Reviews showed it to perform reliably and function efficiently, and our previous experience with Kenmore made it a comfortable choice.

8 wash cycles (including a Clean Washer cycle) make it easy to differentiate level of cleaning for different materials. Soil level options, as well as 5 wash temperature choices and 5 spin-speed settings add further refinement to the cycle settings best for your needs. Generous 4.0 cubic foot capacity is claimed to be able to handle 23 bath towels.

We have 10 years of front-loading washing machine ownership, and absolutely LOVE the performance - WHEN IT WORKS CORRECTLY. Clothes are visibly cleaner, rinse cleaner, smell fresher and dry more quickly (owing to the amount of water removed during the spin cycle) than our top-loading machines ever did. The energy savings (in reduced water, electric and gas bills) was immediately noticable. We are a three kid, 1 dog, active-family. There's a LOT of laundry to do here, and it gets DIRTY.

HOWEVER, From week 1, the unit has leaked and items become trapped within the door gasket, getting absolutely SHREDDED during the spin cycle.

Service call 1: within weeks of delivery/installation unit leaks during rinse/spin cycles; advised over phone that unit must be out of balance, needs to be leveled. Service tech accused ME of installing it incorrectly even though I had it installed by Sears. Found no issues with unit being out of level. No diagnosis for cause of leaking.

Service call 2: within first 6 months; service tech doesn't know why it's leaking; door seals tightly, basket operates correctly, unit is leveled appropriately; recommends NOT washing jeans, throw rugs, or quilts or using hot water

Service call 3: within first 8 months; items becoming caught in front gasket weekly/items destroyed by this monthly; tech tries to regale ME with what I am doing wrong- wrong soap (I use HE detergent as specifically recommended), wrong items (again, don't wash jeans, throw rugs, beach towels), my loads are too small (is he kidding? I have 3 kids and a dog!), shouldn't use hot water ever (REALLY?); diagnosis, shredded laundry and leaking all MY fault, though no specific reason why. All of his recommendations are the precise OPPOSITE of the guidance offered by the unit's owner's manual (except for using HE detergent).

Even with the purchase of a "Master Protection Agreement", Sears insists on having ANOTHER technician come out, presumably so that I can be accused of abusing my machine by secretly running a laundry service out of my basement.

I have absolutely NO CONFIDENCE in this unit/model nor the protection agreement that I paid for. Good job, Sears. You've lost a LONG TIME Kenmore customer completely. Well done.

I placed an order at sears.com for a Wii Fit Plus, which was shown to be in stock and was to be shipped. Immediately after clicking the button to place the order, I got an email cancellation that the item was out of stock.

I went back to their website... it showed "in stock" ... so I ordered again. Again, email cancellation immediately.

THEN, several minutes later... I got an 2 emails saying my refund would be processed in 7-10 business days!

They canceled both orders IMMEDIATELY (within SECONDS of placing the order) then charged me, twice! I don't know why they would want to keep customers' money tied up for 2 weeks, but it is just WRONG for them to charge it after canceling the order. Very bad business practice, Sears!

Customer service is no help, other than to confirm that their business practice IS to charge the order IMMEDIATELY UPON CLICKING THE BUTTON, regardless of whether the item is really in stock. Customer service also informed me that website stock is only updated ONCE PER DAY ... so if you order from sears.com, GOOD LUCK! It's a crap shoot.