Sears
Reviews and Complaints

I am having the same problem as Sears Installers did not comply with local HVAC code and installed the drain line into sewer line, which backed up and totaled the Heating unit. Sears agreed thier contractor made a mistake and was willing to pay half of the replacement, which I declined. They are responsbile for the installation to code and currently looking for legal representation, Denison Texas

September 5, 2009, my husband and I went to purchase a mattress/box springs with the 50% off sale. We found a great buy and proceeded with the clerk to the computer. She was very helpful, asked all the right questions, and I gave her a check to pay cash. She rang the transaction and asked us to check our personal information so the delivery man would be sure to have the correct phone number. She handed back our check and said it was an electronic withdrawal and the money had intantly come from our account. Our cell number was incorrect, so she went back into the computer to correct the cell and voided the entire transaction.

She corrected the phone number and asked for another check. I commented I thought the money had already come out of our account. I was told when she accidently voided the transaction, the check was voided and went back into our account. Reluctantly, I wrote another check and it was declined due to duplicate trnsactions back to back.

At this point she did not know for sure what to do. We had now been purchasing this mattress for 25 minutes and still had not finished the deal. She mentioned a credit card - we had the cash for this set aside and did not way to add it to a credit card. I gave her my debit card - BIG mistake - and the deal was closed. She assured me we had not paid twice.

We came home, went online to check our account and nothing had come out yet. Went back into our account on Monday and there was one $955. purchase. We were very pleased. Went back online Tuesday - and there was a second $955. purchase.

We immediately called the bank - they confirmed it was the purchase, but Sears had to correct it. My husband called Sears, talking with someone in the business office and was told it would be corrected. Wednesday - both charges were still out of our account.

We live about an hour from Sears so headed to the store to get the problem corrected. The clerk was there and very apologetic, took us to the business office and the store manager was out to lunch - having just left and would be gone for 1 1/2 hours. Now we had just drive one hour to get there and chose to pass the time running errands in a nearby town, where we again stopped at a branch of our bank and were told they could not do a thing. We were told the store manager would call us upon her return. Almost 2 hours later she did call. She was very adamant there was nothing she could do but wait for the check that was voided to run it's course and the money would go back into our account. She had checked with the check tracking company and it would take at least 7 working days.

I explained we did not have unlimited money in the checking account and what would she suggest we do when other checks made their way back to the bank, bouncing due to insufficent funds? Then there would be the late fees not only from the bank but from the companies returning the checks. Then the bad credit history due to bouncing checkes - what should be do? She stated she understood perfectly - offered to pay the fees since it was obviously their error- but she could not just put our money instantly back in the bank by sliding our debit card the way it had instantly come out.

She again stated nothing - absolutely nothing could be done and we would just have to wait. So - it has been 7 days today - that is only 4 working days however, because of Labor Day Holiday. Our bank states it could take up to two weeks to have this transaction reversed by the check tracking company.

The mattress/box springs were delivered yesterday - but we have been so preoccupied by spending all our time trying to get our $955. back we did not notice if they were even comfortable. We have 30 days to decide that - and if we need to return them we pay the return delivery fee, plus 15% stocking fee. Now you tell me where we go with all of this? Several years ago we stopped shopping at Sears because it seemed that every purchase had some kind of complication that it took endless energy to straighten out. Some old habits are just not broken easily. Hours have already been spent trying to get our money back from their admitted error!

Last year, I purchased an item of clothing (for a gift) with my Sears credit card. I paid off the balance in two monthly payments. Sears then kept billing for an unpaid balance. After corresponding with them and their refusal to budge, I notified my state's Office of Attorney General. They notified Sears/Citibank about the complaint and after much ado, they could not get the matter resolved. Since I'm not wealthy, I feel the only thing left is complaint websites such as yours -- a way to air my complaint about Sears/Citibank, thus giving them some negative publicity.

I purchased a clothing item and used my Sears card to pay for it. In two payments, I completely paid off the balance. Instead, Sears double-billed the original amount. Since Sears/Citi Bank refused to clear up the matter, I filed a complaint with my State of Washington Attorney General. I am angry that even still, it shows as a negative on my credit report and I don't know what else to do other than air my complaint against them on websites such as this one. Is anyone else having experiences such as mine?

I had a similar situation in Brunswick Maine recently. I bought my husband's chainsaw, and wanted to split the payment between debit and charge cards. The cashier had no idea this was not possible so the entire payment came out of my bank acct. When i protested, he told me this was not so, and I should not worry. But I continued to protest to complete the transaction, and the cashier tried to back out of the transaction, only to realize the computer would not let him as I had gone too far in our transaction. After phoning numerous superiors, a man on the phone told him to "unplug the machine" to void the transaction. And he did! He then told me the transaction was completely nullified and I will need to purchase the chainsaw again, using a gift card and a credit card. So, I bought a gift card, used it as my cash contribution, and then gave my Visa card for the balance.
The next day, I found a debit charge to my bank account online. Called the mgr immediately and she said not to worry, the charge would come off in a day or two, kind of like it was a cyber charge 'ghost' in the machine that would work itself out. Another day later, no deletion of the charge. I called again and demanded my money back. The same mgr again told me the charge would come off automatically, now suggesting up to a few days was typical.
I went down to the business office and had to not only argue with the mgr, but also with the operations mgr, and be put on the phone with a customer solutions expert who had not clue in hell what was up.
The mgr told me she would review any overdraft fees if they occurred as a result of this error, but that was it. They could not give me money and then be 'out the money twice' if the other charge disappeared! So I was supposed to trust Sears to do the right thing without any paper trail or written admission of error or money due, but I was not entitled to the same courtesy or benefit of the doubt. When finally I said, "Fine, and are you going to pay for my groceries til your error is fixed?" that is when the mgr issued me a credit to my debit card, which by the way, two days later is yet to be registered by my bank! Thank GOD for overdraft protection!

We discovered our food in the freezer thawed on April 4/09; called an electrician on Apr 6 who told us the compressor was gone ; on April 8th before taking the freezer to the dump called Sears who advised that only the seal around the top of the freezer would be covered under warranty. We found the freezer book to find that our warranty covers the problem; called Sears and were advised a Technician would be in on April 14th. Technician was in and charged $80.00 for a service call; not here 20mins and also advised food lost would not be replaced! We lost 60 kg of food totaling $412.00. We were advised that the compressor would be replaced at Sears expense and we bought the freezer May 25, 2004; we were advised that the cost of the compressor plus labor would far exceed the cost of replacing the freezer. The freezer we had before was 25 + yrs old and this one isn't 5yrs old; what gives? I have been a Sears customer since the 1970's and EVERY appliance, lawnmower, snowblower, TV's, VCR's mattresses, hose has been purchased from Sears. We are looking for compensation for food lost as Sears appliance covered under warranty is your responsibility (perhaps not the total amt but at least 50%). I have read complaints from other Sears customers who are likely no longer Sears Customers and very upset they were not treated fairly; I certainly hope this won't be the case with our complaint. We don't carry maintenance agreements as the yearly cost would cover at least 2 or 3 new appliances if they broke down!

I purchased a plasma TV last year. Like a lot of people they convinced me to purchase an extended maintenance agreement to the tune of $500.00. I called to schedule the annual service as recommended. The representative was okay but when he went to schedule the visit the times are limited to Tuesday and Fridays only. Then the time frame is from 8:00am to 5:00pm. (all day) with no guarantees. So in short I paid $500.00 for a maintenance contract that is going to cost me an addition $200.00 in lost wages to be able to use.

I ordered a shop vac from sears on 7/4/08 via the web site. They charged my credit card right away. The web site still shows the order is in process and will ship in 7-9 days

I contacted sears on 7/30 - they tell me they decided not to sell the item at that price and had internally canceled my order.

They send me no notification and they didn't process a refund to give my money back.

I have called over and over again and emailed asking for the processing of the refund and the best they can tell me is that they are working on it. They are happy to sell me the vacuum at the higher price.

This is bait and switch - they took my money on a sale at one lower price and now refuse to deliver the item at that price, are pressuring me to buy the item at the higher price, while they delay giving me my money back.

It's not a lot of money, but it's my money.

First of all I believe it's illegal for a company to charge the credit card before they ship the item. Clearly it's once they have agreed to sell the item by charging my credit card, they must sell the item at that price and not demand a new price (which I believe is what they are trying to force me to do) and if I refuse to purchase the item at the new price, they must give my original money back.

During a recent purchase of a cordless drill I was asked if I would like to save $15.00 on my purchase. I replied that I indeed would and was asked to open a Sears Gold Mastercard account. I agreed to open the account only if there were no annual fees to which the associate replied that there were not. I inspected the application which indicated ANNUAL FEES...none. I signed the credit application and when asked to sign the electronic signature pad I noticed that the $15.oo had not been applied to the purchase. I protested that I had understood that I would save $15.00 on the transaction. She began to explain the conditions of the $15.00 "credit" to my account at the time of activation of the Mastercard. I indicated that this was not what I had understood and that I wished to cancel the transaction and would not sign the signature pad. She informed me that the transaction had been electronically sent when I had put my social security number in to the PIN pad and that the signature was only a formality. I told her that she had performed a classic bait and switch on me and asked to cancel the entire transaction. She replied that she could not and called the floor manager. After discussing the matter with him and getting essentially nowhere, I retreated with my new cordless drill bruised but not broken. I inspected the application upon arriving home and luckily found that there was no annual fee however that the disclosuers were accurate to 07/01/08. A quick call to the credit department verified there was no fee. I think this is an intentional DUPE by Sears sales associates and that they are aware of the fact when they offer the savings. I will be okay in this as I will be able to pay the unpaid balance with no additional fees however, there remains the anger of allowing myself to fall prey to this scheme.

I currently work for Sears in "Major Appliances". Although there are many legitimate complaints registered by many unhappy consumers, this is not one of them. Under no circumstances can Sears install a gas range - this is left to the local gas company or gas supplier due to Code restrictions etc. Electric ranges are a different story, and Sears does in fact install them everyday. Perhaps there was a misunderstanding as to what exactly was going to be installed? "Free" (via mail-in rebate) delivery and installation is offered almost every week, however, gas ranges are not included in the "installation" guidelines and cannot be included due to the afforementioned Code restrictions.

We've been Sears customers for over 30 years, always purchasing our home appliances from them because they HAD good service and warranty.

Over the last 4 years the customer service and product quality has deteriorated noticeably. We purchased new appliances for our new home from Home Depot and Leon's and have been really happy with their service and have had no complaints. Reasonably quality, cheaper prices than Sears.

It's really a shame - sears used to be really good. I still have some of their old products that work as well as the day we bought them.

Not only is it late after 5 PM, but now the ones through Citi are now late after the 23rd day, for example, if your statement states that your due date is the 5th, the actual date that they charge a late fee is the 23rd of the MONTH BEFORE. We have just received our bill, which we pay the full amount that we charged every month before the due date on the top of the bill, and we were charged a $39 late fee, even though our payment was made on the 24th. We no longer will be using this card.

On Wednesday February 17 my water heater flooded my basement causing severe damage to my laundry area. I called to make an appointment with your service department and I was told someone would come between 8-12am. Being that both my husband and I work obviously someone had to take off to wait for a serviceman from Sears. By 1 in the afternoon no one had showed. When we called the service department we were told someone would come between 1-5pm. Giving these large time spans does not give individuals who need to work any grace time. At 5 pm we got a call that he was “on his way.” Only to be called back and be told that he needed to go back to his first job. We did not get a serviceman until 6pm in which he stayed for 10 minutes and stated it is not the Water Heater but our pipes. He charged us $140 for this service and $102 for a “permit”. We also took out a service contract (#[protected]) for any future problems.

Fast forward now to the next day, another day that needed to be taken off for a plumber. The plumber now tells us that it is not the pipes but the top of the water heater which is corroding. And, we now have to pay him $200 for his service. We spent the rest of the afternoon trying to get someone to explain to us how this was misdiagnosed but got no answers and just the “runaround.” My husband had to speak to several different customer service reps before he could even get a next appt. Hours on the phone with no solution. There was a lack of knowledge on what happened, a lack of courtesy and a lack of professionalism. Finally we were told that our particular Water Heater would take until Thursday to arrive from the warehouse because it was not in stock. That meant that with two kids under the age of three I would not have any hot water for over a week. I could not give my children proper baths, wash any laundry or dishes.

There was no number that linked us with a manager who could offer a solution. When we said we were willing to pay for a different Water Heater because we did not want to put the family through distress we were given the runaround again. So we dealt with it and boiled water all day for nine days in order to run our home with two babies.

Finally when Thursday did come the wrong Water Heater was sent. Yet another day taken off to get the wrong product. On Friday someone was supposed to come with the correct Water Heater but because of “snow” they did not. My husband found his way to work as did many shop owners and other professions. How come Sears get’s to take a day off when other people are suffering? Oh wait, Sears no longer actually send people from their store. You now contract out to local repair companies. So, why couldn’t anyone be sent by the afternoon when the snow had stopped and the roads had been cleared? It is not an unreasonable request

I had an emergency when my water heater started leaking and I went to Sears and purchashed a new water heater that I was supposed to have installed as the first call of the day per the saleperson. They didn't come until 3 pm on the day of installation. I told them to be extremely careful when bringing the water heater into my basement because the washer and dryer were close to the door and I didn't want them to stratch either one of them. They moved all the furniture and installed the water heater but scratched the lid of my brand new front loader dryer that I paid over a grand for. I have made 8 phone calls to them and the insurance adjuster was supposed to come out and access the damage but never did. So I have a nice scratch in my lid. DON'T EVER BUY FROM SEARS, they came out not in any kind of uniforms like they show in the picture but kids fresh out of school with all kinds of piercings. They never even bothered to follow up on my complaint after over 8 phone calls. I have an attorney looking in to it at this point.

Shame on them for not having every part for every water heater they've ever sold on hand at all times! Shocking!

That's sarcasm

It's called a service charge, he came out to your door, and you gotta pay for the companies expense.

It was definitely wrong of that [censored] on the phone to schedule the repair for the wrong product though.

From my understanding of this complaint it looks like the consumer is wrong. When Sears runs a 15% off sale on all appliances the price reflected on the sign is the price they pay unless the item is a tagged a great price, brand restricted or the item has 88 Cents on the price meaning it is clearance. If the customer takes the regular price and subtracts 15% it should equal the price on the receipt unless the item is one of the above exceptions. The only time that this would be different is if Sears is running a credit event where you would get an additional percentage off the tagged price.

Approx. 2.5 weeks ago our refidge went out. We have a repair service agreement. My wife call and they told her it would two (2) weeks before the repair guy could out to where we live. Well finally the two weeks when by and they did show up to fix it, but guess what, he did not have the right parts. He has to order them and then we have wait another two weeks before he comes back. IF I EVER WALK INTO ANOTHER SEARS STORE, SOME ONE PLEASSE SHOOT ME.

We are long time customers of Sears, as were my parents, and we have always trusted them with our appliance repairs.
I called 1/13/11 for a microwave repair. I paid approx. $125 for a service call, regardless of whether they fix my microwave or not. If they do, the cost will cover all labor, and parts will be extra. The first repair-man came 1/14/11 and said it was a certain part that must be ordered and would cost approx. $350 to fix. He charged my card & rescheduled another appt. for the next Friday, 1/21/11 to replace the part. I waited at home again, for the 2nd time during the 4 hour window, he arrived & opened the part. It was a used, broken part with freyed wires. He ordered yet another part & rescheduled the service call for Tuesday, 1/25/11. I again waited during the 3rd 4 hour window to find a different repair-man. He said I had the completely wrong part & that he would need to order another part & schedule another service for Friday, 1/28/11. OK, this part was going to be covered by the warrenty and I should get all $ back for the originally purchased part, but not until the other part is installed. It's Thursday 1/27/11 and I called to confirm tomorrow's installation time. I spoke to 2 customer service reps who basically told me I had to wait on the part & the first lady said I was scheduled for Tuesday, 2/1/11, then the 2nd lady told me I was scheduled for Wednesday, 2/2/11. I asked for a manager and for any ideas of why it was taking almost a month to fix my microwave! Basically my answer was: Cancel the order & still pay the service call, which will cause me to pay someone else a service call & start all over again, or wait for the part, and they can't refund my $ for the "wrong part" until my next service call. I was told that my "inconvenience" would be noted in my file. I WILL NEVER USE SEARS REPAIR SERVICE FOR MY APPLIANCES AGAIN & I WARN YOU TO DO THE SAME. If you do, good luck with that.

Sears repair services has been nothing but a hassle. I called over a week
Ago to have my 2 yr old fridge repaired under my sears repair protection plan. A "repairman" came last saturday and said we needed a new control board and that he would be here from 1-5 on wednesday. At 3pm wednesday he called and asked if the part had come. I was unaware that the part would be shipped to my house. He said he couldn't come today because the part had not come yet and that he would come saturday. Ups delivered the part later that day. Today I waited all day and no one came. I received an automated call from sears. I called them and they claimed they had no service scheduled for me and they couldn't do anything until july 20th this would put us with 10days without a fridge. I asked to speak to a supervisor, waited on hold for 5minutes and was hung up on. I've already taken 1 and half days off from work to have my fridge repaired. The service has been a joke and totally unprofessional. I regret shelling out $400 for repair service and for that fact buying anything at sears! We spent over $7, 000 on appliances and sears has treated me like crap. So much for loyalty.

Called Sears to repair my dishwasher. Appointment made for Sept. 12, 2017. They called and said they were on their way for a maintennance check. I informed them it was a repair call. They couldn't do it and have to reschudule again. I had to take off work 2 days with no pay because of their error. First of Oct. I called to have my other dishwasher fixed, ( only a month old ) . Appointment set for Sat. Oct. 8, 2017. They never showed up. Called to find out where they are. They had the wrong dishwasher and address. They say it was schuduled for Oct. 18. I specially made the comment about Sat. appointments, That I didn't know they had them. In my area the operator said they do. How can they make these mistakes. Doesn't anyone take pride in their jobs anymore!

Sears Repair Service for Peace Of Mind? If you want to spend time in HELL for about a month just get Sears Repair Service Protection Agreement, LOL Maybe 11 day to come out and tell you they have to order a part, a few days to receive the part and another 11 to 15 day to have a repair person to come out and install the part, This is Peace Of Mind for a FAMILY without a Refrigerator to use all the time.
NO THANK YOU, I will BUY SOMEPLACE ELSE FROM NOW ON and you should also.

I have a fairly new GE Profile refrigerator that I purchased at Sears last October, 2017. In the past week, the temperature of the refrigerator rose to 50 degrees. I called Sears home service repair and made an appointment for today from 8:00 a.m. until noon. I took off work in order to wait at home for the repairman. I was told that the repairman would call an hour before coming to confirm that I was home.

By 11:00 a.m., I called to confirm that the repairman was coming because I had not heard anything. Customer Service representative, Shirika, answered the telephone and informed me that I was still scheduled from 8:00 a.m. until noon and that I should be receiving a telephone call any minute. Just as I was hanging up, she said wait, something just changed. You now have an appointment from 1:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m. I informed her that was impossible. An “appointment” presupposes that I participated in the making of it. I had an appointment from 8:00 a.m. until noon and that I am an attorney who charges by the hour. I will lose approximately $1,000 today waiting for the refrigerator repairman. I had several appointments scheduled for the afternoon that I had to cancel.

When I asked for a supervisor, I was given the complaint department and spoke with Beatrice. Beatrice told me the same thing - that my appointment is from 1:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m. and that someone called to inform me of that. No one ever called my house. I called to check on why no one was here from Sears as scheduled. Again, I asked for a supervisor and was told that she was the supervisor, which I knew was not true. I asked for an address to write a complaint, and was told that I had her name and that is all I needed. She would not give me the name of a supervisor or an address.

I had to get online and check Sears' website to obtain an address in order to send a letter of complaint, but still no supervisor’s name. I am very upset that I have wasted a day of my time waiting for a repairman to fix a new refrigerator. It is one thing to give a time estimate of four hours, which is really unfair to working people, but to not stand by appointments is totally unacceptable. I have purchased many items from Sears in the past, but will never do so again.

The repairman showed up at 2:00 p.m. and informed me that I have to order the electronic controller. Now I have another appointment from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in a week. In the meantime, I have no refrigerator and I will need to take another half day from work (hopefully only a half day assuming the repairman comes when he says he will come). I truly regret that I purchased from Sears. I will not make that mistake again.

I have had the same problem with sears repair service, 12 days to have someone come out to check the problem with my refrigerator, said it need a part will have to order it, maybe Tuesday of next week, it is now Friday, I can only hope? No refrigerator all this time, YEP, well I had to buy a small one just to keep milk, butter etc at a cost of $ 180.00, lost $ 300.00 worth of food, Well you can see where this is heading. I will never buy a repair contract from sears again to have peace of mind, It has been hell.

I called at 8:00 AM today to get an appointment for a repairman to fix our Sears Kenmore Elite side-by-side refrigerator. It's only 4 years old and has already had a fan motor go out last year. After describing the problem a very nice young lady with a very heavy foreign accent scheduled a repair service between 1 and 5. I was impressed with the speed of service. Until I called back at 3 to make sure someone was coming today. Nope. It was scheduled for July 13th! Now really! Who can live without their refrigerator for a whole week? So I called back and got a nice young man in Texas who simply told me that since the refrigerator is no longer under warranty, it would by easier to call a local repair service - which I did. They'll be here within the hour.

The last thing we bought from Sears was a washer/dryer with a rebate offer. After never receiving the rebate, we called to inquire. Two weeks later the mystery was solved. The paperwork was rerouted BY SEARS, so we missed the deadline and no longer qualified for the rebate. (I did say it was the LAST thing we bought?)

Come on, Sears! Man up! You used to be the most reliable in the business. Now, judging by the number of complaints and my own experience, I expect to see you on the endangered species list.

Are you ###ed, you think they will care about your pathetic posting on here? You're just another profit to sears.

Anyway, let's try to knock some sense into you.

So you say the service is always late?
Did you realize you're requesting service from a large corporation that has millions of service calls every month?
Don't you think that will sometimes prevent service from being on time.
Think about the other people that had service that day. Especially the people that had service scheduled before you. Maybe when they called in to describe their problem, they didn't explain it well. That means the technician had to do more work, and therefore it took more time. Maybe it's not really the company's fault, but another consumers...
Why don't you try thinking outside the box for a change.
How many times has a mechanic pushed back a deadline for fixing your car?
Hrm... Life isn't perfect is it?
I guess no one taught you common sense...
I'm sorry.

I too will never purchase anything from Sears again. I bought a Kenmore refrigerator and it broke under warranty. The refrigerator wasn't getting cold. Two service guys and a week and a half later it still is not fixed. The last guy was here Friday and assured me it was fixed, although I disagreed with him at the time. Of course it wasn't fixed and I was left over Easter weekend with no refrigerator. Today I call and my case manager is still on Easter holiday. She will call you in the morning. They could care less and I will probably end up with nothing. It will be a pleasure to watch Sears go bankrupt too as they will because of the customer service, lousy products and bad repair service. You reap what you sow. I will never go to Sears again. Don't they get it yet?

You might consider going to a private practice (non-clinic) dentist who someone with your values recommends to you. You might even need 2 opinions. The dental clinics have different motivations and agendas by the nature of their business models.

Meant it to say have u sued them

I am having the same issue . Have used them

To whom it may concern,

This email is an attempt to explain the calamity of my recent experience regarding your customer service protocol…

My wife and I recently purchased a new home.

Sunday Sept 20th we went to Sears to purchase a new washer and dryer.

- Our sales rep Troy Albany was very helpful and we purchased a Samsung set along with 2 pedestals and two of the 3 year service agreements. All totaling $2409.31. (salescheck #[protected], tran #2473, pg #10, store #01654, reg # 122, assoc #232).

Next day delivery scheduled (Monday) and the appliances arrived on time. The delivery person tested both units and they worked fine so my wife tipped the 3 delivery persons $10/each for their effort and they were on their way…nice guys BTW.

Tues, dinner time, my wife puts the 1st load of wash into our new washer. She then returns upstairs to have dinner with myself and our 2 year old daughter. The wash cycle was set for 44 minutes. At minute 32, she went downstairs to check and the screen indicated 12 more minutes until the load was complete….no problems.

- Approximately 30-45 minutes later, my wife was screaming from the basement “Mike, oh my God, get down here, oh no, oh no, what the hell!?”

As you can see by the attached pictures, the washer malfunctioned and punctured something in the bottom of the machine causing water to flow down the side of the pedestal towards the lowest (ironically the finished) part of my basement.

Me: “Deep breath…..stuff happens….sigh…thank God we bought from Sears and not some little guy, they guarantee satisfaction…right?”

Step 1: Call 1.800.4myhome, done. They tell me to call the delivery customer service number, done. They tell me that a new washer will be delivered ASAP (Thurs or Fri) which is beginning to ease my chagrin and validate my choice of retailer (Sears).

Step 2: I’m instructed to call Sears Insurance Claims 800.727.0121 to file a claim for property damage. The customer service rep gives me a claim # L0909220718-001 and tells me an adjuster will call me in 2-3 business days. I ask if they could call me sooner and they tell me “that’s how long it takes to process”.

- My anxiety gets the best of me because I am diagnosed allergic (to the point of asthmatic) to mold and so is my wife and possibly our 2 yr old daughter but she is yet to be tested because we do not expose her to mold. 3 days is too long for all this water to sit in our dark, drenched basement before an adjuster shows up and then approves a clean up team to begin the “drying process” a day or so later.

Step 3: I decide to call Allstate Insurance to make them aware of the situation and inform them that Sears is liable but I cannot wait 3-4 days for the water to continually damage my property. A claim is submitted and they offer to send someone to my house within an hour. I told them to wait until 8am Wed morning since it is a 3-4 hour setup process to begin dehumidifying and “drying” my basement until an Allstate adjuster can assess the damage. This was not offered by Sears. Allstate tells me they will coordinate with Sears to be reimbursed for the claim and may be able to recoup my $1000 deductible as well. I express my concern that I have a “no claims” discount on my Allstate policy and am concerned about an increase in premium due to this claim. The customer service rep could not address this concern and I had to make a decision to submit a claim based on the response time of Allstate vs Sears Insurance. Likely, my homeowner’s insurance will increase.

Step 4: The anger builds and I decide to visit the store hoping that since the salesman at Sears was so pleasant and helpful, maybe his operations manager (Liz Owen?) will look at the pictures of my basement and realizing that it was a fluke thing, put herself in my shoes and imagine the hindrance of my family’s daily routine by not having a washing machine this week, the basement being in shambles for possibly 2-3 weeks until new carpets are installed, having to sleep above 7 industrial fans running 24 hrs/day for the next 3 nights (even louder than you imagine because we have hardwoods in our 1st floor bedroom), making myself available to the insurance adjuster, restoration contractor, Sears delivery guy and carpet guys (all of which means I have to leave work to meet them during their time window) and make me an offer that would reaffirm my faith in Sears as an American retail icon that stands behind their products because:

Sears:

Our Vision
Sears Holdings is committed to improving the lives of our customers by providing quality services, products and solutions that earn their trust and build lifetime relationships.

Our Mission
Build customer relationships
Make more money
Improve every day

- Unfortunately, Liz told me repeatedly that Sears Delivery are the last people to “touch my appliance, therefore my claim is against them”. I told her the washer worked fine when the delivery person tested it. Obviously the appliance is defective and my inconvenience has a value. That is why I am at the store, to discuss the value of my inconvenience…to “build upon the trust” that I had when I agreed to the 3 year service agreement…to “build customer relationships” by offering me monetary compensation for my aggravation and “make more money” by retaining me as a customer for a “lifetime”. Liz responded like a broken record…”I’m sorry, there is nothing I can do. If I offered to refund you the cost of the washing-machine, that could negate your claim with Allstate and Sears Insurance. You have to deal with them.”

Bottom Line: In closing, my situation is probably 1 in a million. I understand Liz’s limitations and protocol. In my opinion, the value of my inconvenience (including a possible homeowner’s insurance increase, time lost from work from time of incident to new carpet installation and the aggravation of shopping for a new Christmas tree, sleeping above these damn noisy fans, my basement being a wreck, leaving work to meet with contractors and adjusters, tipping the delivery guys (because I’ll also tip the guys that bring the new unit) and the time it took to write this email) is $2409.31, my service agreement extended to 5 years on both appliances, my $1000 Allstate deductible reimbursed and the $30 delivery tip reimbursed.

This type of response will rekindle my faith and trust in the American Retail Icon: Sears.

Regards,

Michael Kerl

610.986.4955

I just bought the Kenmore Elite Smartwash this summer (washer and dryer) from SEARS as well, and I CANNOT get the clothes to smell clean for the life of me! I also get the musty smell that was mentioned. Even when I use 3 dryer sheets, the clothes smell like nothing, if not musty. So, now I'm washing very small loads, leaving the washer door open between loads, and using 3 dryer sheets, and I can barely smell freshness. What a RIPOFF! My old top-loader could be filled to the rim and everything was clean and smelled awesome! There needs to be a class action suit. Oh, and the installers ruined my stair banister while installing. What a joke, SEARS!

I literally clocked out early from work today and quit from Sears Portrait Studio which was located at the once Sears Essentials store on Florida Avenue in Lakeland Florida, which is apparently changing over to Kmart. I walked off the job due to the ridiculous treatment I have had to deal with sense working with this company. The Sears Portrait Studio is going to become the first stand alone store inside a kmart.

Now to tell you what that means for our studio is that the store is going to be run to the ground because of a new manager being placed into the store when I have been working my butt off for almost a year and I actually have a college degree but no that doesn't matter. The current manager told me promises that she could not keep such as giving me more hours and that the manager was going to train me to become assistant manager. She told me this at the exact time she knew she was going to be leaving to be a manager for another studio. The new manager being placed into the studio is not going to help the studio because she has never been a manager before and she doesn't even have a college degree. The other major problem is that because of our studio going to a standalone studio all of our equipment is going to be from CPI and their equipment is CRAP it never works. This company doesn't provide any new equipment and does not provide people who actually know how to fix equipment to come out and fix our stuff. Us the employee has to call tech support and tell them about our problem and then stand on ladders and try not to get electricuted by faulty equipment.

I don't know how many times I have had to sit and wait on hold too with tech support while serving customers, taking pictures that come out like crap because of messed up equipment. Now our credit card system is going to all go through them which I can assure you will go down every day. Customers complain about the fact that we are not allowed to have more then one employee working at a time and therefore I am expected to do everything and run around like a chicken with my head cut off. I am tired of: apologizing for things that are not even my fault, having to work for crap pay, people yelling at me, going out in the store and being the companies advertiser when they have enough money to advertise they just bought out Bella Pictures, those dang coupons they send out for tons of free pictures and they wonder why our numbers are down (Mcdonalds doesn't give out free stuff all the time like this and they are fast food), tired of their constant changing outreach and collections and they wonder why their employees don't know how to get their customers into a collection it is because the prices keep increasing even though the economy is bad, and I am tired of working off clock to do the end of the night closing CRAP that takes forever, and I am tired of working through my lunch breaks when I need to eat right so that I can breast feed and pump milk.

I did not start off in this studio either I started in the Brandon studio which was by far the worst studio ever. The lady who hired me was the rudest lady I think I have ever met and she hired me telling me that I would get to work as a photographer. The whole time I worked for her she made me pass these tests that she setup for me such as taking photographs of a bear and it had to be in the exact order she wanted them in or she would get really angry with me. I only got to photograph maybe two times of real people once was of a family with a mother, father, and a one year old and the second time was of an infant. But, she said I did neither of them right and therefore I had to watch her everytime and let me remind you I have a college degree in photography. Most of the time she pushed me to the sales table when I was not comfortable in that position and I told her that at the time. I had no idea that I was supposed to do both photography and sales before I went into working for this company I really had no experience in sales. So, when I sold she would get real angry saying that I just lost a customer from coming back to the studio because of you. She would only let me sell to new customers and therefore she would say it every time you just lost another customer. Finally I had enough because I told her I wanted to be a photographer not just a sales associate and I did not appreciate the way she was treating me, so she pushed me off onto another studio the Lakeland Mall because she finally came out and said oh we really didn't need a photographer we just need a sales associate and also all the sales I made went under her personal number as if she just wanted to be a photographer and not a sales person so she could pretend that it was her sales. Of course at the time I did not know we had personal numbers for our sales. She did not even give me any of the information about how to recieve or where I could find my payment info, Associate tests on the cpi site, the discrimination or workers rights, or my job discription.

Once I transfered to the Lakeland Mall I was given more hours due to the holiday season but of course that fell once the season was over. The major issue I ran into was that I found out I was pregnant. This was the talk of the other employees when I wasn't around apparently because one of the employees who had a very big mouth and acted like she was an assistant manager came out and told me that "people are wondering if you drink a lot because you have a big belly hanging over your pants". Not only did she say this comment but before that she had asked me if I drink a lot of alcoholic drinks and she would constantly talk about her sex life saying things that shouldn't be said in a work environment I was very offended by her. The work environment was very disgusting due to not only the conversations but the dirtyness of the studio and the constant smoking breaks the employees including the manager would take even when there were customers going to come for their appointment in less then 5 minutes. I was able to sell and photograph at this studio but still was not given enough hours during the off season and therefore I was pushed to the Sears Essentials Portrait studio due to that fact that they actually needed someone because the manager was the only one working there at the time, which I just quit from now.

Picture Me and Sears have the same corporate office, and therefore same basic fundamentals. If you have another Sears in your area, maybe try there first, as it doesn't seem that Sears itself is the problem, just this one lady. Shame, one bad apple...

First of all I am sorry about your little one. Sounds like this lady (manager} doesnt have kids and its a good thing. I know when your children are small you want to capture every little moment and this lmanager sounds like she is miserable with her own life... I know its more expensive do you have a picture me...the backgrounds are adorable!good luck!

Actually when I worked for Sears, it was mandatory for all of us to discuss sales and discounts to all of the customers, due to the high range of SENIORS that were in the facility. It's hard for some people to catch up and they come in for the mass amounts of deals Sears has to offer. I agree that you should have told her that you didn't want them enhanced and that was wrong of her to do so.

I also know a lot of workers like that girl who only wanted to leave early so they just rushed through everything. It's a pretty common problem.

The girls job, tan.prodigy, is to give customer service. That's what we were all hired for. Most people don't come in with photography experience, and are trained via Sears.

I work in a pharmacy now, does that mean that I get to be [censor]y to people when they ask why they didn't pay anything for a prescription last time but now they are? No, it doesn't, because I work in a retail pharmacy, where customer service is MANDATORY. You may work in portraits, but you're still in retail, and that's why you are supposed to provide the customer with all necessary information.

Remind me never to come to your Sears to get portraits. You must be one of those workers that give the rest of you guys a bad name.

I work at sears portrait and those prices are correct. It is $30 for portrait collages and the cheapest package offer is $99.99. The 7.99$ coupon is only good for 1 pose and any additional sheets would cost you $20 per page instead of $10. Now, if you didn't need that many photos, you could have just picked out 1 photo (10$) and tell her you didn't want any enhancements (which was an additional $10.00). You didn't need to buy 8 sheets (package offer)..It's also not the girl's job to give you discounts, what the [censor]? As a employee, you can't just randomly give out discounts. It applies everywhere, not just here. You can't just go to walmart and say, "This shampoo is too expensive, give me a discount"..the girl was just doing her job. It is YOUR job (if you didn't want to pay for the said package) to say so and tell her what YOU want. Jeez woman, you're one those stupid customers that I hate. Leave Sears photo (Better for us), no one probably wants to serve you anyway.

i work at sears portraits and you should have just smacked that girl silly and told her you did not want your pictures enhanced! that's ridiculous and gives all of us a bad name when co-workers act like that! ugh