Here’s my story:

I would like a specific response to the following:
I purchased a gas stove and gas dryer from Sears in the Lakes Mall, Muskegon, MI. It was delivered on November 26, 2013.
1. Delivery men came to front door, came in and checked the location of appliances.
2. One person proceeded to unhook old oven and didn’t think it could be done because valve wouldn’t move. Told me that another technician would have to be called in and that in the meantime the new stove would have to be stored in the garage. His partner then came in and managed to do what the other couldn’t. Old stove was taken out via the front door and new stove brought in from the front door.(No one asked which door to use.) New stove was hooked up. Old appliance was then taken out the front door.
3. Next they were in the basement unhooking old gas dryer. I was upstairs with my grandson and smelled gas. One person was in the basement trying to cover the leak. The other person came up asking if I had any tape. I did and he went back downstairs. In the meantime, I’m opening every door and window in the house. My Grandson put on his coat and boots and exited the house.
4. I was told that the leak was under control. I wasn’t down stairs while all of this was going on because of everything else that needed my attention so I didn’t see everything that went on.
5. They again brought in the new dryer via the front door and took the old one out the same way. The logic of this escapes me since the side door would have been the most efficient route to both appliances.
6. Finally, they claimed success, showed me that the gas burners turned on and they were done. Exit the guys.
7. A little while later I went to the basement and my furnace was running but not producing heat. I called service but made no progress.
8. I had no choice at this point but to call the furnace business. Fortunately, someone could come out right away. Someone did and determined that the pilot light was out because of a dirty filter. So thought this must have just been a coincidence. Ninety-two dollars later it was fixed.
9. Shortly after that I decided to run a load of wash to see how the new dryer worked. It ran, but didn’t produce heat. I read the booklet, tried a different setting and got the same result. Too late to do anything and the next day would be Thanksgiving.
10. The next thing I found was that the gas hot water was no longer working. The pilot light was out on this as well. Fortunately my son was able to light it.
11. My conclusion is that when the original leak problem happened, in a panic, the guys turned off the gas lines to all of them. I called delivery and, yes, according to service who contacted them, they had turned everything back on. Well, I think it’s fairly obvious that simply turning the gas back on the furnace and water heater doesn’t make them produce. When the gas sources were turned off, the pilots went off!
12. Today I called about the dryer issue and won’t have a technician show up until December 4, somewhere between 8 am and 12 noon. I hope the person has some experience!
13. I am more than a little furious/frustrated and, at this point, will never again purchase an appliance from Sears. I’m very, very disappointed and am contemplating sending this message to the better bureau as well.
14. I would also like to be reimbursed for the furnace call.

My customer no-service issue involves only $70, but serves to highlights atrociously bad Sears customer service.

My nine year old Kenmore hot water heater was working fine, but on October 4, I decided to do preventive maintenance on it. Common knowledge says that routine hot water heater maintenance would consist of replacing the anode and cleaning or replacing the 2 heater elements. This is what the Sears user manual for my hot water heater says. In a normal world, the tech would have come out and presented me with an estimate for replacing the nine year old anode and heating elements. Then, per Sears policy, I could deduct the cost of the service call from the cost of repairs.

Contrary to the user manual, the tech said my heater had no anode, even after I physically pointed the part out to him and offered to give him the part number. His only response was t o look at me with a puzzled expression. He also said the only maintenance he could do was to “see if everything was OK” – without inspecting any of the three parts above. After 10 minutes, he then presented me with a $70 bill and left, but not before offering to sell me a $60 a year maintenance contract. He stated the contract would cover everything forever, as long as I paid my $60 a year. I asked if there was some way I could see this contract, but he said no; You have to buy the contract before you can see it. I have copies in my truck, but the company doesn’t like me to give them out.

As he was leaving, I asked if I could inspect the heating elements myself. He said Yes, but you will need a socket wrench and you need to drain the tank.

The tech had completely failed to do his job and I paid for nothing. I called the Sears Resolution Hotline (888-236-1885). The lady on the phone said she couldn’t help me as she did not know what an anode rod was, so she transferred me to the hot water department. In all, I was transferred to seven different customer service people. (The anode rod is used to attract corrosive elements that would otherwise attack the tank.)

Next, I got an email from Sears:
Please see below for the results of our research.
Record Number: 6224390
Research Request: Reviewed charges on service order number 40018352, for the water Heater
Research Results: All charges are correct
No explanation and none of the issues were discussed.

After another email from me, here’s the explanation I received:

We understand your concerns regarding your water heater. Our records
show that the technician only charged for the trip charge. He did not
charge for any additional work as there was no additional work done.
This is why the research team states the charges are correct.

Unbelievably, the tech said everything is fine and no maintenance needed to be done on my nine year old water heater and Sears customer service completely agrees with this.

I do not want another atrocious Sears technician to come to my home after the experience I have just had with BOTH their technician and their customer service. In fact, I am seriously contemplating installing a razor wire fence around my home specifically to keep out the Sears Blue Service Crew.

Pauline,
I still remember all too well the cycles of getting passed around to people who know nothing. On top of that insult, it amounts to at least an hour wasted out of your day to deal with their ineffectiveness–and that wasted hour or more repeats itself each time you try to do your own customer service. Shmula submissions are good therapy for recovering from Sears abuse. Bankruptcy? I’m very surprised it has not happened yet. There must be some very deep pockets propping them up at this point or else they simply have not finished burning bridges with former loyal customers.

I don’t know if GE is any better… 1.3 million dishwashers recalled due to serious fire risk.

http://www.kval.com/news/consumertips/GE-Recalls-13-Million-dishwashers-due-to-fire-hazard-165678056.html

Richard,

If only we had read shmula’s blog PRIOR to going to Sears. It would seem that the point at which Sears puts you on the meat hook is at delivery—when there is already problems with the delivery. They mislead you into thinking they are able to fix a seemingly “simple” exchange in the way they may have used to about 20+ years ago. I don’t understand why they seem to go out of their way to deliberately provide poor customer service other than corporate is simply engineering the downfall. I did learn through my experience, though, that Sears credit is under the Citibank umbrella. The story just keeps getting better…

On July 31, 2012, I copied my post on this blog and emailed my posting and the website address for this blog to Sears Corporate Customer Service and suggested they read the entire chronology of widespread customer service problems people are having.

At 10:00 am on August 1, 2012, I received a call from Sears installation department advising me that I would now be getting a full refund on my installation cost.

I called Sears and ordered a replacement of the same model. On the day it was due to be delivered, they called and said, “it will be delayed because that dishwasher was also damaged at the factory and we need to order a different one.” So, they said that it would be sent from the warehouse that evening and then installed the next day. The next day I get another automated call from Sears saying to call them because my installation would not happen. I called and was told, “your dishwasher never came from the warehouse so we can’t install it today.”

At this point, I am so irritated with Sears lack of quality control and customer service that I call them and cancel the entire order and tell them to refund my entire bill, including the installation charges. They claim they will do that. Then I have to call another number to arrange for the damaged dishwasher to be picked up. This is a major problem with Sears, you can’t talk to one office, no one takes responsibility for anything. You have to call at least three different 800 numbers. It is really horrible.

Story continues to get worse. I go to Lowes to order a dishwasher (which ends up being a terrific experience – totally different from Sears! ). While at Lowes, a driver for Sears calls and says they are at my door ready to install my new dishwasher. I explain, “that can’t be the case because Sears just called and said my dishwasher never arrived.” To which the installer says, “maybe that is why they gave me a box that doesn’t have your name on it – maybe this isn’t the right dishwasher.” Their supply chain is completely broken. A shambles.

A week later I finally get Sears out to take out the damaged dishwasher and take it back. I wait a few days to make sure I am being credited with a refund. Now the real fun begins. There is no credit for the installation charges because Sears refuses to refund the installation because I had a dishwasher installed. I advised them, “I didn’t want it installed, it was damaged, and your installer insisted that it was easier to install it now and when the new one arrived, this one would be taken out.”

After repeated calls to every customer service part of Sears I can think of, including their corporate office, I have still been told that they will not credit that cost. On top of that, their customer service manager told me they could not give me a name of any corporate officer over customer service, nor could they give me a telephone number. I have been given an email address in their corporate offices, and all the person does is respond to me in eamil referring me back to the same people I have already talked to.

My goal now is to alert everyone that buying any appliance from Sears is at your own risk. They are horrible at customer service and they do not stand behind their products or installation. What the company doesn’t realize is this has already cost them way more in lost sales – everyone at my office now knows my experience. I know of at least two lost sales.

Their process is totally broken and they aren’t interested in fixing it.

As I said earlier in the message – a totally different experience with the replacement dishwasher I ordered and had installed by Lowes. Great experience all the way through.