I received a sales catalog with a very nice grill listed at a very good price. It had a code listed to find it on line at the Sears.com website. The website was great. The item was easy to find and looked great.

We have a small Sears store in town but when my husband was in this store it was not there. We decided to check on line to see how much shipping would be to ship it to our local store. They said this could not be done. The nearest store they could ship it to was 60 miles away.

But, the item said it was eligible for a free shipping rebate to my home. We decided to do this. I ordered the item.

It was late in the evening (11:30 PM) when we placed the order so I checked the next day and low and behold- there was a five hour sale and it was $20 cheaper. I wanted to cancel my order and place a new one at the sale price. I called and was told I could not cancel my order because it was shipped to my home and not a store. I could refuse shipment, but then would be charged for the shipping ($59.50). At first the lady on the phone said that she could not issue a credit, but then said OK she could not issue the credit herself but could submit it for credit.

The description said that it usually shipped within 2 days of order. After a few days of not receiving it I called. It was on backorder and they had no idea if it would be available before Christmas. But, they could cancel my order. I was very unhappy that I was not notified of this back order. (Sears managed to send me advertisement emails but could not manage to send me a notice of this!)

I checked the Sears store at the town 60 miles away and they had the grills there, so the lady that canceled the back ordered grill placed a new order for a store pickup of the grill at that location. However, I would not receive confirmation and a notice for pickup on that item for 3-5 days!! What? I wanted to pick it up in a day or two! They would not let me pick it up without processing it first and emailing me with a pick-up notice. I could however just go to the store and buy the grill- but not for the same price with the $20 credit. Basically, I would have to pay $20 more for it if I did it this way. I decided to wait for the order to process.

I waited - still no notice!!! Then I called the small Sears store in town to see if they had any of those grills. Yes, he had just unpacked 5 off the truck minutes before I called. But still, the problem of paying $20 more for it. But wait, they guy told me if I would wait until tomorrow to come in it would be $20 off. He put my name on one and we went the next day to pick it up. Wonderful Grill- probably worth the trouble for the price I paid for it.

I called and canceled the second order. But here's the kicker- The pickup notice still came in a few DAYS. But the day after I received that pick-up notice, I received another notice that they no longer had these grills at that location. What if I had drove 60 miles to find that out? And by waiting all those days to process my order and issue a pick-up notice they SOLD OUT of the product. Why in the world would it take DAYS just to process an order? Is anyone working there? Are they hand writing it on carbon paper? Maybe they should take a computer off the sales shelf and try that. It's like their stores and their web site are unable to communicate. I have learned a lesson on Sears.com. - SHOP AT THE ACTUAL STORE. If you have to order it shop elsewhere!

Recommended:
No

What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Kenmore 539 sq. in. cooking grill