Sears' customer service is terrible. They have no excuse for that!
Written: Dec 26 '05 (Updated Mar 28 '06)
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Everybody knows Sears. Many people have shopped at Sears and own products from them. I am not a big fan of Sears but, this holiday season, I needed some jeans and other things and I got a promotional email about Sears.com so I took a look. I sure wish I had bypassed this site completely.
I will start with my experience first then give you the other details about the site.
My Experience
I went to www.sears.com for a specific pair of jeans my son wanted and I put two pairs of them in my cart. I ended up doing a lot more shopping then went to check out. Oops! Suddenly the once in stock jeans I wanted were no longer in stock. And neither were half the other items I had chosen. This was in early November so I can’t blame the holiday rush for that.
I didn’t go through with the order but, foolishly, I went back to the site on December 4, 2005 and made an order of the same jeans (Had a hard time finding the color and size elsewhere), some for my husband, and other Christmas gifts. This time, although several items I chose were out of stock at check out again, the jeans I wanted were not, so I went ahead and paid for my order.
On December 6, I got an email informing me that my package was shipped and I was given a tracking number. With that bit of holiday shopping behind me, I continued with my life – working, more shopping, going crazy like we all do at this time of year.
When December 18 came and I still had no Sears package, I called the Customer Service number and asked about it. The tracking info said my package was in my city, yet it never came to me.
The customer service rep I spoke with was rude as could be. He said they would have to put a trace on my order and it would take days to find out what happened and then blamed UPS for losing the package. He told me to call them.
And so I did. UPS informed me that they never got a package from Sears. They only got an electronic verification from them that a package was coming and to call Sears back.
I was beginning to see things were not going to turn out well for me.
I called Sears the next day and a customer service agent who was even ruder than the first one I spoke to told me they were tracing my order and it would take eight days to complete. I told her that was unacceptable. I was charged, and I wanted my items! She put me on the phone with a supervisor who told me point black the package was lost. YA THINK?
She said I could reorder the items but would have to pay for them AGAIN and then, once they found my original order, they would refund me for it. Why should I have had to do that when it was Sears who messed up? Still, desperate now because Christmas was so close, I agreed.
But alas, every single item I had ordered previously was out of stock.
I could not replace what I ordered and had no time to find the items elsewhere.
I was angry but composed and was told when the investigation was done (“UPS probably lost the package,” the supervisor said), I would get an email telling me the status.
Now, I was stuck. If they found the package and sent it, I would be OK but if they didn’t I would not have the important items. However, if I tried to replace those items and my order was found, I would be stuck with a Sears order I didn’t need and out $13.00 in shipping charges when I returned the items.
I decided to cancel the pending lost order. Guess what? I was told I COULDN’T! It was sent out, lost, and they had my money but I couldn’t get a refund “in case the package showed up somewhere.” Right.
I was ticked. I am still ticked! On December 24 – Christmas Eve, I was sent a letter from Sears.com. They told me that my order was lost and could not be sent, that they were refunding my money (They have not yet done so), and that I could call or order on the website replacement items. Which would have been great if it wasn’t about 18 hours until Christmas and if anything was in stock.
The letter was rude and there was no true apology. Just the standard “We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.” line. They OBVIOUSLY knew it caused inconvenience. They couldn’t give a 10% off the next order or a free shipping coupon? I wouldn’t shop there again anyway but the point is, I have dealt with hundreds, possibly thousands, of websites and Sears, a major site, has worse customer service, organization, and policies than so many smaller sites that get a bad rep.
I won’t order from Sears again. From their wonky website that doesn’t let you know things are out of stock until checkout, to their rude and totally ignorant customer service phone staff, to their even more rude and ignorant emailers who clearly feel that their mistake should be taken in stride, even though it was a Christmas order and I had been in contact with them and told them of my worries, to the inflated priced…Sears.com is one site I plan to avoid permanently henceforth.
Now, onto the site info:
What Sears.com sells
Sears has several categories of items including electronics, apparel, sports items, gifts, things for the home, jewelry, and more. The selection varies from a few offerings to a wide variety.
Navigation
It’s relatively simple to navigate through the site. Of course, remember that although you may see items as in stock, you won’t know until you check out of they really are which is time consuming and a big pain in the butt. Nonetheless, you can shop by category or search by keyword and hone down the items until you find what you want.
Click on the thumbnail and a larger photo appears with a description and sizing/prices. Often, if it is clothing you are looking for, there are very limited sizes. Once you chose your items and put them in the cart, you will go to the check out where you will then be alerted if anything is out of stock. If so, you have to go back and find a substitute, abandon the order, or continue with the items that are available.
The shipping charges are calculated by weight and most items are sent via UPS. Oversized items may be shipped via a different method. Standard rates for shipping run from $5.95 to $64.95 with two expedited shipping methods available if you choose to pay the extra fees. Some items are available for in store pick up (I am not sure if shipping rates still apply) and those are notated but I saw only a few things available to pick up at the store in the sections I checked.
You get a confirmation letter and then an email telling you your items have been shipped along with your tracking number but, as I saw, that means nothing as my tracking number said my items were in my city and they never even left Sears’ warehouse.
Under normal circumstances, you should get your items within four to six business days. I have no idea if that is true since my order is in Cancun or some place.
They promise to make things right and to match prices. I am leery of any promise Sears makes at this point.
Shipping and Returns
As I mentioned, shipping is based on weight and ranges from $5.95 to $64.95 for standard shipping and more for expedited shipping. Oversized and heavy items have a completely different set of shipping costs and you can read about them at the Customer Service page of the website. Shipping can be very expensive for heavy items and I recommend that you buy heavy items in the store or have them shipped to the store if there is no shipping fee for that. You could pay an amazing sum of money to have something like an appliance shipped to you and if you want to return it, you're out all that shipping!
Returns can be made at any Sears store but you will not get your shipping back there either. As with most stores, shipping is nonrefundable.
You can send items back to Sears within 90 days for some items, only 30 for others. You will be charged the dreaded (and ridiculous) 15% restocking fee for “Home Appliance, Home Electronics, Home Improvement, Household Goods, Lawn & Garden, and Automotive products not returned in the original box, unused, and containing all original product packaging and accessories.” I am not sure what that means either.
There doesn’t seem to be an exchange policy. It looks like you return the items and get a refund, and then make a new order. Of course that’s double shipping but that is how it works with Sears.
Contact Information
You can contact Sears customer service (at your own risk) by calling 1-800-349-4358. There are a bunch of other specific numbers to call for certain inquiries which you can find on their Customer Service page.
You can also send a site based email at their “Contact Us” page. You should receive an email back in a few days.
If you have a question about your order you can email them at: order@customerservice.sears.com
Lastly, their physical mailing address is:
Sears National Customer Relations
3333 Beverly Road
Hoffman Estates, IL 60179
My Recommendation
I won’t order from Sears.com again. For one, they are overpriced. Sears in general is overpriced. They now own Kmart and have the Kmart logo on the page and I am sure quality will go down as Kmart is integrated (although I had no problems with Kmart.com before Sears took over. It will be interesting to see what happens now with them).
The poor way of handling out of stock items when shopping on the site, the shipping charges which can be very high even for something inexpensive since it is based solely on weight, and the awful customer service, and complete disorganization of the people who are supposed to mail out packages leads me to urge you to stay away from Sears.com.
If you have a Sears store near you and like what they have to offer, you’ll save yourself shipping costs and headaches by going there and getting the items that way. My local Sears didn’t have the jeans I wanted in stock which is why I went through the website in the first place.
If you expect reliability, don’t. Be wary and be ready for rude customer service reps and non-apologetic emails when a mistake is made that causes you hassles.
I am not saying all orders get mixed up. I am sure the bulk of them go smoothly. But, when it mattered to me, and I spoke with several people throughout the course of the “missing package ordeal”, I was treated rudely, almost as though I was a bother to them. Then they were out of stock and I couldn’t place a duplicate order and then they told me the whole order was canceled and I am now waiting for a refund.
I have shopped all over the net and only a few times have I ever jumped through such hoops for a website and ended up empty handed. I expect far better from Sears, a large chain store. I wouldn’t be as angry if this were a Mom and Pop store but this is Sears and they should get their act together.
I give then one star. I won’t go back and I urge you to avoid the site. Not much that Sears offers can’t be found elsewhere and, if you HAVE to have something at Sears, try going to the brick and mortar store before dealing with the site. It’s a mess.
Recommended:
No
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Jeans, many gifts, other clothing
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