Sears Lawn & Garden

You have to hand it to Sears. The fading legend has a remarkable ability to alienate some of its oldest and best customers. There are also some interesting questions about the warranty on Sears' garden equipment.

Sherri of Pangburn AR (10/02/08)
I bought a riding lawn mower craftman from sears and it has been nothing but junk from day one. From day one it has never cut even and it leaves a inch strip right in the middle even after sear came out and put new blades on and done what they call a ajustment, but it still left a strip right in the center. I will never by any thing craftman again and my mother had the same thnk, plus my friend next door. Craftman is a big joke.

Wesley of Harrison, AR September 27, 2008

Wesley of Harrison AR (09/27/08)
I bought a gas blower which is continually advertised as on sale for 99.00 I have since discovered. I had it for 3 months and used it twice. I have a lawn service so don't need to use it much except to clean up between lawn service days it needed. On my third use, the pull chord broke out. I took it back to sears and was treated quite poorly by the manager who would not exchange it because I was 1 day past the 90 day return policy. I didn't see the policy anywhere until he pointed out that it was on the back of the receipt. Had I been given the receipt before I purchased I would have known that. And who buys something expecting that it will break. Well obviously sears sells products they expect will break quickly and no longer stand behind their products.

Instead I had to return to the store a few days later, give it to them for 2 weeks so that they could repair it, return to the store to pick it up. This hassle is not why I buy new products. I have decided that it is no longer worth dealing with sears because they no longer stand behind their products and there are choices of other stores I can go to that do stand behind what they sell. Home Depot and Lowes for instance. Sears has lost yet another long time customer.

Also, they are no longer honoring their tool guarentee for some reason. But there are other companies that do have a life time guarentee. All this, when a simple I am sorry, let me take that and have our repair department take care of it. No returning 2 more times, no two weeks to fix it. Or even, I am sorry, sears does not sell faulty equipment, let me get another one which should take care of you. Instead I was treated as if I was not worth the effort and my money was not important. Well I guess it is not.

Sears lost a long term customer. I was without my recent purchase for 2 weeks and made 3 trips to the store to get it fixed and get it back,

David of Foster, KY September 22, 2008

David of Foster KY (09/22/08)
I have a 12 year old Murray GT 18.5 H.P. with a 46 deck. It still works perfectly. I recently purchased a new 21 H.P. Sears Craftsman Garden Tractor. I thought I would give my old Murray a break. There is no comparison. I have already replaced the fuel tank on the Sears mower.

I have performed usual maintenance on both of my mowers but I can always count on the Murray. As far as the engines in my opinion (the Murray has a Briggs & Stratton 18.5 H.P.and the Sears has a Kohler 21 H.P), the Briggs & Stratton engine is superior. I am very proud of my Murray Riding Mower. I have taken care of it and it has taken care of me. Thank you.

Cynthia of Anderson, SC September 11, 2008

Cynthia of Anderson SC (09/11/08)
Purchased Craftsman lawnmower, arrived April 30, this year. Less than 10 operating hours on it, thanks to our drought. Was cutting grass and it locked down completely. Called Customer Service for repair and was given an appointment date three weeks out - Sept 11. Sept 10 received automated call to confirm Sept 11 service appointment between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Instructed to call if I needed any info or to reschedule.

Called to request narrower time frame, since I'd have to take off from work. Was told no, they couldn't do that. Asked for a supervisor. We were immediately disconnected. I called back and was told they could narrow the window down to a morning or afternoon appointment. When they pulled my file I was informed that they had received a memo that the area's service tech was overbooked and I'd have to reschedule and the next available date was Oct 2. I informed the rep this was not acceptable and asked for a supervisor. The supervisor informed me of the same memo and only after nearly 15 minutes of discussing the matter did he finally say he'd squeeze me in for Sept 11 as originally planned.

I called back the next morning (day of the original service appt) and was informed that the tech would not be coming and I'd have to reschedule. I went through the same saga with this rep, then finally asked for a supervisor again. She agreed and transferred me. At which point, the phone went dead. I called AGAIN, went through the same thing, again asking for a supervisor. This time, the guy says he'll transfer me. I stayed on the line for nearly 10 minutes, after which the line went dead again.

I called back a third time, went through the same thing with the third rep of the morning, asked for a supervisor again, and was immediately dropped again. My dad then attempted to contact local store managers, and is still waiting for them to return his call. And as of now, there is still no one coming to repair my brand new broken lawn mower. So much for Craftman quality and Sears Customer Service. They've lost my business for good.

Inoperable 1000+ lawn mower, useless 300 bagger, and 50 mulching kit and several hundred dollars on a useless extended warranty so far. I'll likely be paying for repairs my warrantly should have covered and end up buying another lawnmower.

Jack of Gassville, AR September 8, 2008

Jack of Gassville AR (09/08/08)
First time I have saw this page.  Sears - the worst place in the United States to do business. I have in the past bought serveral thousand dollars worth of items from Sears. Started to back off when their repair parts went out of sight in price. But they did teach me a valuable lesson and one that I am proud to share.

Back in September of 2003 I bought a power washer from Sears. Before I ever had a chance to use it my unit was called up for Active Duty to prepare to move to Iraq. I never used the power washer. When I returned home I got the power washer out of the box for the first time. It ran about 30 minutes and froze up. I got it repaired after going through 15 rounds with Sears. No one wanted to listen to me.

Finally someone from Sears sent me a voucher to get the machine fixed. I did - but it didn't work. I did everything but get physical to have them repair this thing. Finally some kid at the repair shop looked at it got it running but it would go a few minutes and freeze again. He finally decided it had to be in the pump and took the bottom off of it. Guess what - the bearings were missing. Came from the factory that way. But now the engine was gimped up from not just myself but the repair folks trying to mess with it.

Sears refused to exchange it or give me my money back. Unfortunately I could not really augue. The reason - By the time my National Guard unit deployed and came home more than 12 months had went by. The warranty was gone. Forget that this unit had less than one hour running time. Although brand new - Sears refused to honor their own product. What a lie to state 100% satisfaction guaranteed. The best I can tell you is that I absolutly avoid a Sears store.

I lost 460 dollars. It didn't kill me, it was just the principle of the matter. A factory defect that the store would not honor. Hows that for standing up for your country. I do my part for the military and Sears gets to jam it up my ......

Wl of Bentonville, AR August 26, 2008

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