Sears Customer Service

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Dave of Hayward CA (8/6/04):
I'm an employee at a Sears in the Bay Area. I believe Sears' main problem is customer service. Our managers want us to use something called a "discovery guide" (which is a little blue book) for every customer we deal with, even if they're just looking for a screwdriver! I personally try to avoid using the book except for big ticket items. The questions in the book are ones like "who will be using this product?" "what's your purpose for using this product?" Finally it asks for the customer's name, address and phone number.

Now sometimes you need to use those questions to find out what exactly the customer wants. However, if I was a customer i would find giving my name and address and phone number a little intrusive, especially if I'm just buying a screwdriver!

Another thing Sears must improve on is "In stock" -- the saying they push on the employees is "Fast, Helpful and in stock." Well, I as an employee can be fast and helpful, however it remains up to management to hold up the "In stock part". I can't begin to count how many sales I've lost because there was not something in stock. I've worked at Sears for 2 months now and there are still things that aren't in stock that weren't in stock when I started working there!

The reason Sears employees are always pushing the merchandise protection agreements is because the managers are always on them to sell them. The reason you ask? Well the managers get a bonus at the end of the year depending on how many "P.A.'s" were sold. I know in my department, if i sold $1 million of merchandise in a day, but i missed 5-10 P.A.'s i would get yelled at, even though i sold $1 million of merchandise.

Teresa of Atascadero, CA, writes:
I purchased a Miter Saw for my husband for Christmas on 11-24-00. At the time of purchase they asked me if I would like an extended service contract on the saw. I told them NO and DID NOT purchase the extended warranty.

They called one night at 8:30 p.m. and I had already gone to bed and asked my husband if he wanted an extended warranty on the saw he had purchased. The next morning my husband informed me of the phone call and knew what his main Christmas present was going to be. I was angry since I had told them at the register that I DID NOT wish to purchase the warranty.

I called and they were less than sympathetic. They have been in business long enough to know that around that time of year people are purchasing Christmas presents and they could at least wait till after the new year. I left my phone number with an employee who was to give it to a manager for a return call. I never received a return call from him.

I spent hours on the phone because I was so angry that they had ruined my surprise to my husband. What really made me even more mad is the call from them again the very next night after I had vented to several people. They called for a second time and asked me (I answered the phone) if I wanted an extended warranty on the saw. I couldn't believe it. They had supposedly e-mailed the company or people responsible for the phone calls. I want this stopped so others do not go through this same aggrevation.

Sandra of Colorado Springs writes:
When shopping for appliances, there may be 3 or 4 sales people in the washer/dryer area, but they are not allowed to sell refrigerators. So if all the sales people in refrigerator department are busy, the other sales people cannot answer questions about the refrigerators or sell them.

This is a complete lack of Customer Service. It promotes disgruntled customers (myself) by having to wait. Also, I might mention, the sales people are on commission, so the sales people are losing out on commission. Most of all Sears advertises satisfaction guaranteed, but if they are not waiting on their customers in a timely manner with such stupid policies as split departments, the customers are not happy after purchasing because they have to wait so long.

I wanted Sears products but find the lack of compassion for the consumer very nerve racking.