
Grace of humble, TX on July 19, 2010
In mid May I called Sears' warranty service to schedule a check of my TV. The TV had light horizontal stripes and I wasn't sure if they were TV or cable related. I was told I would have to wait several weeks for a Saturday appointment. I waited.
The Friday before my appointment, I received an electronic message from Sears. It was only a partial message (as if the recorded message started before my phone's recording feature had started). I couldn't make out the message, but it did leave a phone number, so I called. I was informed that my appointment would need to be rescheduled because the technician was overbooked for the following day. I argued that I had waited weeks for the appointment, so I should not have to be the one to be rescheduled if they had screwed up the bookings. They couldn't care less. I could have an appointment the following Friday. I would have to miss a day of work! If i had wanted to have an appointment during a weekday, I wouldn't have waited weeks for my initial appointment.
Friday, June 4, 2010, came and the tech arrived. He was personable and friendly. He informed me the problem was with the TV (not the cable) and he would need to order a part and then schedule another appointment to return with a second tech (because my TV is large and was mounted on the wall) to replace the part. He returned on Saturday, June 12, 2010.The part was installed and worked for the rest of the day, but the TV reception was worse the following day. My TV now looked like a piece of colorful art. All I had was a big plaid rectangle of lights.
I called and was rescheduled for June 26, 2010. I told them there was no need for a tech to come out again, he knew what the problem was, he just had to obviously order a different part. They insisted he had to come out. On June 26, 2010 the tech came out and sure enough, it was the same problem as before, and he had to order another part. He would then have to return with a second tech to install the new part when it arrived. He showed me his schedule of available appointments, and he didn't have anything open for 2 more weeks.
I now had an appointment for July 10, 2010. On the night before my scheduled appointment, (July 9, 2010), I received a phone call from a female from Sears who said she wanted to help me to reschedule my appointment. I said "thanks, but my appointment is tomorrow and I don't need to reschedule it". She said the tech was overbooked for the following day, and I would need to reschedule. I said it was not acceptable. This process had been going on for 2 months. I needed the tech out the following day as I had been scheduled. She said she would speak to her manager and call back.
Surprise! She did not call back. The next day, I received a phone call in which I was told (Norma) that she wanted to help me reschedule my appointment. I said I had already been through that with someone who had called the night before. Since I had not received a return call from a "manager", it should already be taken care of. She said she would check into it. Surprise! No call back! My appointment was to have been between 8am and 12nn. Shortly after noon, I called the (800) 4my-home number. A female answered the phone. I couldn't understand her. I asked her name, and still couldn't understand what she said. I told her I was sorry but still couldn't understand her and that I would like to speak to Norma. She hung up on me.
I called back. I was told by the person who answered the phone that the next Saturday appointment I could have was July 24, 2010. I was infuriated! I asked to speak to a manager. I was transferred to a technician who informed me that the part ordered for my TV had just been authorized and would ship the following Monday. It would then take approximately 5-7 days for it to arrive. I said that was ridiculous. The tech had ordered the part when he was in my home two weeks earlier. The tech on the phone didn't know about that, but the request had just been approved. I said "fine, but it was supposed to have been ordered as an emergency - surely that wouldn't take 5-7 days. Where was it coming from, Japan? "The tech said oh-yeah, it should be here in about 3 days. I then stated I needed an appointment for the following Saturday for the installation.
I was placed on hold and after several minutes a woman by the name of Gabby came on the phone. (Curiously, that wasn't the name she gave me originally.) "Gabby" said she was with the customer escalation department and wanted to help me reschedule my appointment. I said fine, I want an appt for next Saturday, July 17, 2010. This went on for several more minutes. Now all of a sudden the problem wasn't that the tech was overbooked, the problem was that the part hadn't even been shipped yet.
I asked to speak to a manager - again. Gabby informed me that the manager would simply tell me the same thing she was telling me. I insisted on speaking to a manager. Gabby asked me to hold. Ten minutes later (I wasn't about to hang up), Gabby came on the line and informed me that a manager still wasn't available, she was sorry about all the problems I was having, and was authorized to offer me a $50 gift certificate. I said "thank you, but with all these problems, I don't believe I'll be shopping Sears again anytime soon. I just want my TV fixed. "She said she had to write everything down before she could connect me with Shawntae, she placed me on hold again.
After many more minutes Gabby came back on the phone and said she could connect me to a manager if I still wanted, but if I did, I would not be able to have the $50 gift certificate she had offered me. I said "Gabby let me make it very clear that I understand your thinly veiled threat, I do not want your $50 gift certificate. I want my TV fixed. "
After a longer delay, a female who claimed her name was Shawntae came on the phone. I asked her what her title was. She said she was the manager on duty and asked what the problem was. Really? After talking to just about everyone there and having been on the phone for 1 hour and 18 minutes she didn't know what the problem was? I repeated the entire sorted tale. She said, my agent has already told you, the earliest Saturday appt you can have is July 24th. I said yes that is what the agent said, but you are the manager, you can make it happen.
This extremely arrogant and sarcastic woman simply repeated, "my agent already told you, the next apartment you can have is July 24th." I asked to speak to a different manager, perhaps her manager. She claimed to be the manager; she represented the Sears Corp office. I told her I sincerely doubted she was the only manager for the entire corporate office and that I would like to speak to someone else. She told me I was welcome to call back at the same number and speak to one of her agents who would tell me the same thing. She said there was nothing else she could do for me, she didn't want to waste either of our time.