This is a long rant about my experience with Sears.
In mid June 2008 our AC unit broke down. We called Sears to come repair it --under warranty, and were told the earliest they could come was July 16th. Great; a whole month without AC. We made due, and waited until the 16th. Early that morning we received a call telling us that the technician (they one guy, that does AC work?) called in sick, and would need to reschedule for the 25th.
I called the "executive" center and spoke to a guy that sounded like he was constantly getting pounded with a barrage or crap from people that his company had jerked around. I explained to him that I have an 8 week old baby in the house, and a hot home carries an elevated risk of SIDS, and poses other health risks.
The "executive" customer service rep scheduled me for a week later, and promised me I would not be bumped, and administered that it was common practice to bump people on the first and second appointments because they are so short staffed. We waited.
The AC Technician showed up asking for $100.00 because it was a "collect call" I argued that this was free warranty work, and called the service center. After 45 minutes of him arguing with the service center, he gave up, and started to work without the $100.00. He located a freon leak, but told me he didn't have any freon in his truck (because I guess freon is a rear and special material that HVAC technicians never have to use --except maybe daily?). After much arguing, he rescheduled me to July 30th, and promised he'd be here. We got a call on the 29th saying that a technician would show up between 8 AM and 5 PM (waiting around the whole day!?). Around 3:00 PM on the 30th we started calling the service center, and were promised that we'd have a tech at our house by 5. 5 rolled around --no tech. We started calling, and were told someone was on the way. 6 --no tech. 7 --no tech. Each time we called were were told someone would come.
We got a call at 7:50 after 12 hours wasted, and were told he wouldn't arrive today.
So now we've been waiting for 6 weeks to have our AC repaired.
No one cares at Sears. I've made dozens of calls to Sears about this issue, and no one cares. They like to shift blame, but essentially the company is broken.
If a company were to hire people based on the fact that they were worthless imbeciles from the board of directors on down, and pay them terribly then you'd start to understand how Sears works.
Please, stay away from Sears. If you're an investor short it. This company is broken, and needs to go under. If you're a potential customer, stay away from them at all cost. If you want to work for Sears, don't. You'll have to deal with pissed off customers all day long, and bad management.
