Sears Stinks

You can go to eComplaints.com and read more complaints by entering "sears" in the "Search All Complaints" search bar.
Mine is listed as EXAGY006195
You can also go to The Complaint Station to read hundreds of complaints on Sears. Note: There are several individuals there claiming to be employees of Sears who do nothing but ridicule the people who make complaints. Not surprising at all if they really are Sears employees.
At Sears Screws Customers you can read some more stories.
And at AngryNet you can see even more Sears horror stories.

On 2-28-00 I ordered (for the third time) a replacement end cap for the handle of my Whirlpool ET22DKXXN00 upright refrigerator/freezer.

This is the third time I ordered this part because it keeps breaking. This part is not breaking due to rough treatment, it is breaking because it is made of inferior metal. Anyway, I order this part on the phone, calling 1-800-MY-HOME, giving the guy the part number (944163) and the model of my fridge. He says he has it and it will be $19.14 including shipping. After I tell him that is ridiculous for a cheap little piece of metal that will break within 6 months, I give him my credit card number because I have no choice--no one else sells this stuff. So I ask him to be sure that it comes with this little flimsy strip of vinyl-looking stuff shaped like a wedge that covers the bare metal and matches the rest of the fridge.

He says there is none. Knowing what kind of morons typically work at these type jobs, I say ok and let him ship this thing out because I have to get the freezer door working. The part came in today, 3-2-00 and as expected, there was no plastic cover. I called back and got customer service. The lady found the part I needed (1114390) immediately, but then she stated it was going to be $10.49 + shipping! I asked her if she realized she was talking about a piece of thin plastic or vinyl film only about 4" long. She was not shocked, I suppose, because she sells overpriced garbage like this to people all day long. After I explained to her how the moron sent me out only part of what I told him I wanted, she did say they could waive the shipping on the piece of plastic--not that this made it any more affordable.

I sent the above text in a letter to them. On March 16 they sent me back a form letter telling me the part numbers, prices, and a specially highlighted section telling me that if I want both parts, I have to order them at the same time. THEY DIDN'T READ MY LETTER!! So I am sending their letter back to them with another copy of mine.

I wrote back to them on 3-20-00 and returned their form letter and another copy of my letter:

Stupid idiots, did you even READ my attached letter I sent the first time? I didn’t expect your entire company to consist of a bunch of freaking morons, but you pretty much prove it when you let an idiot like this field customer service complaints…

UPDATE!!--Nov 11, 2000--my brand new crap from sears is broken already.
It lasted from 3-2-00 till 11-11-00, 8 months and 9 days for $19.14.

On 11-13-00 I sent an email to the customer service department using their online form and I referenced this URL instead of explaining it all again. Someone wrote back asking for my fone number and today 11-14-00 she called asking if she could help. I asked if she had read the site, she said no, she didn't have access to the web, so I had to explain the whole thing to her. She put me on hold several times while trying to get a third party to help and came back once to ask me what my previous phone number was, because when they looked up my current one, they somehow found the last owner of my house, even though that person did not have this phone number. That's weird. So I gave her my previous phone number and then she hit the hangup button.

I finally managed to get someone who knew how to use a telephone and she said she would get someone to contact me. A few days later, I got a call from a lady who said she was in charge of the Parts/Service center in my town. She said she would have a new part sent out under warranty and have someone come out and install it. That would have been a nice resolution to this, but for the next 2 weeks, Sears called my house daily, up to SEVEN TIMES ON ONE DAY, trying to get me to set a date for the service guy to come out and screw in 4 screws. I kept saying that I didn't have it yet and they kept saying that I should. I started telling them not to call me any more if they were not interested in finding out where the parts were, instead of worrying about an appointment that didn't matter. Not one of them would make the effort to track down the package and they would all just hang up after saying to contact them when I got it.

Finally, one day, a service guy called and I went all over it again with him. He said he would check on it and he found that Sears had mailed it to themselves!! So he came out the same day and after I showed him how (yes, he was putting the 4 screws in wrong), he correctly installed the endcap and the film. He printed out a receipt on his laptop computer showing that he was billing Sears for a $187 repair, including the cost of the parts (which had again gone up since I last bought them. I'm glad I didn't actually NEED Sears to install this part for me...

Also, about once a week now I still get letters from them saying they tried to contact me but were unsuccessful and to call them back. First of all, this is a LIE, they have not tried, I have an answering machine and caller ID and there are no messages or ID entries showing they ever call during the periods claimed in the letters. Then when I call them back, they have no clue why I was sent the letter. All they can tell me is that it was about the service. Nothing else. When I demand to know who is responsible, they just tell me that it must have been a clerical error--every time???

So I finally have a resolution from Sears other than buying the part myself, for once. But I hardly consider it successful after all the incompetence and apathy I had to endure on Sears' part. Of the entire ordeal, I came across 2 people who actually cared about what they were doing, the parts manager lady and the repair guy. Otherwise, this is the most incompetent company I have ever dealt with in my entire life. The problem will never be completely solved, though, until the part is made from stainless steel instead of cast aluminum.

I got a survey phone call from them the other day following up on the service and they asked if I was happy with the resolution. I told them I was happy to have gotten a free part after all of the ones I have paid for, but I was totally unsatisfied with the behavior of the staff. So she says, "So you would say you are happy with the outcome?" Noooo...(repeat ad nauseum)