Ive seen it posted on here tons of times before, people who had horror storys about Sears home repairs. I thought it was just a few squeaky wheels or bad eggs but after today i have to say im one of them. Its a long story but one that i dont feel should not go unsaid because as a employee of Sears i expect better from us, and want our reputation to be outstanding but today I was treated like one of those disgruntled customers and non of it needed to even be a problem. Heres what happened.
Because my husband and i share one car i was at work early and since my tv has been prompting me that the lamp is dying and needs to be replaced i thought id strole over to electronics and see what we can do about that, since i bought it from sears and have a active careplan for it. I had my jacket and purse on and dont really know anyone on that side of the store so they treated me like any customer rather then a coworker, and i feel like thats where the trouble begane. After waiting around for a longer while then most people would like i wandered around to find someone to help me, they wherent from that department and called someone over there to help but also walked me back there to help me look (which was excelent customer service i might add) however thats where the gold standard took a break. I explained about my tv and that i had no idea how to go about any of this or even where to start (im softlines and our careplans work way differently) and was given a phone number and offered no further explination or help. So I call the number, 800 4 my home. I could not understand how what i needed fit any of the prompts on the menu, so i selected one that sounded like it might get me closer and again non of the promts fit in that menu so i hung up, unhelped and frustrated. What i feel like really would have helped that menu is an option for "careplan help and maintence" or "speak with an opperator" for those of us that get lost. At this point in my day i got thirsty so i headed back to the vending machines to get a drink and noticed that we have a parts and service area back there, and thought they could help me, i walked in told them what was going on they asked my phone number and said someone can be there between one and five tommorow. Great! Just what i needed and so easy. (great helpful service from those gals) But also leads to my next problem, why wasnt i directed over there in the first place instead of phone menu hell? Even if i wasnt walked over just told where it was it would have saved me some hassel, i mean i work there and didnt even know we had that section so how can you expect a regular joe off the street to find it?
Well onto the next day! Around one o'clock i get a call informing me they cant figure out if they need to go to portland or eugene from a portland phone number (for those from not around here those are about a hundred miles apart) i said i used to live in portland but moved last summer and that i had already updated my address with them twice, but she asked for it again i told her and she said "ok well ill see what we can do about this ok, bye" and hung up! I'm at school and now have no idea if i need to leave early to make the appointment or if they are even coming at all! I go on wondering this until around 4 i get a call saying the service person was running late and would it be ok to show up one to two hours late? Ive heard rescheduling horror storys on here and agreed hoping to avoid such an episode. Now, as corny as this will probably come out, I have the girls over every thursday night to watch Vampire Diaries in high deffinition on my tv, and they usually start showing up around six, the show starts at eight. We're starting to cut it close but we cant watch it at all if this doesnt get fixed soon so forward i go. 5:30 rolls around and i get a call asking for directions to my house it seems he has no idea where my address is. Just to clarify i live in the central part of town, ten minutes from everything right on a main road, its not a hard outskirts random neighborhood kind of thing. But i explain how to get here while wondering why they dont have a gps or google maps in this day and time and am told he will be here shortly so i assume we're talking ten or fifteen minutes. 6:30 comes and finally a knock at the door! He comes in looks at the tv and says oh your lamp isnt dead but its starting to run low, your fine. I say well its bringing up a prompt that says otherwise and i want it replaced so i can enjoy my programs worry free, he explains hes come unprepaired and the part will have to be ordered, so i say ok. At this point one of my guests arrives and asks whats going on with the tv i say oh the lamp is dying so im having them fix it. The service man then jumps in its not dead! you can probably get another couple months out of it. That may be true i say but the picture is already much dimmer then it was before and is getting difficult to see. I then get told that thats what happens when a light bulb gets used for a while (the frustration level at this point is rising) So i say, when can i expect my new lamp? About a week or two til it gets here he says and then tells me I'll be installing it, not sears. I told him i didnt think that was a good idea, i can plug in a tv but taking one apart is not in my credentials, so he makes me take it apart to see how easy it is. And this part really made me mad! I paid good money so that i would not ever have to try to repair that tv myself, there are all kinds of latches and levers and things i just dont understand on there and if i break something, who is going to pay for it? Me. Thats why i paid to have it taken care of, if i put in that new lamp and do something wrong and break the whole tv, odds are sears isnt going to say oh thats ok heres a new one, they will tell me i voided the warrenty and should have called for my free repairs i signed up for. And his solution to the prompts my tv has been sending me was to disable them so now if my tv breaks im just going to have to guess that somethings going wrong. He then gave me a shipping label to send the old lamp back with because it has hazardous materials in it which i dont think i feel comfortable mailing since everytime i go in the post office it says its highly illegal to do, im probably going to take it to the store and have them mail it for me. After this i get a reciept showing the value and cost of all this "work" thats been done. it shows my six month check up has been preformed which it was not because usually when they come that involves cleaning it and doing an inspection, neither of which happened, and labor for the lamp to be replaced valued at $127, NO LAMP GOT REPLACED! it doesnt cost me anything but what happens when i call to get it installed, its now in the system that its already been done. This whole thing was just an excorsize in frustration and it really makes me sad that thats how my company treats customers in their own home. I like my job, and dont want to see any harm come to the company, but if this is our standard we need to really revaluate because i sure would not recommend this experience to any of my friends and something has got to change because im sure others would have been just as upset, and probably would have been on the phone chewing someone out for it.
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