Sears is a revered brand. It stands for reliability, solid products, longevity and responsiveness to customers. We buy almost all of our appliances from them, and we have always thought they were the gold standard for customer support and service.
Until now. While trying to get our clothes dryer fixed, I've experienced a series of miss-set expectations, which is the single greatest cause of a bad customer experience, regardless of the eventual expertise of the repair or technical person.
Background: our clothes dryer broke Friday. When I turned it on, something smelled like it was burning and it made an awful racket as the drum rotated. So, since we have an extended warranty, I called Sears.
They said they could come on Wednesday (today) between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Foolishly, I asked if they could narrow the time frame down. The customer service person blithely said the technician would call the day before the service and provide a more specific time.
Yesterday, about 7:30 p.m., I received an automated message from Sears. They narrowed the time down by a half hour. The repairman would be here between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
My husband immediately called Sears to ask if they could provide a little more precision, since we both work and our son had a class and then camp in the morning. They assured him the repairman would call "first thing in the morning" to narrow down the time frame.
Next, my husband called his office to arrange to be late for a meeting this morning. He stayed home while I took our son to his class and camp. I came home and waited. And waited. And waited.
It is 3:00 p.m. and no repairman has appeared or called. I've gotten no work done, skipped my workout, not walked my dogs, and my dryer is still not fixed. Plus, I have no reliable source of information to call to see if the repair person will show up today.
I just called Sears and they told me I am the last repair on the technician's route. I asked why I was not told this before and they said they did not know. I explained that each time we spoke, we asked for a more specific time frame, and no one could provide one. They are going to call the technician and call me back to tell me when he will be here.
If they don't call me back and no one arrives before 4:30, I will have to go pick up my son, secure in the knowledge the repair person will arrive while I am gone. It is a needlessly bad experience.
I suspect anyone reading this has been through the same wasted day I just spent. It's the way home-related business is done, whether repairs, cable installation, appliance delivery or installation, landscaping services, or anything else requiring someone to come to your house. It should not be so time-consuming and uncommunicative.
In a world as connected as ours is, customers should be able to go online, see a reliable window of time in which the repair person is likely to arrive, contact the company if necessary, and not spend eight or nine hours waiting. Most of all, if you tell a customer that something is going to happen - someone will call, someone will be at a certain place, whatever - make sure it happens the way you set the expectation it will. Sears did not follow through today.
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