One week and eight calls later, no repairman has darkened my door

I called Sears at 4:20 p.m. today to see what the status of my repair was. They've changed their login procedure so it took me two calls to get through. Now when you call and say "repair" it asks you if you want to know what time your repairman is coming. If you reply "yes," it will tell you your repair job is scheduled between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. So, since I already knew that and there were 23 minutes until my window expired, I had to call back.

On the second call, I was forwarded to "Randy." He told me that the repairman was at site six and I was site seven. He hastened to add that he did not know how long it would take the repairman to get through at site six. I asked him why I was last on the list yesterday and last again today. (Perhaps those who complain are booted to the end of the line - at this point, I'd believe anything.) He said he did not know, but he did inform me that the repairman had two more stops after mine, which mean there are two other unfortunates with spiraling blood pressure and non-working Sears appliances on the Front Range tonight.

I explained to Randy that, just like yesterday, I had to go pick my son up from camp and so I would not be here when the mythological Sears repairman arrived. I told him that we would have to reschedule since I had plans. He told me that the repairman might appear any time, which, by implication, means I'd have to leave my son in camp until the repair was complete. Unlikely.

I asked again to change the appointment, and he told me he would have to send me to the "clothes dryer" department. That was another new wrinkle in the endless hunt for the mythological repairman to honor the worthless extended warranty. So, off I went into hold land.

This time, I apparently landed in North America somewhere near Texas, and I spoke with a retired guy named "Bob." He had a reassuring twang and a folksy way of calming down irate customers like myself. He told me that if I would just hang on, the repairman would arrive. No can do - I love my son, and don't want to pay late fees to the camp for a lackadaisical Sears repairman who is apparently entranced with site 6 each day.

Bob then said the repairman could come back after I picked my son - late tonight. Now that is new - why was that not on the table last night, when I did not have plans? I had to turn it down tonight, because I did have plans, and, unlike the nonexistent Sears repairman who may never visit my house, I honor my commitments.

So, Bob offered to send him tomorrow. I said no, I had pre-existing commitments I was no longer willing to cancel for the whimsical Sears repairman. Ditto Monday. So, Tuesday, we will begin again. The same repairman - I did ask for another, but was turned down- will come out to my house between --- all together now -- 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. I will get a call narrowing the time frame down the night before. The technician will call the morning of to make sure we have a firm time. Oh, Bob. You had me going with that down home accent, but you're selling the same KoolAid as the rest.

I patiently explained how my very recent experience differed from his idealistic outline. Bob insists that the technicians can see the routing the night before. I said that may be true for some, but I could give him the names of the ones who could not, both in line management and in customer relations. He was puzzled, he said, since he had old-timers familiar with the system calling him starting about seven every night to ask him when they could expect their repairs the next day. He added all he could tell them was what number they were, but that gave them enough of a general idea that they could plan their day.

So, if you are silly enough to buy Sears appliances after reading all of this, and you somehow decide that an extended warranty makes more sense than lighting your money on fire and enjoying the glow, call Bob in "Kitchen" when things inevitably go sideways and your repairman is delayed by the desperate housewife at house 6. Bob says you cannot ask for him, but Sears folks say you cannot do lots of things - and the things they say you can do never materialize. So, ask for Bob and give him my regards if you get through.

Other complaints about Sears' bad customer service

Since I am stuck at home, I thought I'd Google "Sears bad customer service." There are 39 stories that use that phrase, from sites like ripoffreport, blogasm, epinions, and my3cents.com.

Shockingly Bad Customer Service - Appliance Repair - My Home
Posted By: Darwyn on My3cents.com on 4/22/2008; Location: CA

More Bad Customer Service: Sears Seriously S**ks June, 2008

This article claims the individual tried to call Sears' CEO and was told he has neither voice mail nor email. Their issue is that they ordered an item online and were sent a damaged floor model. The hoops they're jumping through are much more frustrating than my relatively small issue.

They provide an Executive Customer Service number: 1-800-549-4505. Someone says in a follow up post that Sears' CEO has been ousted.

Sears customer service information from an employee (from 2004) and a complaint from a customer about the relentless calls to extend the warranty Location: CA

(Incidentally, we have extended warranties on all our Sears appliances. That was clearly a mistake)

In fairness, here is a positive story about Sears' customer service, although the theme seems to be keep going until you get to the right executive to fix your problem.

I think this guy sums it up, though. Here is a teaser:

"What really sets Sears apart, however, is their ability to be so consistently bad at customer service up and down the line. Recall that at this point I have had bad service from a service technician, a saleswoman, a manager, and a customer service rep. But Sears was just getting warmed up."

Sears brand, the old reliable, is certainly not what it used to be.

Sears bad customer service, part four

It is 8:20 in the morning. I forwarded my home phone to my cell while I took our son to camp. Unsurprisingly, Sears did not call as promised first thing this morning.

"Lloyd" takes my information again. I am intrigued that their process requires me to give my name, phone and address every time I speak with them. He asks me for my zip code and informs me helpfully that I live in Castle Rock, Colorado.

He sends a message to the technician telling him I have called six times and asking him to contact me. We shall see what transpires today. I did, against my better judgment, cancel all my appointments today, because I have to get this clothes dryer fixed.

Sears bad customer support, part three

The manager did not call, so it is now 8:10 and I am calling customer support again. The automated customer service system told me I was asking about the appointment scheduled from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. tomorrow. Uh, I guess so.

I spoke with Ellie and asked for customer relations.

8:10...Please wait...
8:11...Please wait...
8:12...Please wait...
8:13...Please wait...
8:14...Angelina answers. She says she cannot see the routing to see when the technician will be here. She asked if I could stay home tomorrow from 8:00 until 5:00. I told her I could not cancel my business appointments at 8:00 at night, and that I did not have a lot of faith that the repairman was going to show up. I added that I had asked Kia to find out if the technician could be here between 2:00 and 5:00 when I would be here. She asked if I could wait until someone called me first thing in the morning to tell me when the repairman would arrive (sound familiar?). I told her that was the fourth time someone promised to call me from Sears and I had little faith I would receive a call.

She said that all they could do was email the service person. (I am sure the support center is not located in Denver) So I cannot contact the local technician directly, and customer service cannot contact the local technician directly.

So, at 8:26, the sagae for today is at an end. The support guy is probably finished with dinner at his house, ignoring his email, and enjoying a cold one. Tomorrow, I suspect I will begin the battle to get my worthless Sears warranty refunded and find a competent, responsive local repair person who communicates with his customers. In the meantime, there are wet clothes strewn all over my house ,and my opinion of Sears, a company where I used to really love to shop, is severely diminished.

Sears update: technician cancelled appointment, no one called

So, I called Sears at 4:30 to see when the repair person was coming. The customer support person said. "He is running late so he canceled your appointment." I asked, calmly enough, "How would I have found that out if I did not call you?" he responded, "Uhhh...I don't know."

I asked for management and explained how poor this experience has been. She said we were scheduled for tomorrow, but she could not tell me what time we were schedule for until after 6:00 this evening. She promised to call.

Sears: Bad Customer Service, Status Quo, or Both?

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.