Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Sears: from 'swear by' to 'swear at'.

Location: Ontario, Ottawa
Industry: Retail

Went with my mother to the Sears at Carlingwood in Ottawa to purchase a dishwasher and fridge each. She also wanted a new stove. First question, though, was to inquire as to whether they delivered/installed in the evening or weekends as I work for a living and didn't relish needing to take a day off to be home when they came with the items. Sure, they said. Would Wednesday evening next week be OK?


Over $3000 of combined purchases later, we left the store. I dropped her off at her home and was just walking into my place when the phone rang. It was her saying Sears had just called saying they couldn't deliver evenings. I called them the next morning and expressed my ... displeasure at this. They said they'd get back to me. They did and stated that, OK, it would be delivered the evening in question.

Early the next week, I received a call from them saying that they would indeed deliver on Wednesday, but that they couldn't install the dishwasher that evening (hook it up to the plumbing.)

Next morning I called the assistant manager for the store and complained loudly about this. He said he'd call back. He did. Would 6 pm Thursday for delivery and installation do?

OK it would do.

Come 7 am Thursday, I get a call at work from a VERY upset mother who explained that the idiots at Sears had just tried to deliver everything. They'd apologized for being late, but they don't deliver at 6 am, only start at 7 am. Apparently they hadn't bothered to check whether the "6 am" delivery time might have been a mistake somewhere along the line. Mother canceled our order right then and there.

We went to Corbeil a few days later, bought equivalent items, and had those delivered on time on a Saturday.

Sears used to be very reliable for delivery and service, but that was many years ago before they farmed it out to an outside moving firm that could care less. Now? They're a mess and have lost our business.

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