Sears
reviews and complaints

To Anyone Who Really Cares,

I am truly disappointed in my recent contact and results with Sears Customer Service. When I graduated H.S. in 1979 I was given a set of Craftsman tools by my parents. I still have and use many of those tools to this day. For the last 35 years I have bought pretty much nothing but Craftsman tools from Sears. I have always been extremely happy with my tools and the level of service in my local Sears store.

So when my son graduated in June of this year I ordered through the Craftsman Club a set of engraved sockets and wrenches. Original order number #2547518 ($211.09). It was backordered to begin with which was fine, understood. But here is where things go downhill. When the set arrived there were several pieces missing. I contacted client services and was instructed that since this came directly from the manufacturer. I was advised that it would be faster to ship them directly via US Post Office and to get delivery confirmation and insure the package, which I did and I would be credited and re-embursed for this set. On the same day which was 7-12-09 I placed a second order for the same set (2567482). It arrived on 7-16-09. This time the set appeared to be complete but the engraving was wrong, instead of saying Joshua Quick Class of 09 it said Class of 90. I immediately called client services and was told that a UPS ticket would be issued for a return on this 2nd set that was incorrect. The person I spoke to asked for my debit card number stating she only needed it for a credit on the first order, which I still had not received the money back for. She said several times that no money would be taken from my account and that she was giving me a 20% discount. My wife checked my account an hour later and $190.00 was pending to be taken from my account which I had just been told would not happen. I called back and asked to speak to a supervisor, was handed off to Eric. I spent 45 minutes on the telephone with him and he promised I would have the money from the 1st wrong kit by Monday back in my checking account. I also asked that he send me an email with the details and result of my telephone call with him.

What happened next, the $190.00 was put back into my account, no email confirming my conversation. I did get a pick up ticket call from UPS the following Friday July 25th a week after my conversation with Eric for the second incorrect set.

So basically I am still out about $450.00 for my son's graduation presents that I ordered back at the end of May and he still does not have the engraved tool set.

I am very disappointed in my recent contacts with Sears and these transactions. I do not have all this extra money to be waiting for the return of not to mention not having the product I ordered after 3 attempts.

We purchased a Kenmore refrigerator from Sears.
It was delivered on time, which was good.
However, when the delivery people were here, we noticed that the door was not in the direction in corresponding to the kitchen. We asked them to switch the door side. They said it was too late, we can call service the next to have them do it for us. We called, there is a 70-dollar charge. Nevertheless, they said that we could have asked the deliver people to do it?
We also noticed that the coin-shaped seals underneath of the freezer door and fridge door are not closed. Instead, the foamy yet solid insulation material was squeezed out of the holes.
Furthermore, it did not have the heavy sucking strength while we close the fridge door. We realized soon enough that about a foot of the insulation sealing rubber trim on the fridge is crooked. You can actually stick your hand to reach the inside of the fridge while door is closed!
It is hard for us to believe that a refrigerator at this quality can be passed by inspection to be sold in the first place, and we cannot believe they actually ship the defected product to consumer!
Yet when we ask them to switch sides of the doors for the replacing refrigerator, they said that might not be done because it was not requested at the initial order. However, we never knew it was an option and the sales person never offered the option. The only thing the sales person mentioned was that we need to be sure it can fit into the space we have, otherwise there would be a charge for return!
Although they have scheduled to replace the product today, we have already lost faith in both Sears and Kenmore. Quality control as well as customer service were both severely compromised.
We will have to carefully inspect the refrigerator that will be delivered today.

I purchased a "reconditioned" side by side after being reassured that it had been inspected and certified as 100% working. I was trying to decide between a new refrigerator and this one, the sales person assured me that it was no risk to purchase the reconditioned one because if anything went wrong, I would have a Food Reimbursement Guarantee. The unit was delivered on a Wednesday and NEVER worked. Sears finally sent a repairman out on Friday and he said the unit's system was restricted and had been tapped. It shot oil out as he examined it. I returned the unit on Saturday and it took 3 WEEKS for them to credit my debit card. Customer Service at the store is HORRIBLE. DO NOT DO BUSINESS HERE! They are refusing to reimburse for the Food Loss. I had to go to the District Manager to be reimbursed the delivery fee.

July 23rd, 2009

My Sears Disaster Story:

I have always purchased my appliances at Sears because in the past, they have been decent products, and they were always good about their word and warranties.

So when we built our dream home, I purchased a DCS Gas range, range hood with heating lamps, and 2 Kenmore Elite dishwashers. I wanted the best products out there, as we are avid cooks and we really have a dislike to washing dishes. So we bought 2 dishwashers, and had them installed in our dream kitchen. We spent over $20, 000 on the Sears products I mentioned.

From day 1 the dishwashers haven't been working the best. So I called Sears. They blamed it on our water..perhaps our water wasn't hot enough. So we had our Plumber come out. Paid for him to make an assessment that it wasn't our water. It was good and hot. It had to be the dishwashers. I called Sears again...and they took a look. At first they thought it was the soap dispenser. They replaced that. Still no luck. In the meantime, the service repair man ( Mr. Appliance) forgot to reconnect a hose and when I turned on the dishwasher before bed, I woke up to a large pool of water all over my custom, hand carved maple floors. My entire first floor of the home is done in maple, and is open concept. So you can imagine!? When I called the guy about the leak...he was worried, as he knew my floors would be difficult to repair and would not be cheap to replace. I told him, I knew he didn't purposely do this to me, and that I would have my Contractor take a look and release one of the planks in the floor, so the rest could dry properly. I didn't send a complaint or bill the company for anything.

Of course the dishwashers still weren't working properly. Dishes were dirty, etc. I called again. The same man came to try and repair. He wasn't sure what the problem was. This happened several times. Trial and error with parts with both dishwashers.

This continued on and off. I kept my warranty up to date, as I knew these dishwashers weren't good.

A year later, still trying to repair these things, a different company tried to repair them ( Sears was no longer using Mr. Appliance in our area) I do not remember the name of this company, but they did similar things and nothing worked. This time, someone forgot to connect my drain properly and when I filled my sink all of the water gushed underneath the sink, and down to my basement. My house was flooded. I was expecting company at this time as well. Lovely. Fortunately, our basement isn't finished and I was able to get it cleaned up without TOO much damage. Again, I let it go.

Finally, after several more months of living with faulty dishwashers...I put in another service call and realized Sears was now dealing with Atek Appliance repair. I got to know Stacy quite well. She read my past history and problems and couldn't believe all that I have been though. She said she was going to do her best to get these things working for me.

The appliance technicians came. Again, but things got worse. Now the heating element keeps breaking down on the one and the other one had a door issue. It would fly open in mid-cycle, BANG, and hit my dog and child once! It is a very heavy stainless steel door. The hinges were broken, so we had to put a chair up next to it when it was operating so no one would get HURT!

They tried to fix it. Then I get told that my warranty on them has expired. I knew I wouldn't have allowed them to expire, so I proved it by faxing my protection agreement forms. For some shady reason or another...Sears would NOT acknowledge my extended warranty anymore. Stating that I was making this up, and just renewed it after I knew they needed servicing.( Since the dishwashers are now 3 yrs old, I have had to renew them over the years)
I tried to explain that these 2 dishwashers have ALWAYS needed servicing, and there was no way I was going to allow them to expire, as I knew they were lemons. I didn't think it was my fault that I needed to call the service people on a weekly basis, and that it happened to be just a day before I renewed my extended warranty. They thought I was suspicious. Unbelievable!? if they had read the history I have had, they would have realized that I haven't had a week with them working. I called the lady that sold me the machines. Cindy Alton at the Sears in Owen Sound. She told me there was nothing she could do. She said I should have " waited a week" after they broke down again to make the service call, so I wouldn't look suspicious! Imagine that? Then Sears might have believed me. But no, I was honest and called right when it happened, and now I get told I am lying.

So after weeks of anger...and frustration, Sears finally agreed that the protection warranty was good on the one with the hinge problem, but that the one with the main heating element wasn't. ( Obviously this one was the expensive part)

I couldn't take it anymore, life is too short to remain this angry and frustrated, so I decided to just PAY for the part and service myself. $300 and get on with life. I needed to let go, as it was affecting my life. BUT, in exchange, I wanted them to give me a letter in writing that from now on they will honour my Protection agreement, as the forms they mail to you with your payment obviously wasn't enough. I never did see that letter, but I do have copies of my Protection Agreements, and payments for what they are worth?

Then the heating element broke down AGAIN. They wanted me to pay for the replacement, again. Finally, after several phone-calls and hours on hold. They realized that the part had a 60 day warranty, and so they would send back that heater and try another one.

They put in a new heater. It worked a few cycles, and then the machine broke down again and wouldn't even turn on. Then the other dishwasher ( the one with the door problem) completely broke down as well. Nothing will turn on with either of them.

I put more calls in - October 2008.

I went through all of the holidays without any working dishwashers. February, the repair people finally took the one dishwasher with the heating element problems. They kept it in their shop until May. 4 months! No word, and finally the machine came back. It worked one cycle and broke again. Nothing working. I made the call. On hold, sent to several different people, explaining the story over and over again. No action.

So here I sit. July 2009 and neither one of these dishwashers work. I have quoted Sears on the NO LEMON protection policy and I have been told there is nothing they can do for me. I am not eligible for a replacement. I spoke with Bill at Customer Service ( no one will give me their last name) Ext 6732. at the [protected]. But when you call that number, you can not get the option of an extension or Bill. This has happened to me a few times now. People give me their first name, give me promises that they will get to the bottom of this, and if not, they tell me to call them back and guess what? I can't get them.

Next I heard from Mona [protected] ext 233. She told me I do NOT qualify for a buy-out of my machines. I don't understand this? She also told me that the Repair people have been trying to repair my machines, but I won't allow them in my home? I laughed at that, as that is completely untrue. I know the repair people on a personal basis at this point and I even allow them to walk into my home when I am not around. I have had decent relations with them and they have been doing all that they can to help me in my situation, and are frustrated as well. These machines are uneconomical, and unrepairable- obviously. So why do I still have them?

This has been a FULL-TIME job for me, but I am not going to give up, and I will not allow my protection agreement to expire ( which is what I am thinking Sears is hoping for)

Sincerely;

Stephanie

In October 2008 I had a licensed plumber purchase a water heater since the one I had broke. He purchased a Kenmore Water Miser 6 and installed it according to manufacturing instructions. Fast forward to July 2009, the water heater no longer provided hot water. I called the 800 number on the water heater to have someone from Sears come out and fix it. Two hours later after being left on hold, disconnected, transferred to other non-water heater departments and speaking to incompetent supervisors in customer service in Hicksville, Tennessee and Corn-in-their-ears, Iowa, I finally had the plumber rip out the less than 1 year old Kenmore water heater and replace it with a non-sears product. To say that customer service is lacking with the Sears corporation is a HUGE understatement. It is non-existent. I think they pass you around and put you on hold simply to get you off the phone and fed up that you would rather gouge your eyes out then deal with them again. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, by anything from Sears that you cannot readily return to a store. No wonder they are failing. HEY YOU CORPORATE GUYS are you reading all the negative comments about your company. DO YOU CARE? APPARENTLY NOT because your customer service still sucks!

5 years ago we purchased a Kenmore Microwave oven from Sears, Model # 721.[protected]

We recently noticed that the glass in the front of the door had slid down partway into the door, leaving a gap at the top to which microwave radiation could leak out. I called Sears Consumer complaints and she told me she had never heard of such a thing, but to unplug it and NOT use it until service could come out. Of course the microwave was no longer under warranty. I was not comfortable with just a quick fix anyway, as that is very dangerous to have radiation leaking into the home. The repair man called me and told me it would cost upwards of $180 just for a new door, that did not include labor charges.

We ended up purchasing a new microwave. NOT a Sears/Kenmore. I will never use that product again. Unfortunately a majority of my appliances are Kenmore, but they do not stand behind their product. Even though it was no longer under warranty, I felt we should have been re-imbursed or credited the amount of the microwave oven. This was a very dangerous situation for my family. I have told many people about this issue with my microwave and will not ever own a Kenmore appliance again.

Had an appointment that we made a month ago to fix our brocken dishwasher. Scheduled everything around Sears schedule... less than 12 hours prior to our appointment we were called and told we switched your appointment to the afternoon. I called and explained to the phone bimbo that we work also and that we had already scheduled everything around there schedule, including rescheduling appointment and taking time off from work. I was told you are scheduled for an afternoon appointment, sorry thats the way it is. . I explained that we had to work and had already only been able to schedule an appointment arouind when they could be here. Long story short i ask to speak to a manager and was transfered to the hold section from hell for fifteen minutes until even the music got tired of waiting and quit playing. Before the phone bimbo hung up she said the manager is going to tell you the same thing. What horrible customer service, sure glad i bought an extended warranty for a company that just does what they want as far as how they treat customers. I could go on but i am sure you get the jest...The Sears Warranty and repair section need a over hall bad!

I've attempted for fifty-three minutes to call this store. I've tried numerous departments and even called sears customer service in other locations for help.

Very sad in today's failing economic climate.

I myself own two business and if any of my employees performed to this substandard level on even one ocassion, they would no longer be employed by me.

You have every reason to be concerned!

Finally, I called sears national customer relations. The gentleman was very polite and professional. He put me on hold for a few minutes and returned to the phone only to tell me he had tried four direct numbers, but was unable to reach anyone. Quite frankly, he didn't know what to say.

I wish I could say this is the first time this has happened with the wilkes-barre store, but sadly, it is not.

I have had no resolution to my issue and subsequently will have to take my business elsewhere.

Jay livziey
Blakeslee, pa
[protected]

On 4/11/09 a Sears2Go.com ad came out listing a 1468pc. tool set and storage combo model # CO505 for $494.99. On 4/13/09, the last day of the sale I tried unsuccessfully to buy it for this price. I was told it was an error and the price would not be honored. On 4/14/09 the price on Sears2Go.com was changed to $549.99. I emailed them to see if this was another mistake but got no response. On 4/15/09 I tried again to buy it but they would not deliver on the price. I contacted PriceMatch Sears who said they would not honor the price. On 4/15/09 I received an email from PriceMatch that stated after reviewing my emails they determined a Sears2Go pricing error occurred. They apologized and instructed me to place my order, respond to the email with the confirmation number, and a price adjustment would be made honoring the ad. After placing my order on 4/16/09 and emailing them back I received another email on 4/17/09 stating the order had been cancelled and the offer had been retracted. However, as of 4/18/09 my money has not been returned. They stated pricing errors were rare and unintentional but posting 5 different prices on that web site in one week is not rare and emailing me stating I could buy it at this price was not unintentional. They are practicing false advertising and taking my money for a product they do not intend to deliver.

Bought $6500 worth of appliances and paid for delivery in Oct 2008. During delivery of the stove, the delivery company cracked both sides of the counter top. No resolution as of yet. We were told to go after the delivery company (we did not hire them, they are sub contractors for Sears) then Sears told us to make a claim thru our Home insurance. Yeash! Any ideas? Do not buy any thing from Sears EVER!

I purchased an HE2 front load washer Qpril 06 for $799.88 and have used it three years (light use - only my wife and I at home these days). Because it was making an unusual noise we called a Sears repairman who told us the machine needed a repair costing $890.00. His only advice was - You should have purchased the extended warranty! Our old washing machine lasted 20+ years while we were raising three children and it experienced heavy use. This machine is junk after about the same amount of work the old machine did in any one of its 20+ year life (we still have it at a cabin and it is going strong). I caution anyone looking to purchase a Sears Kenmore washing machine. My experience has been very bad! And very expensive!

I purchased a new lawnmower 7 weeks ago through sears canada because they offer a 2 year warranty. The primer pump is leaking gas as quickly as you pour the gas into the tank. I called my local store and was told to bring the lawnmower in and it will be shipped out free of charge to be fixed. I went straight to the store with the lawnmower and I was told a 50 dollar inspection fee. I have not used the lawnmower more than a handfull of times and I refused to pay it. This is absurd to think a warranty item would have a 50 dollar "inspection fee". I will never buy a major appliace through sears again. As if a practically new purchase breaks is not enough stress and hastle for a customer in the first place, then to have the audacity to ask for more money on top of the purchase to look at the warrantied item. Please!

On July 7, 2009, I was scheduled for a 1:00 pm employment interview with the Sears Outlet in Sacramento, CA. I arrived at 12:45 pm and found that there were 5 other candidates waiting as well. One in particular was scheduled for a 12 noon interview and was yet to be seen when I arrived. I was marginally greeted by a Sears employee who once he determined that I was not there to shop, proceeded to ignore me and the other candidates. At 1:20 pm I asked if in fact interviews were to going to be conducted and was told to "just wait!"
I decided that perhaps I might want to rethink my decision to apply for a position with Sears at this particular location. I wished the candidate that had been waiting at this point for over an hour 'good luck' and left. Not, in my opinion, the way I'd go about cultivating a winning team environment and positive/high employee moral.

I received a letter from Sears that they were upgrading my Kenmore Oasis washer at no charge to me. The were going to replace the control board. I called Sears and they said the part was out of stock but would ship one to my house and when I received it to call them to schedule a service man to exchange the part in the machine.
When the part came in I call Sears and they would be out on Tuesday. The wife and I were going on vacation that week and moved our departure date to Wednesday of that week. The service showed up around 12:30 in the afternoon and exchanged the part. Actual time was about 10 minutes and about 15 doing his paper work. A few minutes after he left the wife started to do the laundry and the machine ran for about 2 minutes, made a loud strange noise and popped the circuit breaker. I reset the breaker but the machine was completely dead. I looked at the called ID since he had called a few minutes before he showed up and call the number but it seems like they have the service technician's cell phone blocked to incoming calls. I called the service department and explain the problem and wish they would get hold of the technician to return to the house and install my old part in the machine since there was no problems with my old part. I made about three calls that afternoon and the technician never called but I suspect he was never called. The earliest they claimed they could get a technician out to the house was the following Tuesday even thought it was their fault that the washing machine was dead. I called several times on Wednesday morning and kept getting the runaround.
I made arrangement to have someone at the house the following Tuesday to let the technician have access to the machine. He replaced their defective part and the machine has been working fine.
What upsets me is not that the part they installed went bad but with all the different persons I spoke to on the phone and their attitude. They acted like it was not their problem and could care less if the problem was resolved.
I worked as a service manager for about 15 years and the main goal was to do whatever was necessary to keep the customer satisfy. It is a lot cheaper to keep old customers that to get new one. All washers, dryers, air conditioners, refrigerators, stoves and lawn equipment I have purchased at Sears over the 45 years of marriage but no longer will I buy any of their products because their service has deteriorated to the point that it is a joke.
A couple of weeks later I got a call from a Sears rep about buying a service contract on the washer. I told him that their level of service was unacceptable and when the machine went bad I would replace it with a machine from anyplace other than Sears. Sears has lost me as a customer forever.

We had a problem with our Maytag dishwasher in November 2008, so we called Sears Appliance Repair. They offered a 1 year service agreement. The price seemed reasonable so we paid for the service agreement. I'm glad we did because the incompetent people they have working at Sears Home Appliance Repair have been unable to get the repairs correct. It is now July 2009 and we are on our 5th repair visit for this dishwasher. It's always the same problem, water is getting into the control panel. They keep replacing the same parts, but never fixing the problem. I don't have to pay anything for the repairs since I have the service agreement, but it is very frustrating scheduling an appt for them to come out, then they need to order the parts which takes 10 days, then have them come out again to install the parts. Sears also does not schedule an exact time for an appt, they just provide a date and a 4 hour window of time on that date so you have to wait for them to show up at their convenience. I would definitely not recommend Sears Home Appliance Repair to anyone.

i and my wife went to this store to buy an electrolux 27 inch wall oven wave touch tm controls item 022228103000ew27ew55gs on520 o9 was told it would be there in i week. went back in 4 days and got no help or responce after waiting 45 minutes waiting and was told that it was not ther yet, we returned countless times and got the same lack of respect buy the darrel guy and a nother lady, and was told that i would be contacted apon arival. it has now been 6 weeks and still iget the same lack of respect when i or my wife when i go there, i would think that by now with the current econinic times that your store could come up with a little bit of courtesyand at least make some effort to get what i want to buy. if not i can certainly buy one elsewere there by getting what i need elseware and not considering doing any more business with sears, a long with all the other people i know who can not beleive the way you have treated us after all the other business i have done with you in the past. sorry it has came to this and i hope this can be worked out. the sale price was 999.99 and i do hope we can do something better to make up for this hassle, thank you, paul peterson 10117 zackery avenue charlotte nc 28277 cell [protected] or home [protected]

On June 26, 2009 I bought a new Kenmore dryer at Sears and was given the rebate form to recover the cost of delivery of the new unit ($65) and haul-away of the old ($10). I put the transaction on my Sears account to take advantage of an additional 5% discount. When I got home I looked at the form only to discover it is no longer a true cash rebate as in the past, but instead now comes in the form of a store credit. I returned to the store and confirmed that was indeed the case, and that the change from cash to store credit happened about 3 weeks ago, so the beginning of June, 2009. The manager was called and I talked with him, but he said it was out of his hands. I asked to cancel the delivery and have my Sears account credited for a full refund, but he couldn't do that either. I had to call the 800# of the delivery outfit to "cancel delivery with refund."

When our washer of 18 years finally started to give out, my husband and I decided to go to Sears to purchase a new washer and dryer. After looking at many makes and models, we decided on the Kenmore Oasis Washer and Dryer. They were touted as extremely energy efficient, saving water, etc. After a few weeks of use, I noticed the clothes were not getting clean like they did with our old washer. Even when I used Shout to treat stains, the stains still remained. On several occasions, I would take the clothes out after they were supposedly clean, and there would be dry spots on some of them, indicating that the water didn't even saturate them. This takes saving water to a new level. I don't believe the clothes are agitated enough because there is no center agitator. The whole drum just rotates back and forth. So the clothes in the middle don't mix well. I called Sears to complain that the washer was not cleaning properly. Also, the dryer takes two cycles to completely dry the clothes (not very energy efficient).
Sears reply was that they would send out a repairman. I told them I didn't need the washer repaired because technically it wasn't broken. They said that's all they could do. So the repairman came out and, of course tested to see if the washer was functioning, and of course, it was. He also said that they dryer hose may be clogged between the wall and the outside vent, which would cause the clothes to not dry properly. We checked the vent hose all the way to the outside and it was clear.

I have never had such a problem with a washer/dryer, even the cheapest ones I owned back in the 70's. I have written Sears Customer Service a letter requesting a replacement washer/dryer or a refund on this set. I have had them 10 months, so the 90 day warranty is no longer in effect. But considering that a washer/dryer should last approx. 20 years, I can't see using this product for another day longer than I have to. They really should recall or stop selling this product. I have read other complaints about it similar to mine. Thank you.