Sears
reviews and complaints

I visited sears.ca in hopes of purchasing a new stove for my parents for Christmas.

In placing the order, the website demands payment information and for me to click "place order" BEFORE it will provide me with shipping cost or a total including tax and shipping.

Thinking this was an error, I contacted Sears "customer service" to request the shipping charge. They too, including Supervisor by the name of Marilyn insisted that they cannot provide shipping charge information until payment is made. I'm pretty sure this isn't legal since it asks the customer to commit to purchase and provide payment information without disclosing all fees and charges being applied to the card. If it somehow skirts legal requirements and is ok in that sense, it's most definitely a shady practice.

The Supervisor refused to assist me unless I placed the order and provided credit card information, or waited 3-5 business days for the "transit department" to respond with the cost. Seeing as the sale for the item I wished to purchase is over tomorrow, neither is an acceptable response.

re: kenmore elite gas range and oven
Despite what I've read about the toxic smell dissipating in time, my oven/broiler gives off a sickly burning plastic smell which fills the house. At times It smells so toxic I need to open windows and leave the kitchen and have ended up feeling ill. I have no doubt the fumes are carcinogenic and feel I can no longer bake in this oven. I would like to know what the offending parts are and exactly what my family has been exposed to. Never again will I buy from Sears.

We purchased the Kenmore Elite side-by-side in 2004, and have renewed the MPA every year since (good thing we did). FWIW, all major appliances here were purchased at Sears-Electrolux stove, Whirlpool washer and dryer, Bosch dishwasher, and I have been a Sears major appliance customer for 25 years and in 4 states.

The Kenmore fridge has been a lemon, requiring 1-3 service calls per year, most but not all service issues being for the icemaker. The icemaker continues to malfunction, at several points freezing over and then dumping water on the floor, which will require the replacement of the hardwood flooring in that part of our kitchen.

On November 26, shortly before Thanksgiving, I reported a new problem. The fan that circulates the air within the refrigerator started emitting a loud buzzing noise, discernible throughout the house. Besides being an annoyance, our concern was that the sound presaged the death of the appliance on Thanksgiving day.

The bright side was that the Sears CS rep who took the complaint told me that this was my 4th issue with the unit in 12 months, and that I qualified for replacement under Paragraph 8 of the MPA (who knew?). All it required was confirmation by the service technician. On November 30, Sears technician Stefan arrived for the service call, HEARD the refrigerator noise before entering the kitchen, and confirmed that there was a problem. I also showed him he malfunctioning ice maker unit, which he confirmed as broken and replaced. Stefan also said that as this was my 4th service call in 12 months, that I should begin the replacement process immediately by contacting Sears CS the next day.

So far so good, right? The replacement ice maker that Stefan installed was defective (photo attached). The wire overflow indicator that signals a full tray was broken, out of the box. And to add insult to injury, Sears CS rep Tomika (sp?) told me in no uncertain terms that I did not qualify for a replacement, as I had not had 4 identical, single ticket issues within 12 months. Apparently, repeated trips for the same issue count as one service ticket. This policy was confirmed by Social Media CS rep Zack (sp?).

So here are the issues:
A Kenmore Elite product with well documented service problems and 6 years of coverage under MPAs.
An assurance of replacement by a Sears representative, confirmed by a Sears service technician, due to 4 service calls within a 12 month period, per P.8 in the MPA.
A reneging of this promise by Sears CS reps
Installation of a defective part by a Sear service technician, requiring yet another service call
A still-broken Kenmore appliance, resting comfortably in front of the floorboards it ruined.,
Upon reflection, it makes you wonder why I would want another Kenmore appliance. But after paying over $700 over six years for the MPA I feel that it is incumbent upon Sears to stand by this agreement and their products. To date, that has not happened.

I am writing after a horrible experience with the OakBrook, IL Sears Auto Center branch. Wednesday 11/24 my car had died and I had it towed to the closest location to my job due to mile restrictions on my insurance policy for road side assistance. Back in January 2010, I had a new car starter put in my car and found out that it happened to still be under warranty for another 2 months and I could go to any Sears Auto. I had my car dropped off and repaired within 4 hours, and was told it was the starter and it was replaced free of charge, due to the warranty. When I got in my car afterwards to head home, the startup lagged and I noticed the Check Engine light was on. I immediately called Sears and told them and they said I could bring it back Friday to have it tested to see what it was. I stopped off somewhere shortly after and when I tried to start my car again just an hour later it lagged and almost didn’t start which concerned me. I live near the Niles Auto Center, and they told me that I could bring it in there Friday to have it looked at also. After waiting a half hour and literally chasing down a mechanic that actually acknowledged my existence, they tested my car and said that there was a problem with the Crank Shaft Sensor and they could not fix it but I could bring it to the Shell Gas Station down the street, which I did. I brought my car there at 11am on Friday morning and waited 7 hours to get a response from the mechanic who then told me that the starter was put in wrong because the teeth within it didn’t match up. He told me he had to take the starter out and put it back in and then put the Crank Shaft Sensor in. I asked why the sensor went bad he told me he didn’t know, to take it up with Sears Auto, with the knowledge and common sense that my car was working fine on Tuesday 11/23 and there was no issue with the sensor or Sears would have told me about it instead of just replacing the starter.
Today 11/29, I contacted the manager, Matt Simmons, at the Sears in Oakbrook and told them about the incident on Wednesday that caused further issues with my car. He was very concerned and polite on the phone stating that shouldn’t have happened and he would reimburse me the money that I needed to fix the new issue, which was caused by the Starter that was put in on Wednesday. I met with Matt Simmons at 3:30pm today and showed him the receipt which just showed the labor and part price for the sensor. He stated there was nothing on there in regards to the Starter, which was the conversation that myself and the Shell mechanic had about the starter not being placed correctly. Matt Simmons contacted Shell on the phone and they proceeded to make jokes about me coming in the store just to get money. Shell told Mr. Simmons that my car was not there for 7 hours and that the sensor had nothing to do with the starter, which is not what he told me directly after charging me for the work. Mr. Simmons hung up the phone and told me that it was normal wear and tear and it was not Sear’s problem. I explained to him that the issue with the sensor didn’t even start until they put the starter in my car Wednesday. Mr. Simmons then rudely asked me how do I even know he put a sensor in my car? He could have just told me that and that I was ripped off. I said I was not a mechanic I wouldn’t know. He told me that I was just trying to receive money from him which he was not going to pay because I didn’t have proof Sears had anything to do with the sensor. He then told me to get out of his store and walked behind me to make sure I left, with more than one mechanic to witness this.

Myself and my family have been going to Sears Auto as long as I can remember, and I have never been disrespected or laughed at by anyone in a customer service role, especially a Manager, as I was today by Mr. Simmons. I have never been accused of trying to get money from anyone and his demeanor was uncalled for by kicking me out of the store, especially in front of customers. I would hope to receive some kind of an apology as I am very disappointed the way a manager would talk to anyone like he did. I am not writing to receive any form of money by any means, I was rudely shunned for not knowing about cars and was treated like a fool when I went there to resolve an issue I believe was caused and misdiagnosed by Sears. This was by far the worst experience I have had with a company, and I would hope the matter will be looked into as I feel I was ripped off and then severely talked down on.
Thank you for your time and I would hope the mannerisms that Mr. Simmons showed me today, is not a sign of the future in Sears customer service.

On Black Friday we wnet to Isabela store and asked if they had refrigerator on sale in black. The saleman checked the computor and said it was in warehouse. We laid it away and on Saturday went and paid it off and as on Friday we were told it took 3 days to get. He called me today and said it would be January. I need it now and we asked manager to let me have floor sample and she would not. The warehouse DID NOT know it was a layaway when the saleman checked availablity. I think they need to substitute one for the same price but will not. I have bought from Sears in Virginia for 40 years and would never have been treated like this. I feel I was discriminated against for I am an AMerican. SHe would have figured out a way to help a Puerto RIcan. We have to go pick our money up tomorrow and will file a com[plaint with DACO in Puerto Rico.

Nov 10, 2010, I ordered some Attitude Aprons, which I wanted by, and was told would be in by, Thanksgiving Nov 25, since their shipments came in every Tuesday and Friday. I ordered it IN THE STORE (with the help of their own employee) on their computer, and they were very quick to run my debit card for the entire purchase AT THE TIME OF THE ORDER. Not only did my order NOT come in the following week... it was not here in 2 weeks... it was NOT even here in time for Thanksgiving! On Nov 29th, I called to cancel my order and have my card reimbursed. The first 2 calls, Customer Service hung up on me. The 3rd time, I called back, and asked for the Customer Service Mgr, but it was the same girl who had hung up on me, so she would NOT give me to the Mgr! She asked me for the return number from my receipt, which I read to her, then she said, "I'm sorry I cannot refund your card. It appears that your order is in transit. You will have to wait until it gets to our store, and then come in, and you will be charged a small restocking fee." I argued "why would I pay you to restock something that I have never taken possession of!"... I got hung up on again...

My subject is Diversity, Does a 17 yr old who is in remission with cancer qualify as diverse? My son works for Sears in the Mall in Florence Ky. He has for quite some time, yes he is a cancer survivor. he was dignosed with Leukemia, in 2002. His name isBbrady Curtis and apparently he wont speak up for himselp, but I hismother will. My son does not call in ever...maybe 2x in a year. He is sick quite often, apparently when they call him in on his days off, he tells them no often because he is sick... In return they schedule him 3 hours a week. This coming week he has been scheduled NO hours. What seems to be the problem? I think they are treating my son differently than they do others whom work there. I am not happy, not sure what my next step will be, But New hires get more hours than him and some of the management are quite rude. My son has been thru enough, I want something done now or Im going to be talking to someone else. Cheryl Curtis. Thank You

This is to warn Consumers that Sears.com does not honor their advertised pricing. They say its on their online disclaimer. They are at hopes you wont notice. If purchasing multiple Items when you go to cart the prices are increased one even doubled! I was promised by a customer service rep that if I purchased it she would credit me, that is the only way. Well needless to say it said the order did not go through(but later saw it was charged)she then said to call customer service they will take care of you and credit you. I received her employee number and everything... It was all a farce two more supervisors later they will not honor the price. This is a scam and a rip off...They no longer have me ever as a customer.

After having the F1 error on my washer for weeks and not finding any answers in the manual (except to call an expensive repairman for something that might be minor), I researched the issue on the wonderful internet. I, ofcourse, found out that many people have had the same problem with the Kenmore Elite Oasis top loading washer. I spent a lot of money on this washer and dryer set and do not expect it to break down after less than 3 years. I am not very handy and am a single mother with three children...and many loads of laundry. Advice? Is there a recall? Can I get Sears to repair the faulty washer for low or no cost? Thank you, Carolyn

i bought a craftsman heavy duty stapler 20 years ago life time warranty when i went to exchange it they told me only has one year warranty and it will say that on box which i did not have with me at that time i went home and looked at the box it does not have anything about warranty so i took the box back with me and the salesman and manager of tools walked away from me i have all craftsmen tools in my wood shop and garage i like craftsman but all i ever get out of Whitehall pa. are excuses if i go to another sears its all together different i don't mind paying for a good tool but i expect it to last respectfully scott webber

Customer Service is the worst! Scheduled service call for my washer online last week. Called customer service 11/15/10 and spoke with employee id #532069 (did not catch her name the first time, but was able to get her id # after I had to place a 2nd call). I asked for the name of the authorized service company that would be handling the service call. In a very short and rude tone she informed me that even though the appointment has been assigned she would not give me the name of the company. She said I would have to wait until the day of the appointment to find out who will be coming out. I explained that I would not be at home and that I need to the leave the information for someone else. She was very short with her response and said that I would have to wait until someone contacts me the day of the scheduled appointment. I could not understand why she would not give me the information; after all, she indicated the appointment was already assigned to someone. She would not give me an opportunity to speak; she kept talking over me and refused to give me the requested information. I asked to speak to her manager. I was abruptly put on hold for 25 minutes. Needless to say, I hung up when she never came back to the call or was connected to a manager. I hit redial and spoke with Cary and explained the whole situation and that I wanted to speak to a manager. She asked why and I said I wanted to make the manager aware of the rude and uncooperative behavior that was exhibited by one of their customer service reps. She too, left me on hold for 25 minutes. I still have not received any answers to my questions. This has been an extremely frustrating experience. I will never purchase from Sears again and want to make others aware of the poor customer service.

I have never had a particularly positive or negative impression of this retail behemoth. I used to think Sears was a place to buy underwear or athletic socks and appliances and yard tools. I never was that impressed by the clothing they carried and never was a big Sears customer but was aware that as a rule, people thought it was a pretty responsible retailer with whom one could do business and be confident that you wouldn’t get screwed.

Well, that ship has sailed. Starting three years ago, I have bought several very expensive appliances from Sears and have been dealing with the consequences of their appalling attitude toward customer service ever since. I won’t elongate this post with a description of their failure to stand behind a very expensive built-in refrigerator that was defective the day it was installed. I will just concentrate on my recent experience.

Today’s disappointment, and the one that will permanently keep me out of Sears stores, occurred this morning. In my neighborhood, when I bought my house, the only source of gas was private propane tanks, one of which was already installed in my back yard by the home’s previous owners. In July of 2009, in anticipation of moving into my house in August of the same year, I bought several new appliances from Sears, one of which was a Kenmore Pro Series dual fuel freestanding commercial style range. These babies, for those of you unfamiliar with them, are competitors of Wolf and DCS in residential use commercial style ranges and while not as expensive as those brands, are still somewhere north of $4, 000 by the time you get them home and installed. In my case, I had to pay for delivery, installation, and removal of the old range as well as a conversion kit from natural gas to propane. In addition, I had to hire a plumber who is licensed to work on gas lines and propane to come and do the conversion since Sears installers either can’t or won’t.

After some false starts due to a broken gas line inside the cooktop at the time of delivery, I succeeded in getting the thing up and running a couple weeks after I moved in and was pleased that I finally had at least one big burner for, among other things, boiling large quantities of water for pasta. The cooktop portion of the range has 5 burners. Three can be used separately or together and are 9, 000 btu each. One that has a true simmer setting is a 5, 000 btu burner and the big one in the right front is 17, 000 btus. Everything was fine until PSNC, our local gas utility, announced that they were installing natural gas lines in my neighborhood and that installation would be free if you committed to converting at least one appliance to gas within 90 days of the line being run.

After some checking, I determined that natural gas rates are close to 50% of the cost of propane and don’t require a truck coming around periodically to refill my tank, so I decided that in spite of the fact that I would have to pay to have pipes run from my new service to the range, and also to have the range converted back to natural gas, it was a good idea to go ahead.

On July 30th, after seemingly endless phone conversations with a variety of Sears Customer Service personnel (and what a misnomer that is) I successfully ordered a set of 5 new orifices for the 5 burners to the tune of about $70. While this seemed expensive for 5 tiny brass fittings, it was unavoidable if I wanted to use the range with natural gas. The parts arrived a couple weeks later and I set an appointment date with PSNC to do the installation.

This morning, when the installers arrived, I handed them the envelopes containing the orifices and left them to their devices. After a couple hours, they told me they were finished but for one problem. The orifices Sears had sent me for the 5, 000 btu and 17, 000 btu burners were identical. Needless to say, when you turn on a burner whose gas supply is restricted to 29% of its correct volume, what you don’t get is much of a flame. It was obvious that they had sent the wrong part, so with the two installers standing in my kitchen and participating in a Sears Customer Services ordeal, I spent the next 47 minutes being apologized to by a series of impressively incompetent staff, each of whom eventually passed me off to another. In the end, the advice I received was that since they couldn’t supply the correct part, perhaps I should buy a new stove.

I was a little shocked by this attitude and asked the woman offering this advice if she had spent over $4, 000 on a new range 16 months ago and the only thing standing between her and being able to use its most important element was a brass fitting less than ½” long, would she want to ditch the appliance and buy another? Needless to say, I got another apology but no help.

Unfortunately, at this point, my phone was losing its battery power and I knew that after 47 minutes, our very unsatisfying conversation would be coming to an end. She took my email information and said they would do some research and get back in touch with me, and was in the middle of still another apology for what all Sears employees persist in call an inconvenience, and was cut off in mid-sentence when the phone, mercifully died.

I certainly have no expectation of ever hearing from them again. Sears doesn’t give a rat’s ### about their customers once a sale is complete. From the outset, the employees all insisted that they had no responsibility to do anything about the fact that they had sold me unusable parts because it was more than 90 days since the order. While it is true that 108 days have elapsed since I placed the order, it seems a bit unreasonable to say that if the customer doesn’t discover that Sears has screwed up within the 90 days they no longer have any responsibility to resolve an issue they created. Ironically, their in-house manual still says that if someone calls to order this conversion kit, they will be sent the same incorrect parts that were sent to me. They will do this to other people. What they claim is that the company that made these parts no longer makes the one that is needed for the large burner. I find this particularly interesting in view of the fact that Sears is still selling the range with the exact same specifications for the burner outputs.

In the end, the two guys from the gas company, who had dutifully stayed through the whole 47-minute ordeal with customer disservice (I had the various ###s at Sears on speakerphone), said that they could probably find out the correct diameter for the orifice to be to provide 17, 000 btus of output, and just rebore the orifice Sears had sent. It took one phone call to their supervisor and about 3 minutes to drill a new hole in the defective part. In another minute it was installed and the flame is up to what it should be. Thank God for competence at the gas company. Sears will never own up to this and I’ll be damned if they ever get another penny of my business.

Purchased New dryer from Sears - store promotion for Labor day free shipping. Dryer delivered and never worked properly had tech. in after taking whole dryer apart and made phone calls realized - needed NEW thermostat, which he ordered said would receive 10/9/10 via UPS and he scheduled appt with tech to come in on the 12th to install- BUT it never arrived and still hasn't. Through Customer Service and tech. we were told if it did not arrive call Customer Service to cancel follow up service call (tech coming in to install) and if we want request to have dryer replaced(the customer service rep on this phone call suggested it) we HAD that option as dryer was new and never worked properly- IT WAS PRESENTED TO US BY SEARS PERSONNEL, Dryer still under store warranty during all this. On phone 40 minutes (10/9/10) with First INCOMPETENT representive trying to set this up loses me while connecting me with delivery AND DOES NOT CALL BACK! I HAD TO CALL BACK THE 800 NUMBER AND START ALL OVER AGAIN with a new rep. because NO notes were on account about anything!?!?!? On the phone over one hour this time wasn't sure about installation as I had someone install first time and was not given time to contact to see if available. I was being charged for installation and delivery ( why should I pay delivery at all - if first one worked properly I would not need another one delivered.) Morning of delivery I have someone who can install I call 800 number at 8:00 am, - at first can not find anything on system. Then give me hard time about cancellng installation which they tell me is not even on their system but they are charging me! $189.89 - after much heartache I break down into tears for the terrible way I have been treated as well as my 77 year old mother. She has been on the phone with this as well and waited all day at home for the repacement part which never arrived. I am calling from work, my mother is home with strangers now knocking on the door for the dryer, just to replace dryer they inform my mother they are not to install anything. I am finally told Sears will try to stop the installation fee ONLY and if the team arrives to install turn them away, no team ever arrived by the way. Meanwhile I am still to be charged the delivery fee and tax?. As of this writing (11/13/10) The dryers have been switched (11/12) but I am still waiting to be credited the installation fee and no one will even discuss the delivery fee being reversed. My mother is PHYSICAL SICK OVER THIS as I write this. which in turn upsets me even further. This is horrendous I am at my wits end as to what to do.

We bought a tv on a promotion. they do not charge interest if you pay within a year. well my wife sent the pay-off amount on one check and another check with the payment for the current month. they did not pay the promotion off, but put both payments on our regular account. she had written two notes telling them what the payments were for. i called and they told me they would transfer part of it, but they had to take a payment out of each check for the regilar account leaving a balance in the promotional account. i offered to pay the rest of the promo account, but she said i would have to pay another payment also, even if it was not due. then in about five days i would have to call back and request they transfer some funds out of the payment to the promo account. this is ridiculous and we used to shop at sears after 40 years we are done there.

Sears pressured me to purchase a range and dishwasher. I did not want to purchase until it went on sale. Of course I purchase and just over 3 weeks later they went on sale. I called customer service as this is approximately a $400.00 savings. Not chump change. Sears said there was a 14 day price guarantee and 14 days return policy and I would just have to eat the $400.00. Their customer service is horrible as is there price match/return policy. I did approximately $8000 to $10, 000 of annual business with Sears and explained this to them. They did not care. I cancelled my credit card with them as I will take my business elsewhere. Poor policies and customer service. Please avoid shopping there.

My name is Jimmy D. Overton. I have had a Sears account for too many years to recall. On Oct. 1, 2017, I mailed a $60 check to Sears MasterCard. I did not receive credit for that payment and received late fees. I took my bank statement showing the check cleared Wells Fargo/Wachovia to our local store manager but the Mastercard folks wouldn't believe the Sears person. They asked for a cancelled check so I went to the bank and was told with automated checks no cancelled check was available but I was provided a Transit Routing form proving payment was received and made from the bank. Still it's not enough "proof of payment" for Citicorp. It has been such a headache we have decided to find someone else to do business with other than Sears. In 2017 alone we purchased a washer, dryer and freezer but it will be worth our money to do business where we get credit for being good customers who have paid their bills on time for years.

I have a Sears garage door. On Tuesday Nov. 8 it would open only part way and I couldn't open it manually. I called, told them my car was inside, I was elderly and disabled, but they said it was not an emergency, even though I badly needed to go get food. They couldn't come out until Friday. Fortunatly a friend and I managed to get the door open, because on Friday, Nov 12, when they called to say they were coming out I told them that the problem was that the spring above the door was broken (which my friend had discovered AND I HAD ALREADY TOLD SEARS) and they said they didn't fix that; that I would have to call someone else. Meaning that if I hadn't been able to get my car out I'd STILL be without groceries and trapped at home. I'm telling all my friends not to EVER use sears. They count a broken refrigerator an emergency, but not leaving a handicapped 67 year old woman without transportation an emergency.