Saturday, July 29, 2006
Is Sears Really the Good Life?
Now I’ve experienced first-hand the slow decay of this once proud department store.Kristin and I decided to go ahead and buy a Dyson vacuum cleaner. After looking around online, we tried to find a local vendor. Of them, only Sears seemed to even carry the particular model we wanted. They told us they would have to check and see if the particular model was in stock. Thirty minutes later, we called them back, and they said they had it.
So I drove the forty minutes it takes to get to Sears, only to have them tell us they actually did not have it. But they could order it, and it would be in Tuesday at 11 am.
So we waited.
On Tuesday, Kristin went in at 1:30 pm to pick it up. While the kids are melting down, the associate explains to Kristin that it has not been taken off the truck yet, and that she should come back in about 2 hours. Needless to say, she elected to head home and have me get it at the end of the day.
I tried to call ahead to speak to a manager, and came close to actually reaching a live human being before the phone tree spit me back up to the beginning. When I went in the evening, I expected to find the manager and tell them how frustrating this experience was. However, all I found was an empty general office, and only associates on the floor. To top it off, there’s no longer a merchandise pick-up counter with an associate – now there’s a check-in computer system you scan your receipt into. The only person you interact with is the warehouse worker who wheels your purchase out.
Outside, while he was loading it into my car, I heard this colorful comment from his coworker who just heard everyone else was going to Taco Bell:
God Damn! You f*ckers sure are some hungry mother-f*ckers!”Did I mention he yelled this across the parking lot?
Just before I wrote this I went to Sears.com to lodge a complaint, as I figured the only way I’d hear any type of response was to bypass my store. Surprise, surprise – there’s no way to send a general message to Sears, not even on their Customer Service page.
That’s the good life.
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