My FIL decided he was going to buy us a washing machine. I was thinking of getting it at Costco, the lowest price one they had. If ever any problem, I can always return it. Anyway, he gets a military discount and it was on sale at HD, so he got us a Maytag Bravos X500X. It rated good on Consumer Reports. It was really nice of him.
Now for a dryer. Well, I was okay w/getting a dryer that didn’t match. Heck, I was fine w/hanging stuff in the back yard! No. My DH has to have a matching dryer. Why? It’s in the garage. I don’t need to impress anyone. Fine. I start searching for a matching dryer, which retail costs $630 plus tax.
I go to Sears Outlet. There one in Torrace for $503. Okay. We’ll do a road trip. I register online and buy it online. Done. Then I think, I better make sure they have it in stock before I drive up there. So I call the store. No. They do NOT have it.
So then I see the Glendale store has it for 400 something. Even better. Before I go through the whole process of purchasing it online, I call the store to make sure they have it.
So Vanessa answers. “Hey, the website says you have it. I’m in SD. Can you make sure before I drive up there that your store actually has it?” I explain what just happened w/Torrance, blah, blah, blah. Super nice, “Sure. Hold on. I’ll check…… Yes, we have it. It’s a floor model. Never used.”
Okay. Great. It’s a Friday at 8:30 and they close at 9. They open Sat at 10. She says, “I can do a phone purchase and secure the item.” She will email me the receipt and I have a week to pick it up. Great. $485 w/tax. I’m thinking I’ll go visit my cousin in Pasadena and then pick the dryer up.
So on the Saturday, we are working all day on the house. I get a missed call. I listen to the message. “This is Carmen from Sears in Glendale. We don’t have the item you purchased. Sorry.” WHAT?! Great. Waste of time and energy.
I get home, checking emails. I have TWO emails from Sears: One from the Torrance store saying my order is ready for pickup and one from Glendale saying my order is ready for pick up. So I call the Glendale store again. Talk to some guy. Didn’t get his name. Explain the whole story. He’s going to check and he disconnects me. UGH.
Call back. Talk to Marty. Tell him the story. Finally I get an explanation. When the store I call doesn’t answer, it gets routed through the system. Marty is in Tempe, not Glendale, even though I called the Glendale number. Vanessa NEVER worked at Glendale. The employees at the Glendale store are NOT allowed to do phone orders.
Anyway, at that point I want to talk to a manager. Can’t get ahold of one. So I send an email to VP of ecommerce, the one who sent me the email saying my order was ready for pickup. Turns out that it’s just a customer service email, not VP. Explain the whole story. Get an email back saying that both orders were canceled. Sorry. Try to order again. I tell him how it’s not so simple b/c they were specially priced. Get an email back saying they don’t have it at that price. Sorry. Yeah. Thanks for not helping at all.
So I spend some of the day on that Sunday trying to get a hold of a store manager. No luck. I figure there’s some discrepancy going on between the websites, the people that calls get routed to and the stores. I’m done w/trying to get ahold of store managers. I want the regional manager or district manager. I’m good and pissed now.
On that Monday, I try to call the store in Glendale to talk to a real person, but if I ask for appliances, I can tell I’m getting routed. So I ask for housewares. Ahh. A real person in the store. “Who’s the manager?” Bob. “I want to talk to him.” “He’s in a meeting.”
Back and forth. She gets the operations manager on the phone. I tell her I want the name, number and/or email of either the district manager or regional manager. She wants to know what the problem is, maybe she can help. I proceed to tell her the whole story in detail. I can tell towards the end, she didn’t want to hear it any more. She asks for my name and number and says to give her about 15 minutes.
I get a call back from Luis and wants the info on the product I was trying to buy. He takes my order and credit card info. They are going to deliver the Maytag MGDX500X dryer I wanted – new in the box – for $485 (tax included). They did. Sears was a hassle, but they came through.
