Found Not Lost

I remember a time when Sears was THE Store. My step-dad worked there and retired from there. We grew up using Sears products, wearing Sears clothing, hell, we practically lived at the store! But they weren’t THE Store because my step-dad worked there and enjoyed the employee discount on all our purchases; there was actually a time when Sears was THE store where you can get great quality merchandise and excellent customer service.

Remember the lifetime guarantees? If you’ve never heard of a lifetime guarantee, you’re right. No one gives them anymore. Not even the church (But that’s again another subject for later). But there was a time, a long long time ago, when a great department store called Sears Roebuck and Company had so much confidence in the quality of their merchandise that they stood behind them with a lifetime guarantee. I remember when they even had a guarantee on children’s jeans! Whoever heard of a thing like that! They would replace your children’s jeans if they get a hole or the seats wear out or something like that, before they outgrow the jeans. Pretty great huh? My step dad bought all his tools there. Craftsman tools. Because he knew if they ever broke, which they almost never did, Sears would replace them without any questions asked.

Fast forward to today’s Sears. My, how low they had fallen. They sell crap, and they don’t guarantee any of them. Can you blame them? If I knew something was going to break down as soon as the customer gets it home, I wouldn’t guarantee nothing either. In fact, I may even go to cash only transaction with no exchange, no return policy. Oh wait…..but they are just about there already! I would say they customer service now sucks, but what customer service? They don’t even know the meaning of the word!

We had been going to Sears even while it slid down the quality trail because one, it was convenient (they have a store near us) and two, out of habit. That loyalty brand is still etched in the back of our minds and we kept hoping that all of a sudden this frog we’ve been kissing will turn back into the prince it once was. But every year, the service and the merchandise just keeps getting worse.

Our last interaction with Sears was just a few weeks ago, which is what prompted this rant fairy tale. My husband has a weed eater from Sears and he needed a part for it. I forget exactly which part it is, but you get the idea. He goes in to the store to buy a replacement part. They of course, no longer carry spare parts at the store. You now have to order it. So OK, my husband says please place the order. To which the salesgirl said, you will have to pay the cost of the part plus shipping. WTH???!!! So he takes a deep breath and resignedly agrees to pay the shipping cost in addition to the cost of the part for his barely one year old weed eater. We wait a week and finally the part arrived at our door. Eager to get his weed eater running again, my husband tears open the box to find……THE WRONG PART!!!! So he goes back to the Sears store, same sales girl was there, only she’s not as friendly anymore. She’s got a ‘tude. Like it was his fault she ordered the wrong part. She says, if the part is wrong, then they don’t carry the part needed for his weed eater. So……….??? Nothing. She does not offer an alternative, so I guess he is just f^&@. She says she will give him a refund. He says OK. She adds, she can only refund the cost of the part not the fee for shipping. WTF??!!! Grrrrr!!!!! That’s not how he said it.

And no, the poor weed eater did not run on happily ever after. It’s still dead as a doorknob, a year after purchase.

Wished I could have have a happy ending for ya….but that’s how it is now in retail land.