Complaint Review: Sears Roebuck & Co. - Hoffman Estates Illinois

This is a synopsis of the letter I wrote to Mr. Alan Lacy, CEO of Sears, on 8/7/06. I had an airconditioner in a small outbuilding that my kids I use as a recording studio. The air conditioner stopped working just prior to the California heat wave of 2006, and it wasn't repaired until after Labor Day. The repair was mis-diagnosed, and was ineffective.

July 1st: Unit stopped working.

July 6th: A technician diagnosed the problem as a failed compressor - this was still BEFORE the heat wave started. The compressor was still under the original 5-year warranty. The part was ordered.

The part was shipped to Pennsylvania, not California.

No one knew this until July 20th, when the technician showed up to do the repair. Another compressor was ordered.

July 25th: Technician returned, but no part had arrived. UPS daid that they had left it in our garage - but that would have been impossible. There was no note, either. Then I found out that the unit "would have to be out of the window or opening for the work to be done". The technician told my wife, but didn't tell me.

July 26h: The compressor showed up. I carried it up the hill to the building.

Auust 1st: The technician returned. I stayed home from work to help. He then said that the compressor was O.K. - it was the fan that needed to be replaced. One was ordered.

August 7th: The part had not arrived. I received a call saying that the appointment had to be rescheduled, and that the part was a "compressor motor shaft", which is not true. you can't reschedule an appointment when you don't know when the part will arrive.

I spent 45 minutes on the phone one day, dealing with voicemail, just trying to get some action initiated. The Sears phone reps sounded like inner-city teenage girls working summer jobs. They were polite, but very naive.

After all was said and done, it turned out the that compressor was sent to San Jose, CA, the second time it was delayed. After the tech put in the new fan, and took the compressor with him, he said that it was blowing cool air - well, compared to a teakettle, I suppose that was true - itwas less than 90 degrees!

The AC unit completely failed the next day, and wouldn't run at all - now that the compressor had passed out of the 5-year warranty.

After all the phone calls, this is what happened: I called a Sears customer complaint line. The very nice lady told me that she didn't work for Sears, and could only take my complaint, and forward it to Sears.

I wrote a letter to Mr. Alan Lacy, CEO of Sears, detailing what happened, as described here. SIX WEEKS LATER, I received a form letter in the mail, that said, Sears was sorry to hear that I had had a bad experience with their product, and for my convenience, all I had to do was call their customer service number, 1-800-4MYHOME, which is where I had started, and gotten absolutley nowhere over the course of about 70 days.

Frankly speaking, I wish they had said, "Your unit isn't worth fixing - here's discount coupon for 20% off a new one". I had to move instruments, amps and recording equipment down a steep hill and store it in the house for over two months because of this corporate idiocy, and then haul it all back up again, after it cooled off. I bought a new AC on sale the following spring, which is still running.

Every one should know that Alan Lacy is a bonehead, cheapskate entrepeneur who bought Sears and K-Mart, and is screwing his customers, and his own dealers by trying to save money anyway he can, due to bad business decisions. He ought to be tied to a plank and dipped in Lake Michigan, on some free cable/satellite channel for all to see!

JB

Jackson, California

U.S.A.