Given what recently happened to my friend, blogger, and internet mom Dooce, I felt it was time I publish the Sears saga on my blog. Plus, we’re coming up on the one year anniversary of the event, so what better way to dredge up the hurt feelings, sordid past and overall ugliness than… write up a blog post about it!
Here’s the setup.
Back in 2001 we splurged and bought a Kenmore He3t high efficiency front-loading washer & dryer to do the laundry created by our (then) 2 little hooligans as well as Julie and I.
Oh, and I also have to admit that, like some sort of hollywood wardrobe specialist, I change my t-shirts like 3 times a day.
Of course in 2004 Brock was added to the family mix… so even more laundry!
That wonderful washer ended up having a mold problem, and our clothes were coming out smelling like crap.
Furthermore, Tucker decided he wanted to swing on the door once-upon-a-time, so the door lock was broken and doing a load of wash meant leaning into the door while you hit the dial to turn on the machine and hope that it locked. Usually it did.
Oh, and Connor has a fierce mold allergy… so you can only imagine what it was like with him wearing moldy clothes!
So that’s where we begin… I’ll let this letter to Sears explain the hellish nightmare that went on from there.
Enjoy.
Let the carpet bomb campaign begin…
To Whom It May Concern:
My wife and I have been Sears customers for the last 20 years, as evidenced by my garage filled with Craftsman tools. I estimate that over the years we have purchased more than $37,000 in Sears home appliances. That is why I am shocked about what we experienced this past Labor Day holiday weekend with Sears.
On Friday, August 29th, my wife and I purchased a new GE Profile washer & dryer from the Sears store at the Promenade Mall. The gentleman who sold us the appliances, Steve (associate #2030), was not very familiar with the product, but was courteous and helpful. He informed us that he would be able to have them delivered the very next day. Additionally, due to local regulations we needed to purchase a “connection kit” that included a dryer hose and gas line because the delivery people are not allowed to re-use an existing gas connection hose.
The GE Profile washer & dryer were purchased to replace our existing Kenmore Elite He3t washer & dryer that we purchased in 2001. We have been having mold and mildew problems with our He3t units, which repeat service visits were not able to resolve. Our oldest son has been diagnosed with a severe mold allergy, so we were forced to find a new washer & dryer to help combat his allergies.
On Friday evening, at 7:23pm we were contacted by the Home Delivery service and given a delivery window between 11am and 1pm on Saturday.
Saturday we received a phone call around 11:15am informing us that they would be unable to make the delivery, so it was rescheduled for the following day (Sunday).
Sunday morning the delivery truck arrived at around 11am. Our existing washer & dryer were removed from our 2nd floor laundry room and placed in the garage temporarily.
Then the delivery men unloaded the GE Profile machines from their truck, unpacked the pedestals and the washer & dryer and proceeded to read the installation instructions for an hour, while trying to figure out how to connect the washer & dryer to their pedestal bases.
When the existing units were removed, they leaked a bit of water on the floor of the laundry room. Therefore, while the installers were trying to figure out how to assemble the new appliances, my wife and I took the time to clean out the laundry room, mop the floor and completely dry any damp areas.
I walked outside to try to understand what was taking so long, and observed that they were resting the washer on its backside and the washer drum had fallen backwards and consequently left very sizeable dents in the washer back plate. I asked if that was normal (hypothetical question), and the installer said “no” and removed the metal plate, took it to the back of the truck and began trying to knock the dents out with a mallet.
At this point I started to get a little worried. Clearly the gentlemen sent to our house did not know what they were doing. But it gets worse… much worse.
They finally assembled everything and brought the appliances upstairs and set them in place. They connected the gas line (with the new connection kit we ordered), but we found out later they reused our existing, dirty dryer hose!
Once everything was in place (2 hours later), they asked for my wife to sign the delivery paperwork so they could continue with their deliveries.
She asked whether they were connected and could they please test them. The installer started a washer cycle to show that everything was connected properly. However, we noticed as it was filling with water that the yellow “Energy Star” rating paper was still in the washer! He then attempted to stop the wash cycle but had enacted the “control lock” button so while he repeatedly pushed the “start/pause” button the L.E.D. display read “Controls Locked”. He told me he thought the control lock he enacted was the “door lock”. Next he resorted to pushing the power on/off button. Apparently he had not connected the washer hose correctly and with the abrupt power shut down as it was filling the washer with water – the hose blew off, disconnected and began to fill our upstairs laundry room with gallons of water.
We franticly gathered as many towels as we could to dry the floor and stop the flooding, and while we were running downstairs to get more towels, we heard water pouring down from our downstairs bathroom ceiling, through the A/C vent, and from around the drywall!
Figure 1 – water dripping through drywall in downstairs bathroom
This is where it gets worrisome. We replaced our washer & dryer because of a mold problem, and now we have water coming through our ceiling!
Figure 2 – more water dripping through sagging drywall
I quickly got a ladder and removed the A/C diffuser and let the water drain out of the ceiling into a bucket. The drywall on the ceiling began to sag where the water had been pooling around the duct.
Figure 3 – Downstairs bathroom, directly below Laundry Room
Meanwhile, upstairs in the laundry room, the installers were once again trying to have my wife sign the delivery paperwork to they could leave. She then asked about the “CleanSpeak” communication system, and whether that was setup. This is where the washer communicates electronically with the dryer, which then presets the dry cycles. It was not connected, and the cable for that was in the plastic bag that the manuals are packaged with.
The installers once again moved the washer & dryer so they could connect the CleanSpeak cables. Once again, it was a fumbling stab in the dark as to how to do this. When they eventually figured it out, they broke the dryer hose (see attached photo). They did not replace the dryer hose, and instead told us we needed to go to Home Depot to get a new one. Even though (as seen on our receipt) we had PURCHASED one with our new washer & dryer as part of the connection kit!
Figure 4 – (Original) Dryer Hose, broken by Sears Home Delivery Personnel
At this point I was furious and told them to leave our home immediately. Our Sales Associate had assured us at the time of purchase that the delivery personnel would install, connect and show us how to operate the machines. That was clearly beyond their level of competence. I noted on the delivery paperwork that they had flooded our house and sent them on their way. They were very apologetic and assured me that this had never happened to them before. For me, once was enough!
Once they had left, I set up a damage claim (#56927) with a woman named Chrystal and was also told I should follow up directly with our sales associate. Steve (associate #2030) was not in on Sunday but we called on Monday (09/01) and spoke directly with him.
Needless to say, Steve was completely shocked at the horror story about this delivery, the damage that was done, and the lack of professionalism of the delivery staff. He told me that he would have his supervisor contact me directly the following morning “by 10am”.
On Tuesday morning I cancelled some morning meeting so I would be available to take the call, which never came. Since I work close to the Promenade Mall I decided to skip my lunch and visit the store in person.
Once again, Steve (associate #2030) was not in, however I met and discussed my situation with Steve Palumbo who claimed to be “the other Steve’s” direct supervisor. Steve Palumbo has no idea about this, or what had happened, even through Steve (associate #2030) was apprised of the situation and told us he would inform his supervisor and have them call us.
I explained what happened and asked what he could do to help us resolve the situation, fix our house, and compensate us for our trouble.
At this point, Steve Palumbo became very confrontational.
Among the things he told me were “Damage claim will take it from here and determine who was at fault. IF it was us, they will fix it.”
I asked to speak to the store manager (Mark), who I found out was not going to be in until Thursday. When I asked this, Steve became even more annoyed and said “What do you want from us? If you’re not happy I can schedule someone to come out and take the washer & dryer away but you’re not getting anything else.”
Honestly, my wife and I are shocked. We began this entire process with a single goal in mind, and that was to resolve our son’s mold allergy problems by replacing our old washer & dryer with new, top-of-the-line units. What ensued from that point was a string of the most stunningly incompetent, rude, unprofessional and poorly executed customer interactions I have ever experienced.
My expectation is that Sears will (1) refund us the purchase price of these appliances, (2) repair the damages caused by the incompetent installation using a restoration service of our choosing, and (3) perform routine mold test every 6 months for the next 2 years to ensure no mold damage is discovered as a result of claim #56927.
Regards,
(signature)
Cam Forbes
My wife and I would prefer to have this situation resolved by locally by store personnel in the Temecula Promenade Mall, however please be advised that copies of this document have also been sent to:
Mark Pacitti, Store Manager, Sears Store @ Temecula Promenade Mall
Stan Harter, Chairman, Temecula Valley Chamber of Commerce
Our Attorney:
Daniel Kodam, Managing Partner & General Counsel, Kodam & Associates, P.C.
The Newspaper:
Maria De Varenne, Editor, Press-Enterprise Newspaper
Bridgit Jordan, Editor, Californian/North County Times
The Better Business Bureau:
Steven J. Cole, President, Los Angeles Better Business Bureau
Vicki Doran, Deputy General Counsel, Los Angeles Better Business Bureau
As well as:
Bruce Johnson, Interim CEO & President, Sears Holdings
Richard Gerstein, Chief Marketing Officer, Sears Holdings
Stu Reed, Senior VP & President of Sears Home Service Unit
Casey Jones, DVP - Sears Home Services
Rob Gerlach, Training & Development/Store Operations
Larry Costello, Public Relations Director, Sears Holdings
Tim Hickey, Associate General Counsel, Sears Holdings
Scott Feinstein, Associate General Counsel, Sears Holdings
Steve Titus, VP/GM, Sears Holdings
Jeff Rothe, VP/GM, Sears Holdings
Marie McGrath-Brown, DVP, Sears Holdings
Okay, so this is becoming the longest blog post ever… Well if you read this far you deserve to know what happened as a result of this letter.
(I used LinkedIn to get those names & email addresses mentioned above, as well as the CEO of Sears Holdings.)
Within 15 minutes of my emails going out, I had 3 phone calls and our “situation” had been escalated to the Executive Customer Support group and we had a dedicated point of contact to ensure everything was resolved to our satisfaction. I also had a conference call with their “Risk Management” team (ie, Lawyers).
The result is they fixed everything the following day, quickly & courteously.
The moral of the story here is that nobody should suffer from poor customer service.
The 1-800 numbers they set up are to screen people out and provide whatever help they can.
If you’re pissed and getting nowhere, go to the top.
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you…. must…. send… to consumerist.com. They typically recommend email carpet bombs, but snail mail obviously works too.
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