I never had such poor customer service before in my life than what happened at Sears today...

[ea56]

I haven’t shopped at Sears in many years, although I did buy an excellent Kenmore canister vacuum online from them 2 years ago. I have always found that Kenmore canisters are the best all around vacuum money can buy, and this one is the best we’ve ever owned.

That being said, I used to have a Sears MasterCard, that I seldom used, but it had a very high credit limit. About 6 years ago I was making a purchase of a washer and dryer at my local Lowes. Since I hadn’t used this card in a while I thought this would be a good time to use it. Much to my surprise the acct. had been closed, even though the card was still good for at least another year. I had received no letter, email or phone call prior to this to advise me of the acct. closure. I was very embarrased! I pay all my credit card balances, in full before the end of the billing cycle.

So, I opened a Lowes credit card on the spot, and got a 10% discount on my purchase. I use this card all the time at Lowes and receive a 5% discount on every purchase by using it.

When I got home, I called Sears credit and asked why they had close my acct. and not notified me of the closure? The reply was a curt, well. you haven’t been using it, so it was considered to be a dormant acct., and as such closed. I asked them to give me one good reason why I should patronize Sears in the future if this is what they thought of me as a customer, someone that has been a good paying customer, that they should value? They couldn’t answer that for me. So, I have no sympathy for Sears, but I do feel sorry for the employees that will be out of a job. And I’ll miss those great Kenmore canister vac’s the next time we need to get a new one. I’m going to take very good care of the one we have already!

Eddie

 

[iowabear]

Sears is Probably Beyond Saving at this Point

It's a great question though...if Sears had not closed down its catalog operation in the early 1990s could it have been a serious competitor in online shopping?  We will never know.  Culture change at large organizations is hard, I have my doubts whether it would have mattered.

 

It will be interesting to watch JCP now to see if they can make it.  The JCP here has been completed gutted and remodeled (and the mall that it was attached to was demolished.)

 

It's really a nice store and sells appliances now.  But to a lot of the younger people I know, JCP, like Sears, doesn't even cross their minds as an option...it's where mom and grandma shop.

 

[vacerator]

JCP can survive

without competition from Sears, unless Amazon does it in.

 

[rp2813]

Not only will the employees be out of a job, but if Sears even offered a plan, they'll probably be out of a pension they paid into as well.

 

[good-shepherd]

Culture change at large organizations is hard

The leveraged hedge fund buyout is what killed Sears and Kmart, Toy R Us and others plain and simple.

If Target can survive Sears and Kmart should have had no problem as Target sucks.

Here's the game: Hedge fund borrows money to buy retailer, then loads the company up with enormous with debt to payoff said loan, skim a fat profit, and then walk away from the wreckage with no personal consequences whatsoever.

Employees and consumers pay the price with massive job losses and reduced competition.

 

[iowabear]

It will be interesting to watch JCP and if there's a place for large department stores in post-2020 America.

 

Today when I buy something non-trivial I go to Amazon and check reviews.  That's the "safe" way to make sure I'm not wasting my money on something substandard in 2018.  I may buy it there or I may not, but checking those reviews is a part of any buying decision.  Takes just a few minutes - practically zero effort.

 

In the "old days" before the Internet and Amazon, the "safe" way to buy something was to go to Sears and buy the middle-of-the-road selection.  You knew it would be a decent value and that if you weren't satisfied you could easily exchange it for the next model up.  Unless it was important enough that you wanted to spend your Saturday afternoon in a library doing research!

 

I think of those "all Sears" families in the 70s and 80s and for the most part Sears did right by them, they got good value for their money and it made life easy - just go to Sears and get it.

 

[rp2813]

Today's paper's business section ran an article about the very real possibility that Elon Musk will take Tesla private.  I say, more power to him.  Answering to greedy shareholders and hedge fun managers is absolutely the wrong way to run any sort of enterprise.

 

[fan-of-fans]

Eddie Lampert

Probably the #1 reason Sears and Kmart are going under. Guy should get NO MONEY whatsover out of the companies, and should have to pay back all retirement pay to those it was taken away from out of his own pocket.

AWFUL guy from all of the stories I've read about him, yet he's making all the money. He should be thrown out on his butt and left with nothing from the company.

 

[vacerator]

Mr. Lampert

had his money quite some time already. The more they make, the more they make.

 

[lakewebsterkid]

Sears experience

We never have good experiences at Sears or Sears Outlets. I have walked in looking to spend serious cash at both stores to have nobody even acknowledge the fact that I am in the store. This happened for both my dryer and dishwasher. It is an absolute shame since I have a preference for Kenmore appliances over Whirlpool models, and the history of shopping there.

 

[ea56]

It just occurred to me that the very first credit I obtained in my own name was from Sears. I lived in Petaluma, Calif. and there was a Sears catalog store downtown. It was really just a store front, maybe 600 sqaure ft in size, Anyway, they had a 9” Silvertone Color TV on display. I was 19 yrs.old, had just moved out on my own and was borrowing my Mom’s B/W 6” Sony TV. I bought that color TV off the showroom floor, I believe it was $199.00, and my paymt. was $7.50 a mo., which I made in person every mo. at the store. I remember feeling very proud that I was able to get credit on my own, without a cosigner.

After about 9 mo. I next bought a portable Sears Stereo, one of those kind popular in the early 70’s with the turntable and tuner combined and separate speakers. With that acquisition my paymt. increased to $12.00 per mo. I used that stereo for almost 10 years before it gave up the ghost, when the turntable stopped working.

If it hadn’t been for that Sears Catalog store who knows how long it would have been before I started building a credit history on my own.

I also bought my very first new furniture at Sears. They were a godsend for a young man starting out in the early 70’s. Back then, credit wasn’t handed out as freely to young people as it is now.

It’s too bad that Sears is going under. For generations it was the mainstay for most families household purchases, because of the easy credit, good quality, dependable merchandise and the ubiquitous Sears catalog, for those who lived in remote areas. Mail order buying was equivalent to online shopping today. You could buy just about anything from the Sears Catalog, they even sold mailorder houses in the 20’s and early 30’s, that were delivered unassembled to the train station and the buyer would build the home on their own lot. These Sears homes came fully equipped with everything, plumbing, wiring, flooring, siding, roofing, paint, everything. And in the 50’s for brief time Sears sold an automobile from their catalog. The Sears and Roebuck catalog was the Amazon of the late 19th century and 20th century, until PC’s became common place household appliances.

Eddie

 

[vacerator]

Same here Eddie

I used to think Sears invented revolving credit. I think anyone having a steady job could get credit with Sears. I opened the account when I bought one of their power spray-mate/power brush carpet cleaners. I actually had customers I cleaned for with that to start out as moon lighting. I paid the balance each month so it didn't accrue interest. Then got Flex Steel furniture from Sears.
I would have been happy to purchase every major appliance at Sears in those days, but my ex preferred to pay cash. For some reason, we ended up buying a GE fridge, Magic Chef range, and Maytag dishwasher and laundry for our first house, from a smaller appliance only chain store, ABC warehouse.

 

[surgilator1]

ill miss the memories of the atmosphere at sears. the wonderful displays,customer service. etc. I feel no connection with the current sears.