(*** Scroll to bottom of post for updates ***)
I will never have any home improvement work done through Sears ever again now that I know how it works, and especially after the runaround I've gotten today. Here's my story.
Last June of 2005, my Air Conditioner went out on one of the hottest days. I was going to want to have it replaced fairly quickly, and had no idea who to call. But I saw a thing for 12-months same as cash through Sears. I thought: Sears - trusted name - they have good tools at least - that works for me. So I called them, and they sent a sales guy out to my house. And I bought a new A/C unit.
They said I needed to have a GFCI outlet outside within a certain number of feet of where the workers would be installing the unit. I had an outlet out there, but not a GFCI outlet. So the guy said they'd have to install that before they could do the work. Or I could do it myself. He tacked on $134 for them to replace it, but said if I wanted to go to Lowe's or whatever and buy an outdoor GFCI outlet and replace it myself that was fine as long as it was done before the workers arrived. He added a note on my Estimate sheet under "Special Instructions" that said very clearly "Customer may have new GFCI Recepticle installed at time of installation. If so, credit of $134 will be made."
What I didn't realize, was that Sears farms out their jobs to other local companies. So while I assumed Sears would be doing the installation, really it was American Made Heating and Cooling. That's fine. They did ok work. But if I had known that Sears was going to do that, instead of coming out themselves, I could have just called American Made or someone like that directly. (Probably saved some money too, eliminating the middle man and all I'd guess).
So on July 1, 2005 they came out to do the installation. And all the guys have CORDLESS TOOLS. So the GFCI outlet was completely useless, and completely unnecessary. Well at least I didn't have to pay $134 for that crap.
I started receving monthly statements from Sears with my balance, and showing a minimum due of $0 since I got 12-months same as cash. But month after month, that $134 never disappeared from the balance. Finally around April 2006 I figured they weren't going to remove the amount, so I better get on it since the full amount would come due in July 2006. The fine print on the bill says that in case of errors or questions about your bill, to write them at the address on the front of the bill, and "You can telephone us, but doing so will not preserve your rights." So I wrote a letter, sent it April 3rd. Got it back from the post office with the little yellow label saying that the forwarding time had expired, but at least had the new address where I could send my letter. So I re-sent my letter on April 18th. They can't even put the right mailing address for Billing inquiries on the monthly bills they send out!
The last monthly statement I received from them was on April 2, 2006. I paid off the balance I owed (i.e. everything Except for the $134) on June 6, 2006. And I never received any more statements from them. So I figured everything was squared away.
Then this morning, November 7th, 2006, I get a phone call about my Sears account. I call them back (Call #1), and they're calling to find out why I have not made any payments to my Sears card, and to verify my address because evidently they had been getting my statements returned to them! I have no idea why they'd be returned, I verified my address. "Is there an apartment number?" Nope, no apartment number. Why would I be buying an A/C unit if I lived in an apartment anyway?? The address they had is correct. And the lady tells me that my account is past due. So I went into the entire story about how I should not owe anything. I wanted the $134 removed, along with the finance charges, and asked how I go about getting that done today? She said I needed to call Sears. I asked who it was I was talking to, I thought I was talking to Sears? Evidently I was talking to Citi Card or something, they handle the Sears credit. I asked if she might have a number for Sears because I wasn't sure if I had a number for them. She gave me a toll-free number to call.
I compared the one she gave me, to the one on my bill for Sears Home Improvement Customer Service. The one she gave me was different, so I called the one on my bill (Call #2). Evidently, that took me to the same place I had just talked to, even though it was a completely different number. That guy transferred me, I thought to someone at Sears.
So I talked to Person #3. Went through my whole story again. Evidently I still wasn't talking to the right place, and that person transferred me again.
I asked Person #4 if I was talking to Citi Card or Sears? Still Citi Card. I went into my whole situation again. This lady rattled off that the current balance was $200-something. But she also verified that they DID receive my letter on 4/25/2006, but there was no action item associated with it. (WHAT!?) I said that I wanted to get all of these charges removed because I paid what I was responsible for within the 12 month period. She said she would talk to her manager. When she came back, she said her manager had agreed to drop the rest of the charges if I would just pay the $70-something. I responded no, I should not owe anything! The $134 was supposed to be credited to my account, meanwhile I paid the rest of it off. There should be no more charges. She said Sears is the one who should have removed it from my bill, and she could only go back 2 months and could not go back any further. She said I should go back to the store where I bought it. It took awhile to explain that I did not go to a Sears store, they came to my home to do the estimate. I don't know how to get in touch with whoever does that for Sears. She eventually was able to find a phone number for Sears Home Improvment, and also an address where I could mail Billing Disputes (different from the addresses I had before).
So I called Sears Home Improvement (Person #5). I went into my situation again. This still wasn't the right place, I needed to talk to the Quality Control department not the Home Improvement department. Or I could call the Service Department. She gave me a number for Service, but then walked over to ask someone in QC if they could help me before transferring me to them. She came back and told me she would transfer me to QC.
So now I'm talking to Person #6, and I explain the situation again. Since they are actually Sears, not Citi Card, they do not have a copy of my letter. But she gave me a fax number where I could send a copy of my letter to her, and she would see what she could do. She also gave me phone numbers for people in the Columbus area, the ones who actually would have scheduled the job. She gave me a number for the Sales Coordinator Danny, and for the Installation Coordinator(?) Judy.
At this point, I called and vented to my brother Dan who works for a Heating and Air company in the Dayton area. Boy, I wish he had worked there when my A/C went out in the first place. Either they could have come up from Dayton to do it for me, or at the very least I would have known how much crap his company has to go through to get jobs from Sears, and that Sears just subcontracts anyway, and I would have never gone through Sears. But the cool thing was, he has actually worked with this Judy lady before and said she should be really helpful. (I guess the office where she works in Columbus is more regional than it is just Columbus, as far as Sears scheduling installations).
So I called the lady that my brother knows (person #7). I was going to mention his name but it didn't come up because she told me I needed to talk to someone else. But this was actualy a guy who works in the same office as she does. So she got him on the phone. (person #8)
It's been over one year since the installation now, so he (person #8) doesn't have all of my information in their computer anymore (Understanably, they tend to purge records after a year b/c the warranty is only for a year). So he said he would dig to see what he could find. I asked if it would help if I faxed him a copy of my estimate, he said that would be helpful. So I faxed that to him.
Someone along the way said they might just have to do a Sears gift card at this point to reimburse me for this, instead of working with City Card to get it resolved. As much as I don't like that idea, it might be the easiest solution.
So I figured I would call CityCard one more time to get the exact amount of the balance, and due date in case it came to just paying it and getting a reimbursement from Sears.
I called Citi Card (call #9) again. This time I used the number that Person #1 gave me since it didn't work out so well before when I called the number on my bill instead of the one she gave me. And I got a recording saying it was a non-working number. Very nice.
So I called the number on my bill (call #10). I asked if I could get my account balance. And this lady told me, in a demeaning voice, "well you know this is way past due." I told her I'd talked to several people today, explained that I shouldn't owe anything because Sears was supposed to credit my account and didn't, learned that I had not been receiving statements from Citi because they'd been returned to them for some unknown reason (which she insisted on looking in her computer to check, and she found that was true), and... I finally said hey, that doesn't matter because that's not what I'm calling to get into right now. Right now, I just want my balance and due date. The rest is in the process of being resolved between me and Sears. So she finally just gave me my balance and due date.
My balance right now is $201.74 with a due date of 11/29/06. All over a measly $134 that should have been credited to the account months ago!!!
So at this point, I wonder if I shouldn't ask them to at least reimburse me $250. A little extra for all my trouble (a couple of hours on the phone bouncing around talking to 10 different people), but also because this has probably messed w/ my credit rating a little bit by now. Probably some late payments recorded. I don't know.
11/9/2006 Update:
I called Person#8 back today because I hadn't heard from him since the other day when he said he would see what he could find out, and I faxed him a copy of my estimate. I asked him if he received my fax. (I probably should have made a point to say that I was following up because I
hadn't heard from him at all. But this is why I hate to talk to people. I always think of the right thing to say
later). He said he didn't receive my fax. Which surprised me. But he said that the notes he found suggested that his predecessor should have taken care of this, and he didn't know why it wasn't taken care of. (Of course, the elusive predecessor makes a very nice scapegoat.) He said he sent me a settlement form that I should have by now. I asked if he mailed it? He said he overnighted it through DHL, so I should have it by now. Ohhh, I see. I told him that I probably did have it. But they likely put it in my front door and I never go in the front door, I always go in through the garage, so I wouldn't have seen it. And since I wasn't expecting to receive anything, I wouldn't have looked in the front door for it. He said I just needed to fill this out and send it back in an envelope that he provided. We'll see how that goes! I hope through this form, that they aren't planning on only reimbursing me the $134!
11/10/2006 Update:
I got my settlement form through DHL. It did have $134 written on the form, with a vague note to reimburse for "any interest as well." I didn't like that the exact amount wasn't written there (although he didn't know what that dollar amount was b/c I didn't know that amount when I talked to him) but there were no further instructions on how to display what that exact amount was. He did include a paid DHL return envelope addressed to someone else in their office, an admin probably. So I decided to call her (person #11) with my questions directly so that she's aware of what's up when she receives it, and to make sure I have everything I need.
Meanwhile (before I get a chance to make that call) to rub a little more salt in the wound, I got an automated telephone call from CitiCard letting me know that my account is (imagine electronic computer voice) 38 days past due, and my balance and due date again, with a warning that I must pay this by such-and-such date to avoid any more fees. Imagine that.
So I called person #11 and she said it was ok to white-out the $134, copy the form and write in the new amount. Then sign it, send to them, and they'll sign it and send it to Sears corporate. And to also include the statement that shows that dollar amount. Well, since Sears has been unable to send me statements at all for months (this still baffles me), I was able to print out my account summary online and hope that's good enough. Not really having the nerve to ask directly for anything more than my $201.74 credit, I vaguely asked what about any damage done to my credit report over this? She didn't think it had been long enough that they would have reported it yet, but qualified that with the fact that she doesn't work for CitiCard so I'd have to ask them for sure. But it couldn't hurt to call CitiCard anyway and let them know. Probably a good idea.
So I called CitiCard and talked to person #12. She wasn't nearly as condescending as the person I talked to the other day when I called just to get my balance. #12 only said "It looks here like we talked to you on the 7th?" So I told her I was following up, that I filled out a settlement form w/ Sears . I'll overnight it, they get it Monday, and Sears is supposed to be contacting CitiCard on Monday to take care of the balance. "I just wanted to let you know this, so you can put this in the records on my account."
"Oh, and by the way, can I close this account?"
"Sure, please hold."
And next thing I know I'm talking to "lucky" person #13. Who proceeds to close my account. And while he's required to ask why I'm closing it, he didn't harass me about closing it or try to convince me not to close it like I feared. "Once you close this account, it cannot be reopened. You will have to reapply for credit. Do you want to proceed with closing the account?" Required to ask that too, no doubt.
Yes, please, yes. Close the darn account already!! "Yes." "Would you like a letter of confirmation?"
Yes, but you might get it bounced back for some mysterious reason. "Yes, please." Verified the address, which they had right all along, and I was on my way.
(imagine deep, announcer voice) Will the account be closed? Will the letter of confirmation ever make it to it's destination? (suspenseful music) Will Sears issue the credit in a timely manner? (suspenseful music peaking) Stay tuned.
11/22/2006 Update:
I just called the 800 number to listen to the recording that tells me what my current balance is. Recall that my previous balance was $201.74? Well today my account balance is $0.74. It's a small enough amount I'm tempted to just pay it and move on with my life. But the settlement form I sent in clearly said $201.74. They're too lazy to type in the dollars and the cents when making the credit? Well maybe I'm too lazy to take the time to make a 74 cent payment! Seriously though, taking the effort to send them a payment for $0.74 is more trouble than it should be worth. Although in this case, calling and talking to a billion more people to get $0.74 taken care of might be the most trouble of all. But the principle of the matter is that I do not owe them $0.74. Hmm....
11/28/2006 Update:
I was telling my brother Dan about this matter of $0.74. He had a great idea, that I should just pay the $0.74 but use a credit card to do so. They'll probably get charged some minimum fee to process that credit card transaction. Great idea!
Unfortunately, when I went online to do so it would only let me pay via debit from a bank account. This Sears account is essentially like a credit card, and when was the last time you could go online to your credit card's website and pay your bill using another credit card? Yeah.
So I called the local person at Sears Home Improvement office again and explained the $0.74. Which that lady, who has been the most helpful of anyone, also thought was ridiculous. She pulled up my info and verified that the settlement amount was indeed for $201.74 and she said she would call their corporate funding department and have them credit the rest.
11/29/06 update:
The local person called me back this morning. She wasn't able to get ahold of them yesterday afternoon but got in touch with them this morning. The corporate funding department said they would credit the $.74 but she suggested I call and check the balance to be sure.
So I did, and the $.74 was still there. I talked to a real person and they said nothing had come through from Sears yet. Called local lady again. She said she received confirmation from the funding dept that they made the credit, so maybe it doesn't post until after 2pm or 3pm. Check again then.
Called the automated line at 3:40pm and at 4:50pm, still no post. So I talked to a real person again and she verified that not only did the payment not post, but there was not even any note or record of Sears contacting them about this credit at all. She suggested if it didn't post by tomorrow morning, to have Sears call them again tomorrow. I stated that the payment was due TODAY, so I would guess if it doesn't get cleared today that there would be more finance charges and such. In that case, she said she would speak to a manager. And she put me on hold. When she came back she said that she had spoken to a manager who had the $0.74 removed from the balance.
11/30/06 update:
I called the automated line to verify that this manager had made a $0.74 credit yesterday and that my balance is $0. I now have a credit balance of $0.26. Hmm... $1.00 minus $0.74 = $0.26. So they must have just given me a $1.00 credit. What is it with these people? They can only deal in whole dollars and not cents? Is that why the 201.74 got lobbed off to $201.00 even the first time they credited my account? What would be funny would be if the computer system couldn't handle having a credit balance lingering out there, and they end up having to send me a check for $0.26 someday :)
2/9/2007 update:
For the last couple of months, I have continued to get statements from Sears. I guess they just need me to know that I
still have a $1.00 credit, in case I forgot. And I guess they're going to keep reminding me month after month after month, even though I have closed the account. Is that really a necessary waste of paper, postage, time, etc?
Oh and by the way, "PLEASE note that the new balance shown on your statement is a credit balance and no payment is due. "
Ok, thanks a lot.
Update 2/28/07:
This is awesome. A couple of weeks ago I got a check from Sears for $1.00. Really.
"We look forward to continuing to provide the best service possible." If this is the best service they've possibly got, I can't say that really want to continue receiving it! :) I can't wait to deposit this into my account. I'm gonna be so rich. It's going to be awesome.
