Remember I mentioned in my January 6th blog about the new elliptical we ordered from Sears on December 29th, the elliptical model CE 7.4? The Customer Service Representative (CSR) who took our order on the phone assured us delivery would be in 7-10 days, which made delivery Friday the 13th. John was on travel and instructed me to call on Friday to find out where our elliptical was and why it had not been delivered. Yolanda, the CSR at Sears, said it wasn't shipped until the 5th of January, so the 7-10 (business) days would make the delivery about the 16th (MLK holiday). We expected between the 17th through the 19th. I had held off grocery shopping until John came home from South Dakota on the 14th. Since it was a holiday weekend, the grocery stores are usually crazy. I figured I'd wait until everyone returned to work on Tuesday and go then, our supplies were not depleted by any means. Then I remembered...the Sears delivery. I couldn't leave home during the day with the delivery coming.
John decided to take off from work on Friday the 20th since he traveled home from South Dakota the previous Saturday. If the delivery wasn't here by Friday, I had the freedom to go grocery shopping instead of waiting for the delivery. Friday, while I was grocery shopping, John called Sears to see where our elliptical machine was. After being put on hold a couple of times in a half hour period, he was told it was NEVER SHIPPED from the vendor. Since Sears sells many brands, they act as a third party between their vendor and the customer (us).
John had the same questions I did. Question: Why were we told on two previous conversations with their Customer Service Representatives that our elliptical machine had been shipped and we could expect it in 7-10 days??? Answer: The first (ordering) call, we were not given the ship date only told delivery would be in 7-10 days by the CSR when we placed our order. Our second call we were given the ship date from CSR Yolanda. Question: How can a ship date exist if the elliptical wasn't shipped??? Answer: Sears assigned a ship date to the vendor when the order was placed, the vendor never shipped it. Question: Why didn't Sears follow up??? Answer: Sears had no reason to follow up with their vendor, they presumed it was shipped on January 5th as indicated in their computer. Question: No one had a shipping routing number or tracker??? Answer: Well, yes, they did - that's how they discovered after our third inquiry that our elliptical never shipped!! Prior to that third call which John made on Friday, January 20th, no one at Sears bothered to check with the vendor only checking the information in the computer. The vendor DID NOT notify Sears they never shipped our elliptical.
Sears offered to contact the vendor and have our elliptical shipped taking another 7-10 (business) days delay (no offer from Sears for express shipping for THEIR MISTAKE). Sears would have to place a reorder (in their computer), which includes charging us the current price (not the sale price we originally purchased the elliptical for), 55% off the regular price. Ahemmmm!!!! We are furious with Sears, such poor customer service from what use to be a reputable name and company. John cancelled the order. Sears promised(?) the credit card would reflect the elliptical charge credited by February 2nd (they could not give a satisfactory reason why it took so long - it is how their process works)!!! John said we'd wait for the credit to appear on the credit card and go shopping at a store and buy one (hope the sales hold until February).
Remember my binders I put together in my clean up? I made two, one for workouts and one for recipes.
I marked my workout binder (Motivation) with tabs for quick reference.
I also marked some exercises I found for the elliptical and some articles about it.
For my Low Fat Recipes binder, my first page had to be the most important.
I included some rules and general knowledge in addition to recipes.
And since illness is more prevalent in winter, we must remember what foods keep us healthy.
And as long as we stay healthy, we need our comfort food!
Well I'm all set on getting healthy (again), except without the elliptical, which was my exercise assistant. I will have to rely on the good old fashioned exercises without the equipment. I am not happy about it, only accepting of it.
3 comments:
We had a similar situation with a freezer we were buying from Best Buys. On the day of scheduled delivery, I call at 3:00 because 1) they hadn't come, and 2) we hadn't gotten the promised call the previous day to say they were coming 3) we were told by a recording, it you don't get the call, that doesn't mean they aren't coming - they are!
The freezer was out of stock and in back order!!!! No one called to tell us that. Date when they would have it back in stock was unknown. Would we like to keep the order active? No *#$%##@%!
We went out to Lowes that afternoon, purchased a similar freezer for less money which they offered to load onto our truck that day or deliver the next day.
And, no, we did not wait for the credit. I would not go back to Best Buys for anything that had to be delivered - if I can't carry it out of the store, I don't want it.
Isn't it a shame the customer services has fallen so low. Isn't sad that when you do get good service (which should be the norm not the exception), that you are surprised?
I've always had trouble with Sears. I have a couple of good stories myself!!
Good luck with your get healthy and exercising program!
You're right RK, it is sad that customer service is no longer the norm. We've had problems with Best Buy as well. Be careful with them, returns are for store credit only. I use Best Buy for low cost items only (like videos and CDs). They burnt us on a TV purchase.
Thanks for the encouragement, Happyone. I've been waiting for my knee to heal so I can be somewhat functional again to start exercising. I did fall off the (healthy eating) wagon over the holidays, now I'm back on again. It is definitely a combination of healthy eating and exercise. I don't get any results with only the healthy eating (and I crave chocolate and sweets!). I can't wait for spring in about 60 days!!
Post a Comment