Sears Needs To Go The Extra Mile. Well, 400 Of Them, Actually

Eddie,

I'm in agreement with everyone else here. Since you seem to be so
business-savvy, or atleast operate under the belief that you are, I
would think you would understand efficiences in Logistics or Supply
Chain management, or cost-benefit and streamlining of systems. Either
way, you may wish to check with your local community college and
discuss whether or not they have a basic course on this subject
matter, and possibly a beginning level course on business operations
and fundamentals.

and let them pick the stuff up for you.

ROAD TRIP!

It sounds like everyone is in agreement here.

If you want it bad enough, it's time to consider a trip to get it.

Think about it.

Here's a neat idea, Eddie. How about YOU get off your dead rear end
and drive down to North Carolina and pick that patio set up yourself?

It isn't so easy as just loading the item on a truck and delivering it
to you. There may well be extra charges because they have to drive it
so far...and I bet you won't want to pay them because YOU have been
inconvenienced.

And frankly, I doubt Sears will do anything for you with your attitude
being the way it is. If you are nice and patient, stores will often
bend over backwards to help you. If you're a rude, condescending jerk,
they'll look for any way to get you out of their face.

This is the most pretentious letter I have ever read.

Patio furniture would be:
a.) large and bulky and
b.) presumably heavy

and would thus be pretty expensive to ship a long distance.

This is why stores have regional warehouses so they don't have incur
major expenses to move merchandise from the warehouse to the
customers.

I guess bottom line, I would want to know if you are willing to pay
the exorbitant freight charges for hauling this from Alabama or North
Carolina (and I think those are a BIT further than 400 miles from you)
to Philly. If you are, then maybe you have a point.

But if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that your expectation is to
have them ship the items to you at what it would cost to be shipped
from your local warehouse to you. That's not about to happen.

The fact that the warehouse closest to you sold out of the item first
is neither a personal affront to you, nor is it the fault of the
company. That's just the way it happened in this instance.

But given your demanding, unreasonable tone, if the decision was up to
me, I'd rather lose the sale than bend over backwards to help a
customer with that kind of attitude. Have you ever heard the phrase,
"You catch more flies with honey than vinegar?"

SO, I guess you should be thankful it isn't up to me!

Last but surely not least, IT'S THE WEEK BEFORE LABOR DAY AND YOU LIVE
IN PHILLY! Why are your worrying about patio furniture now??? & are
you really surprised that the warehouse closest to you has already
sold out of these items? I mean, the season IS over, y'know!

The retail store I work at is like sears; the Internet and the stores
might as well be two separate companies. If something is out on the
Internet, the customer has to call the store directly to get it. The
Internet will not automatically call the store. With this being said,
we can't do store-to-store transfers. We used to however someone would
have to physically bring the merchandise to another store, which
caused a major headache. We can ship an item if it is small to a
customer for a small fee. For furniture and other big items, someone
is SOL. If sears could do a store-to-store transfer except to pay a
fee.

I wonder if the letter writer has even asked if a store-to-store
transfer is possible. Honestly, the only way to get the furniture may
be for her to go pick it up. UPS and the post office have weight
restrictions on the type of boxes (weight and size) that can be
shipped and so sending it may not be a possibility. I think the letter
writer should call the store that has the patio furniture and see if
anything can be done to get it to her. If not, have a nice roadtrip!

My, aren't you full of self importance. Sears should stop everything
and send an empty truck to North Carolina to pick up 1 patio set and
then drive the same truck up to Philadelphia and deliver to you. Mind
you they will have to send that truck, empty, from wherever their
distribution center is. Let's look at this logistically. Sears has a
distribution center in Blue Ash, OH, so let's just use that one. Blue
Ash to Charlotte is 467 miles. Another 400 to your house in
Philadelphia and 561 miles back to Blue Ash. That's about 1450 miles
round trip to deliver one patio set. Factor in gas, driver's salary
and expenses (possible overnight stay in motel) and you have a hefy
sum just to deliver one patio set. You also have to factor in Sears
losing that driver for 2 days.

Even if they have a truck available in NC, that's still 800 miles
round trip. Are you willing to pay all costs involved for that
delivery? I think not!

For this very reason, Sears.com and each Sears stores operate
separately. It would be a logistic nightmare to start sending
individual items from stores all around the country because they are
not available in the distribution warehouse.

Why don't you go 400 miles and get the furniture yourself?

It's very disturbing that I find myself about to defend Sears.

That said, I guess I don't understand the point of this letter.

Are you saying that because Sears.com does not show a set available,
and a sears store 400 miles away DOES, that they should drive this set
400 miles to you?

Please, tell me I'm wrong.

Wow. You have just got it alllll wrong.

"..you can't figure out how to get patio furniture 400 miles up I-95
to Philadelphia.." Seems YOU can't figure it out either. How about YOU
drive down, pick it up, and bring it home.
"..want you to call a store in North Carolina, put the furniture on a
truck and send it to me.." How about YOU call the store in North
Carolina, and do so.
Problem solved.

Many big name business operate physical stores and websites completely
separately. They obtain merchandise from different locations using
their own funds to do so. So while the Sears stores may have the
furniture in their warehouses, they paid for it, it's tracked in their
inventory system, and they aren't just going to hand it over to the
website because you're demanding that Sears.com go get it for you.

If you want it so badly, why not go to one of these stores and buy it
there?

And, your snotty and demanding attitude isn't going to do much to
convince Sears to go out of their way for you.

The Sears website's warehouse being out of stock and the Sears
stores being out of stock are two entirely different things. There may
be no standard in place to allow a truck to ship merchandise from a
store to the website's warehouse. There also may not be any way to
transfer merchandise between the store's inventory and the website's.
Are you suggesting they ask a sales clerk to drive the merchandise to
your door?

Have you spoken to anyone in customer service and asked whether or
not this type of transfer is a possibility? You condemn them and call
them liars without, as far as I can tell, even asking a human being
what they might be able to do for you.

The stores in my company are happy to transfer merchandise between
stores, but due to trucking schedules and distance, some transfers may
take up to 60 days to arrive. We're still glad to help you, but you
have to be aware of the possible lengthy wait, and you have to ASK US
to do it for you. We're not mind readers, and neither are the Sears or
Sears.com employees.

Although I agree with pd about the tone of your letter, I must say
that if Sears has reached the point where it can't give you available
merchandise in exchange for money, I think it's time to call it
quits.

I realize your letter is one side of the story, but I have a feeling
it might be the only side, considering Sears' track record these
days.

Good luck.

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/subcat.do?vertical=LAWN&cat=Patio+Furni
ture&subcat=Patio+Furniture&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes

I submit for your perusal a link to the patio set I reached (from
philadelphia no less) that counter's your original complaint on sears
.com website August 29,2006 at 8:09 pm. eastern standard time. The
second from the top has the model number you mention. An excellent
choice on your part I might add.
I agree totally with your concern for how Sears.com conducts business,
and Sears as a store itself from my own personal experience in the
past. So perhaps it's a good thing you came to PFB for advice. Please
do let us know how this gets resolves and how pleased or displeased
you are with your new patio set and sears's service in general.

And do stay around. This is a great site and a good place to learn new
things about consumerism. Your letter does have a "dry" sarcastic
tone, which may not be received well in a professional
correspondence. However, I do wish you the best and do let us know how
it goes.

When you write a complaint you need to leave out the snotty tone if
you want them to help you.