I'm Sorry Am I Bothering You Sears?

Maybe the cashier didn't know exactly where they were or take you by
the hand and show you is because he is a CASHIER, AT A REGISTER. You
would have much better results asking an actual floor associate, which
you did the second time around. Next time, try that first.

If you really want poor customer service call their Delivery Customer
Service center or even better their National Customer Relations
department. They both must be based in the Fillipines (as everyone I
spoke to there had that diffinative accent) and although everyone of
them apologized for my issue (they must regularly hold apology 101
classes for their employees)3 of the 8 "associates" I spoke to
(including a supervisor named Andi) hung up on me. I did not swear at
any time during those conversations but, did ask them to please stop
apologizing due to the fact it was further irritating me. I financed
$2700.00 to purchase a high end washer/dryer combo with 5 year
extended warrenty and now 11 days later am waiting for redelivery of
my dryer that had to be picked up for installation of a side vent kit.
I wish Marvin Zindler were still alive! That man knew how to get
service out of companies that promised service.

I have had the same sort of trouble with lack of competence at my
local sears here in Oklahoma City. My boyfriend and I went to the
sears located in Quail Springs Mall to buy a wedding gift for some
friends. They were registered at Sears, but live in New York state.


We tried to pay for the items through the registry, as is normal, so
that they could pick the items up later at their own location. None
of the employees, management included, knew how the registry worked.
They told us that we would have to buy the items (which were rather
large), and just bring them out to New York with us on our flight.
How ridiculous can you get?

We gave up that time, and came back a couple of weeks later to try
again. We hoped that perhaps someone more competent would be working
for the day. Same problem, same run around, and we couldn't even look
at the list in the system to show what we wanted.

In the end, we gave up on the store entirely, since hardly any of the
six employees we talked to (on the second attempt alone) even knew
what a registry was. We purchased the items through the website,
which worked well, but we have not been back in a store since. I
don't know why we even bought the items through the website, given
what a poor experience we had. I think we should have gone to
Target.

If you want to keep business, your employees need to know what they
are doing. If your managers don't even have a clue about how a
registry works, then that's just pathetic. I have worked in retail
for over a decade, and I'm blown away by the level of incompetence I
encountered in your stores.

Sears has a customer computer kiosk that employees should consult if
an item is not on the shelf. FYI, you cn find very nice waffle irons
at Sam's Club, very good ones at very good prices.

Cashiers aren't allowed to leave their cage--er, their cac--but he
should have called a MCA for you--Merchandise and customer assist.

A lot of times, cashiers just don't know all the products we carry.

Also, chances are that the girl you saw pushing stock WAS working in
that department. Many times, I work not only small appliances, but the
rest of home fashions and the children's clothing department. There is
not just one person for each department any more. We are responsible
for multiple departments. If she was pushing clothing, she was an MCA
and therefore, is tasked to know what we do and don't carry.

Layaway, I thought, was newly available in electronics. Not all
associates are familiar with this yet. You probably asked an appliance
salesperson (since you said she was passing through). They do not have
layaway in their department and up until very recently, electronics
did not either. Sometimes, out of department employees don't know
about promotions going on in another department. It's not their fault,
really.

This is not excusing any of their actions, but offering some sort of
explanation for what you experienced. I'm sorry this happened.

So many times I read letters like this and the responses are in
support of the company. I cannot believe that so many people accept
the complete lack of customer service.

There is absolutely no reason why the cashier couldn't have either
gone and shown the OP where the waffle irons are located or paged
someone who could. In the very least, he should have asked. I expect
that when I ask for a particular item someone will either accompany me
or give me specific instructions..."The waffle irons are located in
aisle 12, next to the blenders."

It is a well known fact that Sears and Kmart are doing layaway
programs. If for no other reason than the fact that they've started
targeting the early Christmas shopping crowd. Most likely this
employees answer that they don't have a layaway program was pure
laziness. They didn't want to stop and help. I was able to locate a
blog that said that Sears was going to start allowing electronics
layaways early August. Depending upon the timing of your question,
the employee may have been unaware of the change in policy. However,
if Sears was going to make such a big deal out of this promotion, you
would think their employees would be the first to know.

They cashier was at a register. Whether he is doing anything or not,
he is probably unable to leave it. He could have called someone, but I
would never expect someone to leave their register to help me find
something.

Sounds like it was right where you were looking before, you just
didn't see it the first time.

Where I work, if someone asks us where something is, we have to make
an offer to take them there. Even if its right under their nose.
"It's right here, would you like me to show you?"
Usually they get huffy and take it as an insult because it is right
there.

About the layaway sign in the electronics. It's advertising. Just
because someone is shopping in electronics doesn't mean they aren't
shopping elsewhere in the store and may benefit from layaway.
Was there something in small print about restrictions?

Ever since Sears bought K-Mart (or was it the other way around), Sears
has turned into a low-end store. By this, I mean lower than Target.

I occasionally shop at Sears (they do have some nice sales and have a
tool department that's seconded only by Home Depot), but I find the
experience to always be below the experience I get at Target.

One of the big changes since the K-Mart deal was the move to
centralized registers. The people that work at these registers work
at registers. They are not really tied to a department, even if the
register is co-located in/near a specific department.

In case any of this sounds like I'm disagreeing with you, Theresa, I'm
not. I'm in total agreement: Sears is not a good store, any more. Go
to Target or Wal-Mart, for good prices. Go to Bloomingdales (or
whatever you have in your area) for service.

cashier's aren't mind readers.

Sure if they started hiring maybe some Betazoids or some Bene
Gesserits then sure, it'd be realistic to expect mind-reading skills
(tho technically the Bene Gesserit didn't actually read minds).

But we're stuck with plain old humans.


And sure - there's always going to be the one customer who expects
every employee to know the exact layout of the store and where every
possible item is, whether it's a bra, a toaster, or a car part...

but to be honest, people with that expectation will always find
themselves frustrated because no large department store in the US
trains their employees to memorize every department - at least not on
the level of the cashier/grunt-worker.


A good example from my days in the navy... On my last ship my
division handled some of the computers in a command-space. Once in a
while we'd get calls pertaining to equipment belonging to other
divisions.

Our division officer required us tell them that the equipment didn't
belong to us - but we would notify the people who did own it.

Some of them were really nice and say "oh. don't bother we'll call
them ourselves" but others would still get upset and expect that it
was our job to fix it anyway, even though we knew nothing about the
equipment...


basically.. no matter what you do, there's always going to be someone
who says, "That's still not good enough. You should know this too!"

You tend to lump all customers into that same category of difficult
customers who expect the moon on a platter. Perhaps that comes from
your own experiences, however I simply don't think this is reality.

What Teresa wanted was not a vague waive of the hand and if the CSR
was paying attention, he would have realized that. When a customer
asks where an item is, it usually means they can't find it... so what
good would an "over there" response do? He easily could have told her
he couldn't leave his register to show her but would page someone to
help her find the item. That's good customer service. And that's
what she should have received.

...that has many "members of the public" roaming about. My job has
nothing to do with answering questions from people wandering in, off
the street, but I do wear a badge and therefore people assume that it
is.

All the time, I'm on my way to lunch, walking to a meeting in another
part of the building, going home, what have you. I get stopped by
someone asking "where is the restroom?" or "I heard there's a really
interesting mural, where is it?"

Sometimes, I know the answer. So, even though it's not my job, I'll
say "just head down the end of the hall and turn right." But I don't
always. In cases where I don't know the answer, I'll say "I don't
know, but if you take this elevator to the lobby, there is an
information desk where I'm positive they can assist."

I'm sure some people feel that I'm blowing them off with that last
one. But I don't know. However, I never say "I'm not a tour guide,
y'know?!?" or "it's over there, somewhere." If I can't answer the
question, I tell them how to find someone that can.

Recently, I've added this answer: "I don't work in that division, but
I'd be happy to direct you to someone that does who can assist."

On the other hand, I don't stop what I'm doing (particularly if I'm on
the clock) and walk the person to the information desk.