Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 6:46 pm Post subject: Sears keeps AS customer's $600
Last March, (2008), I bought four appliances from Sears. I only picked up three of them then, but because I lost a receipt, I did not go to pick up the fourth until a month ago (May 2009). I had lost track of my receipt.
Finally, last month I brought my self to Sears, with a receipt I found for the dryer. I found the receipt, and they disbelieve me.
They have no record of my purchase, since they don't keep records for more than a year. I have tried for a month to get this resolved, explaining to them that sometimes my AS causes me to procrastinate, especially when it is a high stress activity. Trying to get a dryer without the receipt was something I could not bring myself to do. After they tried to find paperwork on their end for a month, and could not, they told me that the best they would do was give me a 50% refund or credit. I have no plans of taking a $300 loss. I offered to pay the 15% restocking fee, and get the dryer, but they said no.
I am independant living, and worked hard and long to save up the $2300 I spent on these new appliances (Fridge, dish washer clothes washer, and dryer). I have bought from Sears for years, and if they were to visit my house, the amount of stuff I bought from Sears would put a smile on their faces. I have been happy to pay more to go to Sears or even Kmart, and will not shop at WalMart because of the way the treat their employees. Anyone have any suggestions?
While I kick myself in the butt for not picking it up in a timely fashion, Sears' response was a kick somewhere else. I have always said that I put the "Pro" in procastination.
well, I hate to say this but, you cant reasonable expect sears to still have what you bought in stock after a year.
You may have a receipt, but any body with a computer, a printer, and a little bit of skill can make a authentic looking receipt. You cant reasonably expect them to give out 600$ worth of merchandise to somebody who comes in with just a receipt, they would get conned out of millions that way.
I would take the 300$ back and consider it a lesson learned.
You can get a good dryer from home depot delivered to your house for that price:
I bought my dryer from home depot, I paid 240 for it, and 65$ for the shipping and installation (although that also included the washer shipping and installation).
In anycase, if I was in your position, I would take the 300$, and go to homedepot.com and buy a new dryer for that price. It may not be exactly what you want, but you get a dryer without losing any money.
Joined: May 13, 2008 Posts: 4718 Location: Transitional
Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 7:03 pm Post subject:
Create noise, and move up the ladder of management - the floor people have no interest in helping, but upper management will if there is a problem brewing. Contact a media outlet that does spotlights on corporate wrongdoing, and see if they are interested. If you have a receipt and no delivery, then they are in violation of their obligation - you might have to pay the stocking fee, but otherwise they are in the wrong here.
M. _________________ He thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.
From my heart and from my hand, why don't people understand my intentions...?
Joined: Apr 17, 2008 Posts: 744 Location: Near Panama, City Florida
Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 7:11 pm Post subject:
If you have a car, there is a great way of persuading Sears to do the right thing. I know one person who put a sign on his car that said, "I was ripped of by ....." They have pens in places like Wal Mart (Yuck) that allow you to write messages on the back windshield (Check to make sure it is legal to do so and under what conditions). Having such a message on your windshield and a picture of it may very well be the persuasive tool you need. When all other avenues are exhausted, show the employees the picture, and say that you will put the message back on the car, and it will be seen by people wherever you drive. One thing about a bad economy is the fact that less sales will hurt a business even more. I think that the 15 percent restocking fee is just, but outright theft is not. _________________ I am AUTISTIC - Always Unique, Totally Interesting, Straight Talking, Intelligently Conversational.
Create noise, and move up the ladder of management - the floor people have no interest in helping, but upper management will if there is a problem brewing. Contact a media outlet that does spotlights on corporate wrongdoing, and see if they are interested. If you have a receipt and no delivery, then they are in violation of their obligation - you might have to pay the stocking fee, but otherwise they are in the wrong here.
Often times, corporations worry about corruption in the lowest levels (which is actually a heck of a lot more common than corruption higher up), and so they give the sales, customer service, etc reps absolutely no power. They are forced to follow every single last rule. The rule says to give nothing, then they give nothing. Interestingly enough, the first level of management has this same problem. They seem to be able to bend the rules, but that's because they operate on a different rule set. As you go higher, the rules become less and less binding (not more bendable, mind you), and the loss potential becomes less of a problem. _________________ "And with their gushing over music and fussing over ceremony, the empire became divided against itself." ~Chuang Tzu
"Let reason be your only sovereign." ~Wizard's Sixth Rule
Website = full avatar
Joined: May 13, 2008 Posts: 4718 Location: Transitional
Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 7:42 pm Post subject:
MrLoony wrote:
makuranososhi wrote:
Create noise, and move up the ladder of management - the floor people have no interest in helping, but upper management will if there is a problem brewing. Contact a media outlet that does spotlights on corporate wrongdoing, and see if they are interested. If you have a receipt and no delivery, then they are in violation of their obligation - you might have to pay the stocking fee, but otherwise they are in the wrong here.
Often times, corporations worry about corruption in the lowest levels (which is actually a heck of a lot more common than corruption higher up), and so they give the sales, customer service, etc reps absolutely no power. They are forced to follow every single last rule. The rule says to give nothing, then they give nothing. Interestingly enough, the first level of management has this same problem. They seem to be able to bend the rules, but that's because they operate on a different rule set. As you go higher, the rules become less and less binding (not more bendable, mind you), and the loss potential becomes less of a problem.
Very true; consumerist.com has a plethora of stories of how people have gotten corporations to respond to their complaints when their first, second, thirteenth attempts have failed. The bottom of the totem pole general has stock answers, no power to solve problems, and little interest in pushing harder since there isn't a prospect of them getting another sale.
M. _________________ He thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.
From my heart and from my hand, why don't people understand my intentions...?
Write a letter. It's worth a try, all they can do is say no. Just start by saying how your a loyal customer and what happened. Don't get nasty, you will not get anywhere doing that.
I'd recommend finding a lawyer and asking what you can do....tell them you have AS. A nice one might take it on as a pro bono case or they can refer you to some agency that does free legal aid in your area. A couple of phone calls from a lawyer often get results because Sears will be out a lot more if they try to take it to court.
Sadly, it sounds like your AS would interfere with you pursuing the matter yourself in small claims court, but there are options.
Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 10:02 am Post subject: Re: Sears keeps AS customer's $600
Yes, do go up a little higher in the company. They have records somewhere I am sure - if you paid by credit card, you can get them involved too.
I had a relatively good experience with Sears last January. I took some old gift certificates in - some of them were older than the Canadian legislation that said stores couldn't expire a gift certificate. When they wouldn't go through, the sales clerk decided to go to her manager, and they just re-issued the card, on the proviso that I spend them that day - which I did, I wanted to buy my coffee machine that day and I had told them before that I didn't know if the gc's would work, and that I was buying the merchandise anyway. Granted, I ticked off the old guy who was standing in line behind me, who wanted me to "hurry up" because I guess when its Sunday and you are 70, the days are short or something and I was taking too long , and the sales clerk sent him to a different register to be helped Probably good, because I was ready to tell him that his mother must have died before she was able to teach him a few manners - certainly he would have expected the clerk to wait on him for as long as it would take...
Anyway, Hopefully someone will see their way to do a good PR deed in your case, that is a lot of money to be out of. Good luck! _________________ People think there are four elements to the world; fire, wind, water and earth. They are wrong. There is a 5th element - surprise. - paraphrasing of Terry Pratchett "The Truth"
Joined: Oct 16, 2008 Age: 27 Posts: 741 Location: between bannings.
Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 10:44 am Post subject:
I was a shipping/receiving and warehouse manager in a furniture store for years. I have plenty of experience with this.
Here is what can/shoulda happened.
They should have tried contacting you after about 30 days of no pick-up. There is no law regarding that they should, but it's good practice and they really should have.
Now, there is record of your purchase, they just may not have it on site, we only kept records for one year, after that they were sent off and the computer database was not accessible, had to call corporate and they would look it up (for legal reasons behind purchases and credit card information they do this with all purchases, to avoid troubles of old purchase information laying around in boxes or for anyone to access on the computer).
So they can look up that you did purchase it, it will probably take a week or so to get that information back (they'll look up your purchase and research every single store to check on returns of same product and names). In that time you should get all your information from time of purchase to show that you have the receipt, credit card statements and all ones since showing that it was never refunded.
Now, here is where you can get screwed. If they show that even once they called you, as simple as a note on the pick-up order written saying "called april 2008, no answer" they dont have to give you a thing. If they have anything resembling evidence that they attempted to contact you about your product and you didnt pick up or go in and return it within 30-60 days of the attempt, you forfeit your purchase. An email, phone call, letter, any of those count, to what ever contact information you gave. If you accidentally wrote the wrong number, its your fault, if you moved or changed numbers and didnt contact them, its your fault.
If they didnt try to contact you at all then the product is still yours, but not indefinitely. I still think you have just a year then it is again forfeit, but i'm a little unsure, it never went that far (if I couldnt get ahold of the customer via phone or letter we would call the credit card company that they used or bank from the check and ask them to contact the customer and that always worked).
Basically, there is a timeline you have and I do want to say its just a year, but not sure, it could be longer.
It happens allll the time, i cant tell you how often i would call someone 30 days later and I would hear "oh my god, i cant believe i forgot i bought that!"
Also, the way we worked was you bought the stuff in the sales floor then pulled around back in your car to pick it up and people would ask all the time if they could do some more shopping in the strip and pick it up later in the day which was perfectly fine, then we'd get a call 7 hours later and they would be at home and say "i totally forgot i bought that, can i pick it up tomorrow?"
But anyways, try higher up with a nicely and courteously written letter or phone call. At that level they will usually have no problem giving up $600 to keep a customer. _________________ “It's a sad thing not to have friends, but it is even sadder not to have enemies.” - El Che
dude there is nothing they can really do, I agree with the second poster in that;
you do not have the recwipt
its gone 12 months
firstly most likely the warranty is gone, secondly they probsably don't even stock the item anymore
If you did this in the UK the UK they would actually laugh in yur face an ask what you been smoking, just take the 300 dowwah and take it as a lesson learnt and especially with hardware that is pricey always see if you can get an extended warranty cus I don't know if its like in the S but in the UK they say yo can have an extra 2 years for 30 pound 50 dowwah.
I cannot actually believe there are peiople saying that the store itself is in the wrong because they aren't in law terms they have the right to just turn you away, and the guy saying get a lawyer lol I guess but no one is in the wrong, and to the guys sayig kick up a fuss that is just really immature and helps no one and just makes you look like an a hole in the process so no one wins and you're diginity goes down HOWEVER incertain circumstances its right to kick up a fuss if you're rights are at an expense but nothing is really off in this intance
This will not help you, but I had to chime in on the procrastination thing. I was in a car accident back in January, and I was quick to call the police and get them out there, and to even pick up my report from the police station as well as file my claim with his insurance company. But I have yet to act on it and have my car repaired because I simply dread this process. I've been through it before and it sucks. This is undoubtedly going to infuriate the person who hit me to know that I waited months before acting on the claim I filed. Not that I REALLY care, though, as he shouldn't have hit me in the first place.
So I completely understand where you're coming from.
SteveeVader, I do believe he says he found the receipt for the dryer. I think the problem is, since so much time has passed and they are failing to find proof of his purchase, they clearly think he is trying to get a second dryer for free. This sucks, but I don't know that there is anything that can be done at this point except to possibly get on the phone with their corporate offices. Makuranososhi has given the best advice so far ... go with it.
Thanks for the input. I'm going to try some of the ideas.
Clarifications:
They do still stock that dryer. That is what I really want is the dryer.
At first, I took so long because I lost the slip. I do this all the time, I eventually find everything I misplace. Every once in a while, I would tear into drawers, stacks of papers etc. looking for that receipt. Finally, a year and a couple of months after the original purchase date, I went to see people at Sears to see if they had a record of it.
The gentleman that waited on me told me that I would need a sales slip number to research it. Well, I still can't find the slip with the barcode, but I have a copy that the salesperson gave me for the mail in rebate. All the proper info is there. Just not the lost original. The copy was printed on a Sears credit card slip.
I took that back to Sears, and they could not go back on their system more than a year. They make a copy of my slip, told me they would put in a "Help Ticket," and call me back. Three weeks go by, and no call.
I go back to Sears, and ask to see a manager. I explain the situation. She puts in a help ticket, and will get back to me. She calls back, no records. They do not deny the authenticity of my slip, they just have no record showing that the dryer was picked up or not, and same with having been given a refund, no record either way. She will talk to her higher up manager.
Her manager's answer was give him half. I asked that her manager talk to me, or whoever made that desicision. No go. I then told her that I thought it fair that I pay the restocking fee (15%) mentioned on my receipt for items returned, and she told me no again. I then told her I would now pursue this in small claims court.
Maybe I'm wrong, but no where did I see anything that suggested to me that not picking up my stuff in a timely fashion could cost me my dryer AND a refund for my money I paid.
Joined: Mar 06, 2008 Age: 31 Posts: 1053 Location: Wonderland
Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 12:02 pm Post subject:
What were the terms and conditions of the sale when you handed them your money?
If they don't have in writing that you had to pick it up within a year from the purchase date, then they should have kept their records beyond that year, and you are owed your item or a full refund. If they did have something in writing, they should also have the outcome which is what you go with.
What do you do? The best thing to do is resolve it at the lowest level possible. If you can't resolve it with Sears after talking to the highest ranking supervisor possible, then you might need to take it elsewhere. Sometimes the Attorney General's office in your state will intervene at your request. Usually you just file a case, and when it says to provide details, don't. As an Aspie, you're best off being vague, straight to the point. Better Business Bureau is supposed to be helpful too, though I question how much authority they have and will use. You can also consider small claims court in your area, but you will pay for court fees if you lose, and I think you have to at least front the fees no matter what, and even then, a court order to pay doesn't mean they will (though you have a better chance with a company like Sears as opposed to a guy down the street). TV judge shows (i.e. Judge Judy and Judge Joe Brown) sometimes waives the court fees if you allow the case to be televised, and generally they have authority for the entire US. You wouldn't know if that's an option until you look into it. You might decide it's easier to cut the loss and deal with it because everything else will take a lot of time and make you wait for the money, and you could easily spend that money and then some working to get it back.
I cannot actually believe there are peiople saying that the store itself is in the wrong because they aren't in law terms they have the right to just turn you away, and the guy saying get a lawyer lol I guess but no one is in the wrong, and to the guys sayig kick up a fuss that is just really immature and helps no one and just makes you look like an a hole in the process so no one wins and you're diginity goes down HOWEVER incertain circumstances its right to kick up a fuss if you're rights are at an expense but nothing is really off in this intance
The basic issue is that if Mr. X buys something and it's shipped to the store for pickup, it should be labeled, and the store (normally) would contact Mr. X to schedule the pickup if he doesn't come by. Yeah, they might sell it off to another customer, but it was paid for, and the store can't keep the money if the goods were never picked up.
In this case, he misplaced the receipt (foolish on his part), but the store still owes him the merchandise or the money back. For them to say they don't have a copy of his receipt and therefore won't give him anything is not lawful.
A lot of places here in the 'states get away with stealing peoples money with idiotic policies that do not conform with the requirements of the law. Every person who gives up and walks away empty handed is money in their pocket.
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Probably good, because I was ready to tell him that his mother must have died before she was able to teach him a few manners - certainly he would have expected the clerk to wait on 
