Customer Service: SEARS vs The Source by Circuit City

This week was the week of the Nintendo Wii. In my haste to get as many accessories for it as possible, I had the opportunity to chat with the telephone reps from Sears and The Source. First I spoke to The Source.

I had ordered a Wii Nunchuk controller and the GT Pro Series Game for the Wii on Sunday. Order was confirmed in stock and everything. It was just waiting for a verification of my credit card, which was a Paypal Mastercard I wanted to spend all the funds out of ASAP because of stories like this. Anyway, the order was cancelled. Since the Wii Nunchuk controllers have been very elusive at retail, I freaked out!

I got a very understanding and obviously customer centered service rep on the phone. All he did to disarm me was just to apologize for what had happened, and that he was sorry. Huh… Well, he did show quantity on hand, and he offered to replace the order immediately so that I would be able to get the items I wanted. He also helped me enter in a coupon that didn’t work properly before, but it automagically worked for him, so I got an extra $5.00 off and upgraded my shipping to express. We figured out that the reason the order was canceled was because the system took my Paypal card, but was unable to process it. He was sorry about that too and said that there should be a warning, even if only a few people use them, to prevent this sort of mess.

In the end, the order was still cancelled because they got into a backorder situation. Luckily, I found what I needed at the local WalMart. Game on! I did feel that The Source guy was trying to help me out, and I was glad he brought to my attention the glitch and tried to fix the problem by replacing the order quickly, even helping me out with an online discount.

Then comes the SEARS experience.

I had placed an order for the Nintendo Wii on launch day AM, likely before anyone actually realized that the system was available at SEARS. I sure didn’t know. They don’t stock gaming stuff at the stores in Canada anymore. The order was placed, and was showing in stock, so it looked like I was good to go. Insurance as I eluded to in another post.

I call on Monday to check on my order. It had a weird message on it telling me that it was in stock, but the promise date was Unavailable, so I call to see what’s up. I get some guy on the phone that really knew nothing. He had to call a supervisor to tell him what the message meant. He asks me to hold to find someone, and I do appreciate that he asked if I minded if I he put me on hold to find out, but the way he said it just sounded so snotty. I think it was like: “It’s going to take a few minutes while I go track someone down. You’ll hold for a few minutes won’t you?” Of course I say yes, and he runs off.

A few minutes later, he gets back on the phone and tells me that it means that my item has been backordered, and that I wouldn’t get it till December 5th. I comment that it was a while away, and he barks back saying “No it’s not! It’s only 2 weeks.” Well, buddy, if you expected to get it this week, based on the information you see in front of you, (ie: Instock) would you not think that it was a long time? He doesn’t quit. He then says,”Well, if you don’t want it, did you want me to cancel the order then? I can do that right away” in a rather condescending tone. Well, at this point, I of course didn’t want to cancel it! I just wanted it faster. I tell him that I’d think about it since I wanted it this week, and that two weeks for an alleged in stock item really wasn’t acceptable to me. He really didn’t seem to care, no apologies, just sarcasm in his voice. I just say thanks, and hang up on him.

This is when I got tipped on there being some available at Futureshop so I boot over, and I got it! Since the rep told me he was ready and able to delete it with his cockiness, I call back later to cancel the order. I get a lady this time. She tells me she can’t cancel it and doesn’t know why the other guy told me I could. She has the same cocky voice.

Anyway, without apology or anything, she schools me on how things work at SEARS. She tells me the reason that it says unavailable is because on a Sunday, the default date is set to something silly like Jan 1, 1949, or something. I’m like, OK, I really didn’t need to know that. I just want my order canceled now. I ask her if there was any other way to cancel it, she says no, and insists that from what she sees, it is on the way probably, and I should get it soon, totally contradicting the other guy. I ask her if I can just send it back when I pick it up, and she’s like, “Oh yeah, you can do that.” So you’re schooling me about how things work at SEARS when you don’t even know how things work at SEARS?

The bottom line is at no point did anyone seem interested in my problem and fixing them at SEARS Customer Service (used loosely). They weren’t polite, and they really didn’t have much empathy, or sympathy for a customer. So that’s my SEARS story, and it wasn’t isolated. Both reps were just as bad. If I got one good rep, and one bad rep, I think my opinion would be different. For now, their service just sucks.