Sears

I have been shopping at this Sears store for years. It has definately declined since then but so has that entire mall. The store was very warm and uncomfortable to say the least. Customers shouldn’t be walking around sweating when trying to shop this day and age! Nevermind going to try clothes on. On a positive note, the sale prices were decent. It’s not my favorite place to shop, but it works when you’re in a bind. Sears should look into fixing the air problem in the store for their customers and their employees.

This location has really gone down hill over the past few years. I don’t even like strolling through the tool section here anymore.
The displays are on top of each other and just an absolute cluster flop (to quote the edited version of Heartbreak Ridge). Staff is hard to find and clueless when available. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

As a sales professional my experience at Sears was shocking. As a customer, I was left dumbfounded by their shear inability to simply take my money!
Sears has completely lost control of the Sales and Service categories of it’s business. It’s not a personal attack on the people who work there, it’s simply an assessment of the Sears brand. There apparently is no money in sales training or customer service protocols.
In Auburn, the moral of the staff is so poor you can literally feel the apathy as soon as you walk in the door. I have so many examples to share but I’ll stick to my most recent excursion.
My wife and I went to Sears to look at patio furniture. To it’s credit, Sears seems to want to sell patio furniture. They have a reasonably nice display of items and the quality is far superior to anything found at Home Depot or Lowes. So we were feeling pretty good about our chances to spend our money!
We sat down on a set and immediately a sales rep bounded over with a «How ya coin’ folk’s?» We told him we were fine and interested in purchasing some of the pieces featured. «OK, well I’ll be over here if you need me.»
So he walks away and started fooling around with another Sears guy. Our exact words were «We would like to buy some of these» and he walks away?
A few minutes later he’s back and this time with an iPad. «How we doin’? Any questions?» My wife asks «What if we wanted these three pieces and the couch?»
The Sears guy could barely keep from laughing out loud but instead sarcastically as hell says «Well then you’d have to buy all of them individually. That’s the only way.» I can’t emphasize enough how stupid he made the question sound. In an effort to deflect the tension my wife was now building I asked «How much for the couch?»
Out comes the iPad! He is on the Sears web site. He spent (no exaggeration) ten-​minutes on the SEARS WEBSITE looking for the price of a couch SITTING RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM! And, to make matters worse he apologized and said «I can’t find that price for you, I’m guessing around $ 500 That’s from my favorite people, the Chinese.»
Normally we never would have made it past the sarcastic stuff at the beginning to get to the racial stuff in the middle but like everyone else, we were short on free time and hoping to successfully get the furniture that day. So I ventured the most painful question in 21^st century sales.
«How much for these four pieces?»
«I can’t sell you those.»
«Why?»
“Because they are a set.”
«I want MORE than the set. I want the set PLUS MORE.»
«I can’t sell you that.»
«But I would be giving you hundreds of dollars more than you are asking me for.»
«Sorry.»
Now is the time when I attempt to reason with stores.
«You know, I read in the papers about how people are supporting the old brands anymore. Everyone goes to discount stores.»
«Yes, that is a big problem for Sears.»
«Yet, here I am trying to give you MORE money than you are asking for and you are refusing to sell me the product I want.»
«I know. It’s stupid. But it’s true.
So out we walked. No attempt to create a solution that worked. No attempt to sell me the sofa we loved and encourage me to look elsewhere for additional pieces. Nothing. Just…“sorry».
Attention sales people of America– QUIT BLAMING THE ECONOMY!