Absolutely. Sears cheated me the same way when I bought a washing machine seven years ago. I was even told by the salesman to be very careful in filling out the rebate form because they use any little excuse to refuse reimbursement. I carefully filled in the form, and 8-12 weeks later was notified that I had used the wrong form. Yes, the very form given to me by the salesman. Of course, they had none of the correct forms by then, and I was out $60.

Last year, I bought a freezer, paid extra for next day and weekend delivery because my food was packed on ice to keep from spoiling. They came next day and set the freezer in my basement and promptly left. They did not bother to plug it in, so I did and nothing worked. I called back right away, and was told that the crew could not turn around (they had been gone 5 minutes) and it would be four more days until someone could return. When they did, they found that the door had to be plugged into the main freezer (who knew?). But by that time I was out $500 worth of food. They said they would refund the delivery fees, but never did. That Sears store closed 8 months later. Karma. I hate to say such a thing, but if Sears' employees cared about their customers, then they might still have jobs. Sears has lost my business forever.

Yes, I hate Sears. In 1987 they said the wife's Sears card was behind in payments and wouldn't let her use it (she simply used a REAL credit card for the purchase BTW). Turns out Sears hadn't mailed a statement for three months, but the $4.45/month Allstate insurance was still automatically being charged. So, I immediately paid the whopping total of $13.35 and then immediately closed the Sears account. My wife and I have never since set foot in a Sears and we made damn sure all of our family and friends knew what happened. Congratulations of losing dozens of customers, a$$holes. Oh, and I also stopped doing business with Allstate in 1987 as well.

I bagged Sears years ago. The merchandise is crappy, and their customer service is awful. They charge to deliver the new appliance and to haul off the old one; every other store I've dealt with (most recently Lowe's) has no charge for these things.

eedo

How many times did you read the owners manual in those 4 days? Weren't you curious enough to go over the freezer with a fine tooth comb?

Sears rebates are the worst! I submitted the rebate form 3 times. Once by mail, twice in the store on their own computer. I kept getting told they never received it. Then when they did receive it, they said it was too late. I wrote letters to everybody including the CEO and every member of the board of directors. Four months later, I received my 400 rebate, plus an apology and a 100 gift card.

They count on people just giving up. Don't do it. The bigwigs hate getting complaint letters (not phone calls) and they will respond.

SalMonella

Yes, I hate Sears.

You should stop shopping at K-Mart too. They are both part of Sears Holdings Corporation.

so johnny - I bought a new in the box maytag dishwasher that leaked immediately after installation. I called the MAYTAG company and they sent out a tech who found that it was a FACTORY assembly error. I'm a very good mechanic but I'll be DAMNED it I will disassemble a BRAND NEW RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX ITEM!

It's not the BUYER'S responsibility to go over the as-delivered hardware. Maybe NOW (that the warranty has expired) I will, but not THEN. The book probably doesn't say anything about checking the door to cabinet electric plug.

Yes. I agree. I think Dworsky's first mistake was going to Sears. The Sears rep said they had received very little customer feedback. Duh. They decided to change the policy only after getting national news attention. What slimeballs! They knew it was dishonest. How many customers did they screw over and how much money did they make before they said, "ooops, our bad". For Sears and many big businesses, dishonesty is the best policy! They only way I have to protest is to make sure none of my dollars go to Sears.

In time and with enough negative consumer experiences, companies like Sears will collapse. It is not Sears sales staff who are behind this bait and switch gimmick.

These companies think they can get away with it, but they don't. Remember MCI and their customer service?

The CEO's are ruining the company, but they could retire after a year or two's salary, so the success of Sears really doesn't matter to them.

The problem is for the employees who live check to check, will become unemployed and may loose their pensions.

Terry...Wasn't Sears actually bought out by the Kmart ownership and it is under K-Marts banner?

Anybody who doesn't check the final tabulation at the end of the purchase deserves whatever they pay for. Buyer beware. Extended warranties are a high profit item for everthing from electronics to automobiles, and are nearly always pushed hard.

As for Sears, we got the best deal for 5 appliances when we had the kitchen redone 5 years ago. All are still functioning fine. I would not buy tools from anybody else.

How do you check out online without noticing the total is almost $500 dollars higher than it should be? If, for some reason you don't want to take the time to check the cart and make sure you are getting what you want, at least check the total.

How do you check out online without noticing the total is almost $500 dollars higher than it should be?

It happens all the time and consumers errors can make big money for Sears.

People still get caught everyday by not reading the "fine print".

These are common business practices to make money from consumer errors and oversights that work best within large populations, like the USA.

Billing errors on your phone bill occur all the time. $2.00 error multiplied over millions of customer's is big bucks, especially when very few customers notice.

All the more reason not to trust any big business and be extra savvy before signing or clicking.

canary

If you have $500.00 worth of food ready to go bad, you would go over it. It's much different than having to wash dishes by hand. Who said anything about dis-assembly, I was talking about, looking for shipping tape covering a switch, checking all the plugs, taking off the inspection plates 2 to 4 screws, in quite a few models you have to take off the inspection plate to remove the compressor packaging anyway. Doing those simple inspections might have solved the problem, and if they didn't at least you tried.

Such tactics swear me off many businesses. I'm running out of big box retailers. That's likely a good thing. I would much rather deal with an honest business (that charges a little more) than a thief that I must constantly stand guard to avoid a knife in the back.

To make things doubly worse, sears has the WORSE repair service of anyone. If you schedule an appointment, it's weeks in the future. If a part is needed, more weeks. It's pathetic. Don't take my word for it, ask ANYONE who has ever had to have a Sears appliance repaired, anyone.

Come on people. It's not like they were ever going to honor the warranty. Sheesh!

thepriceofbusiness

Terry...Wasn't Sears actually bought out by the Kmart ownership and it is under K-Marts banner?

I do think that you are right. But, both Sears and K-Mart are listed now as subsidiaries of Sears Holding Corporation. Not sure how that came about though.

Crap like this is the exact reason why the Sears Tower is no longer the "Sears" Tower, why the company almost imploded when every person in the world stopped receiving that free, much-used, much-loved Sears Christmas Catalogue, & why the unstoppable juggernaut which ONCE was Sears ......... dang near stopped.

P!ss-Poor decisions & management.

I knew Sears was in trouble years ago when their Crapsman tools started showing up in Kmart Stores!

Kmart worked its way into the black, bought Sears, and has been sliding back into the red ever since.

What were they thinking?

To JM California: It is not Sears sales staff who are behind this bait and switch gimmick.

This is not true either. I went to the local Sears store to make my purchase of a dishwasher. Many models had rebates available. When I specifically asked if the model I was considering had a rebate the sales clerk disappeared for a few minutes "to check". I was told the model did have a $50 rebate and the clerk printed out all the rebate forms along with my receipt for the purchase. When I filled in the rebate form I was a little perplexed when I could not find my model listed on it. I filled it out anyway, trusting that the sales clerk was right, and sent it in. About a month later I received a letter with my rebate form included that stated the model I had purchased was NOT one of the models with a rebate. The store clerk LIED to me face-to-face about the rebate, even after pretending to check to see if it was included.

My next Sears purchase of a wall oven was to have free delivery. I had tried to call the store itself to check on the specifics of the oven, but got Sears.com instead. The man who answered my question made it seems like he was at the store and had gone to look at the model I was asking about. When I did place the order, he asked if I wanted free delivery or no interest. As I expected to pay off the oven in one payment, I opted for the free delivery. I later found a $65 charge on my card for delivery. When I questioned the charge, no one could find the order I had placed to check it. I never received an order confirmation from Sears.com either.

Needless to say, I do not shop at Sears anymore for anything.

Sears has been in trouble over and over for "bait-and-switch" and other deceptive advertising scams. But they also have very lenient policies that allow you to frequently turn it to your advantage. For example, last year I saw a Craftsman riding lawnmower that was very underpriced. The ad had the ubiquitous "limited quantities" caveat. It is a very common scan for Sears to have only one of a badly underpriced article. An employee buys the one item before the public even sees it and then, after the sale is over, returns the item for a refund. If you ask, they will often tell you that is what they do.

But I went to Sears anyway. Needless to say there were no lawn mowers of that particular model available but I was encouraged to move up to a more expensive (and not underpriced) model that was available. I simply called the managed and offered him a good deal. Either I could file an FTC complaint (which would cost the store $3,000-5,000 to clear) and for $18 could file a claim in small claims court. Or he could sell me the next highest riding mower for the same price as the one advertised. The manager quite cheerfully sold me the more expensive model for the same price as the one advertised. I ended up with the scam price for a mower that was even better (2" wider cut and 27 instead of 22 horsepower) than the one that was not available.

I have routinely treated Sears to their own scams over the years. Back in the 1970's they would (illegally) always decline an application for a Sears credit card to any woman. I would always get my wife to sign up for a card in her name only and get the free gift (which was sometimes quite substantial) knowing that the card would be declined. The lack of a credit card never bothered us because I already had a Sears card (with two cards) and because the declination was based on gender, they never reported it to credit bureaus. So I got lots of steak knives, carving sets, garden hoses, etc for free as a result of their illegal activities. They never seemed to catch on.

My worst consumer experience was with a top of the line kenmore product. 3 burnt out motors in less than 16 months. They did not guarantee the second motor and I guess we should have gotten and extended warranty because the 2nd blew 6 months later.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has page after page of Kenmore recalls (usually linked to fire hazard) which should always be checked before buying a major appliance.

Even Sear's own service feed back is like reading Cragislist Rant and Raves on a bad day.

Buyer Beware. This consumer will never purchase a Kenmore or a LG(made by Kenmore) appliance ever again.

Sorry moonie but LG is a Korean electronics firm. Their appliances are not made by Kenmore. In fact Kenmore manufacturers nothing. The majority of their appliances are made by Whirlpool.

Google it if you don't believe me.

Liz S.-778580

Good point, Liz! I guess the some of the sales employees are crooked, too. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

I never shopped at Sears in my life..now you know why!

I will never shop at Sears again either. Our first Craftsman riding mower - on it's 2nd use - the entire mowing deck fell off - a bolt had come lose. Then we purchased a mattress, after 9 mts the entire side of the mattress collapsed - you could look at it and see it sloped down. If you laid on that side you'd roll right out. They came out, looked at it and replaced it. 3 mts later that mattress did the same thing. I called, spoke with the manager and he accused me of lying to him about the mattress. Saying something about I had called earlier and told a different story. I had never talked to the man before in my life. He was rambling on - and didn't even make sense. I was furious.

So after him calling his Customer a lier - you'd think I would have learned my lesson - but no. I'm slow. We purchased a refrigerator a few years later. It broke 6 months later. They fixed it and it lasted 6 more months. We finally wised up and went to Best Buy. I will NEVER buy anything from Sears and now make it a point to tell whoever will listen.

You do know that Sears doesn't actually make them right?

Craftsman Mowers = Husqvarna (AYP) (mostly).

Kenmore= LG, Samsung, Electrolux, Whirlpool, Sharp, & Bosch

Also, Sears carries all of the appliance brands that Best Buy carries and most of them are the same exact model # so the quality of the product should be the same. However, an associate calling a customer a liar is completely unacceptable.

i guess good help is hard to find, i had a few problems with sears that i overlooked cause ii like there tools and they have some good prices sometimes , but the last straw was when i took a pair of jeans back to sears that had split shortly after i bought them and another pair of jeans i got for my birthday from bealls that was a size to small , it took a little over a month before i got back to the store to exchange them , the clerk got me a new pair but had to get a manager to appove it , the manager told me i only had 30 days to exchange , when i showed her the year warranty she said they did not honor the jeans warranty , at that point i decided to buy them at walmart cause they will honor the manufacture, so i headed to bealls to exchange the other pair and about halfway through the mall i heard someone yelling at me to stop and i needed to come back to the store cause he seen me steal the jeans , after a few angry words i returned to the store with him and we met up with the same manager who had waited on me ( and she was the one who told him i stole the jeans and sent him after me) when he handed her the jeans she looked at them and handed them back to him and said there not ours and walked off not even a sorry, the guy was embarrased and kept telling me how sorry he was , after i got home and told my wife what had happened she called the store to report it but the lady who answered said there was not a manager on duty but she would tell a manager about it, 4 days goes by and my wife calls back to talk to a manager who tells her she heard about it and was sorry and she was going to investigate it and call us back, we never heard back from them, i told my wife she might as well let it go . i went online after that and sent a complaint to sears and guess what no response, i use to spend quite a bit of money there each year but that money goes else where now

Monkey wards was always good. Remember the whole Sears automotive scams they had for years.

Do NOT buy any appliance or big lawn and garden tool from Sears. If it breaks, you may as well throw it in the trash. The charge for repair service, but you'll wait weeks before you see anyone show up. In some cases, many weeks. I've learned my lesson, and NEVER again will I buy from them.

Your 1948 Philco is a nice mechanical refrigerator. Today's refrigerators have electronic boards in them to control operation, and if they fail out of waranty, are very expensive to replace. Long gone are the days of just coming out and putting in a new condensor, motor, or filling up the freon!!

WOW you must be in HVAC. I too am en engineer.

Bill, that sounds like my mom and dads Frigidaire upright freezer. They bought it the year I was born, 1955, and it is still running like champ this very day. Sounds like quality was thrown out the door of these companies some time ago in favor of bigger profits. I call them the throw away brands. Buy it today, and throw it away by the end of the year, if not sooner.

this is exactly what is wrong with this country. Not only are all cheap and toxic-filled appliances built outside the USA now, but the associated repair jobs that used to go along with these simple and long-lasting products are gone as well.

Until a majority of Americans finally decide to quit buying cheap foreign junk, this country will continue to flounder.

(Before any of you tell me that there is no such thing as 'American Made' anymore, there would be, if there was a big-enough awareness and demand for it. If there is an opportunity to make a profit in this capitalist society, someone will create it). We need to quit making excuses, and start acting collectively for the better good of everyone.

Dexter, they may be built outside the U.S. now, but, these outside companies are owned by corporations here, and built to the specs. they are given by those corporations. Blame the corporations here for that problem. Built cheap with a high price tagged onto it.

Way to go with the '48 Philco. My Mom has a 1950 Norge in the basement that's still working like a champ.

Try and kill a 46' Kelvinator. You know..the one with the 5 pound door handle? Sure you have to defrost it once in a blue moon, but @!$%# was made to last back then, and China / Japan left everyone with a bad taste in their mouths. Now people stand in line to but the newest CRAP to come into the USA.

Sear's won't be around much longer. It will get swallowed up and you will be buying their branded stuff at K-Mart, aka....the only thing holding up sears' pants right now!

Sears warned you about this in 1955 when the introduced the Sears Sucker

Buy almost at Sears and you are a sucker. I found only one item and that is the hand tools for mechanical work is a good buy

Boy are you throwing money away... that dinosaur is costing way more than a modern efficient freezer would cost. Way More... it is stupid.

Quality or the lack thereof went straight to China. I do not mind paying a little extra for something made in the USA. If I do have a problem I can call the manufacturer and communicate with someone in the english language. And that my friends is worth the extra few dollars.

That's strange wj, my dad had their freezer checked by an electrician to see if he thought it was time to replace it. After he checked it out, he told my dad that it was running as smooth and efficiently as their new refrigerator. My dad always keeps the coils cleaned, and the the dust away from the pump. To this day, it has never been serviced, other than my dad keeping it clean.

Sometimes I get tired of the old farts talking about how, "They don't make them like they used to."

There is a reason for that. No one would buy it at the price "They used to..." make if for. My refrigerator costs me one to two weeks worth of pay and has lasted 15 years. 50 years ago it would cost 2 months worth of salary to get a smaller and less efficient model, (Which at the time would have been top of the line). No water, ice, auto defrost, etc, etc. Imagine if someone put a fridge on the market today that didn't have any of the frills and charged $8,000 for it. They could give it 50 year guarantee and still wouldn't sell a single one of them.

Yup, there's a reason they don't make them like they did in the old days. The old days sucked.

interesting, though that IF the unit doesn't LEAK, there is little other than the motor that ca go bad. Keep the coils clean and don't let the thermostat unit get wet and corrode and it's an energizer bunny - just keeps running and running. Sure, the juice use might be a bit higher but that had mostly to do with the efficiency of insulation - not the mechanicals. Polystyrene and polyurethane are better insulators that fiberglass and the seal designs have evolved over the years.

Oh, and by the way wj, I see your like one other poster here that throws the word stupid around as though you had cornered the market in brilliance. Sorry, not in this lifetime you haven't.

"The old days sucked."

I'm glad you don't represent all of the younger generations.

Funny how GK sees things. He must feel most things suck. The days of my youth were carefree and fun. Even as a young adult, I was able to find work that paid a decent wage and nobody was telling us what light bulbs we had to buy or stopped us from purchasing things like Happy Meals for our kids. We didn't have a government that taxed things like gas, not only to generate more money to balance out of control government budgets or wean us off of it by making it more costly. We didn't have people taking over and trashing public parks. Police didn't get into trouble for dealing with people that ignored the law and/or authority. We didn't have 100-plus channels to choose from on TV and we spent much more time outside doing things. Look at an elementary school class photo from the 50's or 60's and compare it to one taken recently and you can see what todays' wonderful lifestyle has done to our children. We didn't have terrorists bent on destroying this country. We had a sense of ownership in our country based on borders, language, and culture. Yes GK, you know nothing of what you speak of. That really sucks.

Yeah, and blacks couldn't vote and women were household slaves.

You also had way more diseases than we have now. You knew very little about safe-handling instructions and you ate nothing but lard-fried medium as your primary food source. You also encouraged and excused racial discrimination, which is why my generation is still having to deal with your mistakes.

rule, speak for your self. Not all of us were segregationists. My mother and her 6-sisters never looked at themselves as household slaves. That was a really poor try at making your miserable life look so much better than what we had back then. You cannot stop change, but all of your wailing won't change the fact that you know nothing about what we felt growing up in this country. You folks rail against those that miss the good old days. And like so many of the entitlement generation, you constantly look for others to blame for your lack of what it takes to survive in real life. You're soft and whiny and that will get you no place other than where you are right now. Keep waiting for our government to provide you with what you think you are owed and you're destined to be just as miserable 20-years from now as you are today. For the record, I knew nobody that died of contaminated food. We were tougher back then in so many ways.

The old days must have been horrible. They didn't have Playstations, Xbox and the Wii. They had a handful of good friends, not 100+ "friends" statuses to read daily. They didn't have Briteney Spears, the Krdashians or Jersey Shore. Moms who wanted to stay home and raise their kids probably got to (I'm an educated stay at home mom who doesn't consider herself a houseslave. Not most days, anyway). Lots of people kept a kitchen garden, or if they didn't, probably knew someone with one., and people canned, in reusable glass jars A penny didn't cost more in materials than the .01 it's worth. Parents didn't have to worry (as much) about letting their kids walk to a friend's house or down the street to the park.

I don't regret the generation I live in - after all, how many others can say that they can pick up the phone to call their Mom at any time, travel across the world in relative luxury in hours, not have to chop wood to heat a house, have clean running water, preserve thousands of memories on something a little larger than a thumbnail and, of sourse, read newsvine comments on a blustery Saturday morning. Not even most of the people in the world today can say that.

That being said, we have also filled our landfills with tin cans and plastic for convienance, electronic gadgets and appliances just to have the latest and greatest, and companies have started ensuring that e have to by making sure they don't last more than a few years. We may waste gas just to drive fifteen or twenty miles to have lunch with family or friends. At a fast food restaurant -forget that our kids would far rather have a packed lunch at the park. Gaming consoles are the norm, it's normal to spend hours a day playing on them. We want to protest something called "corporate greed" (which I have no problem with, depending on how it is defined) and shout for the 1% to pay more taxes irregardless if they are self made. We want to control how they spend their money - tax it and give it to welfare recipiants in government mandated quantities rather than everyone helping their fellow American. If I had to guess it's probably not the Zucotti park folks picking names off the Angel Trees this Christmas. And speaking of AT, how does a sixteen year old wanting an ipod get on there? When I was sixteen, (almost ten years ago) I had a job (there are still jobs in retail and fast food here for the taking). Before we can fix anything, we need to take a hard look at our personal priorities, and realize that despite what we think, it's not all about us. With great blessings (or however one wants to define it) comes great responsibilty, one that many of our parents, neighbors and leaders have not exactly handled (or handling) well. Now...if someone a little smarter than me wants to step in with a game plan I'm all ears :)

SomethingToAdd ... I think I am in love. You are a young, intelligent and obviously well rounded lady. To bad I am old enough to be your father and you are taken. I so very seldom see comments like these from younger individuals and it makes me smile and have hope. You are what 1% should mean, intelligent and reasonable, not the affluent.

As for the Sears topic, I stopped shopping there years ago but will do a walk through of their website or store if I am in the area. I am currently in need of a good mattress for my teenage son and tried the local Sears in curiosity. 3 weeks to deliver to the store as no store within 500 miles has one in stock. They tried to add a shipping fee even though it was 'ship to store free' from THEIR computer. Needless to say I left empty handed as usual. I guess they get more business than they need from the folks who mindlessly stroll through life taking what they can get and not caring.

On one hand I greatly appreciate the luxuries of this day and age but despise the greed and ignorance. On the other hand I wish for the simplicity and integrity of the "good old days". Both eras have and had their good and bad so I would be hard pressed to pick one over the other. In a perfect world all would be as we wish it but until then you just gotta do what feels right and hope you dont harm anyone else in the process and hope everything turns out okay.

Lanikai Ron said:

Police didn't get into trouble for dealing with people that ignored the law and/or authority.

There is nothing like nostalgia to whitewash another time.

Police brutality has existed for thousands of years, and did not cease to exist whenever it is you grew up. Sure, if you were a WASP you were pretty much set. But if you were any "non-white" minority like blacks, Irish, Jew, Polish, etc., you were hassled when you left your ethnic enclave. A person was mostly fine if they stayed "in their place" and didn't cross over into another ethnicity's neighborhood. If an Irish crossed into a "white" area (since they were not considered to be white at the time), not only would the police harass/beat them out of the neighborhood, but so too would the men and children. Police didn't get into trouble for doing far worse things than they do now, that part is true.

We didn't have terrorists bent on destroying this country. We had a sense of ownership in our country based on borders, language, and culture.

You had the Red Scare -- have you forgotten that? Your sense of ownership in your country? No, your sense of ownership in your suburban community. There were many minorities, speaking many more languages than are spoken now (and Mexicans were brought in to do farm labor since the 1800s).

Yes GK, you know nothing of what you speak of. That really sucks.

Exactly the sentiments that apply to you.

Not all of us were segregationists.

That is irrelevant since most were, and life for blacks was terrible regardless of your feelings.

My mother and her 6-sisters never looked at themselves as household slaves.

Going back to what you said earlier, "speak for yourself." Women had been fighting for the rights women today take for granted since the 1800s, and many were not satisfied with being "beneath" a man. Women still make less money to a comparable male.

Keep waiting for our government to provide you with what you think you are owed and you're destined to be just as miserable 20-years from now as you are today.

What you describe is due to the New Deal -- that's when the government took care of people. The "entitlement generation" was caused by the great prosperity after WWII where people who lived through the Depression and the rationing of the War did not want their Baby Boomer children to be without like they were. This caused the Baby Boomers to have an attitude where they expected prosperity as a given (and it was) and in turn they raised their children even more with everything they needed and then some, so they felt that they were "entitled" to everything.

The problem now is that people still expect prosperity as a given, but there is no prosperity to be had. My father recognizes this, and recalls that he was hired when one employer hired every single person in his accounting class, on the spot. He knows that this does not happen anymore. Why don't you?

For the record, I knew nobody that died of contaminated food.

For the record, nobody was speaking about contaminated food. Death from illness was much more common in the past (including when you grew up), this is irrefutable fact. Disfigurement was also more common, such as due to BB guns and Shop class.

It is what it is. You have a very narrow view of what happened during the time in which you were a child, most likely you are white and grew up middle-class in a suburb, which was also all-white. For everyone else who was either not white, or below middle class, that time period was not as rosy as you described. You should recall that television families were not accurate representations of the time period. One difference between then and now is that people don't pretend that the world is wonderful.

Hey boom, you sure spent allot of time missing the point. I'm still remembering my youth and adult life with fond memories. Sorry, but nobody I knew was pretending that the world was a wonderful place. We were too busy enjoying the wonderful world we were living in. You can run off and be as miserable as you want to be all by yourself.

Actually, you are the one who missed the point in every one of your posts.

I am not miserable or spreading unhappiness. I am correcting your falsehoods. Recognizing that the world is not fantasy land is not misery, and I am a realistic and optimistic person unlike you. You sound bitter and like would rather unrealistically live in the past. Being committed to factual accuracy is a virtue that you lack.

The fact remains is that your "fond memories" of a wonderful world ignore that the world was not that way for the vast majority. You say "speak for yourself" while saying how wonderful the world was and generalizing your experiences to everyone.

Everything that you have written is verifiably false, as I have explained, and your reply only solidifies that you live in a fantasy world where you filter out everything that you do not want to hear or see covering your eyes and plugging your ears.

You know nothing of what you speak of. That really sucks.

My thought exactly Phil. Especially in the example cited in the article...a $470.00 "add-on" you're d@mn right I'm going to notice that. I think I'm beginning to see another "spoke" in the wheel of our stellar economy....if you are not smart enough to read the fine print and look for "add-ons", maybe you shouldn't be allowed to use a credit card. Just a thought.

Tin, maybe, just maybe, a little more ethical business practice would be even better, don't you think?

They can't help that people are too dumb to notice a large price difference. Should they dumb it down for the fools among us? And you know they are everywhere.

not checking you're cart might be foolish, but that doesn't excuse the company from throwing things in it that you didn't ask for.

Sears is too expensive anyways. Comparison shop a little bit and you're see it pretty easily. Thus, I go somewhere else.

@OnlyinAmerica...never said I was against ethical practices...but ethics like so many other things in corporate America, have flown out the window. I wish this were different, but at this point it time, this is the case. If you do not look out for yourself, no one else is going to. Would you sign a receipt in a restaurant without going over the bill?? If you do, you'd be surprised how often you get overcharged or how often they add surcharges to your bill. Cell companies are notorious for "hidden fees". Go over all of your bills and never buy anything on-line without checking the fine print and the cart for "add-ons" Sears is not the only company to do this...they are just the only one in this article.

Blows up into larger purchases as well, how many people really read their mortgage paperwork and understood what it really said. I don't sign anything that I can't comprehend. If I feel something is incorrect, I make that known and refuse to sign until my concerns have been addressed. My actions are ethical...unfortunately very few of the companies I deal with these days can say the same.

The same way you put any other item in a cart when shopping online. Just by pure chance, are you a blond?

Are you kidding? Blondes have it cornered in spades when it comes to shopping, online or hard retail!

Only, you made my day. I rolled on the floor laughing!

Sydney, it's nothing against all blonds in particular, but there are a few out here that do have their "DUH" moments.

And that's why I darkened my hair to a shade of deep brunette a few years ago!

It was a joke morons. It was being referred to as a real life cart! Wow, no sense of humor and ready to bash a person without thinking. Now you all looked like blonds.

Irony at its best!

Look who's calling others morons..................Christian. Oh the irony at it's best.

That answer is so easy, it is a really big cart.

Is the cart half full or half empty? Neither, it's the wrong-sized cart.

ALWAYS check your cart's contents (from ANY on-line purchase) before hitting the pay button.

And my parent's Crosley fridge (something like 60 years old), is still running. We checked the energy usage, and it's comparable to that of the new one. It just holds the beer in the garage, and used only when there's a big get together, but 60 years says something for it. The little water dispenser on the front still works, too. You have to fill up the reservoir manually, but it works. The only real drawbacks to it is that it doesn't self defrost, and it weighs a ton.

I'm not a blond, either. It's all GREY now. They had the fridge before they had me. At this rate, it'll outlive me!!!

Um, that's my name douchebag.

And you are failing to live up to your name; your parents would be ashamed of you.

It says a lot about you that you can't get through a post without insulting others. You also don't understand what "irony" is.

You are also failing to live up to the Newsvine Code of Honor and could have your account suspended:

Above all else, respect others. Address issues and arguments and refrain from making personal attacks.

David, I would have asked their headquarters when did their repairmen become sales people on the side? Now that's being more than underhanded and pushy in my book.

This is exactly why I will not buy from Sears again. Service is really, really, really bad to say the least. We bought a stove from The Great Indoors. (Owned by Sears) First they brought out the wrong stove. It took them three days to get it right. It was never was calibrated correctly and the broiler would not light. It also took them a week and a half to two weeks before they could get someone out to fix the stove each time we called. We had Sears out three times and then eventually had an independent repair service come out and fix all of the problems we had with the stove and they did this the first time they were out.

I bought a refrigerator four years ago. It is so poorly designed that I can't clean the coils or take out the drain pan located underneath the frig. Big fail for me.

I have a dishwasher that I bought 7 years ago. It had had one recall repair and two other major failures in that time period. It is barely limping along and will probably quit at any time. There are only two of us so we don't use the dishwasher that often.

Sears use to be the best but because of the experience with these three appliances, no more in our home.

this is capitalist america! the rich get rich mostly on the backs of others! people buy that 35,000 dollar car knowing that after driving it once it's dropped 6,000 and after 5 years it has way less value! why not buy cheap new cracker box and after it's used up RECYCLE it! you save alot of money this way and can pay for a new one in one payment! kia rio 10 to 13 out the door! 100,000 crap warranty ,but not to crappy because no one else offers it! they just say crappy! drive it to death and scrap it!

David, Sears is the store of last resort for me, for the last thirty years. The automotive department was the killer for me and my family. Sears was little more than thugs when purchasing tires from them. First I bought a set of tires and was told I needed a front end alignment, which I agreed to do, along with new ball joints. Then I had to replace one of the tires, and Sears told me I needed another alignment and ball joints replaced. I allowed them to replace their new ball joints with my practically new ball joints. Time came to pay for it and I brought out the warranty receipt for the original replacement of the ball joints. I had to go to the home office to get it straightened out. This was all at the same retail store.

Miker stated; "That was funny. I'm sure they didn't get much negative feedback if people don't even bother looking to see what's happening!"

Lol, imagine that.

"Now that it's been pointed out as "an item of concern" (in other words, now that consumers are onto them), they've made a decision to stop trying to pull one over on their customers."

Miker, that's what is known as the "Uh oh, they're on to us" moment.

It's not just online. At a Sears outside of San Francisco I bought a very expensive refrigerator. The salesman asked me three times if I wanted to purchase an extended warranty to which I responded no, three times. As I looked at my receipt it was on there. Needless to say, I hit the roof, voided the sale, asked for the manager, etc., but bought the refrigerator anyway. They are famous for this practice, which is where the sales people make their commissions.

Amazon tries to get you to pay for expensive shipping when they try to get you to use 1-Click. Most items over $25 are eligible for free shipping, but with 1-Click it bypasses that option and gives you Express Shipping, or it used too. I had to go through a big song and to get the shipping method changed, mere seconds after ordering. To hear them tell it, the millisecond you complete the order, your item is packed and already on a plane to you. I was chastised that they were doing me a favor by chasing the driver down to change my order to free shipping.

As for Sears, I has burned by shipping charges that were as much as the item, so I shop at the store, not online.

BP the grape, why shop at Sears at all? They've been sleezy and crooked for years. I also don't use Best Buy because of their 25% restocking fee if you return an item. We all know it costs 25% of the price of an expensive item to put it back on the shelf, don't we?

Maggiemae -- a friend of mine sells appliances at Sears and gripes constantly about those 'cheap b#stards' that won't buy the absurdly expensive extended warranties. Pointing out to her that appliances used to come with a warranty just makes her mad! And that a refrigerator doesn't need an on-board computer is even worse. Apparently, they sell that as the best way to make your shopping list....

I'll have to make sure to NOT mention your experience -- it wouldn't surprise me if that was common with the sales staff at all of their stores.

@Terelyn: Agree 100% - appliances don't need on-board computers! Refrigerators don't need built-in TVs! I don't even like the LED, touch-pad control stuff - it's just unfixable crap waiting to break. Which, of course, is the whole idea. One part breaks, you can't fix or replace that part, so you're forced to buy a whole new appliance.

It won't be long until someone starts up a factory making old-school appliances again. (Sort of like the black market for old toilets - the ones that aren't rated as "low flow.")

Terelyn said:

Maggiemae -- a friend of mine sells appliances at Sears and gripes constantly about those 'cheap b#stards' that won't buy the absurdly expensive extended warranties.

Perhaps there is a quota that is imposed on the salespeople, and if they miss it they are sanctioned to some capacity. If that is the case, it would be easy to fall into the mindset that customers who "prevent" you from meeting your goals are "cheap b#stards." Ask your friend if there is a penalty for not reaching that quota.

Blame management for penalizing the workers.

"(Sort of like the black market for old toilets - the ones that aren't rated as "low flow.")"

I'll have you know that low flow is not a problem if you get the right toilet: Toto. 1/2 of a 1 gal flush flushes the toilet for anything but a healthy crap. The full 1 gal flush makes short work of everything else. It's only the crap manufacturers that don't know how to design a toilet that have issues building to the low flow spec.

Good for you!

"This is deceptive."

No, the best term for it is "a ripoff".

Home Depot gives a 10% discount on everything if you show proof you were in the Military.

The same story. Sears was good in the 60's. I dont know how old you are but they were good back then. They STINK now. Sometimes i go to the local sears in Paramus NJ and there is NOBODY in the store. I but a couple of polo shirts for 5 bucks and walk out.

THEY will be the next to go BYE BYE.

That starts a whole new conversation. Companies that hire mentally impaired idiots to manage their customer service phone calls. You are lucky if they speak english. You won the lottery if they have a clue what you are talking about. I keep thinking that if someone came along and introduced a single type appliance, made in the U.S.A., and supported it with english speaking customer service and U.S. citizens doing repairs they could probably charge 30 percent more than the rest and still sell enough to be very profitable.

So is it Sears "responsibility" to tack a service contract onto every appliance they sell without asking if one is wanted? Why not sell good quality products that don't break down within a three year period? At least make them so people would get a feeling of getting their moneys worth out of them before they fall apart.

I disagree. A person should be able to shop at an online store with the confidence that the retailer is honest and upfront. It's not ok to sneak in an extra charge without first asking if the customer wants it. Is it ok for the cashier at the grocery store to distract you with chit chat while slipping a ham across the scanner and into your bag?

A purchase in a free country should involve some level of trust. Consumers should not have to view every purchase for hidden fees, unwanted items, and extra costs. It's just as wrong for a business to charge for an unwanted item as it would be for a consumer to slip in a counterfeit $20 when paying $100 in cash.

Mitchell is right, Only. Like it or not, the world has changed and continues to change at an alarming pace. It does none of us any good to long for "the good old days" because they aren't coming back. Today, everyone has to watch their own back. And you only have yourself to blame if you get "taken" by a smooth-talking salesperson or a devious web site when there is so much information on the Internet about these kinds of scams. It is every individual's responsibility to pay attention and to make a concerted effort to stay informed. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

JR, so, it's better to just put up with being ripped off at every turn we make? Sorry, I for one will not stand by and watch as the elderly get ripped off like this. I've seen it happen way to much, and if I see it happening, I do say something to the sales person that hard sells these contracts to the older people. It's nothing but a rotten scam. It only happens, because they think if they can get away with it once, they can get away with it again. Sorry, not on my time they're not. Besides, does that mean a business license makes it legal to use deceptive business practices? I don't believe so.

How is it sneaky to have it as pictured in the article? It's right there, in front of you. If you don't want it, drop it. Oh so simple.

The customer may be a damn fool for not catching it. But that doesn't excuse Sears and others for doing it.

Bundling in expensive and unrequested services and warranties just does not smell right.

Good going Sears. Right now you are right there in the same bin with Bank of America and its debit card use fees.

K Mart bought them years ago. Tools are their best item but I can get the same quality from Harbor Freight for 1/3 to 1/2 the cost

Harbor Freight has cheaper prices but I'll argue against the idea that Harbor Freight tools has the best of ANYTHING. HF has CHEAP tools mostly made in China. Sears has some good tools but you have to be careful of the pricing. Sometimes you can buy a set of sockets cheaper than a single socket. Like $9 for a single socket or $20 for a set on special.

Sears' problem is that the retail portion is SO inefficient that they leave alot of profits on the table. I've bought all sorts of things marked down for silly reasons. I've been in the store when they had far too many sales associates standing around waiting on no one. 5 guys selling appliances? 4-5 guys selling TVs? Another 4-5 selling tools? On one hand I'm thankful the company employs so many of my town's citizens but on the other hand if they are having trouble making ends meet... I've purchased a variety of Craftsman hand tools (good stuff) and Kenmore appliances. A couple weeks ago we bought a Samsung LCD TV that was the same price as all the other local "discount" electronics store and there were 2-3 in stock. Some of the things we've purchased were discounted floor models and scratch-dent (fridge with a tiny dent down low on the side where it is hidden by our cabinets). When I need a wrench or other hand tool or an appliance I start shopping at Sears. Unlike WalMart our local store isn't apparently selling one-off versions with cheapened internal components like the discount electronics retailers.

No matter where you shop (Sears included) pay attention. Apparently it is the norm to try to rip the customer off with big and little extra charges. Why a company would risk poisoning a relationship with a potentially repeat customer I can't imagine. Our gas furnace went out and I called a local contractor (not connected to Sears) and his first quote was $15,000 (!!!). After my eyes bugged out and I caught my breath be silently switched his sales tactic and brought out a $5,500 price for the same equipment minus the $10,000 (!!!) service contract. Why I would spend more on a maintenance contract than it would cost to replace the unit outright nearly twice I can't understand but I suspect there are a few customers - likely elderly (trusting) or maintenance free folks (the type of folks who don't do anything for themselves or understand HVAC, cars or home maintenance) - a few customers probably do and make his whole week's profits with one signature. That's just wrong to even ATTEMPT to take advantage of folks like that. I'll be using another contractor who gave me fair numbers and detailed descriptions of everything that needs to be done which jives with everything I know about the topic. I NEVER take a stranger at their word when there is money involved.

Yeah but Danica P. is hot.... :-)

This is the "free market" that the Tea Party claims will solve all our problems. Any adult who's been around for a while is probably numb to all of the news items over the years regarding how companies try their best to fleece their customers. And don't forget how air pollution, water pollution, toxic waste dumping, etc. were routine occurrences before the government got involved.

The difference between the world of the Founding Fathers, and modern-day America, is that in 1776, merchants actually had some character and morals.

Isn't the free market working when Sears suffers the cost of losing huge numbers of former customers over their sleazy business practices? There are other stores.

The un-regulated "free-market" that Rethuglicans and Tea-Baggers opine about will very quickly revert to its basest principle: unmitigated greed. Free Markets are not some magical, self correcting mechanism for good profits, safe, high quality products, and satisfied customers. In fact the opposite would be the result. A nice profit leads to pressure for More Profits which, when achieved, create strong demands for OBSCENE profits. The profits are achieved by lowering product quality,outsourcing components, and jobs. Then they start with the sneaky @!$%# in regards to warrantys and options etc. Regulation can be a useful barrier to coruption and fraudulent business practices. If they want to travel back in time to the golden age of capitalism in the U.S., lets remember the time when citizens worked 70 hrs a week average, many of them rented the roof over their family's heads FROM their EMPLOYER, and had to shop at the COMPANY store. As a worker in the united states, you were basically and effectively ENSLAVED rather than employed. All of you who want to get rid of government regulations or the Government itself, do your historical research and decide if you really want to be OWNED by the modern versions of rhe Robber Barons??

Yet you ignore the fact that there are better options out there, and that Sears is suffering for their "free market" practices, and others are benefiting from it.

Melanie stated: "Anyone who "accidentally" purchases an unwanted service plan because they didn't notice it is likely too stupid to be shopping online."

That's funny, I have a friend who is elderly, late seventies. He does use the internet from time to time for shopping. I was over to his house one day and watched him make an online purchase of some stereo equipment. When he got to the checkout, I was reading what it said to myself. He said, well, that looks good. I asked him if he may have missed something. He asked me what it was, and I asked him if he really wanted to buy the extended warranty for 225 dollars. He just froze, and asked me where I saw that. So I showed him on the screen where it was added to the total price. He thanked me, and told me that he had not seen that part of it. Melanie, he isn't stupid, his eyes were bad.

If I were you Melanie, I would watch who I was calling stupid. I'm sure you wouldn't like to be called a worthless dipstick, now would you?

Hey Melanie.......... How do you do a car dealership.......or better yet how do you do at a tire store?

Thank you!!! My goodness, I thought I was the only one who thought people should be responsible and stop making mistakes then turning around and blaming others. The fact that you have the option to check your cart, and the fact that most businesses have you look at the items IN your cart as you head to the online check out is testimate that you have the option of making sure that it isn't on there. It's more a convenience measure that they add that in there for you, and the two things they added were relative to the FRIDGE. It wasn't even other items completely unrelated. The water hose I assume is for an ice maker, and the protection agreement seems like it's not harming much? The fact you have the option to opt out shows that it's not like they're FORCING you to have it. People just need to be more responsible and actually be double checking if they get charged over a certain amount. Can we all stop freaking out because we made a mistake and blame it on other people, like Sears? This was a mistake on the customer's part.

That is a ridiculous statement. Since when is it the consumers responibility to make sure that the vendor isnt following them around, slipping @!$%# into their cart. What kind of amoral schemer can you be to justify that kind of behavior?

"Melanie, he isn't stupid, his eyes were bad."

Nah, he would have been stupid but luckily he had you. You ARE stupid if you have bad eyes and don't wear your glasses when shopping online. How else can he assure he ordered the right stereo equipment?