@VDCdriver, the Sears store near me closed their entire parts department about 3 or 4 years ago.
It’s been turned into a storage area and the doorway bricked over. One would never even know that a parts dept. used to exist there.
While I don’t remember the ID being used, Best Buy does, or used to, sell their return items on eBay through a subsidiary.
Their Feedback record was pretty lousy. They had thousands of transactions a month but hundreds of negatives from customers who bought PCs, laptops, phones, etc. and discovered there were no hard drives, batteries, various cards, etc in them.
The descriptions in their ads would simply state “Good working condition” and that phrase can be subject to interpretation.
Unless it’s been removed, the Best Buy website has a disclaimer about their “recycling” in which they state that they reserve the right to resell any electronics or appliances they haul off for a customer.
@Tester: The last time I had a battery checked (last summer), they did indeed use a load tester, a big fan-cooled Frankenstein-like apparatus on a cart that was good for sinking about 2,000 amps.
Re. Sears, they’ve even sold out on their Craftsman tools. They may still honor the lifetime warranty, but some of their stuff is made in China and is of much lesser quality than you’d expect from Sears. I bought a screwdriver set from them a year or so ago. I used one to gently pry on something using less than 20 lbs. force and the shank snapped off right at the handle. I was amazed by this, as I’ve never had even the cheapest screwdriver fail like this. It didn’t even flex, just snapped like a dry stick.
I used to avoid Harbor Freight, but if stuff bearing the Craftsman name is inferior to stuff I can buy there for cheap, why bother?
Best Buy keps misreading customers. It’s normal to return an item shortly after you bought it if it is nmot the right one. Best Buy want a 15% “restocking charge” to do this. Those perky kids who work there usually are short on product knowledge and are pushy. They must be on commission.
I’ve only used Sears auto service twice and that was back in 1969 and 1970. My car needed an alignment and I took it to Sears because I was new in town and didn’t know where else to go. The car drove even worse when I got it back. What also irritated me is that on the invoice, the service writer wrote “student”. He saw the sticker on the windshield. At any rate, Sears wouldn’t do anything about making good on the alignment. I began trading with a service station and the proprietor said that the International truck dealer was a good place to get an alignment. However, the alignment specialist had a waiting time of a month. Fortunately, he was a friend of the proprietor of the service station where I traded and the proprietor had me leave the car one evening and the alignment was done at 6:00 a.m. the next morning. Sears had set the front wheels to toe out instead of in. The other time I went to the Sears service center was for a set of seat covers because I didn’t know where else to go. That job was done right.
There is probably a limited number of repairs and service that a place like Sears is equipped to do and has technicians with the expertise to do. Tires, batteries and oil changes are about it (I don’t think anybody buys seat covers any more) and there is competition from WalMart. What didn’t help Sears some fifteen or twenty years ago is the law suits against Sears by the states attorney general in at least two states for fraudulent work. Sears lost and bought out the Western Auto stores in my area to do automotive service and then closed the stores and the auto service went back to Sears.
However, bad service at Sears didn’t just happen in the auto service area. I bought a canister vacuum cleaner from Sears that was on sale for $20. It was marked down from $69.95 because the tools had been lost–all that was there was the canister and the hose. I had earlier purchased a Eureka upright vacuum that was and still is great for cleaning carpets, but there was little suction for the tools. Also, it was inconvenient to use for vacuuming the car. I took a chance that the Eureka tools would work with the Sears canister vacuum and they did. I hadn’t had the vacuum for a week when Sears called and wanted to sell me an extended warranty. For only $19.95 a year I could protect my investment. I declined the offer. Then, Sears didn’t stock the vacuum bags for the machine and I had to order them through the parts department and wait a couple of weeks for the bags to be shipped. At one point, I had to take the vacuum apart and I found it was manufactured by Singer. I went to the Singer Sewing Shop which was in the shopping mall and they had the bags. Of course, the Sears people wouldn’t tell me that.
IMHO, Sears just never worked to be competitive. Had Sears really given good service in all the departments, maybe it would be in better shape today. About the only thing that might save Sears is to sell underwear under the Craftsman name and give a lifetime warranty on undergarments.
Sears made one of the worse business decisions of he 20th century. In my opinion, the only decision that was worse was Xerox abandoning the PARC inventions and letting them go into the public domain, the GUI interface, ethernet and laser printer.
Sears gave up its catalog division just as the internet was being born. If they had any vision, there wouldn’t be an amazon.com today.
The last time I had work done by Sears was in 1969. I took advantage of the $3 lube job, not realizing it was an excuse to get the car up on the hoist and invent some repair. In my case, I “badly needed front ball joints”. I thanked them and phoned a friend of my wife whose husband was a master mechanic in a nearby city, working on Rolls Royces and Jaguars.
I went two full years before I really needed ball joints.
He told me Sears employes are paid a commission to “push parts”. Having said that they are still OK for tires and batteries, floor mats and windshield scrapers.
@Triedaq Sears was very competitive in the 19th Century and up to WW II. After the war the retail scene changed and dicounters started in earnest. Sears never thought they would have to compete in this fiercely competitive arena. Buying K-Mart was like one drunk adopting another drunk.
@keith–
I agree that Sears should have stayed with its catalog division a while longer. I think part of the reason Sears gave up the catalog division was that inflation caused problems. A catalog would be printed with an item at one price. Then, with inflation, the item could not be produced and sold at that price to be profitable. The catalogs had to be printed up months in advance. This is a lot different than internet sales where the price can be adjusted daily if necessary.
We used to have a chain retail outlet in our part of the U.S. called Century Housewares. The company printed catalogs and the customer would go to the store to purchase the item. My experience was that the item I wanted was either “out of stock” or “no longer available”. However, there is no reason why Sears couldn’t get into the internet sales game at the present time. My wife does much of her shopping on the internet. Almost every Christmas gift she bought was purchased on the internet and delivered to our door.
I like to make my purchases at independently owned establishments where I know I will get service. For example, just before Thanksgiving, our striking pendulum mantle clock that had been in the family for more than 100 years decided to go on strike. Sometimes it wouldn’t strike when it was supposed to and then when it would strike, the strike would not coincide with the time. It might strike only twice for 5:00 o’clock. I called a clock shop in another town, but the cost just to look at the clock would be $140 and they had a one year backlog. I would have to leave the clock and wait for a year. I then looked in the yellow pages and one locally owned jewelry store that I had never shopped advertised that it did clock repair. I called the store and was told that it had a clockmaker who came once a week and most of the time the clock would be repaired by the next week. The usual cleaning and oiling charge was $50. I decided totake a chance. The clock was there two days and I got a call that it was ready. When I picked the clock up, I was told the clockmaker adjusted it in the store and there was no charge. The clock worked three days and then again went on strike. I took the clock back. A week later, I got a call that the clock was ready and that there would be no charge. I was told the clockmaker guaranteed his work. This time the clock was fixed. About this time, I wanted to buy Mrs. Triedaq something special for Christmas. Mrs. Triedaq was with me when I had gone in the previous trips with the clock. This time, I went in alone. The sales person remembered me and asked about the clock. I said that the clock worked perfectly. I then said, “I need help picking out a necklace for my wife and I need help”. The sales person said, “I remember what your wife looked like. I have some ideas what might look nice on her”. I made a purchase and Mrs. Triedaq was really pleased and thinks I have good taste. I didn’t tell her that it was the salesperson who really had the good taste.
To me, service is a commodity and I will gladly pay for good service. Our son worked in the hardware department of Sears while he was in seminary. He worked on commission. He said that his profit would come from a contractor who wanted an expensive air compressor and knew exactly what he wanted. All our son had to do was ring up the order and have the compressor loaded on the contractor’s truck. However, he preferred working with a woman who would come in trying to find a Christmas present for her husband. Our son would talk to her about her husband’s interests and help her select an item. He had female customers come in and ask for him by name. Unfortunately, Sears made certain not give him enough hours so that he didn’t get benefits. A year after my son moved on, that Sears store closed. I really believe that had Sears offered top notch service before and after the sale, Sears would not be in the shape they are in today. I think there are others who feel as I do that service is important.
Well let me think what I bought in the last month on the internet. A couple of computers, fiber optic parts, timberland choccura boots, printer supplies, single socket rotating surge protection adapters for network switches, 4button garage door openers, I do not have to go to stores looking for stuff, and get a great price, In stor purchases, expensive wine and flowers for wifey, groceries, gas etc.
@Barkydog: “I remember when your battery starts cranking the engine slower it is time for a new one.”
Sure, if you don’t mind buying a battery when the slow crank is caused buy something else. Personally, I like to do diagnostic work before I start replacing parts so I don’t end up replacing a good battery.
The conversation about Sears and the internet is very interesting, because Sears does have a very comprehensive website and sells quite a lot of items beyond what’s in the store. You can choose to order something and get it delivered or pick it up in a store, if a local store has it. I don’t know about their service, but Amazon has no service at all except customer relations, but certainly not parts or repair.
What’s interesting is when you search for something on Google, Amazon comes up on the first page, but Sears never does.
It shows that management makes a giant difference. Amazon has become the go-to, like the Sears catalog used to be, and Sears seems content to fade away.
Gee wilikers, guys. By the time I got to this post, there was 4 pages and I’m sure the OP has left the building. I guess I’m just going to post this for the regulars.
Firs is that a battery load test requires a fully charged battery - and that could take up to an hour.
The second thing is that I’ll bet that $42 load tester isn’t anywhere close to as good as the tester Sears uses - so I don’t think the comparison holds up.
Now I’m not defending Sears - just pointing out that things are more complex than stated.
“I’m sure the OP has left the building. I guess I’m just going to post this for the regulars.”
Ummm…I am the OP, CapriRacer, and I am still here.
I really thought that, after logging close to 15,000 posts, I would qualify as a “regular”, but apparently not…
But it’s those ‘‘free’’ tests that are most suspect to me. It’s those that have the most incentive to not be very accurate and more inclined to try to sell you something.
Sears almost went under some years ago. We, the customers, saw it coming, and I wrote to their office to tell them that. They did not listen.
I agree. This time it is almost certainly terminal.
On on-line ordering, Wal-mart has a fantastic system. In November, I wanted to buy some Lava soap. I spent several hours driving to various supermarkets and hardware stores, plus Wal-mart. No luck.
I went home, and looked up Lava soap on their on-line system. Our builders love the stuff. I placed an order to be sent to the store down on Nolana. Just a bit over an hour later, I got a text message to my temp cell phone. The soap was there.
When I wanted a new computer, I found what I wanted on-line. Less than an hour later, they sent me the text. It turned out Nolana had the item on the shelf. It has Windows 8, but when I get time, it will get dual boot Linux.
I have ordered other items since, that had to come by shipping service, but again no fuss, no bother.
@irlandes Most good retailers now have on-line ordering. I use Staples on-line quite a bit. They ship from a central warehouse and delivery is free. The local stores (2) can only stock so much. The last microwave I bought was from Sears ordered on-line as well. But iI had to pick it up at the store.