Need advice: Do I have any recourse for Sear's screw-up??

karin_2015

14 years ago

Hello-

I'm looking for some advice here regarding the fact that Sears sold the dishwasher I bought and paid for without my knowledge. I'm curious if anyone knows what I can reasonably demand from Sears to fix this situation.

Here's the details:

In Oct 09, I purchased a Kenmore Elite SS dishwasher model #13153. It was a floor model with a dent on it so while this model typically sells for about $1300, I got it on clearance for $458.00. I also bought a new refrigerator at the same time.

Well after our kitchen remodel took longer than expected, (I called about 3 times to delay the delivery), I finally scheduled the delivery for last Saturday 2/6. Well they brought my fridge but said they didnt have the dishwasher on the truck....long story short, I called Sears spoke with a manager today who told me that Sears couldnt deliver to my zip code (and he followed this up with , "oh no one called you to tell you that?") and so they cancelled my order. My credit card was never credited, I never received a phone call or any other notice about this.

In the meantime, I paid off the price of the dishwasher from my Sears card. So the manager offered to credit my account back, essentially returning the dishwasher. But I dont want that! I want THAT dishwasher at the price I paid!

Now the model is discontinued. I checked with my local Sears store tonight and they said they may have some still floating around but they can't locate exactly where.

The manager is supposed to call me tomorrow to "see what he can do." Is it fair to ask them to track down an undented model of the dishwasher and give it to me? Do I demand a replacement of the newest equivalent of that model? What if they tell me, 'here's your money back now get lost!' I cant find another dishwasher at the top of the line for the middle of the line price I paid.

Advice???

Thanks in advance.

Karin

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (11)

karin_2015
Original Author
14 years ago
sorry, grammatically that should be Sears' screw up. I'm so upset, I got the apostrophe wrong :(
weissman
14 years ago
You might try to get them to give you an undamaged or current model at the price you paid for goodwill - if you're reasonable and pleasant with them you'll have much better luck. At worst they'll refund what you paid and although I'm not a lawyer, I believe that would fulfill their obligation to you and you wouldn't have any other recourse.
Related Discussions
Prairie planting screwed up--any advice?
Q
Comments (4)
Its a shame that in trying to create something good, you have to go through this . If you had an understanding with your contractor as to the procedure you expected them to follow, you have every right to expect them to perform as agreed if they want to be paid as agreed. I would ask them what they intend to do to make this right. Wait till they respond and base your next step on that. Once they respond, I would at the least tell them to remove the erosion fabric to rake and roll the soil as agreed, and try to get them to add additional seed at that time. while they have the fabric up, I would purchase more of a seed mix from a good local supplier and incorporate that into the soil as well before replacing the fabric. Typically, the grass seed is the least expensive componant of the prairie seed mix, and you are better off underplanting grasses than over planting. Grasses can always be interseeded later. The squeeky wheel is the one that gets oiled... This does not need to be a disaster.
...See More
I screwed up with paint color - need advice on color
Q
Comments (27)
I agree with you who think the color is off a little. It's just lacking.... I am open to any color really. I've actually picked up a color swatch from BM today that it very lively - Wahsabi! Yeah, I know - a little crazy, but maybe would work? I also like baby turtle, but I think it may look to muddy. Thank you for the shower curtain suggestions! That's just what I'm looking for - suggestions :) Happy to get all the help/advice!
...See More
bad roofing job, do I have any recourse?
Q
Comments (10)
The next roofer you hire should offer a warranty of more than one year. Would you buy shingles that only carried a 1 year warranty? That being said, the crappy roofed actually honored the warranty well beyond the limitations offered in the contract. He may be a really lousy roofer, but at least he's honest about his bad work. To put things in perspective, I've heard from Michigan natives that a large house can be bought for just a few thousand dollars in many places around the great state. The shock to many of these new homeowners must come at the time when they need to spend some money on maintenance. The cost of a new paint job or a new roof can easily exceed the total value of the property. It is likely the reason that a roofer would automatically go to the cheapest bid possible, because they assume that every client just wants it that way. What would motivate the previous owners, who planned to immediately sell the house, to do it any differently?
...See More
Got screwed by bad lawn advice so I joined Houzz - any good advice?
Q
Comments (16)
@joe - that was a fun thread to read, thanks for sharing. JC in that thread chose to start this healing process in mid-July but I didn't find the reason of his timing. Given the condition of the grass (mostly like the first pic in thread), and where I am (east coast, Toronto), with weather right now being around 40F at night and 70F during the day, with showers throughout the week, which month should I be starting the same process JC took? @mishmosh - ok cool this makes me at ease, I have the core aeration and fertilizers scheduled within the next 4 weeks @shivece - just signed up to a lawn service, surprisingly not nearly as expensive as I thought given other type of contractors cost thousands even for small jobs in GTA. The challenge now is coordinating my own efforts with the lawn service because I found out that even the best lawn services in our area does things in batch, not tailored towards specific houses. They schedule things based on optimal business operations. @charpell - makes sense, what's interesting is that no one in the neighborhood seem to water their lawn where I live, I never saw a sprinkler or manual watering, just cutting and fertilizers. Last year was the first time we were in the house so I thought it was just me not knowing what people normally do around here to keep the lawn healthy but this year I observed enough to see I was the oddball for sure
...See More
llaatt22
14 years ago
Leaving purchased appliances in long term free storage with any vendor is problematical.

Suggest treating the problem as if the dishwasher had been delivered and turned out to be a totally unrepairable lemon. Since the unit was obsolete and can't be replaced by the exact model, Sears should now offer you what would be their best yearly sale price discount on any dishwasher of your choice.
mcmann
14 years ago
Normally all the merchant is required to do is "to make you whole" again. Simply that would be a full refund of the money you paid. It doesn't matter that it will cost you more to purchase another DW with the same features.

However as weissman suggests try a reasonable approach, ask them what can they do to make this right. Then you can offer laat2's solution- their best sale price on a DW. But do your research first, have a few models that are acceptable to you and what their prices are. Good luck.
allgeekspc
14 years ago
i had a similiar problem with sears they sold a clearance model french door frige from out from under me... and I ask mgr. to help me out give me new model at deep discount. Long story short they didnt do jack for me. Just 10% off a new model. I was very unhappy thought about calling cooperate etc. but end up just eating it. Sears sux. Their service is bad.
karin_2015
Original Author
14 years ago
Well Good news!

Weissman and Mcmann were right...you get more bees with honey (is that the expression?? why would anyone want more bees?)

I won!! I was level headed and just called to follow up on my dishwasher dilemma and they "found" me the same model machine, in a box, brand new, that they will sell to me for the same price as I originally paid! Not quite sure why they have to "return" the old machine I never got and then "purchase" this new one when the cost is the same...but whatever, I'm just happy I'm getting a machine and one without a dent, to boot!

So I'm one happy camper (for now, until something else goes wrong with either the credit or purchase amount or the machine is wrong---so many stresses with ordering appliances.)

Thank you all for your advice! It was wonderful to have rational voices giving me advice during my battle with corporate america.

Score:
Karin--1
Corporate America----5,887,240,091
...I'm catching up. :)
mojavean
14 years ago
Really glad you are on a path to getting things squared away in your favor, Karin.

One thing, though. The correct possessive of Sears would be Sears's.

Sears is a proper name and singular in this usage so you would add the " 's " for full grammatical goodness.
User
14 years ago
Great - now make sure you hurry down there and collect this unit so you'll be sure you have one. Until it's in your hands it's still vaporware.
mcmann
14 years ago
It's good to know that Happy Endings haven't been discontinued.
karin_2015
Original Author
14 years ago
Well I sent a letter to Sears corporate explaining the situation and stating I was happy with the outcome and I cc'd it to the manager who assisted me. I guess I feel that whenever I think, "ooh I'll write a letter to corporate and explain my frustration" and things end up going really well, it's just as worthy to write a letter to corporate to explain my appreciation for their staff (not really for corporate headquarters) :)

I mean when I think about it, they had 2 ways of handling this situation: 1) being stinkers and just refunding my money and pretending like the transaction never happened and 2) what they actually did--finding me the same model # and giving it to me at the price I paid.
Glad it worked out how it did.

Mojavean--thank you for explaining the correct apostrophe usage. I would have never guessed that although it did kind of ring a bell from an English class I had in middle school. It's nice to learn something new everyday. :)
ILoveRed
14 years ago
You know our Sears is locally owned (small town of 12000) and they are stand up guys. Nice to know they treated you right.

Need advice: Do I have any recourse for Sear's screw-up??

Comments (11)

karin_2015
Original Author

weissman

Related Discussions

llaatt22

mcmann

allgeekspc

karin_2015
Original Author

mojavean

User

mcmann

karin_2015
Original Author

ILoveRed

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Need advice: Do I have any recourse for Sear's screw-up??

Comments (11)

karin_2015Original Author

Related Discussions

karin_2015Original Author

karin_2015Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

karin_2015
Original Author

karin_2015
Original Author

karin_2015
Original Author