Sears Customer Service - Where is it?

One thing I used to like about Sears auto was - convenience. You give your car at the auto center and while they work on the car you can go shop or run an errand in the mall. However, after last experience at Sears in the New Park Mall in Fremont (CA), we may not use Sears auto service again.

We were planning to drive to South California for this Labor day long weekend, when the "service required" light on our 2007 RAV4 turned on. It was time for an oil change and tire rotation. I generally get this regular service done at the local Toyota dealership, but since we had to leave for a long drive the next day, I requested my wife to drop the car at Sears auto during her trip to the mall. At about 12:30 PM on 08/30/2007 my wife dropped the car at Sears before going on for her shopping in the mall. Sears work order was for three things, namely (i) Oil Change (ii) Tire rotation (iii) 24 point inspection. The person who made the work order promised that the car will be ready "in about 45 minutes".

My wife was shopping for a gift for our friends in South California, so she came back around 2:00 PM to pick the car. She was told that the car was not ready. The excuse was that the only person who knew how to change oil in RAV4 came in 1:00 PM shift and had not gotten to the car. What? - but the real surprise was yet to come.

At around 3:30 PM my wife inquired again. They said that the car was ready and a guy ran to the shop floor to bring back the keys as my wife was presented the paper work for signature. Once the payment was made, they handed the car keys to my wife and pointed her to the car. Guess what, before giving the car to Sears my wife had marked the tiers and she noticed that the markings were still in the same position. The tires had not been rotated !

Further she noticed that the driver seat and the fabric on the door had been smudged. Although the stains were not big, but they did make the car look old.

Needless to say, my wife went back into Sear and demanded to see the manager. She was told that the manager of the auto center was not available. The assistant manager was also out. Finally, after spending another 30 minutes in Sears, she was finally able to see the store manager. Though courteous, the store manager declined to do anything about the situation on the pretext that he had no influence over the auto section. He gave the names of the manager and assistant manager of auto section and promised that some one will call us ASAP. My wife let them rotate the tires as we had to go for a long drive the next day and now there was not time (nor energy) to go somewhere else. She was too exhausted to even ask for the 24 point inspection.

No one from the store has called back till now. We opted to use Sears Auto for its convenience and to save time. However the last experience has not been pleasant. The service was not done as promised, it took a lot more time than expected and now there are smudges in our new car. We have lost our trust in Sears auto !!!

Update : I sent this blog to the Sears customer service. A few days later the Auto center manager from the Sears in question called to apologize and promised to be more vigilant in the future. He also offered to repeat the service again free of charge.

posted by Amandeep 9/03/2007 12:53:00 AM | PERMALINK