Complaint Review: SEARS

Not so much a rip-off but False Advertising just the same. SEARS was advertising a "2 day only sale" back in August of 2003. My husband and I went to the store to check out the Tools and did not find any real "deals" so we started to leave but decided to stop and look at the work out equipment.

I found a Weider weight system I really liked but decided not to purchase it there and then and we drove home. By the time we got home I decided to go online to www.sears.com and look at the weider system again. The website had the same price and said the price was only good until the next day (a $500 system for under $400) so I rushed to order it.

The website said that it was available for store pick up and I pain online with a credit card. AFTER I processed the payment and they e-mail me a note that says that I cannot pick it up from the store until 4 days later because it has to come from the warehouse (which is just a few miles from the store) even though it said it was in stock on the website. If I had known they were going to make me wait, I could have just driven back to the store and purchased it that same day as I know they had it there, I saw the boxes when we were looking. When I called the actual store to ask why I could not just come and pick it up, I was told, "you purchased it on the web and the ones in our store are for people who come in here and shop". I wasn't getting any satisfaction so I just figured I would just have to wait.

While I was waiting for the day I could pick up I was telling a friend about the system and we went online so I could show it to her and I find it was STILL on sale and the date had been extended for another week even though when I ordered it, the price was supposedly only good until the next day! I wrote SEARS and told them that even though I had wanted the system and was getting it at a good price, I still felt "lied to" and "pressured" because I felt I HAD to order it that weekend to get the good price when they kept that price on it for over a week. (It was supposed to be a 2 day sale!) They never replied to my e-mails and I feel they use false advertising practices to get consumers to purchase items quickly "before the price goes back up".

I know this is not as bad as many of the SEARS rip-offs listed here but consumer beware, the website may say "in stock for store pick up" but that doesnt mean you can go right to the store to get it and "price only good until midnight" doesn't mean it is true. I will never feel pressured to purchase "right now" at SEARS again just for a "sale price" because I have learned they lie.

Jeanne
Cape Coral, Florida
U.S.A.