Complaint Review: Sears Robuck - Escondido California

Sears does lots of things to make their customers happy when it comes to not having the advertised product in stock..... 1. We call around and find the item. 2. We DO have rainchecks! 3. We DO substitutions! 4. If the item isn't in the store and all the other local Sears are out of stock on that item, then we order it for you and NORMALLY it doesn't take more than 3 days for it to arrive for you to pick it up. The exception is when it is on back-order and you are told at the register when that happens and you have the option to decline ordering. 5. Say we had a specific television on sale $20.00 off and we are out of stock on it. If we do not have a specific substitution set up, then you may puchase another regular priced television with that $20.00 reduction. Now I'm not saying that Sears is perfect, but I don't like people saying things that aren't true, or are misinformed. All Ed had to do was communicate his feelings and he would have been taken care of, I know it. If he did communicate his feelings and still got no where then the Sears near him is poorly ran, and I'm sorry for that.

Holly, I'm afraid Ed is right, in this case, only it isn't just Sears who does this. Many retailers do it. Old Tyme Pottery (or however they spell it). ALL of the electronics places. Sears, Penneys, Big Lots, etc. Of course it does happen from time to time that one item offered for sale may not be available; however, when it is multiple items on a recurring basis as Ed described here, why accuse him of exaggerating? Consumers: VOTE WITH YOUR FEET. If you go to a store to buy a "loss leader" (item sold at a very low cost, sometimes below cost to the store) and it isn't available---LEAVE. BUY NOTHING. Tell the service desk on your way out that you came to buy "X" but it isn't available and so you are leaving empty handed. Spend your money in places where they make an effort to fulfill their ad such as with rain checks (which MUST be honored!), substitutions, etc. To my way of thinking, if a store won't substitute when they offer something they don't have, then they MUST be up to no good. If an item that costs the store $200 can be advertised for a "special sale" at $150 but suddenly isn't available, then I think the same $50-per-customer loss should be absorbed elsewhere. Either that, or make it an in-store special and skip the costly, full-color ad to advertise a product retailers don't have. I hate shopping.

Holly, I'm afraid Ed is right, in this case, only it isn't just Sears who does this. Many retailers do it. Old Tyme Pottery (or however they spell it). ALL of the electronics places. Sears, Penneys, Big Lots, etc. Of course it does happen from time to time that one item offered for sale may not be available; however, when it is multiple items on a recurring basis as Ed described here, why accuse him of exaggerating? Consumers: VOTE WITH YOUR FEET. If you go to a store to buy a "loss leader" (item sold at a very low cost, sometimes below cost to the store) and it isn't available---LEAVE. BUY NOTHING. Tell the service desk on your way out that you came to buy "X" but it isn't available and so you are leaving empty handed. Spend your money in places where they make an effort to fulfill their ad such as with rain checks (which MUST be honored!), substitutions, etc. To my way of thinking, if a store won't substitute when they offer something they don't have, then they MUST be up to no good. If an item that costs the store $200 can be advertised for a "special sale" at $150 but suddenly isn't available, then I think the same $50-per-customer loss should be absorbed elsewhere. Either that, or make it an in-store special and skip the costly, full-color ad to advertise a product retailers don't have. I hate shopping.

Holly, I'm afraid Ed is right, in this case, only it isn't just Sears who does this. Many retailers do it. Old Tyme Pottery (or however they spell it). ALL of the electronics places. Sears, Penneys, Big Lots, etc. Of course it does happen from time to time that one item offered for sale may not be available; however, when it is multiple items on a recurring basis as Ed described here, why accuse him of exaggerating? Consumers: VOTE WITH YOUR FEET. If you go to a store to buy a "loss leader" (item sold at a very low cost, sometimes below cost to the store) and it isn't available---LEAVE. BUY NOTHING. Tell the service desk on your way out that you came to buy "X" but it isn't available and so you are leaving empty handed. Spend your money in places where they make an effort to fulfill their ad such as with rain checks (which MUST be honored!), substitutions, etc. To my way of thinking, if a store won't substitute when they offer something they don't have, then they MUST be up to no good. If an item that costs the store $200 can be advertised for a "special sale" at $150 but suddenly isn't available, then I think the same $50-per-customer loss should be absorbed elsewhere. Either that, or make it an in-store special and skip the costly, full-color ad to advertise a product retailers don't have. I hate shopping.

Holly, I'm afraid Ed is right, in this case, only it isn't just Sears who does this. Many retailers do it. Old Tyme Pottery (or however they spell it). ALL of the electronics places. Sears, Penneys, Big Lots, etc. Of course it does happen from time to time that one item offered for sale may not be available; however, when it is multiple items on a recurring basis as Ed described here, why accuse him of exaggerating? Consumers: VOTE WITH YOUR FEET. If you go to a store to buy a "loss leader" (item sold at a very low cost, sometimes below cost to the store) and it isn't available---LEAVE. BUY NOTHING. Tell the service desk on your way out that you came to buy "X" but it isn't available and so you are leaving empty handed. Spend your money in places where they make an effort to fulfill their ad such as with rain checks (which MUST be honored!), substitutions, etc. To my way of thinking, if a store won't substitute when they offer something they don't have, then they MUST be up to no good. If an item that costs the store $200 can be advertised for a "special sale" at $150 but suddenly isn't available, then I think the same $50-per-customer loss should be absorbed elsewhere. Either that, or make it an in-store special and skip the costly, full-color ad to advertise a product retailers don't have. I hate shopping.

It obviously was NOT false advertisement! I understand the frustrations you must have felt, but if you check the fine print on all of our ads it does state that it might not be available at all locations, and yes there are some things that we carry online ONLY. Normally it would state that in the ad. I find it hard to believe that NO store in the whole nation had either of those things in stock, unless it was one of two things, a misprint, where we usually have a statement by the register stating that there was a misprint, or it was a clearance item, which we do not "promise" that it is in stock. I admit that sometimes they run an ad on a product that is clearanced that we no longer have, but when I have a customer in the store wanting that product, I check every Sears within 20 min from my store and almost always find another store with it in stock. I'm sorry, but I think you've exaggerated here.