Page 12 - The Apple Experience

was shattered for good. My wife walked in as I was on hold and asked who I
was on the phone with.

“I’m on hold with Sears customer service. Our refrigerator is broken.” I

said. My wife glared at me and through gritted teeth said, “I vowed never to

do business with Sears again.”

She reminded me that she had a troubling in-store customer experience

at a local Sears store the previous year followed by endless red tape and

frustration. I recalled the incident but thought it was a fluke, and besides,
customer service on the phone must be a completely different experience.

Since I was in the middle of researching this book, I decided to turn a

potential negative into a positive and conduct some research. While I was on

hold for a considerable amount of time, I conducted a Twitter search for the

term “Sears customer service.” I wish I hadn’t. Here is just a sample of the

remarks left by Sears customers within a twenty-four-hour period:

 “Sears is the worst. There’s a dozen customer service counters, and no one at
them.”

 “I haven’t bought from @sears in over 30 years. Their service ALWAYS

sucks.”

 “Sears home service and customer solutions should be ashamed and shut

down.”

 “Sears customer solutions is rude and has no solutions.”

 “Parents about to lose it with Sears customer service count 5… 4… 3… 2…”

 “Sears, I’m done with you. Your customer service is deplorable & I will never
EVER buy another product from your stores again.”