Horrible Customer Service

For Christmas 2012, as part of my wife's gift, I thought I would cater to her new-found owl obsession by ordering an owl-shaped ceramic cookie jar she had exclaimed over while window shopping.

Given the time-sensitive nature of our travel plans and shipping needs, I decided that I would order from Sears.com since their website claimed they had the item in stock and it shipped directly from their store.

This was a lie.

Not only was Sears relying on a third party for supplying/delivering the item, but when delivery was delayed, customer service could provide no information, and when the shipment finally arrived, we discovered they delivered the wrong item.

And I don't mean "similar item but wrong colour", or something minor like that. I mean WRONG item:

That's right. Spider magnets. Just what my wife wanted for Christmas.

It took a half-dozen phone calls, countless emails, and over a month just to get them to issue a return label so I could send back the damn spiders. (I was told I'd receive the label within 24hrs of my first complaint. It actually took numerous complaints and 31 days.)

At no point in the process was I offered a replacement item and was instead told I would only get my money back 3-5 business days after they had received confirmation that the spiders had been safely returned.

They did however, offer on several occasions to place another order for the cookie jar so that I could pay them twice for an item I never received.

After the spiders were safely returned, it took several more phone calls and another three weeks before I actually got my money back. (By my count, a total of 14 business days after I was sent confirmation the spiders had been delivered to their warehouse.)

Every time I was told how long the next step in the process would take, it was either misinformation or an outright lie. And frequently required multiple calls/emails before any action was actually taken.

Order placed (and credit card billed): December 11, 2012

Money refunded: February 8, 2013

Owl Cookie Jar received: Never

Congratulations, Sears. This is the worst customer service I have ever seen.