sears, not as advertised question

[Tyche]

I think he meant he was saving himself from rudeness (an in-store confrontation) and was upset that he got limited help with the online guy.

[kuronosan]

So I bought a 3D tv from sears yesterday and asked the sales assoicate if it came with glasses, she asked a dude and he said yes, two pairs. When I got home there were no glasses in the box and the manual doesn't list any inxcluded with them. On sears website under a obscure section of the specs for the tv it says it comes with 1 pair of glasses. Glasses are 50 bucks a piece. So my question is sence the tv is advertised to include 1 pair and the assoicate told me it included 2 pairs before I purchesed it am I entitled to 1-2 pairs? What would be the best thing to do on my part? I plan to keep the tv regarless just trying to save myself some money. Thx

Ooh, something I can actually help with.

Call into the store, or go in, and ask to speak to the ASM. Have your receipt handy and look for the Sales Associate # at the top (it's usually 3-6 digits long and is under the Salescheck #). Tell them you were told that the glasses were with the TV and that you were promised two pairs, neither of which are in the box. Threaten to return the TV if necessary (like if they say no dice) and say you just want the items you were promised - the TV is advertised as coming with 1 pair so you should get those by default, especially since the associate dropped the ball (and probably stupidly assumed it came with it).

If you're courteous and not too assholish you should get the glasses. If not, Sears does have a customer service complaint line. It's easier to go through the ASMs because they can usually get more done and are more willing to help.

Last but not least, as a former employee of Sears, I can tell you right now you will likely get your way if you don't scream like a baby. Too many people would come into a store yelling like idiots and we would not want to help them with shit. Mix-ups happen, and the glasses likely are below cost. The store would rather fork over $100 than lose $2000-3000 on a TV sale (especially if you bought a protection agreement). By the way, if the ASM asks you if you were offered one, tell him no. It really puts more leverage in your favor.

edit: Last but not least, don't ever, ever, ever use the website's customer service. It's run by people in India and they have no control over any service issue. They read from a cue card SOP that tells them straight up what to do and they never deviate. Always deal with in-store people.

[Xantavia]

If you're courteous and not too assholish you should get the glasses. If not, Sears does have a customer service complaint line. It's easier to go through the ASMs because they can usually get more done and are more willing to help.

This is the most important part to remember. Having worked in retail for years, the polite customer is the one we try to make happy as much as we can. But as soon as voices get raised, "I demand" or "I deserve" comes out of the mouth, or any other comments like "I'm never shopping here again" and "I've been a loyal customer for X years", most employees will tow the company line with a smile on their face, then go rant on retailhellunderground.com about the idiot they had to deal with.

[Celeste]

So basically he told you nicely that he can't help you aside from tell you to contact the store....and you call that rude?

What did you expect, that he was going to drive over to your house and personally deliver them?

I work retail, and I can most assuredly tell you that people actually do expect that at times. I personally find that kind of attitude to be deplorable. And here's the thing about the sales associate telling you it came with two pairs of 3D glasses. You yourself acknowledged that they were unsure and asked another associate, so are you really going to nail them on this issue? I'm not entirely sure how their manager is going to react, but it's common sense that they want their employees to boost sales but not at the expense of costing the store money. So, you came into the store, asked an employee if this TV had 3D glasses in the box, they confirmed it with another associate, and you procured said television. OKAY.

If I may make a suggestion: Don't try to nail the sales associate on this, if you must, mention to the manager that they checked with another associate before telling you it came with two pairs of these glasses. Please do that for me, because retail is a wretched industry to work in and those guys are getting paid minimum wage for the hard work and hours they put in, y'know what I mean? I imagine the manager will be willing to help you, even though it actually doesn't affect him if you cry like a bitch about not getting the glasses. It could go either way.

Tell you what: Did the box the TV came in have an advertisement about a pair or two pairs being included, or was it simply listed on the website and from the mouth of the sales associates who told you it did? Above all else, be courteous and calm through the entire conversation with the manager. Just don't go all sleazy customer on them, please.

[Apelila]

I can understand not wanting to drop 50$ on a set of glasses * but why the mad?

Well tried to e-mail them and get them on chat to save myself some rudeness but got this shit

They didn't tell you to eat a dick or anything remotely approaching what I would consider customer service bullshit. If their website doesn't list the contents thats the manufacturers fault. Every retailer lists product details to manufacturer's specifications, if Samsung forgot to include that in the specification its their fault not Sears'.

(lol3D - not the issue at hand tho)

[kuronosan]

If I may make a suggestion: Don't try to nail the sales associate on this, if you must, mention to the manager that they checked with another associate before telling you it came with two pairs of these glasses. Please do that for me, because retail is a wretched industry to work in and those guys are getting paid minimum wage for the hard work and hours they put in, y'know what I mean? I imagine the manager will be willing to help you, even though it actually doesn't affect him if you cry like a bitch about not getting the glasses. It could go either way.

You work retail, but have you worked Sears? Management is told to train their employees to do whatever it takes to close the sale, including lying or baiting customers. They are getting paid fat commission checks that may amount to anywhere from $500-1000 a week. I know, because I worked there. They do fucked up things from getting customers with bad credit to apply for 2-3 credit cards to beef up their metrics to lying about free delivery and promising to 'fix it later if it's a problem' just so that a customer doesn't walk.

That is the majority of Sears out there, not all of them, but they aren't nearly as innocent or ignorant as you portray. You still shouldn't go into any retail store and act like a dick, but regardless the associates said that he would get glasses with his TV and he didn't. He has every right to go to that store and ask them (politely at first) for what he was told he would get, whether the associates were sure or not. All he really has to do is say "Look if they were unsure they should have asked a manager. I have had to use up time in my day to take care of an issue that shouldn't have been an issue. I understand blah blah blah polite stuff blah but I really would just like the glasses I was promised as there is little point in having a 3DTV without them".

I know Sears management and they operate quite differently than other retail stores.

[Kaslo]

Well I had drafted up a nice long disclaimer, but sig length restrictions made me reduce it down

[Aylee]

The person on chat wasn't rude i was just trying to save myself some hassle of confronting them in person/phone. I was annoyed at the fact that he basically took 15 min of my time on support just to tell me well w/e talk to store manager. Although I researched a little more last night and it seems best buy has the same tv on sell for the same price and actually gives you 2 free pairs of glasses (doesn't list that it comes with any, kinda a give away for buying it) So when they open im just going to call ask for manager tell them associate told me two and website list at least one and tell him best buy gives away two. If he doesn't want to give me the two pairs i'll simply return it instead of bitching a storm. I'm going to be as polite about it as I can.

I wont pen anything on the associate I feel that she did her job. I asked her twice if it came with glasses and the first time she told me strait up she had no clue and it didn't say online anywhere when she tried to find out. It was a secondary employee she asked the second time that told her and me both that it includes two pairs.


Edit:
Well I found a option to get the two free pairs on best buy last night but now i cant seem to find it anywhere >.> and the tv is 200 bucks more now

edit2:

SCORE found the bitch
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Samsung+...D550&cp=1&lp=1

[Salodin]

Yes, everyone agrees don't go in there crying like a child, but damn he made a purchase based on the info an associate gave him, they either need to accommodate or expect a return on a very expensive tv.

[Kellanved]

Well I had drafted up a nice long disclaimer, but sig length restrictions made me reduce it down

Anyone can offer legal information, it's legal advice you want to be careful with.

[Aylee]

well called the store got the electronics manager by default. She keep trying to give me a blue ray player shrek bundle or some shit. Finly she figured out wtf i was talking about and said yea blah blah they owe me two free pairs its a promotion and the sales person just didnt put them on there. Gonna go pick them up and hope i dont get a bunch of bs in the store.

[Salodin]

Yay. Glad it all worked out.

[Ohemgee]

This is why I like shopping online. You don't have to deal with people.

[Headspace]

This is why I like shopping online. You don't have to deal with people.

Just cumbersome return processes

[Salodin]

On that note, are those extra warranty packages ever worth it?

[archibaldcrane]

On that note, are those extra warranty packages ever worth it?

Yes

if your shit breaks

[SnickySnacks]

The fact that most stores make very little/nothing on certain merchandise (pcs, tvs) and make their profit off the warranty should tell you about the relative merits of that particular transaction.

For the most part, store warranties, especially ones that largely overlap with the manufacturer warranty, aren't worthwhile.
You basically need to determine the amount of use/abuse the item is going to take and the cost of the warranty and likelyhood that it is going to actually break.

About the only things I'd suggest warranties on are portable/traveling devices (laptops, phones, etc) and that still depends on what the warranty covers and the specifics of the replacement and the clumsiness of the person involved. A 2-year best buy warranty on a laptop can easily increase the price of the laptop by 50%. Hardly seems worth it for what is essentially a 1-year warranty past the manufacturer's.

(or to put it another way: How many electronics do you own and how many have broken within the warranty period? If you had bought warranties on all of them, it's probably significantly more than the replacement cost for those broken items)

[Tweek]

On that note, are those extra warranty packages ever worth it?

big money makers for stores, usually not as a whole i.e. they come out the winners over the span of all the customers buying the warranties but I've seen many cases where they do pay off in full dividends..


also depends on the type of warranty for example at Best Buy I get them on ps3 controllers and headphones and then before the 1/2yr is up you can just come swap it for a new one no questions asked I even upgraded a pair of Tritton 720s to Tritton AX-Pros just because the AX-Pros became available 6 months later in the store. Apple care saved my ass of getting a new iPod also back in the day right before the extended warranty was about to expire let me use the same iPod for close to 4 years cause of it.

[Melena]

Big Screen TV's can be worth it, just read the fine print. Fry's used to include lamp replacements in it, and lowered it to one lamp, which typically offset about 75% of the cost of the warranty if you needed it. TV's are one of the few i would go big on since the odds of shit happening to it occur obviously much later in the life span. Especially if it uses a lamp, like a lot of mitsubishi's do. Just remember though physical damage will never be covered.

Off topic, I loved working electronics at Sears back in the late 90's. We would hide stuff we wanted in the back and wait till the registers showed the price as 0 then go to our DM and see what he'd want for it to get it out of the inventory. Got myself a Pioneer 12 disk changer back then for 50 bucks and the thing retailed for 400. We had 3 and the manager wanted one himself lol.

[Aylee]

Went up there and got 2 pairs of glasses. TV was supposed come with two pairs and the associates failed to give them to me. Another woman was up there bitching about the same thing.