SEARS HOME CENTER - 4-PC GARAGE STORAGE SET

I ordered a 4-piece garage storage set from Sears Home Center. Some of the units in the set are fairly heavy. After ordering and waiting awhile, I received email from Sears that said, among other things, that I would have to provide help for the driver to unload the merchandise from the truck. Either that, or I would have to arrange to pay the trucking company extra to provide for a second person on the truck to assist the driver.

I called the Sears Home Center and spoke with a supervisor in Customer Service to complain that I wasn't informed about this need to help the driver unload his truck. Specifically, the email said:

"Your shipping and handling includes delivery to your front door. If there is no one to assist, an additional person will have to accompany the driver. This will result in an additional charge that will be determined by the carrier who will be making the delivery, and this charge will be paid for at the time of delivery"

This paragraph is an oxymoron, and very deceiving. First it says that shipping and handling includes delivery to my front door. That would be interpreted to mean getting it off the truck, since I'm not going to have the truck come on my lawn and up to my front door. The remaining sentences belie the first by saying that an additional charge may be necessary if I don't help the driver. Help the driver do what? Bring it in the house? All I want is delivery to my front door.

How about the person who might assist? Does this person have to be able to lift 20 lbs? 30 lbs? 100 lbs? I and my wife will be on hand to assist, but I just had a back operation, and my wife is not into heavyweight lifting. How do I know how strong the driver will be and thus, how much help he (or she) will need?

What if I or my wife would help the driver to unload the truck and got hurt; especially if some other merchandise, meant for another delivery, was in the way and had to be unloaded first? Would I be able to sue Sears or the truck company for damages. Would the law say that I was, in effect, acting as an agent of the truck company and should be covered by Workman's Compensation? What if after removing an item that was in the way and placing it on the ground, I decided not to provide any more assistance? Am I obligated to pay the trucking company to have someone come to the house and help the driver put the item back on the truck, when it's not even my item?

When speaking to the Customer Service Supervisor, I began to suggest ways that the web site and catalog from which I ordered should be improved. He cut me off and told me they weren't going to change the catalog or web site to suit me. Why not? What am I - chopped liver? I don't think a customer ever should be told he will be ignored.

Some other points that can be made involve the notice that is given the customer before the sale is completed. I looked through the catalog they had mailed me, and from which I had ordered. I only went online to effect the purchase. There is nothing I noticed in the catalog at the time I ordered, and nothing after I received the email, to indicate that there could be an additional shipping charge if we couldn't help the driver unload merchandise from the truck. We based our order on what we saw in the catalog. Once we made the decision to buy, getting on line and ordering was to be mechanical. No more decision-making should be necessary. Instead, as the Customer Service Supervisor pointed out, there was a link to click on to get more details about the truck delivery process. Who knew that there were additional hidden charges lurking there for people who were physically unfit to help the driver unload his truck? Why would I be interested in truck delivery details at the time I ordered? There would be time enough to check them out later, closer to delivery time? I have never ever had to help out on a professional delivery of something I bought from Sears or anybody else.

Well, I don't intend to pay any extra to get my merchandise off the truck. I will assist, but only in a supervisory mode. I will explain in the clearest terms possible how the driver can use simple machines (i.e., levers, pulleys, wheels, wedges, etc.) to remove the merchandise from the truck himself (or herself). It might take a little bit longer that way, but the email did not say I had to assist the driver to remove the merchandise from the truck in a specified period of time.