Sears online appliance purchase runaround

I just have to warn people about how totally incompetent Sears is when you buy an appliance from them online. Here?s our story (and we?re not nearly finished yet, so wish us luck!).

I go online and buy a new Kenmore dishwasher. It?s $100 off, and there?s a rebate coupon for free delivery and installation which would normally cost $109. There is a button to click if you want your current dishwasher hauled away. I click the button.

We get a call from Sears saying that some local company called D&D will do the installation for us.

Then we get another call from Sears saying that the dishwasher will be delivered sometime around 7 to 9 pm tonight.

I call back Sears to confirm everything ? just because we?ve had some problems with Sears in the past (they delivered a gas range but wouldn?t hook it up). The Sears operator I speak with says that D&D will install the new dishwasher and haul away the old one but, oh no, they WON?T disconnect the old one! ?Liability problems,? she explains. I?m told I have to either disconnect the old dishwasher myself or hire a SEPARATE plumber just to do that part of the job.

I try to disconnect the old dishwasher myself, but it?s too much for my limited handyman skills, so I call a plumber who?s luckily able to come over this morning before the new dishwasher is delivered.

With all the problems so far, just to be on the safe side we call D&D on their own phone line and learn that, oh no, we DON?T need to hire a separate plumber to do the disconnect ? they WILL do that as part of the service! (?We don?t know why Sears always tells people that,? the D&D rep helpfully adds.) BUT the bad news is that D&D isn?t coming here at 7 to 9 pm tonight! Instead, we?ll get the dishwasher delivered by a Sears crew tonight, but D&D won?t be available to do the installation until, oh, maybe three or four days later!

So now we?re going to have an unhooked dishwasher sitting in the middle of our kitchen for a couple of days ? during summer vacation with two little boys at home.

We did at least manage to cancel the other plumber in time to avoid their service charge. But they weren?t happy.

It gets even better. I call Sears and ask for a Sears contact and address so that I can write them a complaint letter about this totally ridiculous purchase process. I get the complete and total runaround with lots of apologies from the rep, but he absolutely REFUSES to give me a title and address to write to! He says he?s not authorized to give that information! Can you believe that?

And to top it all off, in the middle of his apologies the rep brings up ?compensation? for our troubles, but when I ask what he has in mind, he backtracks and says he?s not in a position to offer us anything! (So why did you bring it up in the first place?)

It?s just unbelievable all around. The sheer hassle, confusion and frustration we?re experiencing with buying an appliance online from Sears is totally outweighing any dollar savings we?re getting.

You?d think it would be very little trouble for Sears to arrange to have the applicance delivered to their local installation contractor, and then have that contractor bring the appliance, hook it up, and haul away the old one. But no-oooo! That?s too complicated for those customer-service wizards at Sears Roebuck and Company!