Poor Customer Service process

A GE washing machine was bought at SEARS in Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, MD on 11/17/09 and was delivered on 11/18/09 to a rental property I own. The installation of the washing machine was defective and the tenants were not able to use it. I called SEARS on 11/19/09 and the person from Installation who answer the phone told me in a dismissive way that they would not be able to do the service in less than 72 hours but stated that the Repair service can take care to do the job faster. The person talking to me was inappropriate, I felt disrespected, calling me by my first name and provided misleading information since, as I found out later, it seems to be his practice to refer clients that need the services of his office (Installation) to the Repair office. I then called the Repair office and they kept me on the line for about 30 minutes to get all the information including "the address where they were supposed to send the technician" and after that he transferred me again to another office to schedule the appointment. In the next office I had to repeat again all the information including "the address where they were supposed to send the technician" and they told me they could not come to the house before November 23, that is 5 days after the request. On November 23rd they never showed up to the address given to the Repair service, instead they went to my present house and not to the rental property even if I had in two occasion given them the right address. When we called SEARS again yesterday, they mention that the Repair service was not supposed to take care of this problem but was really the Installation service who had to go back and install the washing machine properly. They also confirmed that it seem is not the first time that the inappropriate person I initially contacted in Installation on 11/19/09 had transferred the responsibility of a task to the Repair office.

This morning I called the Spanish speaking office for Installation and they cordially responded and were able to set a new appointment for 11/28/09 as the earliest possible date.

It is clear that SEARS cannot afford to employ inappropriate persons who mislead clients. Even if they were subcontractors, they should be carefully selected before they work with this important company. Also it is inadmissible to have to wait so long to take care of a problem created by its own employees or contractors. SEARS is supposed to be a leading company and should act accordingly with clients, mainly with those who have been long time customers and bought from SEARS thousands of dollars in appliances and other products.