why god hates me

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[This post is in reference to the Consumerist layoffs announced two weeks ago.] Carey already said all the classy stuff last Sunday, so I’ll be brief. I had fun, this was an eye-opening experience (I actually learned how to better manage my finances), and blogging every day for a responsive audience is a little like smoking crack, except it makes you fat instead of bone-skinny, and it’s not quite as sexy. The best part of this job was watching a story produce results. In aggregate, we’re not really “the little guy,” and I’m thankful I was able to participate in a website that makes this possible.

I wish I could hug each and every one of you, and in some cases hug you around the neck with my hands, but since I can’t I just want to shout out to some particular commenters. Starred or not, you’ll always have a little star icon from me.

To Eyebrows McGee: On average, you probably had the most consistently useful and well-thought-out comments I read. I was always flattered when I saw a comment from you on one of my posts, and disappointed when I didn’t. I think you’re awesome and even though I like dudes I have a little bit of a blog-crush on you for your good deeds. Your husband is very lucky.

To Git Em SteveDave loves this guy–>: One of the funniest things I read all year was your idea to breed fainting-goat children in order to protect regular kids from playground predators. I wish I’d thought of that.

To Ein2015: Thanks for helping with the VPN post, and even moreso thanks for taking the time on your own to follow up on reader questions in the comments to that post. You didn’t have to do that and it was pretty awesome.

To SkokieGuy: I think I misrepresented myself. I only wish I knew how to dress a moose, although I’m probably too much of an animal lover to go through with it and would just set the moose free, half dressed. I don’t think I understand what “dressing a moose” means.

To HomerJay: A couple of times, you managed to bring out the really cranky, argumentative side in me. It was like you were channeling me, which is surreal. But it was kind of fun nonetheless.

To Buran: Where did you go? You made me aware of the fact that transcripts are highly appreciated for video clip posts.

To Crabby Cakes, snoop-blog, Bladefist, Antediluvian, humphrmi, pylon83, Rectilinear Propagation, Michael Belisle, Trai_Dep, DrGirlfriend, and everyone else who I’m forgetting who left a great comment, contacted me personally with a tip, made a useful correction, or in rare cases handed out a compliment. It was sincerely a pleasure to connect with you. Yay for a sense of community!

* * *

I’ll be leaving my Twitter account, ConsumerChris, active in order to continue micro-blogging interesting material that I think is Consumerist-worthy, so feel free to keep me on your buddy list. If I end up in a consumer advocacy position elsewhere, I’ll certainly announce it via Twitter.

Now I am going to go toast my year-long career as a Consumerist editor over a nice dinner with friends, enjoy my weekend, and start looking for new outlets for my indignation. I do not think it will be that hard.

You may leave your compliments and job tips below.

Mike sent us two stories of back-to-back merchandise fiascos with orders he placed on Sears.com for in-store pickup. What’s worse, the problems can’t just be blamed on a lone rotten employee, or attributed to bad luck—several Sears stores were involved. Our verdict: there’s something seriously messed up with the Sears fulfillment chain, and it’s not worth your time or energy to bother with it. But you knew that already, right?

Thought you might be interested in some horrible sears.com in store pickup experiences. The first one was simple yet annoying so I didn’t go into much detail.

• Sep 11- Order a TV thats %5 off due to one day sale, in store pickup within 10 days
• Sep 22 - Call customer service. Told it’ll be in the werehouse that day and I’ll receive an email tommorrow
• Sep 23 - No email
• Sep 24 - Call CS again. Told sometime next week. While on the phone, I get an email saying the 29th. At some point in the day I get a call saying it won’t be coming in.
• Sep 25 - I call up CS again and they tell me to call the store and ask to transfer the salescheck to another store. I do that, and they cancel my order instead. I call up CS again and they tell me to order from another store and they SHOULD be able to adjust the price to the sale price. I order from a further away store that showed it as immediately available. I get a fairly quick email telling me that the item is in stock and I head otwards the store. I get a phone call telling me that they don’t have the TV and won’t be getting it in.
   
  I give up on Sears and buy a TV from Costco instead.

The TV situation was annoying but didn’t really turn me off to Sears. [Seriously? -Ed.] So I make the mistake of trying again.

Oct 2- I order a heart pendant necklace for my girlfriend’s birthday for in store pickup, at a different Sears than the 2 above. I get an email saying it’s ready for pickup. I go to the store and attempt to pick it up.

Apparently they have a 5 minute guarantee for them to bring out your order after you sign into their kiosk, but they avoid that by “completing” your order before they even see you. Guy finally comes out, takes my paper print out of the order and disappears. Then he comes back and gives me a sticker (which I saved) and tells me I have to go to the jewelery department to pick it up. I go there and am first told that I’m supposed to pick it up at merchandise pickup but eventually told they don’t have the item in stock.

Back to merchandise pickup. No one is there. Wait 10 minutes and still no one, so another call to customer service. I explain the deal and multiple times ask them if this item is showing as picked up. I’m assured it isn’t. Customer service apologizes and tells me that this is rare and it never happens and that sometimes lines get crossed and you have to wait a day even after getting the email. They offer to ship it, but not for free, and it definitely wouldn’t arrive by when I needed it even if they could. So I tell them to cancel it and I’ll place another order myself.

Oct 3- I called CS again to verify that I would receive a refund and the order wasn’t showing as picked up, and was assured that was the case. I wasn’t really concerned since there were about a half dozen other Sears that claimed immediate availability on this item. So I attempt to order from other stores. I get numerous email cancellations.

I got this for one order.

Dear Sears.com Customer, In order to provide the best customer experience, when you place a Sears.com order for Store Pick Up, we do a final verification step with the local store you selected for pick up to: Ensure the accuracy of the inventory information we have received from the store, and Physically confirm the availability of the item(s) that you ordered prior to you going to the store. Unfortunately, we checked with your local store at SEARS STORES and discovered that one or more of the item(s) in your ORDER #xxxxxxx/ SALESCHECK #xxxxxxxwere not in stock. As a result, we have cancelled this order, and no charges pertaining to this order will be reflected on your credit card.

I got this for three orders.

Dear Michael, Thank you for shopping at Sears.com. Unfortunately, due to the demand for the item(s) that you ordered, we were unable to process your order due to being out of stock. Consequently, we have cancelled your order for the item(s) listed below.

At some point I decided to just place the rest of the orders all together and not just wait to be canceled. So I eventually wound up with 2 orders that weren’t canceled yet. I eventually received ready for pickup emails from both orders. I then get a call from the Middletown NJ store. A woman from the jewelery department asking me to describe what I ordered because all she has is an item number. She couldn’t find the item, but said she would keep looking and call me back. She actually did call me back and was able to locate the item.

Oct 8 - I let the other order sit for about a week before I canceled. I was concerned about a refund from that getting mixed up with my original order that hadn’t been refunded yet. Out of morbid curiosity I called the store inquiring about the still open order and of course, they didn’t have it in stock and didn’t bother calling me. I canceled that order and received a refund 2 days later.

Oct 11- I email Sears.com customer service inquiring about my original refund and stating that I’ll be disputing the charge if I don’t get a response by Oct 14.

Oct 14- No response to email, so I dispute.

Oct 15- It’s still bugging me and I want to triple check that the original order was not showing as picked up, so I called CS again. I found out that it is indeed showing that I picked the order up. The CS person says she can’t do anything if that’s the case and I have to go to the store. I ask for it to be escalated and talk to who I presume is the supervisor. I firmly state that I refuse to goto the store again and she calls the store. After a longggg wait she puts me on a three way phone conversation we get the refund processed. I get the smiplest of apologies…

There were a few more customer service calls in between everything, but thats the majority of the problems. I’m just really happy to actually have all my money back.

(Photo: robinsonsmay)