[Trumpetman]

As a few of you might have guessed, I've been on a bit of an OTA television kick. I've helped friends and family members sign up for their coupons, buy their boxes, even make antennas and hook up their TV's. It's been a bit of a kick and quite fun.

I've also been sampling all the different converter boxes from different sources while doing this because being a true geek I want to compare features to performance, etc. Most other people not being geeks just hand me their coupons and a few bucks and are happy with whatever they get back in terms of equipment. While shopping is never especially fun for me it hasn't been horrible since I knew what I needed to get, could run in and grab it and be out the door quickly.

Until today.....

I discovered a store that needs to die. Our recession needs to take it and slit it's throat.

I've purchased boxes from Walmart, Best Buy, even Albertson's Grocery Store but the worst experience BY FAR was Sears. How bad was it? I walked in with two government coupons and walked out with one box.

In otherwords it was so bad... I didn't even want to give them government money.

Let's wait for service in the electronics department for 10-15 minutes even while asking for help. Next you have them discover their shelves are empty of the needed item, but they go in the back and discover they have plenty but no one is stocking, finally when ringing up the purchase they don't allow credit or debit cards (these are allowed I purchased the same items at three different stores.) To add insult to injury when they decide to go around their own purchase system by using your card to purchase a gift card which is then used to buy the box, they can't even tell you their own return policy.

Yippee recession because companies like Sears.... they need to die.

I'm pretty sure most would toss AIG in this group for now.

Who else would you add and why?

[psmith2.0]

It's funny, but now that you mention it...I can't recall ever having a nice, easy experience at a Sears store. I don't go there often, but I've purchased a few things from there over the years (including some car service). Each time, it was something lame and idiotic added to the mix.



A rude or inept employee, weird purchasing hoops to jump through, getting two different stories/answers depending on who I talked to, lots of catches and "gotchas" on various items supposedly "on sale".

Plus, during that brief period they carried iMacs back around 2000 or so, it was 10x worse than CompUSA or Circuit City has ever been (missing keys, frozen screens, missing/stolen mice, lousy displays with no info or specs easily found, no accessories, sales staff actively steering you away from the Apple stuff or outright talking down about the line, etc.

No wonder Apple pulled them. They were probably doing more damage than good...

But beyond that, yeah...I'm not a huge fan. I should be, because I loves me some Craftsman tools. That's about the only thing they have working in their favor, IMO.

Other companies I wouldn't mind seeing go away and out of my life?

- MTV and VH1 (does that count?)
- Circuit City...oh, wait...

I'll come up with some more, I'm sure...

[bassplayinMacFiend]

That's so weird because for the short time I was a Sears employee (1 day, but that's because my dad worked there and they didn't like multiple immediate family members working in the same store even if we didn't live together), I received more specific product training than I have at all other retail establishments combined. I spent half of my first/last day learning the ins and outs of all the different paint rollers available in their paint department.

[leachboy]

Originally Posted by Trumpetman I've purchased boxes from Walmart, Best Buy, even Albertson's Grocery Store but the worst experience BY FAR was Sears.

Your experience is specific to one (or however many) of them. I've received terrific service and gotten excellent prices in the handful of Sears electronic departments I've used. Sears has hundreds or thousands of stores. Chances are most of them are somewhere between mine and yours in quality of service.

[Ryan]

I'm with Trumpetman on this one, Sears needs to go.

We bought a mower or something like that back when we lived in the San Francisco area. Just paying for the item was a hassle, but then we had to wait three hours for them to tell us the item was out of stock. They kept coming out to tell us they would have it in a few minutes. I have *no clue* how it takes three hours to notice an item is out of stock. Plus, they wouldn't deliver it when a new shipment did arrive, so we had to drive back—which includes a $4 bridge toll.

The company seems mostly dead in Texas though. IIRC, the primary West Houston location is being pushed out as the area moves more upscale.

[RowdyScot]

Sears is that bad in NW Ohio, too, but thankfully we only have one left of which I'm aware.

[turtle]

I like Sears. They've always had what I needed when I needed it.

[PB PM]

Must just be your Sears. The employees are often bone heads, but I don't deal with employees of stores other than when I am checking out so I could care less!

Walmart, crappy store. When I was buying my iPod touch, Walmart had the cheapest price in town, $239 Cdn vs. $259 Cdn from Apple, I told the employee at the desk what I wanted and she slowly walked over, looked at the locked case and at me. I say, I want the 8GB touch, she looks at it, slowly opens the case, looks at it again, then at me and finally pulls the thing out a minute later, after I repeat that it is what I want.

Best Buy employees, I find them annoying at best (pun intended). Even if I wanted to help, I wouldn't ask them, I'd call a friend to look on the internet first!

I don't think I'd want any of them to close though. I've seen a few small local restaurants close their doors, which is too bad.

[PKIDelirium]

I like Best Buy. That's where I got my iPod touch and Xbox 360 in the last several months, plus most of my DVDs and games. Been buying electronics there for years without any real issues.

I signed up for the Best Buy Rewards program recently, which makes it even more likely for me to keep shopping there since I get points for everything I buy there.

As for stores that need to die, I've never had any issues with Sears, but I HATE Kmart with a passion. I also hated Circuit Shitty and am kinda glad they finally conked out, that place sucked. Only thing I ever bought there was a couple DVDs and a 360 game, and only because they had it for a few bucks less than Best Buy or Target.

I don't mind Walmart, they sometimes have good deals on cheap DVDs and games, but I'd rather go the extra distance to Best Buy or Target if it's a similar price there.

[zippy]

I think the key here is that it's really the employees of a store that make it worthwhile or not. It all comes down to service.

Really good employees can take the edge off of crappy store policies and make it worthwhile to deal with. On the other end, terrible employees can make dealing with any store a complete waste of time. Even if that store's overall policies/philosophies are customer friendly.

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by PKIDelirium I like Best Buy. That's where I got my iPod touch and Xbox 360 in the last several months, plus most of my DVDs and games. Been buying electronics there for years without any real issues. I signed up for the Best Buy Rewards program recently, which makes it even more likely for me to keep shopping there since I get points for everything I buy there. As for stores that need to die, I've never had any issues with Sears, but I HATE Kmart with a passion. I also hated Circuit Shitty and am kinda glad they finally conked out, that place sucked. Only thing I ever bought there was a couple DVDs and a 360 game, and only because they had it for a few bucks less than Best Buy or Target. I don't mind Walmart, they sometimes have good deals on cheap DVDs and games, but I'd rather go the extra distance to Best Buy or Target if it's a similar price there.

Target is another company I have problems with. Their prices are much higher than anyone else yet they advertise how great a value they offer. Honey Bunches of Oats is around $3.50 at Target but hovers near $2 at all the other grocery stores.

It's not that I'd like Target to go away, I'd just like them to get their prices in line with everyone else and stop pretending they offer a good deal.

Plus, every Target I've been to has never had more than two or three checkout lanes open. Takes *forever* to buy anything.

[bassplayinMacFiend]

Well, like the Sears stories above, the Target in my area does have some good values, and there's usually 6 lanes open at least, but that's because they need it.

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by bassplayinMacFiend Well, like the Sears stories above, the Target in my area does have some good values, and there's usually 6 lanes open at least, but that's because they need it.

I think these locations are just incompetent. I was waiting in line at the location back home and the manager was playing with a beachball while *five* people were waiting at the checkout line with cartfuls of products.