Sears Sears Holding Corporation Failed Delivery / Poor Customer Service Internet

Customer Service Department, 
  
I am writing to express my disappointment and extreme frustration with the experience that I have had with Sears during this Christmas Holiday season. On November 26, 2011, I ordered a Sportspower 12' Light Up Trampoline and Enclosure for two children from a low income family as a Christmas surprise for them and their parents. I specifically ordered from Sears due to the quality of the product and customer service that I had received in the past. When ordering, I paid special attention to delivery options. To be exact, I made sure that Sears could deliver after 5pm. In fact, the website stated that deliveries could be made up until 9pm. This was very important, as I previously stated, this was for a low income family with a mother that works during the day. It is not feasible for her to leave work to have a Christmas present delivered. Upon ordering, I was able to schedule a delivery date of December 13, 2011. 

Without my knowledge, the mother was contacted on December 13, 2011 about scheduling the delivery. At that time, she was told that the delivery could not be completed after 5pm. However, she was extremely excited about receiving a Christmas present for her children that she was not able to give them that she explained the situation to her supervisor and she was allowed to leave for the day so that she could receive the trampoline. THE TRAMPOLINE WAS NOT DELIVERED. We have yet to receive a viable explanation. While the young mother's supervisor was courteous enough to let her leave work early, the time that she took off was unpaid. It is my understanding that deliveries can only be made to their specific zip code on Tuesdays. Since the trampoline was not delivered on December 13, 2011, the delivery was rescheduled for December 20, 2011. Again, the mother was contacted and told that deliveries could not be made after 5pm. She was told that they could deliver during her lunch time and gave her a time of 12:15 to 1:15pm. She waited at home until 1:45p and took a two hour lunch. Again, the time off was approved by her supervisor but with the loss of pay for the extra hour. She waited at home until 1:45pm and then had to return to work. She received a call at 2:15 stating that they were trying to deliver the trampoline to her house. THE TRAMPOLINE WAS NOT DELIVERED AGAIN. At this time, it was agreed that they would make the delivery after 5:00pm. As of 9:00pm, there was no delivery and no phone call with any sort of explanation. 
 
Upon speaking with several customer service representatives today, I am being informed that the trampoline cannot be delivered until after Christmas. The earliest anticipated date is December 27, 2011. This is not acceptable and is very devastating. The point of a Christmas present is to receive it on or before Christmas. Throughout my long and multiple conversations today, I was told that the reason that it wasn't delivered was because the product did not come in. Well, this just tells me that the customer service at Sears is pathetic and untrustworthy, because they were just making up things and excuses and had no sincerity in assisting me. The product was definitely in or there would have never been an attempt to deliver it. I have no patience for being treated as if I am unintelligent. Upon speaking to the third and fourth representative with the last contact being a lady named Sharmeka, they were under the impression that I wanted to cancel this order and reorder. NOW, what sense does that make?
 
Why would I want to cancel an order because I could not receive it before Christmas and yet order another one that I would still not receive before Christmas? Although it did not alleviate my problem or frustration, Sharmeka was very nice and informed me that she did not directly work for Sears that she worked for a third party. I asked her could I possibly get the trampoline sent to a store so that it could be picked up at Sear's. She said that I could do that but it would take 12 days! This was not acceptable either.
 
At this point, my only solution is to cancel my order and request a refund. Sharmeka told me that she could not cancel my order but would put in a request to cancel my order and that it could take 3-5 days for me to receive an email about my request. From there, it will take 7-10 days for a refund. I paid $291.02 for this trampoline! So, where are we now? I have 2 children that will not receive their Christmas present for Christmas and a low income mother that can't afford to buy her children anything other than a few items from the dollar store for Christmas. To add to this grotesque story, she has now missed approximately 6 hours from work that was unpaid that I will now have to reimburse her for in addition to my rapidly building expenses. I am out $291.02 until Sears decides to refund my money. It is curious that you quickly charged the price of trampoline when I ordered but now it sounds like I may be looking at around 2 weeks before I get my money back. So, in order to get these children something for Christmas, I have to have the $291.02 tied up in your process and now I have to expense out of pocket for another trampoline from another retailer that will hopefully have a little more competence than Sears. 
 
I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this point. I can't even find the words to express what I would like to say to you. Unacceptable, ridiculous, incompetent, unreliable, untrustworthy, and inexcusable do not even begin to describe this entire incident. Needless to say, I WILL NEVER SHOP AT SEARS AGAIN whether online or in-store. I will advise anyone I know to do the same. And I will post this "Christmas Story" on every website, social media, and blog that I can find and I assure you that it will be many. 
 
Respectfully,
 
Paula Landry