Sears False pricing, huge sales pitches, bad products Internet, Nationwide

First off, the Craftsman LT2000 lawn tractor I got at the local store didn't work and when I checked the blade belt I saw it was totally frayed. The store had sold me a defective used riding mower that I had to return for a replacement. The Sears complaint department admitted no foul but did say they would send me a $50 gift certificate -- that was over a year ago and no gift card ever arrived.

This year the replacement unit is 1-year old but little used. It broke the belt that turns the blades so I went to the store. The store doesn't stock the belt so I called SearsPartsDirect.com They can sell me a belt for $39. The lady tried to sell me six other items as the ordering process proceeded. She was cordial but the repeated sales pitches were tedious. She said the belt would get to me in a week. She read a standard speech about the sale being final but never told me that the charge to my credit card would be $57.

I guess it costs $18 to ship a drive belt that they should stock in the store. The whole thing sickens me. A drive belt is a common replacement part. I spent over $1000 on the LT2000 and expected that at least the store selling it would have belts and blades. In the future it will be TroyBuilt or John Deere, never another Craftsman piece of unsupported junk. I will never buy anything from Sears again. They used to be a respectable company but now it is unbelivevable how bad this company has become at customer service.