Sears Holdings Corporation - Aylwin B. Lewis CEO, Poorly designed product ripoff Hoffman Estates Illinois

Following is Letter sent to Sears CEO after repeated attempts to resolve with eschelon of Sears employess:

November 4, 2005

Mr. Aylwin B. Lewis
Chief Executive Officer, President
Sears Holdings Corporation
3333 Beverly Road
Hoffman Estates, IL 60179

Dear Mr. Lewis:

It is out of frustration that I write you. I've had better than 20 phone conversations with Sears representatives concerning the below abbreviated problem. I have been mislead, inconvenienced, told untruths, denied satisfaction, hung up on, not called back, etc.

Yesterday, being totally disgusted, I accepted a token $50 gift certificate just to get off the phone. This is not good for me or for Sears. For 40 plus years I have purchased Sears products, from clothes and tools through large Kenmore appliances. Rarely have I had a problem, always resolved until now. A superior customer relationship has been violated and diminished.

In 2001 we purchased a Craftsman Leaf Blower 358.794341. After several uses (10-20) it stopped working. This unit was replaced under warranty 5/27/02. From then until 10/21/05 this replacement unit sat brand new in my gardening workroom, never used. On 10/21 I used it to vacuum one of our outside decks. These decks are usually power washed. This blower was run at most 40 minutes and then shut off temporarily. It would not start again.

I called Sears 800-235-5878 and was switched to Sara very knowledgeable. No spark or compression, take it to the Sears repair operation. Sara said this unit has a recall status for bad piston/ cylinder issues. I will not be charged for repair even though the unit is out of warranty.

I dropped the unit off the next day my home phone number is xxx-xxx-xxxx and you can trace the many calls and history associated with this blower (service repair #99332765) in 2 plus weeks. I made sure the recall notation was noted on the service order. A few days passed and Fontana CA repair technician Ashlee called me.

Sure enough, the piston/ cylinder was in fact damaged, there was no recall, and I must pay $130 to repair the unit. I explained it was brand new, she agreed it looked new and not used. Ashlee also said that my gas/ fuel mixture was fine and that the damage was probably caused by a broken piece of metal within the engine.

Several calls were made to locate Sara (the recall person), not findable within 3 call centers and 500 employees. Nothing was ever documented on the Sears side. In fact, of the several Sears employees I did subsequently speak with, few made documentation of our conversations. (Sara, Ashlee, Kevin, Sharon, Adrianna, Scott, Tom 48483, Ann 50486, Gloria, Julian, to name a few.) I was transferred many, many times and even hung up on by Scott on 10/24.

I left 3 messages for Kevin Price, Director of Home Services (847-286-2500) He never called back. (I was told he is too busy and travels a lot I guess I'm not too busy?) Switched from Kevin Price's office on 10/26/05 I filed a complaint with Gloria. I was to receive a call back within 24/48 hours it never came.

Mr. Lewis, I do hope you value my time more than Kevin Price. More importantly, I sincerely hope you value our business relationship. Please replace this defective leaf blower. And, from one business owner to a business executive, please fix Sears communication and customer service deficiencies. There should be decision makers and note takers.

Sincerely,

Steven
Alpine, California
U.S.A.

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