In my last article, The Value of a Brand Lies in its Service, I wrote about an icon of the American retail environment, Sears, and its lack of customer service.
As the saying goes...be careful what you wish for. Since the publication of that piece, Sears has indeed sat up and taken notice of me. And many, many readers chimed in with feedback of their own.
Apparently, my Sears experience is not an isolated (or even unusual) experience. It isn't a problem limited to online orders, but it also spans in-store, phone order, pickup, and delivery issues.
In many ways, as a marketer, I find this sad. Sears was a behemoth in the direct marketing industry, and I don't think it is an exaggeration to say it truly helped make America what it is. In the 20th century, for many people—especially those in rural areas—the Sears Catalog was their one lifeline to many products they couldn't get any other way, and helped craft America's vision of what it aspired to be.
I once read where a woman in the Midwest called it her “window on the world.” I recall waiting for the Wish Book when I was little so I could pick out what toys I wanted Santa to bring to me, and help me figure out what I would get my parents if I had money!
After the article came out I was contacted by a Senior Manager at Sears' National Customer Relations department. To quote part of an email sent to me:
“I was saddened to read of your disappointing experience after your appliance purchase. Despite my years in customer service, I still feel a ‘personal hurt' when I hear about an instance where we frustrated or angered a customer.
“I would like to look into the situation further, both to see what we might do to attempt to ‘rebuild' a positive relationship with you personally, but also to investigate and correct some of the ‘process problems' that you experienced in this situation. We know that there are instances when our operations hit bumps and do not go smoothly, but we are constantly trying to find those process or systems ‘glitches' and improve our responsiveness and our effectiveness to benefit our ‘customer partners.'”
I was heartened to hear from someone from Sears: the easiest thing in the world is to ignore a disgruntled customer! It is also, in my opinion, one of the most foolish things to do.
