Sears Hometown Store

Yeah, we went prepared to buy a new refrigerator. The sales woman noticed us and was nice, but it was such a confusing convoluted mess of a process that we gave up and just left. She said it was a special order (fine, no problem) and although we had a coupon and she said it wan’t good for online sales (we were physically in the store so I’m not sure how that’s an online sale — if I had wanted to order it online I would NOT HAVE COME TO THE STORE). And then there was all this stuff about 10 percent off if we got a Sears card (I think) but I had no idea if our «online» order qualified for that, and delivery charge was X amount if Z happened, or B amount if we did C, but only if we had a customer number, or a sears card or some such other, blah, blah, blah. It got very confusing and frustrating but we were willing to go with it and then she said it would be 6 weeks before the refrigerator was delivered.
At this point we left, went right across to the Bouchard Pierce, we were in and out in about 10 minutes, no nonsense, and it will be delivered in 5 days. We paid a TINY bit extra, but I would have paid quadruple that extra amount to have an easy straightforward process and not have to wait 6 weeks to have a refrigerator.
The saleswoman at Sears was nice and courteous and in some ways I really don’t think it was her fault. It’s the corporate bureaucratic BS of Sears that made this process INTOLERABLE. I think she’s pretty powerless in the face of whatever the higher-​ups in Sears insist on. But it’s important for Sears to understand that making the customer confused and frustrated and miserable will only work a certain amount of the time. And what was the NONSENSE about 6 weeks for delivery when we’re getting the SAME EXACT product in five days?
I’d avoid.

This is a «hometown» store, so it’s not your typical big-​box-​style Sears that carries everything. They really only have appliances, tools, and lawn equipment.
If today’s visit is any indication of the chain’s concept for this type of store, I really can’t believe that they stay in business. The store was very clean and tidy. There were at least 2 other paying customers in the store, as well as what appeared to be a manager and sales person. We were searching for a part for a washing machine, and were unsure (1) whether the store carried parts, (2) if they had the particular part in stock, or (3) if the part could be ordered.
We stayed in the store for approximately 5 minutes. We were well within eyesight of the «sales person.» We were clearly in need of assistance. We clearly attempted to make eye contact. She was more interested in a personal conversation she was having with a gentleman in the store who clearly was not in the store to make any sort of purchase.
Said manager was on the phone throughout the visit; based on snippets of conversation, I think it was business-​related, perhaps weekly sales reporting.
At one point, another phone line in the store rang. The sales person walked to the counter and picked up the phone (while continuing her oh-​so-​vital conversation with her friend. I can’t say for sure that she actually hung up on the caller; but I can say that I know that she did not answer the call, nor was there a lull in her personal conversation.
I noted another older man in the store trying to find something. He was quite plainly having difficulty reading some packaging. He, too, was quite thoroughly ignored.
Needless to say, this location (at the very least!) will not be on the short-​list or the long-​list when we need to buy new appliances.