Feel Like I Stole From Sears

So we needed to get another window air conditioner for the downstairs because going another summer without one would have been bad.

So the wife tells me that we accumulated a ton of reward points and gift cards from their delivery berkeley ups from last year when we got a new dishwasher and washing machine/dryer and they will expire soon. She also said that her mom gave her another Sears gift card.

So we decided to go and at least check it out to see if we could use up all these points. We found a Kenmore unit suitable to our needs and out the door with a 2 year warranty ($33) was $269.

With 128,000 reward points, and $100 in gift cards, we walked out the door paying $34 for the air conditioner.

Not too bad.

Why? Isn't that what rewards points are for?

I got my latest coffee maker that way some months ago. Nice unit with a built-in hot water dispenser. $129 MSRP. Shipped free to my (office) door using Citibank rewards points.

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: we accumulated a ton of reward points and gift cards from their delivery berkeley ups from last year when we got a new dishwasher and washing machine/dryer

Sounds like you 'paid' for it by dealing with crappy service. Glad you got something out of it.

Was receiving daily emails from Sears ShopYourWay rewards, sometimes multiple. Emails got kind of annoying and I'm not really interested in rewards programs anyhow but holy cow, I'm in five digit points!

Did the point conversion to dollas and.... all of $3.80

DrBoost wrote:

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: we accumulated a ton of reward points and gift cards from their delivery berkeley ups from last year when we got a new dishwasher and washing machine/dryer

Sounds like you 'paid' for it by dealing with crappy service. Glad you got something out of it.

Well I guess it's best to say that they definitely made up for their mistake, which some companies are not willing to do anymore.

I know people knock Sears, but my wife and I have had great service from them.

Sears is just about dead anyways, you're just helping end the misery quicker.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: Sears is just about dead anyways, you're just helping end the misery quicker.

I like sears shop there quiet often. Everyone has been saying they are on deaths door for the last twenty years and yet the doors are still open. Where you getting thus information.

In reply to dean1484:

Any one I've ever been in is a total ghost town?

dean1484 wrote:

Kenny_McCormic wrote: Sears is just about dead anyways, you're just helping end the misery quicker.

I like sears shop there quiet often. Everyone has been saying they are on deaths door for the last twenty years and yet the doors are still open. Where you getting thus information.

Numerous stores closing, house brands such as Craftsmen and Lands End becoming independent. There was an entire nice thread about it several months back.

Well where we are at, the Sears always has people in there, especially in appliances and tools. I think location has a lot to do with how much business they receive.

I've been having a really hard time finding Craftsman branded stuff lately. Hand tools, yes, but I wanted some yard tools and one of their great black rubber hoses.

The stores around here are always packed.

Sears by me is always crammed full. Of people that dont understand what sears used to mean. At this point, I just hope my fathers retirement sees him out before they go under.

they are owned by K Mart... all the K Mart stores around here are closed or closing.. the tool departments of every Sears in this area are ghost towns except for the weeks leading up to X mas and the week leading up to Father's Day: and it's nothing but clueless wives, moms, and girlfriends that are looking at the stupid gimmick tools of the week to buy the man in their lives because they don't know any better.

so where will i exchange my broken craftsman tools when all the sears' close?

Land's End was previously independent and then partnered with Sears rather than open their own physical stores. They're not a house brand. They're just returning to independence.

It's good that you used them up because Sears is about to expire.

I was in an Ace hardware store the other day and they had a large selection of Craftsman tools. If the only thing to survive from Sears are Craftman tools, they need to crank up the quality again.

Craftsman is not the brand it used to be. My tools from 12-14 years ago are miles ahead of what they sell now, and not as good as my father's vintage tools. Much of the production has shipped to China and only the most basic things like wrenches and sockets still carry the lifetime warranty.

I think Sears is like Ford. People have been saying Ford will go bankrupt since 2000.

They merged with KMart at a tough time and their products in their stores are slowly getting figured out. Cheap Craftsman tools are still mixed with higher capability stuff. Not really able to clearly see the segmentation in my local store. And then they made the big mistake of trying to cut personnel costs so let go of knowledgable guys so when I ask the new tool area guy where the torque wrenches are he just took me to the pipe wrenches!?! Really!?!

Hope they get back some helpful staff. Then they will surely be fine.