Comments on: What happens now that customers [finally] have a voice?

By: Tim G

Tim G — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 03:30:44 +0000

For my situation, the interesting thing is that if they never sent me the gift card, I wouldn’t have had something to be bothered about. When I raised the issue, it was out of interest in seeing them fix it for the future, which they didn’t. I accepted the $25 gift card as a replacement for the expired $5 card, but couldn’t get across with them what the real issue was.
They don’t have a good link between customer service intake and business process design.

By: Stephanie A. Lloyd

Stephanie A. Lloyd — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:48:14 +0000

Hi Brian,

Thanks so much for taking the time to read and comment.

I’m encouraged by your remarks and I hope for the sake of the company, its employees, and its customers, that Sears will work very hard to make some important improvements.

Thank you again,

Stephanie

By: Sears Cares Brian J.

Sears Cares Brian J. — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:37:48 +0000

Miss Lloyd,

I just wanted to say Thank you for the feedback here. We are open to any feedback we can get on where we are deficient and to identify areas for improvement. There is a perception that major retailers don’t care about their customers, and Sears is included in that perception, one we are trying to correct. That is the primary reason this Social Media team was created. Our mission is to monitor the internet for all complaints posted by customers and respond to them in order to do two things. The first is obviously to resolve your issues and the second is to determine why it got escalated to us and with that information, move toward implementing new processes or refining current policies to ensure we are moving towards having the best customer service in the industry. We are making great strides toward that goal and obviously there is still work to do. Any major retailer has failures and we are no different. I can’t speak for other retailers, but our customers are our lifeblood and without you, we don’t exist. Knowing that we do need your feedback or we can’t change and become better, please continue posting your comments or your dialogue and we’ll continue to take that information and make ourselves better. Our goal is to provide positive customer experiences so that there will always be a great Sears store available to you, your family and friends.
As always, if you encounter an experience that does not meet your standards, please let us know so we can address it and make the necessary changes.
Our email is searscares@searshc.com. (There seemed to be a functional issue in the beginning, but that has been corrected).

Thanks again,

Brian J.
Sears Cares

By: Todd Schnick

Todd Schnick — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:38:10 +0000

Never ceases to amaze how so many companies fail to monitor the chatter. Just making a commitment to “listen” to what the folks are saying can have a dramatic impact on the customer experience. And what is really sad is how easy it is for companies to do this. Sigh…

Hopefully, Sears learned some lessens and will take steps to thrive…

By: Bill Vannerson

Bill Vannerson — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:54:20 +0000

I had product issues and poor customer service from Comcast in the past. I would dread the times when the video quality would go bad as it would take upwards to a 1/2 hour to get through to someone on the phone (and the problem would likely not be fixed until the next day). That’s one of the reasons it was so easy for me to switch to ATT U-Verse. The importance of customer service has been known for a long time. So it’s still surprising when companies forget about it or don’t empower their reps. It’s more important than a good sales rep.

By: Stephanie A. Lloyd

Stephanie A. Lloyd — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:20:22 +0000

Thanks, Stone! I appreciate it – and ditto re: Amanda. She was great.

By: Stephanie A. Lloyd

Stephanie A. Lloyd — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:19:42 +0000

Based on my experience sadly going through normal customer service channels with *most* companies will get you nowhere. They are not empowered to effect change nor are they motivated to make waves and take up your cause for/with you.

Sending out expired gift cards as a “thank you” is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Have you tried escalating your complaint?

By: Tweets that mention What happens now that customers [finally] have a voice? -- Topsy.com

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:16:43 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Mark Stelzner and mervino. mervino said: we can all name & shame now RT @StephanieALloyd What happens now that customers [finally] have a voice? http://bit.ly/3zB3c8 (#Sears fiasco) [...]