Fill Out This Simple Survey, Get Actual Help From Sears

Over the last nine years or so of Consumerist, we’ve chronicled the tragic decline of Sears, an American institution. This has happened under the leadership of manifesto-writing hedge fund manager/CEO/intra-company deathmatch impresario Eddie Lampert. Shoppers’ biggest complaint: profound dysfunction and incompetence in stores. A manager at Sears slipped Consumerist a bit of information that people locked in a customer service battle with Sears might find useful.

While the company’s customer service at all levels might seem consumer-unfriendly and confusing, our tipster tells us that there is one surefire way to get your local store’s attention: give them a bad survey grade. You will need a receipt number, but simply surf over to the brief and easy survey at shopsearsfeedback.com.

The secret regarding this survey is it counts for a whopping 30% if the store’s overall quarterly and yearly scorecard, which affects the management team’s bonuses and their overall ranking within the company. I cannot stress how important this is to Sears and the affected stores that receive a low feedback score on this survey site.

Once a low feedback score is submitted (a 5 or lower out of 10), an email notification is immediately sent to the Store Manager, District Manager, and VP in charge of customer service notifying them of the subpar score. Once this notification is completed, the feedback is entered in a case management system where it must be assigned to the manager of the impacted employee for follow up and resolution.

Our tipster tells us that while Sears does have executive customer service staff and people higher up who can help customers, there is no way to track these transactions in the system and hold the store accountable. including the manager and employees involved in your issue.

We checked with Sears to find out whether this is true, and are waiting to hear back…but they may not be willing to admit it if this is, indeed, the only way to coax good customer service out of their organization.

“If you want to get a service issue or purchase taken care of at Sears, use the feedback form…only then will anyone take it seriously because it actually affects their bonus payout,” our tipster summed up. This information is somehow both demoralizing and useful.

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist