This week, I hope you enjoy my pain as I share my disastrous customer experience with Sears.com and its customer support policies.

But that ain’t all, my friends. I had a similar failed online shopping experience with GoodEve LLC, a merchant whose deal I had purchased via kgb.com. (I would include a link to Goodeve’s website, but I can no longer find it! They have appeared to disappear!)

To keep this story short (unlike the Sears.com story):

• I bought the deal through kgb.com. It was quick and easy.
   
• I received a confirmation email along with redemption instructions. (Very clear.)
   
• I went to the Goodeve site and redeemed the deal. (It also was easy to do.)
   
• I received a confirmation from Leah Brunton [leah@austenlewis.co.uk] (that website—www.austenlewis.co.uk—didn’t seem to exist either), thanking me for my order and providing a transaction ID. (Fine so far.)
   
• I waited…and waited…and waited…
   
• I went to the Goodeve website (available then) and checked the status of my order. Pending. (Uh oh—when you read the Sears story, you’ll understand.)
   
• I emailed Leah Brunton and got no response. (Not good.)
   
• I went to the kgb site to get customer service. You cannot call customer support; you can only email, so I sent the following: “Regarding order # XXX: I ordered this (and another set) on October 23, got a confirmation from GoodEve on the same date, but with no indication of when they would be delivered. They haven't, and I checked the website, and the orders say ‘pending.’ I have sent an email to them, but also hoped that you would help me. I intended these as Hanukkah gifts, which is for November 28th!” (Wish I could have called, but at least I could email, and the site provides the ability to select which deal that you’ve bought that is the issue, saving the customer effort.)
   
• Got an automated acknowledgement of my email within minutes , which told me, “We'll get in touch with you within 2 business days for updates.” And, “If you're a registered user of kgbdeals, you can track the status of this inquiry by going to your ‘My History’ page and click on the subject line related to this reference number.” (Very quick response and good information about the “My History” page.)
   
• Got a specific response later the same day which apologized and asked for more details, “To efficiently aid you further, could you please verify if you had completed the redemption process for the voucher?” And it provided the steps to follow. (Useful and happy to get a response so quickly.)
   
• Responded in the box provided on the kgb site in “My History” of the open case, explaining that I had redeemed properly and providing them with the contents of my acknowledgement email from Goodeve. (Wished I could have told them via phone to make it easier for me.)
   
• Received a response two days later stating, “We understand that you still haven't received your order(s). We will now contact the merchant for you. Kindly allow 5 business days for us to hear back from the merchant and provide a resolution for you.” (5 days! After waiting 2 days for this response! Annoying!)
   
• Getting impatient, I wrote back 3 days later asking for a status and politely suggesting that I may be hesitant to use kgb deals in the future because of this incident. (It really was polite since I was jumping the gun on when they promised a resolution, but still, 5 days!)
   
• Got a response the next day asking me to be patient. “We value you as our customer and we'd like to provide an update on your inquiry. We have contacted the merchant to verify more information and have requested further details about your concern. We appreciate your patience while we are waiting for their response. Rest assured that we will provide a resolution very soon as we are committed to resolve your concern within 5 business days.” (Ah well, I tried to accelerate the process, but they, at least, were honest with me about how long it would take.)
   
• I got a final email with an apology and the resolution. “You recently contacted us about your issue with GoodEve LLC and we'd like to thank you for patiently waiting for a resolution. We certainly want to keep you as one of our valued customers by making sure that you are satisfied with the deals and services that we offer. We have reviewed your concern and since the merchant's no longer responding to our emails/calls, we have decided to process a refund for you. Kindly allow 3-5 business days for the refund to be processed back to your original payment method. Once again, we apologize for the inconvenience and rest assured that we are doing everything to prevent this from happening again.” (So they couldn’t get through to the merchant either. At least I know, and this is resolved. And they acknowledged my “threat” of not continuing as a customer, which tells me that they do read the customers’ feedback thoroughly.)

So GoodEve was an ultimate fail. But kgb.com did come through in the end. I do wish, however, that I had been able to communicate with someone by phone. When you are frustrated, explaining everything in writing can be difficult (I am often glad I’m a writer and wonder how people who don’t write easily deal with these things).

However, as I mention in my article on Sears.com (several times), five days is a very long time to wait for resolution in the days of electronic communication. At least kgb responded to all my emails, but I wish I could have gotten final resolution sooner.

I went to Amazon.com, as I usually do in situations like this, and found the same item (for a bit more money, of course), but was able to order it and have it delivered in time for Hanukkah. My niece loved it!

Why I Am No Longer a Sears Customer
Sears.com Fails to Deliver on Promises
By Ronni T. Marshak, EVP and Senior Consultant, December 5, 2013

(Read the short sample and download the full article in PDF.)