Sears Ripped Me Off

[Ginny Favers]

Well, I feel like a total fool.

You might remember me posting about getting a Nintendo 3DS for my daughter, and how I had found a deal where you could get one for $169.99 plus a $30 gift card if you ordered it from Sears. Well, I went for it.

Stupid me.

It said the gift card would come in another few weeks. Something told me to take a screen shot of the offer, but I didn't, because I was in a rush. So I just emailed them to find out where the card was and, their response: "We have no record of such an offer. Please provide a screenshot and we can assist you further."

Wah.

I do not have a screenshot. And the promo ended at the end of September so it's no longer up on the website.

I guess I'll be returning it, then, and buying it elsewhere. And also never shopping there again. I just thought a big, national company would honor the things they put on their website. Shame on me.

And just a reminder to you... take screenshots

 

[kimblebee]

Good advice. I just ordered something today online and took a screenshot of what it is supposed to come with, just in case.

 

[Granny square]

I had that happen with beat buy. I now take screen shots but haven't quit shipping there. I figure people lie to the companies and the companies make mistakes.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

The offer is discussed here:

http://www.fatwallet.net/forums/expired-deals/1221187/

 

[jessica52877]

Wow! That is so wrong of them not to honor their sale! It isn't like they wouldn't know they ran it!

I was trying to buy at dishwasher online once (from Sears) and the online price showed one thing on the screen but kept going into my cart for more $. I had to call and they "this one time" fixed the price! WHAT!! I was quite annoyed! It was currently still on their page at the lower price! I do love sears for their appliances still.

 

[Disneefun]

Google's caching may be your friend. I couldn't find the page for the DS specifically (and I'm out of time to keep looking, but I did find the page from the playstation deal which also references the deal you signed up for:

Page here: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:he8cOqSXo3cJ:www.sears.com/sony-65279-playstation-174-3-320gb-system/p-05896029000P+&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

Maybe you can send them that and get your card. Good luck. ETA, if for some reason the page isn't there when you look, I grabbed a shot of it and you can PM me for it. I'll keep it for a couple of days.

 

[a1tinkfans]

OP
I would print out what was posted here about their sale.
Id go to sears with the promo
and
the item you bought intending to get the promo.
Id ask for a mgr and ask him/her WHY you were told that they are not honoring their own sale.
If I got nowhere, Id get his/her name, return the item, and write a Strong letter of dissatisfaction to them and Id also include a cc to consumer affairs (even if you do not send it to them)
Bet ya hear something...
Personally I think that they should honor it...believe me they know their sales....
good luck.

 

[jgreco]

I had an online store change their return policy after I asked to return something.

Sorry for them that I had already printed the return policy page with their RMA address/phone number information. Told them I would be more than happy to include it with my dispute to AMEX.

I also was ordering over $12k of flooring from a store. I called first to verify it was indeed in stock (which it was). When I went to checkout finally, the price had increased almost $3000. I called them back and they said yeah, when you called we noticed the price was wrong so we changed it. They wouldn't honor it either. They were the only carrier of this floor so I had no other option and needed it to match the rooms that were already done . If I had just not called first....
Any chance I get, I will tell people not to use them. I'd like to think that cost them the extra $3k.

 

[cyndik1111]

at the risk of sounding computer illiterate, how does one take a screen shot?

 

[jgreco]

On a PC, there is usually a way to do "Print Screen" and then you paste the image onto a word doc or print it out on paper (been awhile since I've been on a PC).

On a MAC, you have to use the "grab" program.

 

[mymeme]

On iPhone just push home button and power button at same time quickly. Puts screen shot in your photos.hth

 

[CathrynRose]

at the risk of sounding computer illiterate, how does one take a screen shot?

If you're on Windows7, you can use the Snipping Tool in your start menu.

Otherwise, just hit PRINT SCRN, probably above number pad on your keyboard. Then open up Word, or an email, and *paste* into body of either.

 

[POOHsie]

On your Mac, for a simple screen shot from your keyboard without opening Grab, Press Shift-Command-3. For a custom-size screen shot, Press Shift-Command-4, then click and hold your mouse while pulling diagonally across the screen to select the desired picture area. Let go of the mouse and the camera will shoot.

You can quick-crop your screen shot by double-clicking on the screen shot file, which will open Preview. Click and hold your mouse, then select the area you want to keep. You can pull on any of the eight points of the marquee to expand or contract the shape of the selected area. Click outside the marquee to cancel the selection. When you've determined the area you want to keep, select Command-K to crop everything outside the marquee. Save (or Save as) and Close.

 

[Ephany]

A few years ago, my DH got an email from Sears about a tv promotion. I don't remember what it was exactly, but it was good enough he hauled me to the closest store an hour away at 10am opening on a Sunday. He had printed out the email, and the department manager pretty much called him a liar. It was a big mess and only when other customers started showing up for the same promotion, they had to back track pretty quick. They only had 2 or 3 of those tvs in stock and by darnnit, DH made sure that one of them went home with us. Between that and another experience when they canceled my card (although they still send me requests to sign up every month), we haven't shopped there in a long, long time. It's their loss, it had been our go-to store when we first got together.

 

[kaytieeldr]

The offer is discussed here:

http://www.fatwallet.net/forums/expired-deals/1221187/

And according to that post, the cards will be sent out by October 25. That part of the offer is likely being processed by a fulfillment company contracted by Sears and can't be stopped. If the OP does return the DS and subsequently gets the gift card, ideally she'll return that unused as well.

 

[Bell30012]

On a Mac to capture the full screen use COMMAND + SHIFT + 3, if you only want a portion of the screen COMMAND + SHIFT + 4. Your screen shot is saved to your desktop with the time/date. As an earlier poster mentioned. Easiest thing ever. My experience with Sears has been that they have always honored a web offer for me, even if I didn't have the screen shot.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I also was ordering over $12k of flooring from a store. I called first to verify it was indeed in stock (which it was). When I went to checkout finally, the price had increased almost $3000. I called them back and they said yeah, when you called we noticed the price was wrong so we changed it. They wouldn't honor it either. They were the only carrier of this floor so I had no other option and needed it to match the rooms that were already done . If I had just not called first....
Any chance I get, I will tell people not to use them. I'd like to think that cost them the extra $3k.

Business make mistakes in pricing all the time. They don't have to honor these prices, although they sometimes do.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Wow! That is so wrong of them not to honor their sale! It isn't like they wouldn't know they ran it!

I would print out what was posted here about their sale.
Id go to sears with the promo and the item you bought intending to get the promo.
Id ask for a mgr and ask him/her WHY you were told that they are not honoring their own sale.

Before everyone starts vilifying Sears (not saying it's not deserved in some cases)...
The OP wasn't told the offer isn't being honored, just that the people she's spoken with aren't aware of it and could she provide some proof of its existence.
The offer was valid on purchases made between 9/16 and 9/30.
The OP made her purchase on or after 9/24 - so at least 2/3 of the way into the offer period.
According to the fatwallet discussion, all award cards will be sent via e-mail by October 25, 2012 - so we're only about 1/3 of the way between the purchase date and the fulfillment deadline.

Does the OP's e-mail receipt include any information about an award card? That would help a lot toward proving existence of the offer and her eligibility in the event she still doesn't have the award card by 10/25.
Is the OP sure she entered her e-mail address correctly (most likely, especially if she has any kind of proof of purchase related to this issue).
Has the OP checked her spam, junk, and trash mail folders? It's possible it came but her mail server didn't recognize the sender so diverted the e-mail; or that she didn't recognize the source and put it in the trash folder without opening.
Was the OP aware of all the conditions up front, including the timeline?

Yeah, Sears screws up - anybody remember the really, really cheap princess televisions a few tears ago, but after you paid online and went to pick it up, they didn't have any? But in this case, Sears isn't ripping off anyone.

 

[cyndik1111]

On a Mac to capture the full screen use COMMAND + SHIFT + 3, if you only want a portion of the screen COMMAND + SHIFT + 4. Your screen shot is saved to your desktop with the time/date. As an earlier poster mentioned. Easiest thing ever. My experience with Sears has been that they have always honored a web offer for me, even if I didn't have the screen shot.

Wow, thanks so much! I did it and it worked! And the image saved on my desk top just like you said it would! It even made a little camera snapping noise. Gotta love a MAC!....sorry to hijack the thread.

 

[seasheller]

We used to shop Sears all the time. Then about five years ago they had a great rebate deal on several items. I bought them all (mostly tools). I got about half the rebates back. I called and wrote several times, and they always agreed that I should get the rebates, just keep watching the mail for them. After three months of nothing, I cancelled my Sears credit card and haven't shopped there since. Never did get them. Just hope my appliances hold up for awhile because they all came from Sears ten years ago.