[TheConservativeParty]

They deserve to go under. They refused to honor the warranty on a failed DieHard (not!) battery a few months ago. I will never set foot in a Sears again. No one, not even numerous Sears phone reps gave a damn when I said if they didn’t honor my warranty, we’d never set foot in a Sears again. Some of the phone reps, “customer service” people, were very rude. I had to hang up on one of them. It was disgraceful. Sears was a decent place to shop when I was a kid.

[The Cajun]

Had them refuse to honor the warranty on some of their *Lifetime guarantee hand tools* (Open end metric wrenches and a ball peen hammer that shattered).
Low quality that would constantly spring open wrenches and I have never had a hammer head completely shatter on me before.
Guess they got tired of me bringing in their same crap.
That was it for me.
Proto, SK or Snap On for me.
More expensive, but they last.

[henkster]

I bought a water heater from Sears back in the early 90s. The damn thing lasted 14 months, and then the liner separated from the shell, and the water spewed all over. Sears refused to do anything about it; warranty was for 12 months. What frickin’ good is a water heater that lasts 14 months? And has the liner separate?

I cut up my Sears card that day. The only reason I go to the local Sears hardware is they actually fill the propane tanks all the way and are cheaper than most places.

[pgkdan]

Things have certainly changed! In the early 80's I bought a very used Hornet for $300.00. When the battery in the car died I got a jump and went to Sears to get a new one. My dad always bought ALL his tools tires and batteries at Sears, my mother insisted on Sears for all appliances. Going to Sears for the battery was second nature to me. I didn't buy the battery in the car and didn't expect a free battery but when the salesman saw that it was a Sears battery he just wrote it up as a warranty replacement and gave me a free battery. I explained that I didn't have a receipt because I didn't buy the battery but he said it didn't matter, they could tell it was theirs and they were going to make it good. And they did.

I'm really sorry to see such a great American company struggling the way they are. My wife and I stopped into a KMart recently and I'm amazed they're still open.