Postscript

I know I promised no more Sears, but I just wanted to share this last bit of correspondence. The following is the email I got from Dave - the Sears Care manager who decided $25 was just too much to pay to say sorry. Note the tone deaf inclusion of an "in case you change your mind" and the last ditch pitch to get me to shop again. In this instance, a form letter was probably the wrong way to go (emphases mine):

Dear Jacki S.,

Thank you for contacting Sears.com regarding the merchandise for order XXXXXXXXX. We truly apologize for any inconvenience this delivery problem has caused. UPS has been contacted regarding the issuance of your call tag for the damaged merchandise as of 06/08/10.

Once the call tag has been issued by UPS, UPS will pick up your package within 5 business days. Please make sure that the product is in the original packing and in an accessible area, if you will not be at home.

Additionally, credit will be issued for your purchase once UPS has returned the merchandise to our warehouse. However, if you are still interested in purchasing please place a new rder on sears.com or contact us at 1-800-283-6940 for further assistance.

Again, we apologize for any inconvenience and we appreciate your patronage.

Look for Great Ideas throughout the store and find Sears exclusive innovations from great brands like Sony, Kenmore, NordicTrack, Craftsman and Reebok.

Shop sears.com now to pick up great products for the season.
http://www.sears.com

Sincerely,
Dave G.
Sears Customer Care
order@customerservice.sears.com
1-800-283-6940

And here is my response:

Dave -

I find it fascinating that Sears couldn't get it together and blamed UPS at every turn when the TV was coming my way, but as soon as the TV needs to come back to Sears, you're all over it.

Not only will I not change my mind about purchasing this product, but neither I nor any of the people who follow me online will be patronizing your store anytime soon.

I am astonished at how you and your colleagues failed to acknowledge the tremendous aggravation and inconvenience you created over the past three weeks. From the dishonesty and disregard when this fiasco first came to a head on the 24th to the complete abuse of access in trying to come to a reasonable solution. When someone says to me, "I will call you back in 10 minutes," I expect to hear back in 10 minutes, not 6 hours. When someone says, "Give me 24-48 hours," I expect 2 days, not more than three. This was never about the money. It was about Sears acknowledging it made mistake after mistake after mistake, and frankly, 25% off and a coupon for a future purchase that will never happen because why would I want to expose myself to this aggravation again is absurd.

I've made it extremely clear to those who read my work that your company is a farce. The concessions you could have made in good faith would have gone a long way, and instead, you bought yourself some first class bad publicity. Had you even budged and counter-offered with something other than that ridiculous gift certificate - and done it in a reasonable timeframe - we may have been able to find a fair solution. But you wasted weeks of my time and came back with nothing more than what you wanted to concede in the first place.

Excellent customer disservice.

Jacki

Ok, now we're done.