I like Sears, I really do. They sometimes have good stuff in great prices and I get things from there if I find them to be good deals (well, that means they are on fatwallet). So, I recently ordered a set of two tool bags and had them shipped to store (because shipping to store is free and more importantly, I hate to pay for shipping).
So there I was, at their store to pick up my bags. Finding the merchandise pickup section was easy and I went there. Now when I reached there I saw a computer kiosk where I scanned my order (from the email I received) and the machine found my order. It then told me to look at the overhead monitor to look for the status of my merchandise.
By this time, I was pretty impressed with the automated system (I am a person who would rather deal with a system than a person). Now when was waiting for someone to get me my stuff, I was looking around and this is what caught my attention.
"Percentage of customer served within 5 minutes" and the numbers were 90 some for the day before and over 90% in the earlier month. Now I was kind of pleasantly surprised at their efficiency. Now Sears sells all sorts of stuff and that includes big heavy item. Finding the item and correctly and bringing it to the waiting customer can be time taking and I wouldn't mind waiting 10 or even 15 minutes to get my item. But there it was, shining in front of my face written in bold, at this point I was pretty impressed.
Then I saw another poster for Sears' 5 minute guarantee. It basically says that they will give a $5 gift card if they can't get you the stuff within 5 minutes. It was time for me to look at my order status. There was a digital clock ticking near my name and it was over 1 minute now. On the same screen there was another section for completed orders and I saw numbers like 4:36 and 4.50 for already completed orders. I was a bit surprised and starting to get an idea of what was about to come.
I waited some more time and my clock was over 4 minutes now. The feeling was like waiting for the result of some test. At 4:36 I could not believe what happened. The clock stopped and my order was moved to completed. I then understood the meaning of 5 minute guarantee. It basically means, they guarantee that the clock will not go over 5 minutes. Anyways, the screen was showing my order as completed but I still did not have my stuff with me. With this happening, I was not really hoping to for my gift card but just waiting for my bags.
After a couple of more minutes, a guy comes out, looking clueless, and asks me.
"so, what are you waiting for sir?". "...
"mm..my 2 bags", I replied, showing him the printout of the email I had proudly brought with me.
"ok, let me see if I can find that".
The guy disappeared for about 15 minutes and then came back without my stuff. He then went back inside the big room and disappeared again. At this point I was starting to lose my patience but then someone came back with a set of bags. I almost screamed with joy but the feeling was just for a moment. He asked me.
"Is your last name Sanchez (or something sounding similar)?"
I replied in negative.
"Then this is not yours".
Once again I was left there wondering why couldn't they just take the label (which contain the recipient's name) out of the bags and just give it to me (okay, that was not really what I was thinking). He then came after 5 minutes with the bags and gave it to me. I looked for the label to confirm this is actually my order and guess what, there was no label (wink wink).
I finally left the place kind of happy that I was able to get my order. It was late already and I really wanted to be home to play with my lovely daughter, the feeling of which far outweighs the $5 gift card I did not get.
So there I was, at their store to pick up my bags. Finding the merchandise pickup section was easy and I went there. Now when I reached there I saw a computer kiosk where I scanned my order (from the email I received) and the machine found my order. It then told me to look at the overhead monitor to look for the status of my merchandise.
By this time, I was pretty impressed with the automated system (I am a person who would rather deal with a system than a person). Now when was waiting for someone to get me my stuff, I was looking around and this is what caught my attention.
"Percentage of customer served within 5 minutes" and the numbers were 90 some for the day before and over 90% in the earlier month. Now I was kind of pleasantly surprised at their efficiency. Now Sears sells all sorts of stuff and that includes big heavy item. Finding the item and correctly and bringing it to the waiting customer can be time taking and I wouldn't mind waiting 10 or even 15 minutes to get my item. But there it was, shining in front of my face written in bold, at this point I was pretty impressed.
Then I saw another poster for Sears' 5 minute guarantee. It basically says that they will give a $5 gift card if they can't get you the stuff within 5 minutes. It was time for me to look at my order status. There was a digital clock ticking near my name and it was over 1 minute now. On the same screen there was another section for completed orders and I saw numbers like 4:36 and 4.50 for already completed orders. I was a bit surprised and starting to get an idea of what was about to come.
I waited some more time and my clock was over 4 minutes now. The feeling was like waiting for the result of some test. At 4:36 I could not believe what happened. The clock stopped and my order was moved to completed. I then understood the meaning of 5 minute guarantee. It basically means, they guarantee that the clock will not go over 5 minutes. Anyways, the screen was showing my order as completed but I still did not have my stuff with me. With this happening, I was not really hoping to for my gift card but just waiting for my bags.
After a couple of more minutes, a guy comes out, looking clueless, and asks me.
"so, what are you waiting for sir?". "...
"mm..my 2 bags", I replied, showing him the printout of the email I had proudly brought with me.
"ok, let me see if I can find that".
The guy disappeared for about 15 minutes and then came back without my stuff. He then went back inside the big room and disappeared again. At this point I was starting to lose my patience but then someone came back with a set of bags. I almost screamed with joy but the feeling was just for a moment. He asked me.
"Is your last name Sanchez (or something sounding similar)?"
I replied in negative.
"Then this is not yours".
Once again I was left there wondering why couldn't they just take the label (which contain the recipient's name) out of the bags and just give it to me (okay, that was not really what I was thinking). He then came after 5 minutes with the bags and gave it to me. I looked for the label to confirm this is actually my order and guess what, there was no label (wink wink).
I finally left the place kind of happy that I was able to get my order. It was late already and I really wanted to be home to play with my lovely daughter, the feeling of which far outweighs the $5 gift card I did not get.
