Thread regarding Sears layoffs

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Complaints - Sears

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Top 2,645 Complaints and Reviews about Sears Customer …

www.consumeraffairs.com › Shopping › Retail Stores

1.1/5

678 RATINGS

Sears customer service lied to me multiple times about my delivery dates. They also would not honor the fact that I live in a building with strict time frames allowed

And remember, you all engage with your members!!!

For the last time, THEY ARE MEMBERS NOT CUSTOMERS!!!!!! IF you don't get that concept then we will never succeed. Just remember Members are a number and a Metric, customers are people you try to satisfy and help

He is being blamed because it was his vision and thought process that has failed. He touted a revolutionary way to run a retail company concentrating on the stock at the suffrage of the stores and customers. By starving core business and store investment, stripping wages employee benefits. By rewarding yes persons and ignoring those that had a keen insight and pulse of retail sales trends he isolated customers and shrank market share. The failed .com transition due to a lack of functional model in ordering , stock pull shipping or customer service. A failed member based sales because he forgot they were actually customers.

He is being blamed because he screwed the pooch him and him alone.

O.P your right we all need to stop whining. Just because some of you have given your working life to SHC and are now in your 50's, 60-70's or older just waiting to collect your pension. Quit whining. GO get another job and start over. You really don't need to retire or collect a pension. Eddie really needed that money to buy another house or boat.

And to you younger people. Quit whining. Many who are just starting out in the work force. You don't need a raise for doing a good job (even that is what they told you when you were hired). You don't need a work ethic and dream of bettiering your situation by hard work. Just work hard with little pay and less respect becasue SHC needs the money. Oh, and when the DM comes in and gives the spiel about the next thing that will increase sales, give the customer what they want, make SHC relevant again. You just keep working hard, changing aisles, moving heavy items, because in a few months or when the next DM gets there it will all change again.

And if you are a customer. Quit whining. Do you really expect to be helped to find something, do you really expect to be treated with respect and with courtesy. Quit whining. You are just a number to us. An address, a SYW reward, an email. We need this so we can sell it to third parties and get money.

What, what's that you say Mr/Mrs. customer. There is not soap in the bathroom, no paper towels, the sink leaks etc. What do we look like a Holiday Inn. Use your own bathroom. But before you go would you like to sign-up for a Sears credit card?

Now why would people have a chip on their shoulder when they see their livelihood disappearing? Irrational, ain't it.

I am proud of my work. without corp. I and others like me could have saved our store and every other Kmart, too. The jackasses from corp came in and destroyed. It must be by design that our stores were taken apart. There is no other way this could happen because there are too many good workers.

blame him for the rain. I do blame his greed and stupidity for every inch of suffering that we go thru to keep this store (KMART) going. Do you (Eddie) know or care how hard I work?

I think the tale of the scorpion and the frog is a great comparison to SHC. I don't see any scenario at SHC that turns out well for employees. Either the company fails and all employees go to other jobs, or the company recovers and all the profits get siphoned off for the benefit of Lampert and the shareholders. Lampert can't even conceive of an option where creating good jobs for the employees would be of benefit to everybody. Like the scorpion, he will destroy the company because it's his nature. He doesn't know how to do anything else.

This reply is to the original poster. You evidently have never worked in a sears or kmart store. Ever since Eddie took over there has been nothing but total chaos. You really don't have a clue. To say that we should thank Eddie for giving us a job, I say Eddie should thank the handful of hard working employees in each store, that have kept his company going this long. These employees were dedicated to doing a good job, but Eddie finally made it impossible to do a good job. He has s---ed the life out of this company. Customers only ask three things from a retailer: Have the merchandise in stock, have customer service to help them locate what they are looking for, and have someone to check them out. Eddie just couldn't understand that. They don't care about the credit card, shop your way, and all the other things he has come up with. All the customers wanted were the basics, and we couldn't give it to them because we had no help to do it. If associates had been given yearly raises, then maybe the turnover wouldn't have been so high, and we could of had more knowledgeable associates. You say we are jealous of Eddie's wealth??? All we want is what is due to us, like our raises and our pensions. Do you think it is right for Eddie to walk away with millions, and leave the pension underfunded?? This could result in our pensions being cut, after all the hard work we have done for this company. Maybe that chip on the shoulder could have been prevented if greed hadn't gotten in the way.

Thank you XUR,

I was hoping that maybe the comment meant that when SHLD goes bankrupt that it would perhaps cease to exist as the retailer we know and would somehow transform itself into a 21st century company doing business differently and it would be better, and create different jobs for their employees. In other words there would still be jobs; they would just be different.

Now I understand that you meant there would be new jobs, they would just be at different companies and there is no real future at Sears after its bakruptcy. There will be no rebirth for its employees. I think sometimes employees want to believe that their CEO really knows what he is doing and if they hold on things will change.

My husband tells me to think of the fable of the scorpion and the toad. The scorpion stings the toad anyway because of the nature of who he is. He tells me staying with Sears, even it it transforms itself is still going to be like working for the scorpion. You will get stung. And if Eddie were to tranform Sears, he will not treat the employees any better. It will just be the same Rinse Repeat cycle again because a scorpion is a scorpion; that's its nature.

It's time to move on from Sears as quickly as possible.

I don't feel this is a chip. Just a place to find out what may be going on since we aren't ALLOWED to ask in the store or on Pebble.

There really is a disconnect between what is going on and what we are told is going on and I, as a commissioned sales associate do not like it when my members tell me what is going on before I know.

I'm puts me at a disadvantage.

Corporate could have at least gave us some talking points about the new batch of Kmart closings because when I am pitching PA's it comes up when there are more store closings. Customers want to know. Especially if it really isn't a big deal and Eddie is really taking us in a NEW direction by closing them.

But nothing from corporate. Nothing from store management. And I didn't dare ask on Pebble.

So the chip on MY shoulder is trying to do my job with little or no pertinent information.

@XUR, I am sorry but I agree with him fully.

Filing for Chapter 11 then Converting it to a Chapter 7, will help everyone. Some will suffer but the employees would be able to find higher paying jobs.

Example: JCP since they are bringing back appliances will benefit from the SHC employees who sold appliances. Macy's sells mattresses and the Sears employees who sold mattress can transition to that company easily.

I hope my post explains things.

In response to to the question about new job creation, when SHC fails, other companies are going to pick up a lot of business. Lowes, Home Depot, JC Penney e.t.c.. are going to get a windfall. New stores will be opened, people will get hired. It won't necessarily be an easy or direct transition for current SHC employees who get stuck in the turmoil when the company folds. But there is no reason to think Eddie Lampert is doing anybody a favor by keeping these stores barely alive. People don't owe this guy any gratitude for the way he has managed the company. I firmly believe almost everybody working at SHC can and will do better elsewhere.

@BVU, I hope Eddie does prison time. Opening the books, would be something I would love to see. I do not think any money will be leftover after the retiree,shareholder, and employee lawsuits.

I think filing Chapter 11 would be nice, no offense to anyone. To see eddies crooked ways including the shell companies he uses to move assets around.

Do you think Eddie will do any prison time when the books are finally opened and all the retiree and stockholder lawsuits are settled? Seems some of the accounting practices and secrecy should be a violation of SEC regulations.

Eddies not a genius he is nothing more than a corporate raider

@ eli wexler I believe the organism you are looking for to describe Eddie is a parasite. Definition - an organism that derives sustenance or protection without benefiting the host and usually doing harm. This parasite is s---ing the life out of SHLD and will eventually be the cause of its death!

Is that you eddie?

Telling us how you came to save the company ?

From day one you came to s--- the profit out of this company.. You are nothing more than a leech...

Wow, excellent post blulighhter. Very insightful. The greed of CEOs is staggering and very sad. How much is enough money for some people? I don't think there is an amount.

PTZ: What do you mean by:

"When Sears fails (very soon) the retail sales will go elsewhere and new jobs will be created"

Will there be other new jobs created for people currently working at Sears?

When I first read this post, I laughed knowing the responses it would bring. All of them are correct. Eddie is a smart business man, yes, but he has used a great many deceptive actions to get what he has. First, he never invested in Kmart stock, only the debt. Then he was the driving force pushing them into bankruptcy, and made them give him the majority of the new Kmart Holdings company to settle the debt. They cancelled the old stock and erased hundreds of millions of dollars from the 401Ks of the very workers who actually built Kmart. After emerging from bankruptcy, when the first real estate was sold, and the media was touting him as the next Warren Buffet and Kmart was flush with cash, he did nothing to make it right for the workers who he screwed out of that retirement. Then he used the cash flow to talk Alan Lacy into a backdoor deal to merge with Sears. He took over both of these companies solely for the real estate value and has had no intention of ever making them competitive at any level. He has used only asset sales and financial accounting tricks to keep the company afloat all this time. He has wasted most of the company's cash on stock buybacks to retire outstanding stock, instead of investing it for the company's future. Retiring stock increases his share of ownership in the company without having to invest any more of his money in it. He has paid himself numerous dividends to further enrich himself while neglecting the company. He has made his initial investment in the Kmart debt back many times over and has put nothing back for the very workers who run the operation. He has done numerous other questionable things than I have time to go into in this post. They have already been documented by news outlets over the years. And finally, he is not responsible for me having a job, I was here long before him. He has only done things to take benefits and perks from employees, year by year, that have ruined morale and continued to run the company into the ground. I don't know if your post is a joke to elicit responses or you really are a Lampert sycophant, but your humor really not appreciated.

My experience with Sears goes back to the 1970's and the company was already in decline then. So Lampert can't be blamed entirely. But he can be blamed for failing to take advantage of the chance to turn things around. They had a workable concept in Sears Grand, but Lampert wouldn't invest the money to make it happen. Instead of taking risks and making serious investments in the retail businesses, he pursued his warped idea of a "low asset high profit" business model. He threw away $6b in share buybacks when the stores were in desperate need of investment. He may have once been a genius at trading stock, but he is an absolute idiot at operational business.

The claim he made his money by taking huge risks is just hero worship. Lampert was a stock trader in a bull market, nothing more. The employees today do not owe their jobs to him. When Sears fails (very soon) the retail sales will go elsewhere and new jobs will be created. Most likely better jobs than the miserable situation at SHC.

The situation actually looks more ridiculous with increased levels of business education. My experience with the corporate foolishness at Sears led me to get a graduate degree in business, and nothing happening at SHC makes any sense. The management of this company in a dream world.

Eddie is actually a genius....he knew exactly how to make the most money off of Sears and Kmart by doing little to no work.

-Unfortunately he is also a royal azz. I'd love to have a one on one with the grim reaper and let him know how you can make money with a business - instead of destroying it limb by limb. If you're interested Fast Eddie just reply with your email address...I have lot of things I want to say.

PS - I won't blow smoke of your azz - I don't work for you - nor have I ever. Just let me on pebble for one day...

-B

"business ain't a fairytale"

Oh, I think it will be a pretty nice fairy tale for Eddie. Something tells me when this is all over, Eddie is going to come out just fine, yes.... mighty fine.

I think there would not be nearly the level of disgust and distrust if Eddie had actually used the money in Sears to invest and grow the business, instead of raiding the assets, and selling everything in sight. Eddie is a terrible manager, and has no business operating a public company. He really is a self-absorbed, greedy, and psychotic person. The businesses, Sears and Kmart, would likely have continued to struggle against Amazon and other online retailers, but the runway would have been much longer, and the funds would have permitted making necessary changes (repairing stores, investing in new products and ideas. Eddie squandered that. So people have a genuine right to be angry.

In the spirit of how Sears treats its employees, I also thought it was really low when Sears cut the commissions of their sales people in the matress department over Memorial Day weekend. It was said that Sears was going to advertise the sale event on tv and it was expensive therefore the employees (sales folks) would be paying for the advertising by taking a cut in commission. It was justified because Sears said the advertising would bring in more customers so the employee would make the same amount of money by serving more customers.

But doesn't that mean the employee would be working harder for the same amount of money? Instead of earning $500 for selling to 2 people they would earn $500 for selling to 4 people.

Is that what driving profitability looks like?

@ OP - "Take some business classes and it will all make just a little more sense..." Maybe YOU should follow your own advice! There is no shortage of people with notable business credentials that have declared Eddie's management of SHLD to be a monumental failure. I have yet to read one recent business article that has expounded on Eddie's successful transformation of SHLD. If you have knowledge of one, please do share. And are you implying that the people at Moody's are business know nothings who downgraded SHLD's credit rating out of sheer ignorance? Yet you have the audacity to say we should be the ones taking our blinders off!

Kinga, is that you? Is your hubby a little stressed???

O.P. you sound like exactly why people have a chip on their shoulder. It is not that we hate Eddie for being rich, good for him and the risk he has taken. It is not even that he may or may not be trying to turn the company around. If he does good and if he just takes the money and runs good for him, he is majority shareholder. What really gets under people skin is the lies we hear every day, the constant disconnect of corporate to the reality at store level, the constant "new way, new idea, new initiative" to improve the company, with no real money, hours, equipment, or improvements to make the "new way, new idea, new initiative" a reality.

And as for the "take a business course" comment, there are a whole bunch of business writers, investment blogs, investment websites, and people whose business it is to analyse and break down financials who think that this is one of the worst run companies in the world. Eddie may know finance but he does not know retail

Oh and also one more thing....the very fact that you opened your post with blame Eddie because you couldn't pay your rent on time speaks volumes of how Sears see their employees, as poor low wage uneducated workers not deserving of respect, I wonder if you are part of their management. That is quite an assumption to make. Well, make no mistake, many Sears employees pay their bills on time and some are quite educated.

My lead had a business degree, several cashiers are going to college, a few were in between jobs and went on to work as nurses in local hospitals, we have some teachers working at are store and a few military retirees who are drawing a pension in addition to working at Sears. There are some who did not go to school but have a wonderful work ethic and work hard often at 2 or 3 jobs to make ends meet. They are doing their best. Some are dealing with difficult situations and need a job to put pieces of their life back together. Situations like a death of a spouse, a divorce, a serious illness. The bottom line is we are all people, working hard, trying to make a living. Sears can't function without employees and we are deserving of respect and it would be nice for the company to treat us as such.

I understand Eddie is human and I understand that he has taken huge risks and invested his own money. I also know that it is extremely difficult for these brick and mortar stores to compete against internet shopping. However, at the same time Sears has made a decision to treat its employees terribly and that comes from the top. They pay minimum wages, they haven't given raises in 8 years, they open the store on Thanksgiving Day when it really isn't necessary and they do not even pay holiday pay after midnight. You have employees getting up from the Thanksgiving table going to work throughout the night and not even paying them more than minimum wage. Then to ease their conscience they put Leena Munjul out there telling the public not to worry, the people working are volunteering to work. Well, at my store very very few volunteered to work, quite contrary, they were threatened to lose their jobs in they didn't report to work. Most wanted to be home with their families.

After using the employees over the holidays, Sears will cut hours as low as 3 per week in January. They never do anything to value their employees. Even our holiday celebrations at work are potluck, heaven forbid Sears throws any real money into any celebration for their employees. They give nothing but the bare minimum of wages and hours. Nothing else. Nada. Then they have the nerve to call employees into their office once a year for a yearly review to critique them and tell them how to improve and work harder but of course there will be no raise. They layoff and dispose of people at will

They want us to forge relationships with their customers. Well, this idea will flop because Sears has no relationship with their employees. Here's a tip for Sears, form a relationship with your employees first and maybe they will form one with your customers. Sears will never get the best from their employees because of how they treat them.

I'm wondering why you posted multiple times. It appears to me that there may be a deliberate effort to bury posts in which employees vent their anger and also make some valid points.