Trouble with Sears and Panasonic HDTV (1 Viewer)

[Matt_Stevens]

It's been over two weeks since I made the arrangements to have the 47" Panasonic HDTV delivered to me at my home for this Thursday (the 9th). In that time, other people from this forum and others have ordered the same set and seen it delivered.
Yet I am called today and told that due to manufacture delays, my set will not arrive this week. It will arrive in "one to two weeks." When I ask why this is happening with this Sears store, she actually has the nerve to lie to me and tell me that all Sears stores are affected by this. "Nobody has been able to get that TV for at least four weeks now."
Needless to say, I exploded on this witch. I am so sick of Sears and their lies. I have a defective Sony Wega that looks like shit in my living room and will now have to wait who knows how many weeks more weeks before I have this set.
Life sucks. Anybody that bought this set from Sears, consider yourself lucky if you have it in your home. I will never, ever do business with Sears again and I wish I was able to get a full refund from them for the Wega instead of an exchange.
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www.deceptions.net/superman

 

[Jeff Whitford]

Matt I understand that your upset but if Sears cant get the TVs from Panasonic what do you expect them to do? I know that the sales person doesnt get paid till you get it.
I sell Tvs for a living and there is nothing worse than having a customer who wants a TV and you and the customer have to wait for this manufacter or that to deliver product.
Believe me being at the other end of this isnt fun either when you get someone screaming at you for something you cant do anything about you explain that there is a delay from the manufactor and they continue to scream at you and you would love to be able to say to them "Mr or Mrs customer what do you expect me to do S@#t one out for you?". So remember the last thing any retailer wants to do is piss you off.
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Jeff Whitford
Hometheater Guru
[Edited last by Jeff Whitford on August 07, 2001 at 08:31 PM]

 

[Timmy]

quote: It will arrive in "one to two weeks." [/quote]
Oh yes, the salesmans "just two more weeks".
Before you know it there will be 3 months worth of "just another 2 weeks".

[Edited last by Timmy on August 07, 2001 at 09:41 PM]

 

[Jeff Whitford]

Timmy did you read my post? The salesman doesnt get paid till the customer gets the product. Why wouldnt the salesperson want the customer to get the product? And if its going to be a while you might want to reselect if you cant wait.
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Jeff Whitford
Hometheater Guru
[Edited last by Jeff Whitford on August 08, 2001 at 12:10 AM]

 

[Matt_Stevens]

In this case, the salesman will not make any commission. It is complicated, but that's how it is with this annoyingly complicated exchange. Because of that, I have received nothing but contempt from them from the start. They even refused to allow me to adjust settings or hook a DVD player upto sets while looking for a new set! I had to raise holy hell before they decided to help (and they made it clear they had better things to do). They gave me the most disgraceful treatment I have ever been subjected to from a sales person(s).
Furthermore, the latest delay is NOT due to Panasonic. I have confirmation that my set is in the New York warehouse. The problem is that they have a lot of deliveries this week, so they chose "at random" to delay certain shipments. Mine being one. Bad idea.

The manager of delivery is trying to get my set shipped and is apologizing for the delay and actually calling me back with status reports. She is doing her job.
And I would never scream at anyone over the phone unless they deserved it. When the woman who called me about the delay got very rude and told me that I "would just have to wait like everybody else", I snapped on her. But I did not scream. I raised my voice and tone. I was firm with her. She, of course, didn't like it and disconnected the call.
She was given a written warning, by the way, as I had the manager pull the call (it was recorded). After hearing it, she agreed I did nothing wrong.
None of this gives me my TV on Thursday. I may have it Saturday. The problem with that is it is supposed to RAIN ALL DAY!! If it does, they cannot deliver because the set has to come out of the box.
I hate Sears.

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www.deceptions.net/superman

 

[Andrew Beacom]

I have had 3 Panasonic Tau's from Sears and I am now exchanging for the new Toshiba WS RPTV. I have had no problems whatsoever with Sears or with the saleman I deal with.
Just goes to show it depends who you actually deal with. You can't label all Sears stores as bad if your local one is.
Good luck with that TV.

 

[Prentice Cotham]

I think the Sears in my area is having a similar problem. I work at BB part-time and we have at least 20 TVs available but this person who was interested in the TV was told at Sears it was going to be a wait.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

I hate Sears.

And you have every right to do so. Sears used to be the end-all, be-all catalog retailer where you could get just about everything you needed around the house. Now Walmart and specialty stores have just about put Sears out of business. If they are not careful, they will follow the path of Montgomery Ward.
That being said, I strongly encourage those of you considering a big TV purchase to check out a specialty retailer (of course, if you have one in your area). I have gotten my last two televisions from a place called Home Theater Store. They are a medium-to-high-end retailer, but they do negotiate on price. It's like buying a car...do your research, know their cost, and you will get a good deal without the runaround.
Good luck, Matt...practice deep breathing!
- Steve
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Got Remo?

 

[Brian Mello]

That being said, I strongly encourage those of you considering a big TV purchase to check out a specialty retailer.
I purchased the same TV as Matt from Sears and coincidentally I am suppose to get it tomorrow. Believe me, I didn't want to purchase the TV from Sears but all of the "Specialty Retailers" in Atlanta either didn't carry that set or laughed at me when I told them what price I was going to get it for. Even Best Buy and Circuit City told me no way would they sell it too me for $1699. Basically like anything else, if you are going to go as cheap as possible you need to be prepared for the last of customer service, lack of customer support and possbile delivery delays. I don't mind because I have an extra $300 in my pocket!

 

[Prentice Cotham]

Also, I think Sears was having problems with the availability of the shield for the TV. They said it was a 5 week backlog whereas we have nearly 50 in the warehouse. Does anyone know if the shield uses velcro, brackets, or if it just slips inside the lip of the TV?

 

[Matt_Stevens]

My set won't have the shield. It just ruins the picture, so no thanks.
I just got confirmation that I will not get the set this week. Maybe next week.

Good luck, Matt...practice deep breathing!

I'm trying. Trying not to hyperventilate.

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www.deceptions.net/superman

 

[Carlo_M]

Hang in there, Matt. I was supposed to receive my set at the middle of June, but because my dealer is small, and the demand on this set was high, I didn't get mine until mid-July. Oh well, I spent that month getting versed on all the service aspects of my TV. I knew more about the TV when it got there than most people who ever buy that set will know by the time they discard it!

 

[LesHegyes]

Matt,
I hope you rproblems are over by now. I just received my PanaPT-56HX41 from Sears yesterday, 8/12. So far so good. I ordered via sears.com and I live on Long Island it tooks about 2 weeks to get it.
Best of luck.
Les

 

[Matt_Stevens]

I got it this morning and they almost ruined the screen (I posted about it here) but I was able to clean it an it's OK. Out of the box performance is pretty bad, but I am tweaking and will try and get rid of the red push tonight, as it makes proper calibration impossible.
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www.deceptions.net/superman

 

[Carol Curtis]

Matt, if your unhappy with Sears why do you keep dealing with people at store level? I learned a long time ago if the STORE MANAGER can't get it done then it's time to start talking to their HQ Once most companies HQ get involved you can usually get what you want including returning your Wega for cash if that's what you want. No big retail company wants to lose any customers. Just my 2 cents!

 

[Matt_Stevens]

I appreciate your 2 cents, Carol, but what would you have me do? I am allready dealing with the NE manager of Sears for Sales issues and the head of distribution for the NE for delivery of my TV. When the guys showed to drop my set off, it was hot and muggy and they just didn't care about the screen. Typical. Now, I was able to fix the screen with ease, amazingly enough, so I don't care about that anymore. It was a simple thing to fix, thanks to the help of the kind people on the Net.
Right now my concern is eliminating the severe red push that is making calibration impossible and disabling the cursed Scan Velocity Modulation, which is ruining broadcast cable and VHS reception. I will need a certified tech to come out here for both and I doubt if Sears wants to do that. But I sure as hell will push them for it. I have spent every hour of yesterday and today adjusting the set and while I have worked miracles on it for DVD, everything else has problems because of the red push and SVM.
What a headache I have!

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www.deceptions.net/superman