For the last year my wife and I have debated on purchasing a new treadmill with the hopes of finally taking action on our goal to get healthy and lose weight. The Sunday advertisement the week after Christmas ’11 made us finally take the plunge with a Sears offer of 0% financing for one year plus free delivery and setup on a brand new NordicTrack X9i treadmill. This model featured all the options we were looking for and we could not pass up the free interest for a year offer.

We were very happy to find out that, after visiting our local Sears store, the treadmill would be delivered by the end of the week on December 31st. Finally, we would be able to start our New Year off right with some exercise so we didn’t mind paying the extra $10 Saturday delivery charge. Or so we thought…

Saturday rolls around and we were fortunate enough to have a snow free New Year’s Eve Day with temperatures in the upper 30s. When the Sears Home Delivery staff approached our front door I could instantly feel a negative attitude as the employee grumbled about how our treadmill would not fit through the front door. “No Problem” I said because we had no snow in our yard and the treadmill could be wheeled in through our back basement door. The second employee remained pretty quiet throughout the time they were at our home but the first employee did nothing but complain about his day. He was upset about having to carry heavy equipment all day but he is a delivery person after all.

After carrying in the treadmill and setting it down on the floor he stated that “You will have to call the 800 number for Sears because we do not know how to setup this model of treadmill.” Fine, no problem. Sure, I was upset but I was willing to deal with the situation since there was no other available option. As soon as the Sears Home Delivery  employees left I picked up the phone and called the 800 number.

The first customer service representative I spoke to apologized for the inconvenience, he asked me a few questions like “Why didn’t the Sears Home Delivery staff setup the treadmill? They were supposed to set it up” and provided me with the phone number to the “NordicTrack Team” and told me I would be transferred. Before the transfer happened I was told that the “NordicTrack Team” was actually closed due to the New Year’s Day/Eve Holiday and I would have to call on Monday. Alright, what other option would I have at this point? Nothing.

Monday rolls around and I call the “NordicTrack” team first thing in the morning and once again I am faced with a long wait time. I use the automated service to input my phone number for a call back so I don’t have to sit on the phone. Meanwhile, I decide to put in a call to Sears just in case the “NordicTrack Team” is not the solution (read on to find out why). The customer service representative number two once again apologizes for my problem and ensures me that Sears will come out and setup the treadmill. They tell me that the first available appointment is for Saturday, January 7th and that I would be called the night before to verify the appointment time frame. No problem, something I just have to deal with.

Friday night comes along and here it is 9:00 PM and still no call to verify the appointment time so I start to get a little worried. I call the Sears Home Delivery 800 number once again and instantly feel a little sick to my stomach as I notice that the automated service tells me that I have no appointment scheduled. I am transferred to customer service representative #3 who once again asks the question “Why didn’t the Sears Home Delivery team setup the treadmill?” After explaining the situation once again she tries to give me the number to the “NordicTrack Team” and tells me I will be transferred.

After being on hold for about 20 minutes I finally get through to the “NordicTrack Sales” department, who obviously have nothing to do with getting my treadmill setup. That customer service representative gives me the number to the “NordicTrack Customer Service Team” and tells me that I will have to call the next day since that department would be closed at this hour.

Feeling a little stressed at this point I decide to give the number to the “NordicTrack Customer Service” department a try anyway. Once again I face the long wait time and put my number in for the automated call back thinking I wouldn’t hear from them until the next morning. I fell asleep on the couch about 9:45 PM and drifted off to dreamland. About 10:45 PM the phone rings with a 800 number showing up on the caller ID. Finally, a voice that I can understand and who seems willing to help out.

Not so fast. Customer service representative #5 is happy to register my new NordicTrack X9i but tells me that Sears is responsible for setting up the treadmill and if I wanted someone from ICON Health and Fitness (the company that owns NordicTrack) to setup my equipment I would have to pay a $169 upfront fee and wait another week before someone could make it out. What? Being slightly pissed at this point I swear a little and ask what the hell? Isn’t Sears representing NordicTrack by selling their equipment and extended warranties? Why would Sears try three times to transfer me to the “NordicTrack Team” if they two companies were not connected or in a professional relationship? I am given the number to the “NordicTrack Marketing Department”, which is closed until Monday, to grieve my problems out with them.

Now that I am really pissed off I call Sears Home Delivery back once again even if it is about 11:15 PM at this point. Customer Service #5 brings me through the same routine and questions and tells me that a Sears “Special Team” will be out on Sunday to setup my new treadmill. What? Where did my Saturday appointment go? “Sorry Sir, but we have no record of a Saturday appointment being setup.” Really? Yes, really. I ask why I was told a week prior that someone would be out on Saturday. “I apologize Sir.” I ask how do I know that this appointment will be kept since I was told this once already and am only told the customer service representatives first name as a confirmation. “You will be contacted on Saturday to confirm the appointment time for Sunday.” Sure I will.

Now to my point about Social Media and the power of Twitter. Saturday morning rolls around and I decide to take matters in my own hands. I find out that Sears not only has it’s own Twitter account but they also have a @SearsCares account to address social media concerns. I post a small tweet complaining about my poor service around 9:15 AM using the words “Worst Service”. About an hour and a half later I check my Twitter account and sure enough I get a response from the @SearsCares account asking them to Direct Message them my contact information.

I send my phone number to the @SearsCares and @Sears Twitter accounts using Direct Message not really expecting much help. My telephone rings around 1:00 PM and the person introduces himself as Jay from the Sears Executive Offices. He wants to know what the problem is and apologizes for the problems I have experienced. He assigns me a case number, sends me the information via e-mail and tells me that he will follow up with me on Tuesday since he will be out of the office for the next two days.

Sunday rolls around and after not getting a phone call on Saturday night I hold little hope that Sears will be showing up as I was told on Friday night. On Sunday night around 6:20 PM I get an automated call from Sears Home Delivery that my appointment will be on Monday. OK, this is news to me but I will happily make sure someone is home  for that time frame. I get a call Monday morning from the Sears Delivery Team who just verify that someone will be home.

Three members of the Sears Home Delivery team show up on time and are very courteous and friendly. After finding a manufacturing flaw with one bolt not fitting correctly I am given the offer of having this model picked up for return with a new model being delivered after another week of time passed. Since the missing bolt is not essential to the overall function of the treadmill I tell them to just assemble it as is. The treadmill felt secure and I don’t see any problem with this minor flaw. Next we find out that NordicTrack shorted the treadmill three screws that are for the plastic covers that attach to the bottom of the base. I am told to contact NordicTrack to have the screws shipped to me but instead decide to make a trip to my local hardware store. After 20-minutes of assembly time my treadmill is now ready to use. I am asked by the Sears Home Delivery team to rate them a 5 on the automated phone survey that will take place within the next few days.

Now I can’t help to wonder how many more painful steps I would have gone through had I not used Social Media and Twitter to try to resolve this. How about all the people who would not have thought about using this source? Would going to back to my local Sears store and complaining to the Store Manager produced the same results? How many more phone calls to Sears Home Delivery and NordicTrack would I have had to make? Would calling the NordicTrack Marketing Department really have helped me?

Even though I now have my new NordicTrack X9i setup I am making the pledge to never give Sears my business or money again due to this stressful process. It makes me sad since I have shopped at Sears all my life and even purchased brand new appliances from them just a year ago without any problems. In today’s economic times it saddens me see American icon stores going out of business and hearing that Sears is closing several stores this years only strengthens this feeling.

My suggestions to Sears would be to bring your customer service department back to America, offer a local number for getting direct attention when customer’s have problems with a local Home Delivery team and to offer training to your employees to prevent customer service problems.

A big thank you to Jay at Sears Executive Offices for taking action on my problem and making things happen!!! A big YEAH to the power of Twitter!