My letter to Sears

Dear Sears Customer Relations,

My experience with Sears Optical has been less than ideal. I ordered a pair of glasses on 2/7. My husband ordered his the day before and both pairs arrived on 2/11. I was very impressed considering the estimated date of arrival was 2/17. I went to the store to pick up both pairs. I tried mine on and couldn't see out of them and they looked a little different than I remembered. The associate assured me it was because I had been in another pair of glasses all day and if I just took them home and started with the new ones in the morning I would be good to go. I went out to my car and took another look at the glasses. Not only had the lenses been stretched to the point of crackling but the plastic frames were MELTED around the lenses!

Is this how Sears does business? Give the customer an inferior product and hope they don't notice?! I was slightly offended.

I didn't have time to go back in so I returned that evening. Another associate took one look and said "These are awful, they didn't do these right at all." Then both associates proceeded to tell me that I might not be able to get the frames because my prescription was "too strong". The 2nd associate assured me that she would re-order them right away. She even went so far as to write herself a lengthy note indicating the situation with the words "RED FLAG" at the bottom. I left thinking the new pair would be there as quickly as the first pair.

A week later I call in and 2nd associate assures me that she has ordered the lenses but is having difficulty finding the frames. I call back a few days later and I'm told that "re-makes" take longer because they want to make sure it's done correctly. I call every couple of days until 2/28 when I'm told that the glasses arrived on 2/27 but they didn't call me because the prescription was wrong and they had to re-order them AGAIN. She invites me to come in and see how they look because they were wrong about the "too strong" prescription and they are just lovely. I go in trying to decide if I'm ready to ask for a refund and go elsewhere. After another reassurance that the re-order should be quick and they will let me know as soon as they come back in I leave.

It is now 3/9 and I have not heard anything about the glasses - not even an update. I anticipate getting the call and going in to finally pick up the correct pair with non-melted frames and correct lenses just to be told that in spite of my trouble, these frames do not come with a quality carrying case - they only come with the soft plastic Sears case. I'll have to spend additional money if I want something that will last longer than the ride home.

I'm absolutely ready to be refunded and find someplace that wants to provide the service that I am paying for. I'm not sure why I keep wanting to give Sears another chance to give me that "wow" factor. Regardless we will not return to Sears Optical again. My husband loves Sears but this has been an unpleasant experience that I'm not interested in repeating.

I write so you have the chance to not lose other customers in the future.

Thanks for your time,
Susan White