January 10, 2008
Column 313
An Open Letter to Sears, Roebuck and Company
Gentlemen:
You’re may find this letter a bit unusual but it is in all sincerity that I write. Since 1980, I have not entered one of your stores. This is because of how I was treated by one of your employees. I intended to write this letter years ago but just never got around to it.
My wife and I laugh about it now. Whenever something goes a little wrong at the mall or a restaurant and we find ourselves grumbling, inevitably my wife will say: “Hey, why don’t you write a letter like the one you’ve been threatening to send to Sears for the past 26 years!”
So now I am sending the letter. (I always do what my wife asks – sometimes it just takes a while.)
In those days I had a beard and long hair and dressed like the just-out-of-college kid I was. And on that day in particular, when my wife and I walked into your store (at the Genesee Valley Shopping Center in Flint, Michigan), we (or at least I) left convinced that the horrible service we received was the result of how I looked at the time.
We had just purchased our first home and I had hung a dartboard on a wall in the basement. We stopped at Sears to buy a set of darts. Suffice it to say it took forever to get the attention of one of your employees. Once we did we were treated abruptly, rudely to be frank, and to this day I am not really sure why we even made a purchase.
But we did. We purchased a lawnmower at a cost of nearly $600. It died five years later, probably because I mowed over rocks and never changed the oil. Of course, that’s not Sears’ fault. I didn’t purchase any darts equipment.
As I’ve said, considering how we were treated, I really don’t know why we bought anything. I guess we were too young or too lazy at the time to look elsewhere – or maybe it was because no other store would give us $600 worth of credit.
Obviously, I never got around to formally complaining about the treatment we received from the sales clerk in your sporting goods department…
So now I have.
You should know that some employee, who is certainly no longer with your company, who worked at your Flint, Michigan store, which is possibly no longer there, left a bad impression on a couple of your customers 26 years ago – and cost you thousands of dollars in future sales.
We have purchased four more lawnmowers since 1980 (I still don’t change the oil), none of them from Sears. And we have spent tons on darts paraphernalia.
Please accept my apology for taking until now to contact you.
I would respectfully appreciate your prompt attention to the issues raised.
Sincerely,
Dartoid
