You think you've got it bad I bought lifetime alignments for my car and then my store closed and I would have to drive 50 miles to find another sears. Also sears is the only institution which has ever denied me credit.
The customer service stuff is certainly bad, but I find the data collection stuff appalling. More and more retailers think it's ok to ask for and store personal info under the guise of "social networking". Hidden unsubscribe options and "public by default" profiles (for a retail store!) are just evil.
I had an argument with the guy who was charging me for my tires and he only charged me for one and I demanded to pay for the other three. He argued with me for 15 minutes so I gave up and drove home.
I had hiked 2 miles in the bitter cold, after dark and I just want to get home to my family and what am I going to do? Waste more time contacting the stretched thin store manager or call the 800 number so I can pay another $300 over the phone?
Right. Just a few years ago "check out as guest" wasn't very common, but it has become popular because stores realize that most people don't want to create yet another account.
Unfortunately, these cash back gimmicks get value-minded people like me to sign up, but in this case it's severely abused.
