Sears Catalog 800 Number - Down or Overloaded?
Bruce J. Miller
past four days (since 4/1), and has gotten nothing but a busy from
their number (1-800-366-3000). We live in suburban Philadelphia, and
I believe that calls from here are routed to North Carolina. A call
to the local Bell of PA repair brought the response that there have
been many complaints, but that Sears 800 calls are handled by Sprint
(Sprint's customer serivice number was then furnished).
A call to Sprint brought the response that they had had lots of
complaints, checked them out, and found no problems except for an
excessive number of calls -- and to keep trying. We have tried as
late as 1:30 AM and as early as 6:30 AM, and still been unable to get
through. A call to a local Sears store brought about the same story
as Sprint's, with a few more details -- there is a five day sale (we
were never informed of such a sale in this area), and the 30 incoming
lines Sears has are overloaded. We were advised to redial "every
seven seconds" until we get through. (This can really blow away your
leisure time).
If Sears is really booking this volume of catalog orders 24 hours a
day, I'm happy for them and their shareholders. On the other hand, I
can't seem to buy this story at face value. Anyone out there know the
real scoop? Is the problem nationwide or just in this area?
Inquiring minds want to know ...
mil...@gvls1.vfl.paramax.com (Bruce J. Miller) (or 7224...@compuserve.com)
[Moderator's Note: I just now tried it from Chicago (2:55 AM Wednesday)
and got a busy signal. PAT]
David Singer
their catalog operation -- could it have already happened? (I just
tried the number (11:10 AM PDT) and got a busy, too.)
David Singer -- Internet: sin...@almaden.ibm.com BITNET: SINGER at ALMADEN
Voice: (408) 927-2509 Fax: (408) 927-4073
j...@angate.att.com
com (Bruce J. Miller) writes:
> My wife has been trying to place a catalog order with Sears for the
> past four days (since 4/1), and has gotten nothing but a busy from
> their number (1-800-366-3000). We live in suburban Philadelphia, and
Overloaded. Since they are closing up catalog sales this year, they
are offering 30% off everything except electronics and tools/hdw.
This is on top of existing sale prices. Toys are 50% off (MERRY
CHRISTMAS!). Their call volume is extensive. If you do get through,
you might get the message where they ask odd area codes to call on odd
numbered days and even on even days. They are also reportedly looking
into adding 1,000-2,000 temporaries to get through the crush (somehow
I find this number hard to believe). Be persistent, they do have some
good deals. My wife has gotten through several times and the orders
were delivered by UPS in a timely fashion. My wife went to the store
to check equivalent prices and the savings appear to be real (at least
for what we ordered). Good luck!
John S. Maddaus Product Manager Secure Cellular Communications
AT&T Bell Laboratories j...@angate.att.com
Paul Robichaux
J. Miller) tells a tale of being unable to reach Sears.
As of 3/28, the Sears store here in Huntsville received a telegram
whose basic wording was:
We're very busy with orders. If customers call to beef,
tell them to keep calling back.
I don't know what type of ACD system (if any) they're using, but it is
evidently cheaper for Sears to give callers a busy rather than
queueing them. OTOH they do appear to be doing some queueing; the
helpful lady at Sears who told me about the telegram said she had to
call in at 4am and wait *15 minutes* for an ordertaker.
Paul Robichaux, KD4JZG NTI Mission Software Development Div.
Zealand R. Hatch
the music for over an hour before talking to an order taker. They are
having a sale, 30 percent off every thing in the catalog.
Zealand Hatch - 408 746-8720 - {where_ever}!amdahl!zrh
Amdahl Corporation -or- z...@amdahl.amdahl.com