        |
The
Truth Exposed About Sears Maintenance Agreements
and other Extended Warranties
By Winston Wu
A Former Sears
Brand Central Salesman
(Note: The following
applies to my experience as a
Sears Brand Central Salesman in 1998)
· Introduction
· What a Maintenance Agreement is
· Is the MA really any different
from an extended warranty?
· Sears’ claims vs. unbiased studies
· Sears' vain attempt to distance
themselves from Consumer Reports' reviews
· How Sears pressures us to sell the MA
· Pressure on sales associates leads to pressure
on customers
· Sears considers MA objectors to be
“Uneducated”!
· The steps we are taught to take to overcome
objections to the MA
· I was commanded to “brainwash” the
customer!
· 5 Tell-tale signs that the MA
lacks inherent worthiness
· Why the MA's are profitable to Sears, but NOT to
You!
· Understanding the "science" behind the MA in
terms of the
bathtub curve
· What you're betting on when you
buy the MA
· Do MA's really give you
"peace of mind"?
· Negative public opinion is a bad tell-tale sign
· The consumers' right to be informed
· Some exceptions
· What I'm not saying here
· Sears’ dire state – from a former
employee
· Conclusion and recommendations
· Reader Responses
· Addendum A: The Truth About The Sears Credit
Protection Plan
· Addendum B: From a Sears Salesperson
Introduction
Next time you're in Sears or another store buying appliances or
electronics,
watch out when you hear:
"This product is also eligible for our 3 year Maintenance Agreement
program
which covers repairs and replacements for any damages due to wear and
tear, and
includes an annual preventive maintenance check all of which will save
you the
expensive cost of repairs and give you peace of mind....."
This is a statement you will often now hear during a sales presentation
from an
associate at Sears Brand Central and other stores that sell appliances
and
electronics. Maintenance Agreements and other types of extended
warranties are big business these days. Companies that sell
them are
making huge profits from them, and because of that, they are pushing an
aggressive marketing program to promote them through their salespeople.
Obviously the revenue generated from an extended warranty far
exceeds the
cost of them, and that's why they are continually offered and pushed.
The
sleaze in all this is that companies such as Sears want you to think
that their MA's and extended warranties are benefiting YOU, when in
reality
they are benefiting THEM! Therefore they are profitable to the
companies
that sell them, but not to the consumers who are pushed into buying
them.
Well I think their tactics are wrong and misleading and that
consumers
should be educated about the tactics behind MA's and extended
warranties so
that they don't get scammed into paying extra money for something they
don't
need. And that's why I'm writing this report to tell you the
truth so
that you'll know what MA's and extended warranties are really all
about.
I believe that the American people have a right to know about all
this.
I used to work for Sears in Brand Central and sold MA's myself,
so I can
tell you the inside story as well on MA's and the tactics we were
taught to
push them. The bottom line here and the thesis of this report is:
Maintenance
Agreements and extended warranties are profitable to the companies that
push
them, NOT to you! In addition to understanding MA's, you'll
also
learn in this report about the inside mechanics behind high pressure
sales in
general, whether it be from insurance salesmen, door-to-door salesmen,
car
salesmen, telemarketers, health club recruiters, etc. It is my
hope that
with this deeper understanding, you the consumer will be better
informed and
able to see through all the quota-driven sales pitches you're exposed
to all
the time.
What a Maintenance Agreement is
First of all, if you don't know what a Maintenance Agreement is, it is
Sears'
version of an extended warranty, which is a contract which when
purchased will obligate Sears to cover the product for repairs or
replacements
due to wear and tear throughout the duration of the MA, which is only
about 3
years. However, Sears itself will NEVER ever say that it is
anything like
an extended warranty because 1) most Americans have a negative view of
extended
warranties from both common sense and word of mouth, 2) Sears wants to
distance
themselves from the media's criticism of extended warranties, and 3)
Sears
wants people to see it as something special that only Sears offers.
Instead, they call it a Maintenance Agreement.
Other stores
that sell electronics and appliances like Circuit City, Radio Shack and
Best
Buy all have their own version of extended warranties too along with
their own
"pet names" for them as well. According to Sears, what their 3
year MA covers are parts and labor for repairs and replacements due to
normal
wear and tear (not abuse), unlimited service calls, unlimited
instructional
calls, and an annual preventive maintenance check.
Is the MA really any different from an extended warranty?
Sears claims that their MA is very different from an extended warranty.
The only thing they have to support this claim is that the MA
includes an
annual preventive maintenance check which an extended warranty does
not.
However the pm check isn't really necessary for a product that's
still
basically new in those 3 years, so it really doesn't accomplish
anything and is
not really necessary. So all the MA offers beyond an extended
warranty is
just another thing that you don't really need for the period it covers.
Therefore, the MA is not much different from an extended
warranty,
although Sears wants people to think that it is so it will look like
something
special so they can sell more of them.
Sears' claims vs. unbiased studies
Sears claims that 70 percent of the people who buy MA's are so
satisfied that
they end up renewing it. Now that's hard to believe since most
people
don't even use it, but coming from Sears, it should be no surprise of
course.
After all, we all know how easy it is to take a few surveys here
and
there and skew the findings any way you want to. In other words,
statistics can be used to prove anything. In fact, from my
research I
find almost the exact opposite to be true. From all the dozens of
message
board and newsgroups postings I've read on the internet, it seems that
about 70
percent of those who have bought MA's were actually dissatisfied with
them
because 1) they never had to use it and thought it was a waste or 2)
they
didn't like the service because they often had to wait 3 or 4 weeks to
get
something repaired because the service tech kept having to order
certain parts
and reschedule visits! On the other hand, I've found that there
are
exceptions. Those who said they were satisfied with the MA tended
to have
them on products such as big screen TV's, computers, lawnmowers and
snowblowers, whereas those who've had them on appliances and
electronics tended
to say that it wasn't worth it because they never needed to use it.
This
makes sense because products with fragile parts would be more prone to
failure
than products such as appliances which have very durable parts.
Anyhow,
Sears' 70 percent renewal figure obviously doesn't come from an
unbiased study.
In almost every unbiased study you can find, ABC's 20/20,
Consumer Reports,
etc., they've concluded that extended warranties are not generally
worth the
money.
Sears' vain attempt to distance themselves from Consumer Reports'
reviews
Sears tries vainly to distance themselves from Consumer Reports'
negative
reviews of extended warranties. When customers bring up those
reviews,
Sears salespeople are taught to respond that CR's review wasn't about
Sears
MA's because MA's are not extended warranties. This is obviously
just a
vain attempt to try to protect themselves. Where in Consumer
Reports'
review of extended warranties does it say that their review does not
apply to
Sears' extended warranties? lol Nowhere obviously, and that's why
Sears
has ZERO evidence to back up their vain attempt. The fact is, if
CR had
anything good to say about Sears MA's, they would have said it, and
Sears would
be quoting them all the time on it, but they don't of course because CR
has
nothing good to say about Sears MA's.
How Sears pressures us to sell the MA
Now since I worked for Sears in appliances, I'm going to give you an
idea of
what it's like and how we were pressued to sell MA's. Believe it
or not,
Sears Brand Central salespeople are primarily judged on how well they
can sell
MA's above all else. When I first worked there, I was shocked to
find
this out. I thought "Now I applied here because I wanted to sell
appliances and give people what they want and need. So why then
am I
primarily judged on whether I can sell something that most people don't
want
and didn't even come into the store to buy in the first place?"
This
confused me, and at that point, I smelled corruption in the air.
At Sears they are very religious about their MA's almost to the brink
of being
cultish about them. It seems like the MA is to Sears what Jesus
Christ is
to the Church. There is almost a religious fervor about it.
It's
weird that they treat it like a religion when all it is is a scam to
make
profits! lol Every week we are required to attend an MA meeting
that was
like a pep rally to motivate you to sell more MA's. Just like in
church
when people share testimonies of how they converted others to accept
Christ, at
Sears MA meetings salespeople share testimonies of how they overcame
customers'
objections to the MA. If you missed an MA meeting, you would be
written
up on that, and they would threaten to fire you if you missed it again.
At the meeting, hand outs are passed out which show
everyone’s MA
percentages for the month and year out in the open for all to see.
(I
guess Sears doesn't care about people's privacy lol) Those with
high MA
standards are praised while those with lower MA standards feel
embarrassed and
ashamed because they are considered to be poor performers.
Each division in Brand Central and Hardware has a different MA standard
to
maintain which is calculated percentage-wise by taking MA sales dollars
divided
by product sales dollars. For example, the MA standard in my
division was
5.75 percent. So say my total product sales for the day are $1000
and my
MA sales are $100. Then my MA percentage would be 10 percent
(100/1000).
Now suppose I sell a $1000 refrigerator and I fail to convince
the
customer to get an MA on it. Then my MA percentage would plummet
to 5
percent because 100/2000 = 5%. Just that one sale would have cut
my MA
percentage in half! Now if I kept making sales without MA's a few
more
times, then my MA percentage could get close to being zero percent!
That's when you really get in trouble! So you see, with
every sale
the pressure is on. If your percentage plummets then Sears will
look down
on you even though it was the customer who declined the MA. But
of
course, Sears can't blame the customer for not wanting the MA, so they
have to
take it out on the salespeople. Pretty sleazy huh? If
you've ever wondered
why high pressure salesmen can't take no for an answer, well now you
have a
good idea.
This percentage system is in a way worse than a quota system.
With a
quota system, you only have to sell a certain amount and then the
pressure is
off. But under this percentage system, no matter how many MA's
you sell,
the next sale without an MA will drop your percentage, so the pressure
never
ends. So I have to maintain an MA percent of 5.75 or else I'm not
"performing." The funny thing is, sometimes if I start the day
with a 20 percent MA on my first sale, then I'm afraid to sell anything
else
the rest of the day because my MA percentage could plummet if I do!!!
lol
The prices for the 3 year MA as of now (1999) are as follows:
$29.99 for a microwave, $34.99 for an upright vacuum, $59.99 for
a
canister vacuum, $99.99 for a dishwasher, $109.99 for a range, $109.99
for a
refrigerator, etc.
In addition, we are given incentive to sell MA's because the commission
rates
for them are the highest, ranging between 10 and 15 percent. So
if I sell
a $99.99 MA, then I would make between $10 and $15 dollars from it.
If
someone's MA percentage is continually below standard, then they would
be
subject to termination. So even if someone's MA percentage is low
because
their customers didn't want the MA, management would take it out on the
associate and judge him/her to be a poor performer and might get rid of
him/her. Talk about scapegoating!
Pressure on sales associates leads to pressure on customers
The pressure of maintaining this standard makes us put pressure on the
customer
to buy the MA even if they don't want it! So you see, even if you
say
that you don't want or need the MA, then they still have NO CHOICE but
to try
to psychologically manipulate you into buying it! Of course,
Sears
doesn't tell their salespeople to "psychologically manipulate the
customers" in exact words. Instead, they butter up the idea by
using
a more convenient term such as "convince them of the value of the MA"
but you get the idea.
This is why when you go to Sears their salespeople will be so pushy and
insistent on you buying their MA's. It's NOT because they really
think that you need it. It's because 1) they live in fear of
being
considered poor MA performers by management and being subject to
termination,
2) they don't want their score sheets at the next MA meeting to reflect
low
MA's in front of all their fellow associates and managers, and 3)
they're
motivated by the 10-15 percent commission on them! So when the
salesperson tells you that you "need the MA" what they really
mean is that they need to sell the MA in order to avoid falling
below
standard in their MA percentages and risk getting terminated!
Of course, the Sears managers who are pressuring the salespeople are
also under
pressure from the corporate level as well. When their store gets
audited
by corporate Sears, the store's MA sales better be at a certain level,
or else
the managers of the store will be in danger of being terminated and
replaced.
So you see, the pressure starts at the top from the corporate
level to
the store managers, then to the salespeople, and finally onto YOU the
customer!
Sears considers MA objectors to be "Uneducated"!
In our training video on selling MA's, it said something like "Objections
to the Sears Maintenance Agreement can sometimes arise simply because
the
customer is uneducated about them. You can overcome these
objections by
simply educating customers about the benefits of the MA." So
according to Sears, if you object to buying the MA then you're
"uneducated" about them. (More like "unbrainwashed"
about them to me! lol) They actually assume that "educating"
you will convince you that the MA is worth your money, when the reverse
is
actually true. In fact, the more people become educated about
what MA's
really are (from reports like this), the less they want them. So
even if
you genuinely understand the MA and still think you don't need it,
Sears still
considers you "uneducated" until you are convinced to buy the MA!
Now
again how's that for respecting your intelligence? What Sears
actually
means in not so direct words is that if you don't want the MA, then
you've got
to be "brainwashed" into wanting it! But any critical thinker
can tell that their "brainwashing" claims have no real validity when
analyzed. Sears' claims about the MA objector being
"uneducated" is based on a false assumption that the MA has intrinsic
inherent worth that needs to be discovered, when in fact the more you
dissect
the MA, the more you see its uselessness.
The steps we are taught to take to overcome objections to the MA
Now let me share with you the steps we are taught to try to overcome a
customer's objection to the MA. The steps are as follows:
1. Clarify the objection - meaning that you restate the objection in
your
own words to show that you understand the customer.
2. Cushion the objection - meaning that you soften the power of the
objection.
3. Answer the objection - meaning that you explain it away by solving
it.
4. Seek agreement - meaning that you try to get the customer to agree
with your
answer to their objection.
So for example, say that the customer's objection is "$99 for an
MA?
Now that's kind of expensive!" So I would clarify
the
objection by saying "So you're doubtful as to the value of the
MA
right?" and then cushioning it by saying "Well I
understand, no one should have to pay an extra cost for something
without
knowing why." and answering it with "However, the high
cost of repairs these days can run into the hundreds of dollars and
become a
huge inconvenience. The Sears Maintenance Agreement would spare
you from
all that, and give you peace of mind as well. Furthermore, our
annual
preventive maintenance check will keep your product running smoothly
and help
extend the life of it." and finally I would seek agreement
by
saying "Now don't you agree Mr. and Mrs. Jones that the value of
saving
time, money and inconvenience as well as extending the life of your
product are
well worth the small price of the Maintenance Agreement?" You
see how that works now? Now, if I get another objection after
that, then
I am to start the 4 step process all over again and to take up to 3
"No's" before giving up! Of course, most associates know
better than to have to take 3 "No's" but that is Sears' official
policy on overcoming objections to MA's. We even have a video at
the MA
meetings that we periodically watch about overcoming objections to the
MA.
What do you all think of that? Is that a sign that Sears
respects
your judgment and intelligence? Is that even consistent with
Sears'
philosophy that "The customer is always right"?
I was commanded to "brainwash" the customer!
Even my Sears Brand Central Manager, Bob Randall of the Bellingham, WA
branch, in not so many words commanded me to
"brainwash" my customers into needing the MA!!! One time I wasn't
getting any $30 MA's on any $100 to $150 microwaves, and when the
manager came
up to me about that I said,
"Yeah well I'm trying to sell the MA's on these microwaves, but the
customers keep telling me that they just don’t think that it's
worth it to buy
a $30 MA on something they can easily replace if broken."
This got him mad and he replied,
"No you can't think like that! It's your job to
convince
them to see the value of getting the MA. You're doing them a
great
disservice to them by not giving them the MA. Who do you think
they're
going to blame when that microwave breaks in a few weeks?"
Can you believe that?! He tried to use guilt to pressure me on
top of
everything else! What he was saying in not so many words is that
"I
don't care what the customer thinks they want! If they don't
think they
need the MA, they've got to be made to think they need
the
MA!" What a jerk! If I were the boss I'd fire him for that!
Who does he think he is? What gives him the right to decide
what
the customer thinks they want?! Is he even allowing me to respect
what
you, the customer, thinks? Gee whiz! And this was the same
guy who
told me during the job interview that it is wrong to sell the customer
something they don't need! What a hypocrite! I wanted to
blast him
with logic and rationality, but I couldn't do anything like that cause
he was
my boss. Up until then I had thought that he was a nice
reasonable guy,
but at that point I lost all respect for him right there. Now, I
can accept
being told what to do by my boss, but being told how to think?
That's where I draw the line! Wouldn't you agree?
At that point I became confused. What I didn’t understand
was why I
couldn’t just let customers use their own common sense to decide
what they need
and don’t need? I thought the customer was always right and
our job was
to please the customer? Why do I have to decide for them just to
fill my
MA goal and please Sears? It didn’t make sense to me, and I
couldn’t
believe my manager actually said that. It's obvious that he was
using
fear tactics on me to sell the MA's by trying to put the fear in me
that the
customer would blame me for not selling them the MA if their microwave
broke in
a few days or weeks! In actuality though, even if the microwave
did break
in a few weeks, it would be covered by the manufacturer's warranty
anyway.
Personally, I hated trying to sell the MA's because most
customers just
didn't want them. I felt that if the customer didn't think they
needed
the MA, then we should respect their intelligence and judgment on that.
But that kind of thinking is unacceptable to Sears, according to
my Brand
Central Manager Bob Randall! (Note: I am entering his full name
and location here for the search engines, to expose his hypocritical
attitude)
5 Tell-tale signs that the MA lacks inherent worthiness
These 5 tell-tale signs should tell you something.
1) The MA can't sell itself. The fact that the MA
can't
sell itself, but instead has to be sold with brainwashing, persistency
and
instilling fears and worries into the customer testifies right there
that it
lacks inherent worthiness. It also says that the motives for
selling it
are not entirely honest to the customers.
2) The public has a negative opinion of MA's and extended
warranties.
This is why Sears has to push so hard to sell the MA. As a
rule of
thumb, if most people think negatively about something, then there is a
very
good reason for that kind of public perception. After all, if the
MA had
any real inherent value, would the majority of the American people be
against
it? If MA's were really as good as Sears says, they would have
gained a
good reputation by word of mouth already, but they haven't.
3) The sales associates have to instill fears and worries into
the
customer to sell the MA. They do this by describing the
worst
possible scenario to the customer about what an appliance failure could
do to
their lives by resulting in expensive repair costs and huge
inconveniences.
If we were to always assume the worst about all their appliances'
reliability, then why should we even buy any of their appliances at
all? lol
4) The more people know, the less they buy MA's.
Sears
would rather hide their profit motives and claim that the purpose of
selling
MA's are to help customers and pay the cost of their national service
centers.
The problem for Sears is, the more people learn about the MA, the
less
people want it. As a result, Sears has to continually push it
even harder
in order to keep selling them. As people learn about the MA from
experience, they eventually discover that it's just a way for Sears and
other
companies who sell them to profit off of people.
5) Sears tries too hard to sell MA's. The fact
that Sears
tries too hard to sell MA's with persistent fear tactics and by holding
weekly
mandatory MA meetings to sell more MA's is another tell-tale sign that
it's all
about profits for the top. In fact, if you buy an appliance or
electronics product without an MA, a few weeks later the Sears MA
office will
call you to try to sell it to you again! Some have even said that
they've
even been called twice! Obviously Sears is trying hard! lol
Now do
you think they're trying that hard to benefit you, or them? lol
Why MA's are profitable to Sears, but NOT to You!
The main reason why MA's and other extended warranties are a profit to
Sears
but not beneficial to you is because most brand new appliances don't
usually
break during the 3 year period of the MA. Quality appliances
usually last
without any problems up to 10 or 15 years or more. That's why
most people
who have the MA will not need to use it, and Sears knows that, which is
why the
revenue generated from the MA far exceeds the cost of it. It's
the same
principle that insurance companies use. That's the KEY to
understanding
the profitability of MA's and other extended warranties. Of
course, if
everyone's product actually broke during the 3 year period of the MA,
then
Sears' costs would belly up and they'd no longer be able to afford to
offer the
MA! lol
Understanding the "science" behind the MA in terms of the bathtub
curve
There is a term in the product reliability field called the bathtub
curve.
It reveals that during a product's infancy, a spike of errors has
a
chance of occurring if you remember to often run the product
continuously for a
few days at a time to test it out. Any defects should come out
during
this stage if you do that, and would be covered by the basic warranty.
After this infancy stage comes the long period of the product's
main life
cycle where the product works with very little failures. Then as
the
product reaches near the end of its useful life cycle, failures begin
to
increase. When the probability of product failure is graphed out
according to these stages of the life cycle, it looks like the shape of
a
bathtub. The lowest chance of problems occurring with the product
is
during the long period between the infancy stage and near the end of
the
product life cycle. This long period where very few problems
occur is
what the MA's and extended warranties try to cover. They are
essentially overpriced for the amount of risk.
Sears and other companies have calculated all this out, and that's why
they
know the majority of people will not need to use the MA during its 3
year term.
THAT'S why it's so profitable for them.
What you're betting on when you buy the MA
When you buy the MA, what you're essentially doing is betting that the
product
will break during the first 3 years of its life, and that you'll save
money in
repair costs. When the store sells the MA to you, it's betting
that it
won't break during those first 3 years (otherwise they'd lose a lot of
money!)
Obviously the odds will be in favor of the house.
Do MA's really give you "peace of mind"?
Sears claims that their MA's give customers "peace of mind".
But do they? Sure. In fact anything can give you
peace of
mind if you're convinced that you'd be in trouble without it.
That's why
Sears associates are taught to instill fear and worry into customers so
that
they will feel like they need to have peace of mind by buying the MA.
The
fact is that customers who walk into the store ALREADY have peace of
mind with
regard to appliances because they expect that the brand new quality
appliance
they're going to buy will work without problems. So why give them
something they already have? It is Sears who tries to
make their
customers to not have peace of mind, not the customers. Now if
we're
talking about peace of mind in general, well that has to do with many
factors
such as one's inner qualities, perceptions, attitudes, ability to
handle
obstacles and challenges, ability to control desires and emotions,
character,
brain disposition, etc. not on some silly MA! lol
The consumers' right to be informed
Now some who are reading this may say "So what? Everyone has a
right
to try to make a profit. What's wrong with that?" I'll
respond
to them by saying that yes everyone does have a right to make a profit,
including those behind get-rich-quick schemes, multi-level marketing
companies,
infomercials, etc. However, we the consumers also have a right to
educate
ourselves about misleading claims that companies make and the fear
tactics they
use to get our money.
Some will also say "So what? Sears has a right to offer the
MA!" and I'll say "Of course they do. I also have a right to
offer a pencil to you for $200 as well. But do I have a right to
attempt
to psychologically manipulate you into paying $200 for a pencil and
make you
think that you can't live without it?" You've got to understand
that
Sears doesn't just simply offer it, they actually teach their
salespeople that
the customer is WRONG if they don't want the MA, and therefore have to
be
convinced to change their mind. Who do you think is right here,
Sears or
the American people?
Some exceptions
In spite of the general unworthiness of MA's and other extended
warranties,
from what I've heard there are exceptions for a few products that might
be
worth getting an MA on. Some examples are lawnmowers,
snowblowers,
digital cameras, laptops and big screen TV's. With lawnmowers,
necessary
annual tune-ups may be expensive and if your MA covers three annual
tune-ups,
then it may well pay for itself as well as give you insurance against
product
failure. Certain high tech electronic products such as digital
cameras,
laptops and big screen TV's may also benefit from an MA or extended
warranty
due to their fragile components, which if broken could cost more to fix
than
replacing the product whole. Nevertheless, despite these
exceptions MA's
and other extended warranties have still proven to not be worth the
money in
general terms.
What I'm not saying here
Now let me clarify something here. I'm not saying here that the
MA is
never beneficial to the consumer, or that it will never come in handy
to
anyone. I'm not saying either that 100% of the time you buy an MA
it will
be a ripoff. Yes, there are always a minority of cases where a
brand new
product will just suddenly fail during the first 3 years. Yes,
there will
be a minority of people for whom the MA will save them expensive repair
costs.
I do acknowledge that. However, most of these sudden
failures would
be covered by the manufacturer's warranty as demonstrated in the
bathtub curve
concept mentioned earlier. So what I'm saying here is that in the
MAJORITY of cases, the MA will be a waste of money because it will not
be
needed. This MAJORITY that never uses the MA is why the MA is so
profitable to Sears. Therefore, if you buy an MA, the ODDS are
heavily
against it being needed during the 3 year period. And since the
odds are
against the MA being needed, it's a bad investment to make.
Sears’ dire state – from a former
employee
One reader wrote me:
”Anyway,
I have worked at Sears for right at a year and I totally agree with you
on the
whole ma thing. If sear's made their
products right in the first place, they would not need to sell any
mra/mpas. The whole meeting thing that
sears does is
also ridiculous. Just like you said,
every week or even twice a week we each attend a mpa training meeting,
in which
we are always asked to take out our discovery guides and discus the
last
customer we talked to that was interested in a ma eligible product. If we did not sell the ma to the customer, we
had to go through the entire sell and answer the the store manager and
to the
department manager why we were unable to sell the ma.
When I first began working for sears I
genuinly thought that Craftsman prodcuts were among the best on the
market. Now, after seeing the numerous
problems customers have with so many craftsman products, I seriously
question
the quality of craftsman products.
Another
thing ma's that makes me angry is how I have to worry so much about
selling
them, that sometimes I pass up an opportunity to sell a big item just
so my
percentage will not be hurt. With this
much pressure on the associates to sell ma's, anyone inside the company
can see
that it is a scam. Another interesting
thing about ma's is that after our commision is taken out, which is now
3% (for
hardware associates), the remainder of the commision comes back to the
store
managers (the vast majority anyway).
This is why the push so freaking hard to sell ma's (I know a
pretty good
chunk also goes back to the regional and district managers).
The
final complaint i have about ma's is just simply the fact that our
service is
absolutely horrible. It frequently takes
a product four to six weeks to return from the repair center, when the
repair
center says that it should only take arounf 7-10 days.
Anyway,
that is my rant...I guess I am preaching to the choir since you know
exactly
what I am going through...One thing I have realized though is how bad
of a
company Sears is now...I, along with many of my fellow associates,
fully expect
sears to go out of business within five years because of the many
luducris
policies the company has...And one final thing, when a former Sears
store
General Manager will not buy a ma because he says to your face they are
a
rip-off, that should be the final nail in the coffin.
Well,
thanks for your time and I am glad that you put together the
website.”
Conclusion and recommendations
Now that I've told you the truth and given you a behind the scenes look
at MA's
and extended warranties, you should now be able to see through it all
and be
better equipped to make a qualified decision on whether or not you need
the MA.
Also, by understanding the tactics used to sell the MA, you've
also
gained a better understanding of how high pressure sales tactics work
in
general, so that you'll be able to shield your mind against
quota-driven sales
pitches.
The choice is yours. You can choose to believe Sears, whose
motives are both
to profit off you and protect themselves as well. Or you can
choose to
believe me, whose motive is to tell you his honest experience,
observation and
judgment so that you'll get the big picture. Now I'm betting that
most of
you won't want MA's and extended warranties after what I've shown you
about
them. So for those of you who wish to retaliate against the
brainwashing
fear tactics of the MA and other extended warranties, what I would
recommend to
everyone is this. If you've already bought an MA, then do one of
the
following. 1) Start using your MA by getting the most value from
it.
Start making service calls for any little defect you find, and
remember
to get your annual preventive maintenance check and demand that they do
a very
thorough check of it. If everyone with MA's used their MA's
fully, then
it would send a message to Sears that they can't get away with taking
extra
money from people for nothing anymore. Or, 2) first make sure
your
product is in good working condition and then simply cancel your MA and
get the
unused portion for the remaining time period refunded back to you.
You
can call Sears for either of these two things at 1-800-4-MY-HOME.
For
those of you who don't have an MA, next time you go into Sears to buy
an appliance
or electronic product and the salesman brings up the MA, I suggest that
you
simply say "Well if you think I'll need an MA on it, then I don't want
it!
Who wants an unreliable product?" That will confuse the
heck
out of them! lol It will also send them the message that they
can’t scam
you out of extra money without it coming back to them. In any
case, now
that you know the truth behind MA's and extended warranties, you'll
know
exactly what you're being offered the next time a salesman offers them
to you. Thank you for your time in reading
my report,
and choose wisely.
(Feel free to send any comments or feedback to me at scepcop@debunkingskeptics.com)
View
Reader
Responses
Note: Feel free to share your comments and feedback about this
article in
the guestbook
or forum.
Addendum A: The Truth
About The Sears Credit Protection Plan
I just learned this
recently myself. If you apply for a
Sears Card, don’t ever get the Credit Protection Plan on it! The sales pitch on it is so tricky that even
sales associates at Sears and customer service reps at Sears Credit
Central
don’t know how it actually works! All
they know is the sales pitch that they’ve been taught, which is:
"The Sears Credit
Protection Plan protects the purchases you make with your Sears Card by
replacing
them if they get damaged or lost due to fire, flood, earthquake, etc.
and it
only costs $0.85 for every $100 balance you have on your card. It also makes you minimum monthly payment if
you should become involuntarily unemployed or if you should pass
away."
There are several parts
of this pitch that are very misleading and give the wrong impression to
both
customers and even to the sales associates who present it!
To get the true facts and conditions on it,
don’t call Sears Credit Central themselves, because many of their
customer
service reps don’t know all the details themselves.
Instead, call the Credit Protection Plan
Office at (800) 366-2286 or (800) 776-2077 and they’ll be
required to give you
the real details, such as:
1) First
of all, it does NOT cover your
purchases if they get damaged by common causes of damage or loss such
as rain,
sun, misuse, carelessness or even theft!
It only covers your items under conditions of extreme disaster
such as
fires, floods, earthquakes, etc. Now you
may be wondering "What kind of 'protection' is that then, if it doesn't
even protect my products from common causes of damage or loss?!" Well the answer is that it's not real
protection for your products, but just a cheap way for corporate Sears
to get
some extra bucks off you.
2) Second,
the customer is also left with the
impression that if they pay off the balance on the card in full each
month,
then they won’t get charged anything for the CPP.
Most sales associates also have this
misconception as well, as I did when I presented the CPP while opening
Sears
cards for people. I only found out the
truth when I called the CPP office, which told me that the $0.85 per
$100
charge applies to ALL cumulative charges made for the month, no matter
when you
pay off your balance! What this means is
that if I charge $100 on the card one day, paid it off the next day,
and did
the same for ten days, I would have accumulated $1000 in total charges
on the
card. That means the CPP fee would come
out to $8.50. Now that may not seem like
much, but from a corporate point of view, when you have millions of
card
holders that amounts to millions of dollars!
3) Finally,
the worst thing of all about the CPP
is that in order to collect on any claims, you can’t just call
them to make the
claim and collect it just like that! NO
WAY! For example, if you were to claim
involuntary unemployment status in order for them to make your minimum
monthly
payment for you on the Sears card, you would have to file through
Allstate
Insurance, go register with the Unemployment Office, get a written
statement
from your former employer to prove that you were involuntarily
discharged from
your job, etc. I didn’t memorize all
the
details, but that’s what the CPP office told me over the phone. I can’t imagine that the process for
claiming
replacements for purchases damaged by fire, flood, earthquake, etc. is
any
easier! So even if I bought a $15 dollar
sweater with my Sears card and it got damaged in a disaster, I would
have to go
through several bureaucratic procedures in order to file that claim!
They’ve obviously made
so difficult and inconvenient to collect on any claims from the CPP
that most
people wouldn’t go through it to collect on it!
And you know why of course! Sears
just wants to take your money while protecting themselves from
having to
pay on any claims you make! It’s a
pure
scam, nothing more, nothing less!
I’m sure Sears knows
that most sales associates and customers are misled about how the CPP
really
works, but is it in their best interests to educate you on that? No, of course not. In
fact, if you apply for a Sears card, get
approved, but don’t sign up for the CPP, you’ll get called
twice by Sears Credit
Central to try to sign you up for it and you’ll also get an offer
in the mail
to sign up for it by returning the SASE!
All they want you to do is sign up for it, no need to tell you
much
about it.
Addendum B: From a
Sears
Salesperson
As of 2005, a Sears
salesperson related the following revealing comments to me:
“I
have worked at Sears for right at a year and I totally agree with you
on the
whole ma thing. If sear's made their products right in the first
place,
they would not need to sell any mra/mpas. The whole meeting thing
that
sears does is also ridiculous. Just like you said, every week or
even
twice a week we each attend a mpa training meeting, in which we are
always
asked to take out our discovery guides and discus the last customer we
talked
to that was interested in a ma eligible product. If we did not
sell the
ma to the customer, we had to go through the entire sell and answer the
store
manager and to the department manager why we were unable to sell the
ma.
When I first began working for sears I genuinely thought that Craftsman
products were among the best on the market. Now, after seeing the
numerous problems customers have with so many craftsman products, I
seriously
question the quality of craftsman products.
Another thing ma's that makes me angry is how I have to worry so much
about
selling them, that sometimes I pass up an opportunity to sell a big
item just
so my percentage will not be hurt. With this much pressure on the
associates to sell ma's, anyone inside the company can see that it is a
scam. Another interesting thing about ma's is that after our
commission
is taken out, which is now 3% (for hardware associates), the remainder
of the
commission comes back to the store managers (the vast majority
anyway).
This is why the push so freaking hard to sell ma's (I know a pretty
good chunk
also goes back to the regional and district managers).
The final complaint i have about ma's is just simply the fact that our
service
is absolutely horrible. It frequently takes a product four to six
weeks
to return from the repair center, when the repair center says that it
should
only take around 7-10 days.
Anyway, that is my rant...I guess I am preaching to the choir since you
know
exactly what I am going through...One thing I have realized though is
how bad
of a company Sears is now...I, along with many of my fellow associates,
fully
expect sears to go out of business within five years because of the
many
ludicrous policies the company has...And one final thing, when a former
Sears
store General Manager will not buy a ma because he says to your face
they are a
rip-off, that should be the final nail in the coffin.
Well, thanks for your time and I am glad that you put together the
website.”