Bethany Biron/Business Insider
- A Sears outage lasting several days caused problems at Sears and Kmart stores this week, the company confirmed to Business Insider.
- The outage, which started Tuesday, prevented shoppers from making returns or picking up online orders in Sears and Kmart stores and left some Kmart stores unable to process non-cash payments. It also disrupted deliveries and service appointments.
- "Our systems experienced some technical difficulties and we have resolved the issue," a Sears spokesperson told Business Insider. "We apologize for any inconvenience our members and customers may have experienced."
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Sears was hit by a widespread outage this week that caused problems with stores, home deliveries, service appointments, and more, the company confirmed to Business Insider.
The outage prevented some shoppers from making returns, picking up online orders, or accessing Shop Your Way loyalty points in Sears and Kmart stores and left some Kmart stores unable to process non-cash payments. It also disrupted deliveries and prevented customers from making service appointments for broken washers, refrigerators, or other problems.
Sears said Friday that the issues, which began Tuesday, have been resolved.
"Our systems experienced some technical difficulties and we have resolved the issue," a Sears spokesperson told Business Insider. "We apologize for any inconvenience our members and customers may have experienced."
Dozens of customers have been complaining on social media about problems related to the outage.
Sears has been responding to customers individually and asking them to contact them again in 24 hours, saying the company would be able to check on deliveries and address other complaints when its "servers are back up and running" following "very serious technical issues."
Sears customer Nicole Jones told Business Insider that the outage left her without a car for a day.
Jones said she dropped off her car Tuesday at a Sears Auto Center in Douglasville, Georgia, for an oil change that she planned to pay for with Sears Shop Your Way loyalty points.
"I get back there two hours later and the system is down," she said. "I can’t use my points and I don’t have $70 to pay them. No one on the phone was willing to help so my car was there overnight while I scraped up the money to pay."
Others complained on social media that they waited hours for deliveries that never arrived, or spent long periods waiting to speak to a Sears customer service representative.
"Dear @Kmart, went to ur Penn Plaza location last night and had to pay with cash cause ur systems were down," one person wrote Thursday on Twitter. "Today I tried to do a return and couldn’t because your ‘return systems’ were down. This is unacceptable especially in a busy NYC!"
Another person tweeted: "@Sears I have been told for the last 2 days to keep calling back in 24 hours to get a service appointment. Two days and this response still. This is not great service. The @kenmore dryer I received has not work since it was delivered. Please help!"
Here’s what others are saying on Twitter:
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Source: Business Insider – hpeterson@businessinsider.com (Hayley Peterson)