Several months ago, I blogged about my discontent with Sears (and Nordic Track). Well, the power of social media has eventually led Sears to contact me about by dissatisfaction with its service.

You may remember that my wife and I were poorly served by Sears concerning the delivery and installation of a Nordic Track treadmill I had purchased at Sears. To fully review, check the Sears blog of October 14, 2009. As far as I was concerned at that time, I was done dealing with Sears and, by publishing the story, I’d “gotten even” with them for their apparent lack of caring about a pair of longtime cusotmers.

That was until the day before yesterday. About ten days ago, I received a call from a gentleman named Robert, representing Sears, who left a cell message and asked me to call him back at an 800 number to discuss our situation. After about 5 voice mails between the two of us, he finally reached me on Wednesday, the 20th. By the way, Bob was calling from Austin, Texas and I live in Indianapolis.

Neither of us had a copy of the actual blog available (I was in my car), so I repeated my entire story as best I could. He did a terrific job of listening. He offered a very sincere apology and, understanding that the situaion was beyond solving, also offered me a gift certificate or a discount, and promised to see what he could do to help Sears solve the problem on behalf of its millions of customers.

He also tellingly admitted to me that he’d heard similar stories many times. His exact words: “You’re not the first with this kind of complaint!”

He told me I’d get a call in about 10 days to verify that I’d received the gift certificate I accepted. He also emphasized that he understood the certificate does not make up for the irritation and inconvenience my wife and I suffered.

In short, he did everything he could at the time. And I feel better towards Sears thanks to his efforts. I emphasized that I doubted Sears would ever get as “customer friendly” as it used to be but that I appreciated any efforts he could put forth towards that end.

Finally, he gave me an e-mail address (not sure if it’s double secret or not) and asked me to use it any time I felt the need.

Sears is just one of thousands of companies that have policies and procedures that make it easier for them and tougher for their customers. But I’ll give them credit for finally showing SOMEBODY cares. THANKS, ROBERT!