The slow decline of Kmart and Sears has been a popular media topic, and admittedly I don’t shop at either store very often anymore. My closest Kmart is more than 45 minutes away, and there simply isn’t much in the way of sale enticement to encourage visiting the store on a regular basis.
That said, back in June, we were in Rockford for an event, and we stopped at the Rockford Kmart to look for a Kmart-exclusive Star Wars figure that my husband wanted. While he and the boys browsed the toys, I wandered around the store. I happened to spot a pair of cotton cargo pants that, well, just looked like me:
They were on sale for $11.99. I bought the pants, and as soon as I started wearing them, I realized that I loved them. What can I say? They’re really comfortable and lightweight for summer, plus they have snap straps to roll the cuffs into capris. They’re perfect for all our outdoor summer adventures!
About a week after I bought this pair in-store in June, I decided that I wanted more pairs of these pants. I didn’t want to drive all the way back to Rockford, so I went on Kmart.com to order a few more pairs in other colors.
To get over the $35 free shipping mark, I added three more pairs to my cart. However, when it came time to ship, the cart said “Shipping temporarily unavailable.”
That was in June. Throughout this entire summer, I’ve opened Kmart’s website at least once a week, where my shopping cart immediately pops up in the corner to show me that I’ve still got three pairs of pants in my cart — but I can’t ship them! I can add more pairs of the pants to my cart, but I can’t ship any of them. The cart has continually said that no stores within 50 miles have them in stock either, so store pickup isn’t even an option.
This week, I got an email from Kmart saying I had $6 in surprise points to spend on an order, so I again headed to Kmart.com today. The site still showed the three pairs of pants in my cart, but finally, I had the option to ship! (It’s about time.)
The pants are now on sale for $13.99. With my $6 surprise points discount, my existing Shop Your Way points, and tax, I paid $37.63 for three pairs and got a bonus $10.35 worth of points for my next Kmart/Sears purchase — so it turned out to be a pretty good deal.
However, I have to wonder: Why did it take about two months for these items to be available for shipping? If they were out of stock, you would think the site would simply reflect that… but in my experience, that’s not how Kmart usually works.
You may remember my December 2015 saga too, when I blogged about trying to buy (yet another) Star Wars figure at Kmart and having our orders repeatedly cancelled after placing them on Kmart.com, even though the item was in stock online.
I’m holding my breath to see if my pants order actually does go through to completion…
I placed my order around 11:00am today. It’s 12:47pm and look what I just got from Kmart:
I’m not terribly surprised. Honestly, I can’t remember shopping at Kmart after our December 2015 experience having our Kmart.com orders repeatedly cancelled while the items were still in stock online. I was so turned off by the entire experience that I decided not to shop Kmart online again. It took eight months (and a nice pair of cargo pants) for me to place another order with them.
The reason I ordered three pairs was to get over the “Free Shipping at $35” threshold. Check it out though — while one pair was canceled, the other two pairs now say “Ready for Pickup.”
So many questions:
- Will I get the other two pairs of pants, or will they be cancelled?
- IF the other two pairs ship, will I be charged shipping because I now have less than $35 in items ordered?
- If my other two pairs of pants are now “Ready for Pickup,” where should I get them?
- Will I lose my $10.35 in bonus Shop Your Way points for this order?
- Will I ever shop at Kmart.com again?
Stay tuned…
1:18 PM UPDATE: Woo Hoo, indeed!
It looks like I am actually going to get some pants! I’m pleasantly surprised that I wasn’t back-charged additional shipping for having fewer than $35 in items, and it looks like I kept my bonus Shop Your Way points too. I think it’s time to cut my losses & enjoy my pants!
Although, I can still add another pair of the grey pants to my cart at Kmart.com, because they’re still “in stock” online…
wolverine70 says
I wish I didn’t have to agree with you on this, but you’re right. Detroit was the birthplace of Kresge and then Kmart and this area long remained loyal to that chain long after Target and Walmart moved in. The CEO of Sears Holdings simply isn’t a merchant, has no clue of how to run a retailer and is operating the company as a real estate play. Ironically he views the ecommerce strategy as a key linchpin for the company’s success, but their execution of it is abysmal. It will not be a good day when the company fails. A lot of good people will be out of work and it’s so unnecessary. Kmart could have a place in the retail landscape if operated properly.
Glad you finally were able to order your pants though. Did you catch any fish? Did your husband find the Star Wars figure he was seeking?
Coupon Maven says
He did not find the Star Wars figure back in June – out of stock, but worth trying as we were driving right by the Rockford Kmart that day. He then tried to order it online, and you can guess how that went. (Unsuccessfully.)
However, we did catch some fish! That fishing photo was from this past Sunday – we were fishing along the Mississippi River in Wisconsin. We caught mostly sunfish and bluegill on this trip. That photo is proof though that despite being a Boy Scout, my son still tries to talk Mom into baiting the hook for him :)
Calibabydolly says
Wait- Why didn’t they charge you $11.99 for the pants? Wasn’t that how much they were originally back in June? Did they only charge your credit card when they shipped them out? I think this is called bait and switch. (by the way, the white ones in the picture do look nice n comfy) I hate when stores do this; they take your order and then give you the run around. Our Kmart here in Bradley closed back in May. Meijer paid 5 million for the property and the adjacent lot and is going to be imploding the store to build their own new one in 2018! What are companies thinking? There were so many other “choice” locations around this town that are empty land for much less. This is probably why Kmart is closing stores, poor people running them. I do hope you get some pants soon. You will still be able to wear them in the fall if the weather stays this blazing hot!
On another note similar to this. I ordered a back to school special laptop from Dell.com last week. It was the one advertised in the Sunday Parade magazine last weekend. I compared prices online and with brick and mortar stores and this was a STEAL! $170 off. As I was placing my order I noticed if I signed up for Dell Advantage (FREE) I would get 10% off this order! Another perk is members get FREE 2 day (business) express shipping. Great, I thought….cheaper and faster. They also offer to email you AND text your phone when the item is shipped because you do need to sign for the order. Last Friday was 2 days, so I paid attn. to my alerts. Nothing. So yesterday I rechecked my order confirmation email and that one says “3-5 business day shipping”. That’s it, I called them. Well after about 20 minutes of speaking with an Indian man and trying to figure out what he was explaining, I now know the “FREE 2 day express shipping” MEANS it will only take 2 days to get here after the item has left the factory! The nice man on the phone even had me speak to his manager and I gather since this is such a great deal they had to get my laptop from another country! He expects they will have it to me by the 16th. Oh well, I’m not holding my breath, just watching for when my credit card gets charged because that will mean it is on its way.
Lucky you have other pants to wear and I didn’t need this computer for a kid going off to college!
Coupon Maven says
>>Why didn’t they charge you $11.99 for the pants? Wasn’t that how much they were originally back in June?
The price on the tag is $19.99 – they were on sale for $11.99 at that time. They’re $13.99 now, and honestly, I like them enough that I wasn’t going to fret about a couple bucks. With $2 off each pair from the surprise points, they were going to be $11.99 again anyway.
>> Did they only charge your credit card when they shipped them out? I think this is called bait and switch.
Nope, they charged as soon as I placed the order! The refund for the cancelled item won’t show up for at least a week or more. We went through this last year with the Star Wars toy for my son. I ordered it multiple times when Kmart.com said it was available, but a few minutes later they’d cancel the order, keeping my money and telling me a refund would be processed later.
Your story about Meijer is crazy..! My closest (former) Kmart was Woodstock. When it closed, the Sears Apparel Outlet moved in, and we enjoyed a couple years of free-clothing days and incredible kids’ clothes bargains. I really miss that Sears Outlet, but it closed when a local Harley-Davidson dealership wanted to move into that building. To their credit, they completely revamped the building, inside and out (which it desperately needed) and it looks nothing like the late-70s-era Kmart it formerly was.
>>. I do hope you get some pants soon. You will still be able to wear them in the fall if the weather stays this blazing hot!
Me too — and thanks. They’re lightweight but not too sheer. They will definitely be fine for early-fall pants!
Now, your Dell fiasco? EXTREMELY misleading on the “2 day express!” You are absolutely right about that being a huge problem for students heading to college. It’s still a good deal, but when a tagline like that gets you to place an order, you expect that they’ll follow through…
SSMark1 says
I still love KMart.
I shop the KMarts in Bloomingdale, Des Plaines, & Lombard, IL.
I was disappointed when Janesville, WI closed, but still shop Portage, WI as my Wisconsin store (only 5.5% sales tax & ZERO tax on food in Wisconsin!).
BTW, Sears is having a friends & family sale this Sunday.
I haven’t gotten any of the 100% in points back offers for a while.
They still send those SYWR $ offers to me all the time, as Jill just used.
I would love to see what goes on in their marketing planning meetings, cause for life of me, I have NO CLUE what their thinking is.
They are still operating at a loss, & sell off the stores & property to stay afloat.
When they bought back stock not too long ago, I was like, what the heck, that is insane, you need the cash!
If you need parts in a hurry for say, your dryer, or refrigerator, Sears Parts is awesome.
Be sure to order online vs. in person, because the B&M prices are MUCH higher.
Your order is usually ready for pickup within 30 mins.
I pick up at the Bloomingdale, IL Stratford Square Mall Sears location (2nd floor).
Last Month, I could have ordered replacement solenoids for my dryer online eBay/Amazon for $2 cheaper, but I think $2 to get my dryer up & running within an hour is well worth that extra $2 when I have my dryer apart & want to put it back together asap after figuring out the no heat issue & save $ vs. Mr. Repairman coming to my house charging me for the service call & full price for parts.
Thank you YouTube.com!
I get to work with the Sears folks on a daily basis, & work on marketing & rewards campaigns to millions of Sears cardholders monthly.
Many of the people I work with that are on my team, worked at Sears for years & years.
Ever since they dropped “Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Money Back”, they’ve been losing.
If you remember, that quote used to be displayed prominently over each door you entered or exited at Sears.
Then KMart bought Sears.
Then the retired Sears workers had those horrible strikes against the company.
Senior leadership over the years lost touch with their shoppers.
They need to be more like Kohls & Macys in many ways, & I think you will see more of that coming.
Macys is closing 100 locations (almost 15% of it’s locations).
Walmart is even closing some non-preforming stores.
Walmart bought JET.COM to compete with Amazon.
KMart/Sears really need to revamp their online, because I have trouble navigating it & finding what I’m looking for.
I’m a 3rd party seller on Amazon & eBay sometimes lose inventory, & have cancelled orders in the past.
It happens, but with the issues Jill has described, that is REALLY bad!
Like… losing customers bad!
I feel bad for them.
For example, the Sears store closing in Orlando has been there for 50 years!
Here is an update from earlier this week on the closings: https://www.businessinsider.com/list-of-sears-and-kmart-stores-closing-2016-8
So if you have some extra time, check out a Sears or KMart, because they really do have some nice things… as Jill found there once again.
And take advantage of the combination of discounts, offers, & extra points, cause sometimes you get really unbeatable deals there.
When a store is struggling, they are willing to offer some great deals to keep the cash flow going…
-Mark
ms40s says
Stopped at the Des Plaines KMart and they just totally remodeled the store. Found out that there was a grand re-opening last week. I didn’t have much time to look around, but I did see that they now have fresh fruits & veggies.