Sears made the news after a well-known consumer advocate spotted a sneaky up-sell policy that has been in place this holiday season, potentially causing hundreds of consumer to overpay up to $550 on their appliances.
Edgar Dworksy went on to Sears.com to purchase a refrigerator and take advantage of the Black Friday Deals. Unfortunately, after putting the item in his online cart, Sears added another item: a $469 service contract that Dworsky never authorized. If he wasn’t such a careful consumer, he might have gone ahead and checked out, completing the transaction with the added charge.
How many of us, in the frenzy of holiday shopping really check our carts? I know there has been quite a few instances so far, where I’ve had to rush through my online gift purchases before someone in my family enters the room. Apparently, Sears wants to take advantage of rushed consumers to milk a bit more money out of them. Well, a lot more money actually.
Of course, the extra items and charges could be removed from the cart by the consumer before check out, but should they have to be? This is the equivalent of shopping in a regular retail store and having employees throw extra items into your cart or add on extra fees at the cash register without telling you.
When Dworsky pointed out the issue to Sears, they defended the practice, saying that the practice has been in place since 2010, and that they have received very little negative customer feedback about the practice (perhaps because most consumers were unaware it was even happening to them?). Regardless, Sears says that it will change the practice from now on.
This is a very good lesson folks. Whenever you are shopping online, you should always double check your cart before you check out and your transaction confirmation after you check out.
Related Articles:
Don’t Let Everyone Else Tell You What You Need