I have never heard that story about appliances, but have heard about instances where some employees would argue about the Craftsman lifetime warranty. Usually it was a matter of finding somebody else to help you though. I have found that the commission based stores are the ones that push warranties the most though...when buying appliances at Lowe's or Home Depot it was a simple "no" and moving on.storewanderer wrote: ↑November 22nd, 2020, 12:54 pm
I heard stories of Sears Stores actually refusing to sell appliances to customers if customers would not buy an extended warranty with the appliance. I never had them push that hard for the Shop Your Way program though.
At least in the case of Sears, when you entered your phone number you typed it into the pinpad. So you did not have to verbally announce it to the cashier like at JC Penney.
I have only made one large purchase at Sears which was a riding mower 15 years ago which I still use. Things have broken on it, but I did not buy an extended warranty and have been able to repair things myself. Sears did close their parts centers though and some parts now have to be obtained via mail order/online, but I have also been able to source some things elsewhere as many parts are common to different brands. The next mower I purchase will likely not be Craftsman, even though the brand is now sold at Lowe's.
Moving back to JCPenney, they need to update things if they are going to roll out a loyalty program. Verbally announcing your phone number is not protecting your privacy. I will write down a password for my bank accounts when dealing with tellers in person instead of saying it, because you never know who is listening or recording stuff these days. I am no fan of loyalty programs but they need to take steps to respect your privacy.