News

Sears.com reverses up-sell policy

December 5, 2011

After Consumer Advocate Edgar Dworksy questioned Sears.com's policy of automatically adding service contracts to appliance orders online, the company said it would change the policy.

Dworsky told MSNBCthat he was shopping for a refrigerator online on Black Friday weekend, added one to his cart from Sears.com but then noticed that a five-year service contract for $469 had been added without his consent.

Dworsky acknowledged that the charge for the service plan is easily removed from the cart if the customer spots it but that a consumer should not have to opt out of extra services.

In an email to MSNBC, Larry Costello, the Sears' public relations director, wrote that:

"Since 2010, we have selected the purchase of a protection agreement as the default and clearly displayed that choice. The customer must click to confirm that choice or select another option prior to moving forward in the order process."

Costello said the company had received "very little negative customer feedback" about its up-sell policy but now that people are showing concerns the company has decided to provide customers with the default choice of declining the protection agreement.

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