General Discussion

dixiegrrrrl

(60,010 posts) Sat Dec 20, 2014, 08:09 PM Dec 2014

Kmart Ruins Christmas By Canceling Layaway Orders, Holding Onto Refunds

There’s an unhappy wind blowing toward Kmart right now, and it’s coming from the direction of disgruntled customers who say that after the retailer notified them of a Dec. 14 deadline to pay off layaway balances in order to have their items delivered by Christmas, the retailer has been canceling orders left and right, saying items are “out of stock.” Not only that, but some shoppers say they’ve been told their refunds won’t arrive until after it’s too late to buy new Christmas presents to replace the canceled layaway items.

http://consumerist.com/2014/12/16/kmart-ruins-christmas-by-canceling-layaway-orders-holding-onto-refunds/

An update is here:
Kmart Apologizes For Layaway Debacle, Says Some Cancellations Were “Inadvertent”
http://consumerist.com/2014/12/17/kmart-apologizes-for-layaway-debacle-says-some-cancellations-were-inadvertent/

My heart goes out to cash strapped families who have no other funds to make up the lost items.

Seems as if Sears is trying to run itself into the ground...
maybe all those store locations have a high real estate value?

12 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Kmart Ruins Christmas By Canceling Layaway Orders, Holding Onto Refunds (Original Post) dixiegrrrrl Dec 2014 OP

IMO the worst thing for Sears LiberalElite Dec 2014 #1

it is the guy running the whole shebang demigoddess Dec 2014 #4

Which is why I stopped shopping there. OffWithTheirHeads Dec 2014 #7

Should be on Fux News: "Why does KMart hate Xmas?" nt Ilsa Dec 2014 #2

They don't hate Xmas, they just don't like the poor. hughee99 Dec 2014 #12

How could a lawaway item be out of stock? Atman Dec 2014 #3

You will notice the article said that only online orders suffered, not in store orders. dixiegrrrrl Dec 2014 #5

Somebody lost their job over this Omaha Steve Dec 2014 #6

Layaway is still a thing? Sen. Walter Sobchak Dec 2014 #8

A new phenomenon Generic Other Dec 2014 #9

I've noticed Wal*Mart has recently brought back layaway as well JonLP24 Dec 2014 #10

I am surprised K-Mart is still a thing. n/t dixiegrrrrl Dec 2014 #11

LiberalElite

(14,691 posts)

1. IMO the worst thing for Sears

Reply to dixiegrrrrl (Original post)

Sat Dec 20, 2014, 08:13 PM

Dec 2014

was merging with K-Mart.

demigoddess

(6,640 posts)

4. it is the guy running the whole shebang

Reply to LiberalElite (Reply #1)

Sat Dec 20, 2014, 08:27 PM

Dec 2014

an Ayn Randian from what I have read.

OffWithTheirHeads

(10,337 posts)

7. Which is why I stopped shopping there.

Reply to demigoddess (Reply #4)

Sat Dec 20, 2014, 09:41 PM

Dec 2014

And the list grows longer. Pretty much, I just don't shop at chains anymore. Not retail, not food.

Ilsa

(61,694 posts)

2. Should be on Fux News: "Why does KMart hate Xmas?" nt

Reply to dixiegrrrrl (Original post)

Sat Dec 20, 2014, 08:14 PM

Dec 2014

hughee99

(16,113 posts)

12. They don't hate Xmas, they just don't like the poor.

Reply to Ilsa (Reply #2)

Sun Dec 21, 2014, 02:31 AM

Dec 2014

Fux news can respect that.

Atman

(31,464 posts)

3. How could a lawaway item be out of stock?

Reply to dixiegrrrrl (Original post)

Sat Dec 20, 2014, 08:19 PM

Dec 2014

While I've never purchased anything on layaway, I thought the whole idea was that the physical merchandise was tagged and set aside for you while you made weekly or monthly payments on it. So instead, KMart took customers money, earned interest off of it, but never actually had the merchandise available? Seems beyond "inadvertent." Seems more like outright fraud.

dixiegrrrrl

(60,010 posts)

5. You will notice the article said that only online orders suffered, not in store orders.

Reply to Atman (Reply #3)

Sat Dec 20, 2014, 08:33 PM

Dec 2014

It is obvious that the goods on layaway for online shoppers were in a warehouse somewhere...or supposed to be.

The winners of the situation were those who had their orders canceled AFTER the items arrived at their homes.