Thought it would good info, and interesting reading if some of us tried to see who had the worst hardware store horror story or just shared some of our stories.
Hardware store Horror stories....Where not to shop.
- Thread starter Cocky
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Okay, I'll go first:
Georgetown Hardware in Georgetown, SC:
When I first bought my wive's chicks, they were our first chicks ever. We did not know how much they would eat and so we did not know how much feed to buy. It so happened that one week we ran out of feed on Thursday night and I said I would just get some on Friday while I was in town (I live 30 minutes outside of town). Well, I got held up at work, and the store I normally go to closes early on Fridays so I rushed to GT HW and pulled in at 10 till 5. I knew I was pushing it but they didn't close for another 10 minutes and I knew just what I wanted. As I walked up I noticed one of the manager's signal a boy to lock the door (as she saw me walking up). The boy hurried over and locked the door just as I was reaching for the handle (The front is all glass so I saw the whole thing).
All that was bad enough but there is more: I looked over at the register and saw that there were 5 or so people in line so I looked at the boy through the door and told him I had chicks who had no food left and all I needed was a small bag of feed....I would be in line before the ones who were at the register were even through and I wouldn't hold them up...I even mentioned that it wasn't even 5:00 yet. The boy seemed to pity me and looked over at the lady/manager who had told him to lock the door and I could tell he was pleading my case. As I watched the exchange I saw her look back at the boy (never even glancing my way) and basically tell him absolutely not. The boy looked at me one last time, shrugged his shoulders, motioned behind him at the lady, and mouthed I'm sorry....then turned his back on me and walked back in.
I was furious and promised myself I would never give them my business again or go back there and anytime I got the chance I would share my story with other people who might use their store. Later when I had had a chance to cool down I decided it might have been just underlings who were responsible and I would give them a second chance....I would go back and talk to the owner. Long story short, the owner not only excused there actions but admitted that they had closed the doors before 5 on occasion when they were busy and even tried to justify their actions by saying how that after a busy day all they wanted to do was get home and if customers kept coming in close to five they would never get out.
I have worked retail and even food service for a large part of my life and I know all about people coming in at the last minute...it is a pain in the butt. However, when you are in the retail business the customer is always right or it least you treat them as if they are even if they are wrong and stupid. I have served, waited on and helped many customers AFTER closing time and I thought this was pretty bad....What do you guys have to offer for a horror story?
Georgetown Hardware in Georgetown, SC:
When I first bought my wive's chicks, they were our first chicks ever. We did not know how much they would eat and so we did not know how much feed to buy. It so happened that one week we ran out of feed on Thursday night and I said I would just get some on Friday while I was in town (I live 30 minutes outside of town). Well, I got held up at work, and the store I normally go to closes early on Fridays so I rushed to GT HW and pulled in at 10 till 5. I knew I was pushing it but they didn't close for another 10 minutes and I knew just what I wanted. As I walked up I noticed one of the manager's signal a boy to lock the door (as she saw me walking up). The boy hurried over and locked the door just as I was reaching for the handle (The front is all glass so I saw the whole thing).
All that was bad enough but there is more: I looked over at the register and saw that there were 5 or so people in line so I looked at the boy through the door and told him I had chicks who had no food left and all I needed was a small bag of feed....I would be in line before the ones who were at the register were even through and I wouldn't hold them up...I even mentioned that it wasn't even 5:00 yet. The boy seemed to pity me and looked over at the lady/manager who had told him to lock the door and I could tell he was pleading my case. As I watched the exchange I saw her look back at the boy (never even glancing my way) and basically tell him absolutely not. The boy looked at me one last time, shrugged his shoulders, motioned behind him at the lady, and mouthed I'm sorry....then turned his back on me and walked back in.
I was furious and promised myself I would never give them my business again or go back there and anytime I got the chance I would share my story with other people who might use their store. Later when I had had a chance to cool down I decided it might have been just underlings who were responsible and I would give them a second chance....I would go back and talk to the owner. Long story short, the owner not only excused there actions but admitted that they had closed the doors before 5 on occasion when they were busy and even tried to justify their actions by saying how that after a busy day all they wanted to do was get home and if customers kept coming in close to five they would never get out.
I have worked retail and even food service for a large part of my life and I know all about people coming in at the last minute...it is a pain in the butt. However, when you are in the retail business the customer is always right or it least you treat them as if they are even if they are wrong and stupid. I have served, waited on and helped many customers AFTER closing time and I thought this was pretty bad....What do you guys have to offer for a horror story?
wow. thats pretty bad. i dont really have one...
We own cajun lectrical supply in laplace,la(15min from new orleans) and i have people that come in all the time during lunch and after 5, and i have never not let some1 in or rushed them out the door...however, i make the money from the materials i sell. these managers and so on do not make any more money if they stay after 5 or whatever the situation may be...point being...they dont care...customer service has gone to sh!t...the reason we do good business is b/c i give the customer buying something for $5 the same assistance that i give to the customer buying 5 grand worth of materials...its hard to find people who take pride in their work...believe me i've been looking for a smart,nice instructable employee for a few years with no luck. the the kids in their teens and early 20's have no motivation or want to learn anything...and to be honest, half of them are on drugs and cant remember sh!t anyways..lol
Honestly, every time I walk into Lowe's or Home Depot it's a bad experience. Unless you know what you're looking for and know where to find it, don't ask for help because all the workers in that section either never materialize, or it takes forever to get someone to help you, and half the time even they don't know where to find it. Let's not mention not ever being able to get checked out quickly.
- Dec 27, 2007
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Totally agree with Blisschick. Even if you can find someone that works there, they always tell you that it's not their section and they'll go get someone that works in that section and that's the last of it. No one ever comes back.
I have to say that the TRS in my area is not always the best either. They're always out of layer crumble and no one there knows anything about chickens.
I have to say that the TRS in my area is not always the best either. They're always out of layer crumble and no one there knows anything about chickens.
Rte.66_chicks
Songster
Before we moved a new manufactured home onto our acre, we had one with an evaporative cooler that needed to be replaced. We bought one at Home Depot, and asked for help finding the legs for it to hold it level on our roof, as they were different from the ones on the original. The person we asked just said to use "cinder blocks and 2 x 4's"!! We still laugh about that one!
Yeah I have one but not chicken related. I still prefer Lowes over Home Depot but one day I went into Lowes looking for a dishwasher adaptor for my facet and old portable dishwasher i had just got. I didnt know exactly what I needed as I have never had one before so i asked for help, the kid didnt know and I ended up with something that didnt work. I decided next time I would just stand there, look at everything they had and figure it out.....it took about 20 minutes but I got the right thing. Now I used to be the girl working in the repair department and selling parts for Sears and Ive heard it all about a girl wouldnt know so I understand but I did know about what I was selling.
- Mar 25, 2007
- 1,310
- 10
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Home Despot is more or less my forsworn enemy. May they burn in heck.
-No pool chemicals. The store manager once told me that pool chemicals were not permitted to be sold at hardware stores in Massachusetts. Funny, since Lowe's and Aubuchon both carry pool chemicals. I'm not very' stupid, if you don't have 'em, just say, "Sorry, we don't carry those, try (other store)" and send me on my merry way.
-Overpriced garden center. Potted fir tree at HD, December 2007: $140. Potted fir tree at Lowe's, December 2007: $20. Gee, I wonder where I'll get my holiday tree...
-Sales people ignore me at HD. Other hardware store customer service rankings: #1, Aubuchon, as their sales people make a point of greeting me and asking if I need help in person and then, yanno, helping me. #2, Lowe's because when I ring the bell, someone generally shows up and helps me out. #negative infinity, HD, because when their sales people aren't ignoring me, they're taking that "little lady, you don't know what you're talking about" attitude. Which is worse. I do actually know how to build and repair things. Most times, I do a better job than the so-called professionals who subcontract to their cousin's brother's nephew's boy who just fell off the turnip truck. I do not appreciate it when Turnip Boy gets all the attention from sales people, especially when I am prepared to spend a lot more at their store.
-They never seem to have things I need. It can be something as dumb as a 2 1/2" wood screw. They won't have it. There will be the shelf, with 1 1/2", 1 3/4, 2, 2 1/4...2 3/4, 3. I think they can hear me cussing at the lack of 2 1/2" wood screws all the way from my house, and they quickly scoop up their entire inventory at just that moment and hide it. Or, alternatively, they DO have the thing I need, just one, and it's been opened and returned because it was missing a piece or broken, and the idiots just put it right back on the sales floor. Option #3 is when they have what I need, I can see it in the aisle, and as soon as I walk in the general direction of the aisle, they choose just that moment to close the aisle and re-stock the shelves for the next hour or two. Repeated attempts to get sales staff to stop the darn fork-truck for ONE LOUSY MINUTE so I can, yanno, BUY something from them, are all in vain.
-No pool chemicals. The store manager once told me that pool chemicals were not permitted to be sold at hardware stores in Massachusetts. Funny, since Lowe's and Aubuchon both carry pool chemicals. I'm not very' stupid, if you don't have 'em, just say, "Sorry, we don't carry those, try (other store)" and send me on my merry way.
-Overpriced garden center. Potted fir tree at HD, December 2007: $140. Potted fir tree at Lowe's, December 2007: $20. Gee, I wonder where I'll get my holiday tree...
-Sales people ignore me at HD. Other hardware store customer service rankings: #1, Aubuchon, as their sales people make a point of greeting me and asking if I need help in person and then, yanno, helping me. #2, Lowe's because when I ring the bell, someone generally shows up and helps me out. #negative infinity, HD, because when their sales people aren't ignoring me, they're taking that "little lady, you don't know what you're talking about" attitude. Which is worse. I do actually know how to build and repair things. Most times, I do a better job than the so-called professionals who subcontract to their cousin's brother's nephew's boy who just fell off the turnip truck. I do not appreciate it when Turnip Boy gets all the attention from sales people, especially when I am prepared to spend a lot more at their store.
-They never seem to have things I need. It can be something as dumb as a 2 1/2" wood screw. They won't have it. There will be the shelf, with 1 1/2", 1 3/4, 2, 2 1/4...2 3/4, 3. I think they can hear me cussing at the lack of 2 1/2" wood screws all the way from my house, and they quickly scoop up their entire inventory at just that moment and hide it. Or, alternatively, they DO have the thing I need, just one, and it's been opened and returned because it was missing a piece or broken, and the idiots just put it right back on the sales floor. Option #3 is when they have what I need, I can see it in the aisle, and as soon as I walk in the general direction of the aisle, they choose just that moment to close the aisle and re-stock the shelves for the next hour or two. Repeated attempts to get sales staff to stop the darn fork-truck for ONE LOUSY MINUTE so I can, yanno, BUY something from them, are all in vain.
Roaslind, that's too funny!!! I had several experiences with the fork-lift thingys, and other customer service blunders at HD the other day.
I went in looking for parts for a chicken waterer I was trying to make, a 4-way hose splitter, some concrete blocks, and to check out what wire fencing they carry for extending one of my chicken runs. I start in the plant area where I find a nifty saucer thing for my waterer that would work perfectly, so I grab it, toss it in my cart, and head for the concrete block isle. Just as I'm about to enter the isle they block it with one of those gates and start moving stuff with a fork lift. No big deal - I'll come back out later. I go into the interior of the store to find the hose splitter. Of course, they don't have it, so I turn around to exit the isle and find that one of the stockboys has placed a couple of huge boxes of stuff right in the isle, so I turn around the other way only to find that end of the isle blocked by another stockboy and his boxes!!! Good grief!!! Now I head back outside thinking that the concrete block isle would be open by now - no such luck. It's all blocked off from both ends, but there's no forklift in sight. Next, I walk over to where the wire fencing is kept. As I'm standing there looking at prices, etc, one of the forklifts comes around the corner and I have to move about 15 feet for him to get by (the isle is all crowded with merchandise). I go back over to the fencing stuff and within about 30 seconds the forklift comes back and I have to move again. I figure they're done and attempt to check out the fencing again, when that darned thing comes back around the corner AGAIN and I have to move AGAIN!!! Ok, that's it! I go back to check on the isle with the concrete block and it is still blocked off but no one is working in the area. For crying out loud!!! I put my saucer back on the shelf I got it from and left!!!!!
I guess it's kinda funny, but it's also irritating. I mean, honestly, should a customer ever feel like they are in the employees' way?????? Oh well, it just reminded me why I stopped going in there in the first place!!!
Lori
I went in looking for parts for a chicken waterer I was trying to make, a 4-way hose splitter, some concrete blocks, and to check out what wire fencing they carry for extending one of my chicken runs. I start in the plant area where I find a nifty saucer thing for my waterer that would work perfectly, so I grab it, toss it in my cart, and head for the concrete block isle. Just as I'm about to enter the isle they block it with one of those gates and start moving stuff with a fork lift. No big deal - I'll come back out later. I go into the interior of the store to find the hose splitter. Of course, they don't have it, so I turn around to exit the isle and find that one of the stockboys has placed a couple of huge boxes of stuff right in the isle, so I turn around the other way only to find that end of the isle blocked by another stockboy and his boxes!!! Good grief!!! Now I head back outside thinking that the concrete block isle would be open by now - no such luck. It's all blocked off from both ends, but there's no forklift in sight. Next, I walk over to where the wire fencing is kept. As I'm standing there looking at prices, etc, one of the forklifts comes around the corner and I have to move about 15 feet for him to get by (the isle is all crowded with merchandise). I go back over to the fencing stuff and within about 30 seconds the forklift comes back and I have to move again. I figure they're done and attempt to check out the fencing again, when that darned thing comes back around the corner AGAIN and I have to move AGAIN!!! Ok, that's it! I go back to check on the isle with the concrete block and it is still blocked off but no one is working in the area. For crying out loud!!! I put my saucer back on the shelf I got it from and left!!!!!
I guess it's kinda funny, but it's also irritating. I mean, honestly, should a customer ever feel like they are in the employees' way?????? Oh well, it just reminded me why I stopped going in there in the first place!!!
Lori
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