Last year, my husband and I took on several substantial concrete projects. The first of our jobs…read morewas a 4' walkway all the way around the back of our cabin. We discussed using two tones of color hardener along with stamping a pattern into the finished product and because some of this was new to us, we discussed our project at length with a woman who worked at Liddell's. She was very knowledgeable and patient and she knew the company's inventory well. We were impressed with her and trusted her input. Since we had no idea how much hardener we'd need, she said to overshoot our projected needs to make sure we could get enough of the colors, and when we were done to bring any excess back for a refund. She stated the obvious: the tubs could not have been opened and had to be in good shape. We cautioned her it would be a while before we returned the extra hardener because we were working in stages around other projects. Having the luxury of our own cement mixer meant we could beat ourselves up, take a break, then get back to the projects. Both of us are in our 70s, so this has worked well for us.  She assured us delayed returns were no problem. In fact, she said, with such an erratic supply chain, getting product back would be a good thing and far better than running out and being unable to get more. After the walkway, we undertook some unique cement steps for our front porch. They have seashells, beautiful rocks, big chunks of colored glass and more. We tried the hardener on them as well but found it was too hard to work it into the cement around the additions. It was a kick going into Liddells because contractors would hear us conferring with our contact and showing her pictures of our work and soon they were looking at them and adding insights. With only the landing of our porch to complete, and having decided against a $99 sprayer I'd intended to use for wet-look lacquer (I preferred brushing it), we loaded up the unopened hardener and sprayer last week and headed to Lidell's, which is about 50 miles from our home up on the Trinity River near Lewiston. My husband walked into the store and explained why he was there. The manager flat-out refused to take back our purchases without receipts! When he was reminded he can look up our purchase history easily because we used the same card, he still refused. NO RECEIPTS, NO REFUNDS. So we hauled the 5 buckets of hardener and the sprayer home and put the 60-pound buckets back in the garage. Again, a reminder: we're in our 70s. Who appreciates having to go through this? Yesterday, receipts in hand, we returned to Lidell's. My husband suggested he go in alone because although he wasn't happy, I was fit to be tied at how we'd been treated. I have created, owned, run and sold businesses for over 50 years and I know customer service. This guy was manipulative, rude and he'd already cost us a 100-mile drive with all-time high gas prices. He carried in the sprayer and about 10 minutes later, walked out without it. I assumed we'd drive to the back to unload the hardener but no. "Let's go," my husband said. "They refused to take the hardener back." This story just gets better. The manager said the really bright employee we'd worked with was gone. He whined that new hires don't last more than 3 months; one hardly has to wonder why. And although he did take the sprayer back, he pointed to signs on the front of the counter that say, "No returns without a receipt" and "No returns after 30 days." His pick-and-choose method of handling returns flies in the face of this. Then the manager launched into a diatribe on the hardener not being worth anything because it was over one year old. He claimed his rep for the product says it loses its color. While we doubt this very much--those tubs are solidly sealed; where would the color go?!--we were specifically told we did not have to hurry to return the hardener we didn't use. Did we have proof of this? No. Did we ever see the signs? No. Someone was standing at the counter and blocking their view each time we were in there. We will let Visa sort this out with Liddell's. We'll never patronize the business again.

I bought a bundle of 50 lath stakes on Friday. I purchased about 10 bundles in the past few…read moremonthe. When I got to the middle of the bundle the stakes were cracked. There was 20 pieces of wood that i couldnt use and finish my project. So i called on Monday and was told i could swap the 20 pieces out. They weren't thrilled about it but they were going to allow it. So I take the hour drive back to Liddells to do the swap, I live in Burney. Son of a gun, I get home and find out the guy gave me 36 inch boards instead of the 48 inch boards. Every bundle I purchased there were the 48 inch. So if I want what I actually paid for, I'd have to take another trip to redding. Screw it, the gas is costing me more then the bundle. Looks like I'll have to take my business somewhere else. They are at the end of their supply and need to get rid of the crap. All has been good except for this last purchase.