I needed to pick up a couple things and had been putting it off for a while due to Covid, but it was time. I dawned my mask and hit the isles. Stunned at the choices in the paint stripping/removal isle, I overheard a super cheerful woman helping one isle over. I waited until she finished with the customer she was helping and approached, keeping my social distance. She was super helpful & knew just what I needed. Perfect, the one star in the review - it's her. I grabbed the other item - something I had purchased before and knew exactly where to find.
Navigating the store was a bit tough as I found a lot of the isles do not have arrows, no one really knew where to go sometimes. The inconsistency in staff wearing masks was a bit confusing to me.
I finally wandered (not far) & found my last item: electrical wire. The signs very clearly state, cannot be purchased without associate assistance. Okay, let's find someone. I noticed the orange smock on a gentlemen about 15 feet away, I advised him whenever he was available I would need some assistance with the wire. He assured me that was no problem and continued assisting someone else. TWENTY MINUTES LATER I am still waiting, two men have been and left without getting wire, I continued waiting. I had even overheard another associate telling another customer that there was no one working in this department. I could still see the associate who assured me that he would assist - still not assisting me, but others in the seasonal department.
I went to customer service desk, who were very visibly stressed and overrun with orders. There were two staff, the female was assisting one customer with her husband picking up an online order and loudly complaining to her male coworker. After standing on the customer service side and waiting for them to finish, the male associate asks if he can help, I advise I've been waiting twenty minutes for wire & just need some help. I am again assured that someone will be over and I head back over to wait.
Over the following twenty minutes I witnessed a staff member walk behind me four times without asking to assist me and two other associates walk by. After fifteen minutes, I decided to pick up my phone (now at 12% battery from entertaining me waiting for almost an hour) and CALL THE STORE. After a really long ringing (convinced I heard my call ring from one phone to another along the front of the store before eventually being picked up by the female at the customer service desk, who screamed so loudly into the phone I couldn't even make out what she was saying. I asked for the stores manager. She wanted to know my concern to know which manager to send me to and I explain I have been in the store waiting for help for over 40 minutes. After a short transfer, a short conversation with a manager, one store intercom page (THE FIRST ONE) and ten more minutes of waiting, I left.
I didn't even want to buy the items I had already picked up. I do not ever want to consider this store as a reasonable option for an establishment to encourage anyone I know to spend even a dime. Even in a pandemic. I am reconsidering future plans for moving to a lock-in where this would be my closest hardware store after the worst experience of my actual life. read more