I wanted to inform someone of the poor customer service that I received at one of Ace's retail locations - Oakwood Ace Hardware (Flowery Branch GA). I came into the store at 4:20 PM Sunday May 1st with a chainsaw that had been serviced and sharpened many times at this same location. When I entered the store I was greated by 2 younger men who instructed me that the person who handled the sharpening of chainsaws was outside watering flowers. I met up with this person outside - I asked "can I get my chainsaw sharpened" - the reply was - "not on Sundays". I thought it was a joke. Apparently it was not... This young man indicated that he was instructed to not service any equipment on Sundays. I explained that I was not looking for a service, only a 5 min. Sharpening of my saw. He said, the manager said I can't help anyone with the "shop" work. I explained, but you are watering plants and 2 other employees are standing around waiting on so someone to come in and another lady is up front at the register. There was maybe one other person in the store at this time. I could certainly understand someone coming in to get a tune up or say that an item was not working... But a 5 min sharpening from someone who was watering plants with 3 other employee's standing around. I work for a fortune 100 insurance company and customer service is our top priority. I thought that ACE was the "helpful" hardware place. Now I understand that you are not doing much more to stand out from your competition. I was told to call Kim Anderson (Store Manager) - this was "his / her decision" to not help employees with "service on Sundays". I thought that corporate should know. The funny thing about this is that I saw a $299 tiller that I was going to pick up as well, I guess you know the rest of the story - no $299 sale for ACE. Why should I give you another chance? First of all you need to have employees that are empowered to provide customer service and "BEND" the rules if necessary. I feel that 3 out of the 4 employees were not old enough to use good judgement and the 4th agreed that rule was terrible, but she could not help. It is sad to see that a store that thrives on providing superior customer satisfaction to win over customers has sunk to this low in customer dissatisfaction. Just imagine someone choosing to water plants over providing a 5 min customer service task? This will cost you Thousands, if not millions! I will be sure to share this story with as many people as possible!
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