Des Plaines Ace Hardware — Attraction in Maine Township

Edit: response to Ace's reply: Alright, so in 2024 the online system isn't joined up yet - sigh, ok. However, what's your response to the person we spoke to? His blithe replies were truly something else.

Original review: This review is written in conjunction with my husband who placed an order with this Ace (order was under Ben H).

For background, we ordered a Weber grill online from this Ace location (when we inputted our address, it defaulted to this location as being the nearest that could deliver to us) and selected the free delivery and assembly option which is a promo available for this month and advertised nationally. Both the app and website allowed us to order from this location and later select a date for the delivery and installation. Two days after the confirmation emails we received a cancellation email from Ace with no information - a simple “your items have been cancelled” automated email. We waited for a follow up email or call with information as to why this happened and for a solution to get our items but received neither. We had to take time out of our day to call Ace and this is where it got worse.

My husband was connected to the right person to speak with and I’m not sure we would be able to fully articulate his bluntness and total lack of regard - put plainly, he could not have cared any less about our situation. The brief, abrupt and deeply unhelpful conversation went like this:

“I’m calling to see why my order was cancelled?” - customer

“Oh yeah, the grill - yeah that’s cancelled.” - Ace (said as flatly as possible)

“Were you going to tell us?” - customer

“You’re outside of our delivery area, it would take over an hour” - Ace (note: we are 18 minutes away without traffic or up to 45 minutes away with the heaviest of traffic)

"Why did it let me order it through your website in that case?” - customer

“I don’t know! ” - Ace (said with an air of “not my problem”)

“Ok, I think there is something wrong with your system because I tried to order this through an even closer Ace and it said I was outside the delivery zone unlike yours which let me order it…” (was cut off at this point)” - customer

“Yeah yeah try contacting the Ace closer to you.” - Ace

Click! - Ace hangs up

Well, it seems it’s a lot to ask these days to have a company fulfil their orders and if they can’t, go about it in the right way. So if you’re looking for an Ace that actually fulfils it’s orders and still operates with even a hint of helpfulness and basic decency in their interactions, this one isn’t it....

Definitely not your friendly neighborhood Ace Hardware store. Today I took in a can of Benjamin Moore paint that I had previously purchased at Ace a few years ago and asked if they could shake it up for me in the machine. Before I could even finish my sentence the woman working there told me "no". I pointed to the can and asked "even if it was purchased at Ace?" Again, she replied abruptly "no, we don't do that". I left and with low expectations went to the Sherwin Williams store down the street, but was presently surprised when the staff there said, "sure"! I made it clear they knew it was not purchased there and they said it didn't matter, as long as the can wasn't near empty, which it wasn't - it was nearly full. They put it in their machine and shook it up for me without hesitation. It took about 1 minute. Ace, if you want us locals to shop at your store, then you need to improve customer service!

I gave 2 stars instead of 1 because the selection of stock is good when I have been there. That said, I won't be going back any more. I've wanted to support their business and was willing to pay a bit more even when I could find items cheaper on Amazon, but this experience as well as a previous similar experience there has...

Absolutely the worst experience I’ve had in a retail store in my life. I have been an extremely loyal customer to Ace and have gone out of my way to support a local small business. I went into the Des Plaines location on Labor Day weekend to spend a significant amount of money on tools and one of the tools I wanted to buy was not in stock. When I asked an associate, Ken, to see if he could find and order for me, (I have ordered tools in the past to again support this business instead of picking up same day from a competitor) Ken rolled his eyes at me and was visibly angry that I asked him for assistance. Ken angrily looked up something on the computer and showed it to me. When it wasn’t the tool I was looking for he threw his hands up, raised his voice, and said “you’re going to have to give me more than that!” I left the store and ordered the tool on Amazon for a cheeper price and next day delivery. I will never step foot in the Des Plaines Ace again. I asked multiple sources to have the manager call me and it’s been over a week with no response. Horribly...