Direct Tools Factory Outlet — Attraction in South Strabane Township

I placed an online order on Dec 12th. One item was delivered fairly quick. Didn't get an email with tracking, so I didn't know it was coming.

I wrote an email letting them know I didn't get the second item on Saturday. Got no response by Monday morning (Dec 18th), so I called. The guy on the phone told me he could see only one item was shipped, but I needed to send a photo of the item I received then call back. If i did all that, it would be shipped out that same day in time for Christmas. Sent the photo and called back. I was told that they didn't have the email after 10 minutes but was told again that it will all be taken care of that night.

Got an email around 5:30 (Monday) regarding the photo asking what item I didn't receive. I literally sent a photo of the item I got. So I emailed back with the item name I didn't recieve. Got a response to that email the following day at 4:30 in the afternoon saying that it should be shipped soon.

On Wednesday and I called back because I still have no shipping information. The women told me that it still hasn't been shipped and that it would take 7 to 10 business days to receive the item. Definitely not by Christmas like the two men told me Monday. She offered no compensation for the inconvenience that this has caused me and just said sorry it won't be on time.

It is now Dec 24th and still haven't received any information on shipping, so I will be having to call again the 26th.

This experience makes me never want to order online from them again. I'll just pay the extra to get the items from Home Depot to avoid this hassel.

Tried to call the 26th, office was closed. Tired again today (28th), was told to wait 10 business days to see if I get the item. If I don't then I can call back to ask about an update.

Got an email today (Jan 3rd) saying I'll get a refund for the item. Called and was on for a total of 31 minutes where I was told nothing could be done because they ran out of stock. They didn't offer to help in any way, try to reimburse for shipping, or offer any other compensation for their failure to ship it went it was ordered and they had it in stock. They had no empathy for screwing me over with this missing item (which was a...

While you can get good prices on their products, Direct Tools customer service couldn't care less about you.

I've literally spent hundreds of dollars on tools through these guys, and when you don't have any problems with your order or the product, it's a decent deal. Woe to you if things don't go well though, cause their corporate office will watch while you drown.

Twice I've bought and paid for tools only to be declined for some reason and be refunded my money. Their customary answer was a benign, "sorry, but we can't fulfill your order." No explanation.

This last thing was the final straw for me: I bought a Ryobi Whisper series blower from them, "factory reconditioned." It had an audible rattle in it when I got it. Was my fault that it wasn't more of a red flag to me at the time. Well, eventually it got worse and finally seized up. Of COURSE it was 3 days past the return window. I wrote an email explaining the entire thing. Wanna know the response? About what you'd expect. "Sorry, but you're outside of your return window. Contact the manufacturer." I didn't want a refund. Just an exchange.

Yeah, I get it that I should have returned it on the spot when it didn't sound right, but I also think they should have caught this during the QC process, and should do the right thing when they realize they sold a bum product.

They'll not get another dime from me. Shame too. Would have been easy to...

Ok, this place can be a mixed bag. Some deals here are unbelievable, so if you're at the Tanger Outlets, it's at least worthwhile to stop in (if you have any interest in tools, that is). The store sells a lot of Ridgid, some Milwaukee, but the Ryobi offerings are by far the most extensive... and some of the Refurbished deals can offer a significant discount (and look like new). Nowadays, everyone has a phone, so if you need to do a price check to see if something is a good deal, that price check is right at your finger tips. I'd recommend double checking prices on any larger purchase.

The one thing, in particular, that I don't like, is that some of the employees, while not pushy for sales at all, can be condescending and not all that helpful. That's not just any one single employee, btw, I've noticed it on multiple occasions. An illustrative example would be if you asked an employee if the 20% off discount applies to a certain tool and the employee answers something like, "yes, that's why we wrote entire store on the sign"... something similar to that. Seriously, it's a cool store, and worthy of a look, but the managers that run this store need to send the staff to a bit of Customer Service 101...