Manny's Ace Hardware — Attraction in Town of Lancaster

Last summer, after a lengthy consult with a sales rep named Julian at Manny's, my cousin and I bought Kilz primer and Clark and Kensington paint to repaint my fence. It took at least 3 three coats, and in some places 4, to get the paint to cover the primer. We had several conversations with Julian, but no resolution as to what might be causing the problem and ended up buying more paint to finish the job. Then the paint began chipping off, which led to further phone calls with Julian. He referred the problem to another rep who reportedly was more experienced with paint problems and scheduled three appointments to come to my home and assess the problem. He was a no show, no call, all 3 times I called to speak with Julian and was told he was out with Covid. The next time I called, Julian was no longer working there. Frustrated, stood up by the "expert" three times, and with no solution in sight, I told the nice person who answered that all I wanted was for them to give me a pint of paint, as with the amount of chipping that was happening all over the fence, I will have to touch it up several times a year for years to come. (This seemed very reasonable, as what I really want is for someone to re-do the whole fence so it doesn't chip anymore. My request does nothing to compensate me for the time, frustration, and money that's gone into this adventure.) She put me on the phone with someone who, I believe, identified himself as Joe Robinson. Without really listening to the history of my attempts to resolve the problem, he repeatedly said, "I can't just go giving away a gallon or 2 of paint to anyone who walks in here." When I mentioned the person who was supposed to come out to look at the problem but was a no show 3 times, Joe said he was right there, and he asked him about it. I could hear the gentleman say something to the effect of "yeah,, I went out there, there was a problem with the post." Joe then informed me that the man had been here, and when I insisted he hadn't because I had waited for him each time, and the problem was with the whole fence, not a post, so the man must have my property confused with someone else's, Joe's response was that he was going to hang up and tell the man standing next to him that he was a liar. Then he hung up on me. Prior to that, he had given me the 800 number for Ace. I spoke with someone who concluded the problem was with the primer, and gave me the phone number for Kilz. I spoke with someone at Kilz, who said she needed to know which Kilz primer was used. The cans are long gone and I have no idea. She also suggested calling Clark and Kensington. I was going to, but frankly I'm tired of this whole thing. Even if that company honored my request for one measly pint of paint, I still won't know if the problem was with the primer or the paint. I will buy a pint of a different brand of paint and take my chances, but I sure as heck won't buy it from Manny's...

Terrible customer service. Went in today to buy some landscape fabric. It was on sale on their website, available to pick up in store. Cashier and another gentleman were adamant that they can't honor the sale price in store. I would have to do an online order and wait 30 minutes for a pickup ticket to come through for the sale then I can get my items. I was not waiting in the store for an online order just to get items that were already at the register. I've worked several retail jobs and never once had a manager or store owner that would turn down a guaranteed sale like that. This was only my second visit to this location and will be my last. First time in wasn't bad, just that the item I wanted was $70 cheaper from another seller.

Update: Response received from owner. Employee in store told me it took 30 minutes for an order to go through and not once did an employee offer to order from a computer in store. I had the items at the register ready to checkout in store. I'm not sure why they couldn't honor the sale and adjust the price. I've seen it done at many other establishments. No, I will not give this place...

I returned today to nManny's Ace Hardware with a gallon can of Benjamin Moore stain recently purchased as the color of the stain was markedly different from my BM paint and old BM stain of the same color. The store manager, without ever opening the can and checking the product, concluded the color difference was because "you cannot expect the paint and stains colors to match as the bases are different." End of discussion. I left the store with an unusable, expensive can of stain whispering many a colorful word. My 30 years of experience with Benjamin Moore paints, however, taught me that my complaint was valid. I took the stain and paint products to the store I have historically given my business to. That store manager applied the paint and stain side by side on a stir stick, dried the samples and compared the colors. "yep,something is not right." "Let's put stain in the shaker to make sure it is sufficiently mixed". After additional mixing, testing showed the color match between the stain and paint was nearly perfect. Common sense problem solving at its best! Guess who will get my...