Harbor Freight — Local services in Alton

Will never shop at Harbor Freight again. We had bad storms come through here and the power was estimated to be out for a while. So we went to the Alton Illinois store to buy a generator. They were of course limited on stock so the one we decided to purchase was the $879 one. I didn't want to spend that on a generator but figured maybe Ill use it for other things. While checking out the person loading it made the comment "Hopefully the power isn't back on when you get home" to which I responded, "Honestly, if the power is back on, Im bringing this right back."

The cashier then said "well there is a 20% restocking fee if you bring it back", indicating that if I return this item immediately like I said I would, there would be a restocking fee.

Low and behold when we get home, here comes the power company right after us. If I knew that I could return the generator I would have got back in my truck and went straight back. However, I was under the impression that bringing it back would cost me $175 in restocking fees so I just unloaded the generator and dragged it into my garage. Since I knew I wasn't bringing it back I opened the box, pulled the generator out and set it in the garage so that I didn't have a box on the floor getting wet.

Fast forward 2 days and I go to the harbor freight website to look up their return policy and I see a message that says "The re-stocking fee will be waived if any of these conditions are met:" and the first bullet point is Item is unopened and in new condition.

I immediately called the store to let them know the situation, expecting them to be a reasonable company and realizing the cashier was at fault. However I was met with a store manager passing the buck and sending me to the corporate number. I got the same customer service from corporate where they informed me it was the store decision to not waive the fee and they couldn't do anything else for me.

So long story long, if you buy anything from Harbor Freight, be aware that you CAN return an item as long as...

I've bought 90% of my tools here and I've always been happy. I returned a sander but I didn't realize I had paid with a gift card. The return amount the cashier quoted was less than I'd paid because she didn't include the replacement I'd bought. I said "hold on, that's less than I paid". She pointed at the screen where it said the amount and she said "it says $24.xx on your Visa ending in xxxx". I said "hang on, I don't think I have that card any more" and pulled out my wallet to make sure. Even though I'd said to wait twice, she put it through anyway, I'm guessing to get me out of the way since there was someone in line behind me. I asked to talk to the manager and I explained the situation and he just kept saying "it returned the original amount to your card" even though I told him several times I didn't have that card and that I'd asked the cashier to wait. He kept saying "it's not our problem where that card is, but we're not gonna stand here and argue". I asked for his name and the number for the corporate office. He said there isn't a corporate office, which I knew was a lie but he insisted. I know I didn't misunderstand him because I said "there's no corporate office for this chain of stores?" and he said no, as if Google didn't exist and I wasn't going to Google the number as soon as I left. Overall, I felt like I was robbed. I understand it's my fault for not realizing I'd paid with a gift card I no longer had, but after being asked to wait twice, the cashier shouldn't have put the return through anyway and the manager shouldn't have treated me like a child asking for a toy or something. I'm not even mad about the money, I'm mad about the way I was treated after shopping...

Brittany your stocker is absolutely fabulous when I want something I look for Brittany I just want you to know that this woman is great and goes above and beyond and she knows her job very well this woman deserves a raise you have a very valuable employee in Brittany I hope that you give her the reginition that she very much deserves and should get when you have a employee like Brittany you need to recognize her and I sincerely hope that you do My name Is Alex D. Ladd I own A& D Trucking and Excavating Please give Brittany my kind regards I appreciate her very much she has not failed one time to know what I needed and where to find it and took me right to what I explained to her just absolutely fantastic Thank you Alex D. K add Note: Please assure me and my company that you gave Brittany the reginition that she deserves I am very pleased that you are lucky enough to have an employee as valuable as...