Menards — Local services in Cottage Grove

This is now my fifth trip to Menards in Cottage Grove. I just moved to this location and have had several home improvement projects that needed to be addressed. Prior to my experience in Cottage Grove, Menards has always been my go-to place for home improvement as I've loved their low pricing and customer service. However, I cannot say the same for this location. For someone that is not near as knowledgeable as other contractors in the area, I do need the occasional assistance when finding certain items, however I do pride myself on being most self-sufficient when shopping in general. In this particular Menards location, it's been my experience so far that if you are able to find someone to help you, it does not seem as if anyone is trained in proper customer service. There are several employees that generally do not know the answers to your questions, and the ones that do, especially when you are located on the other side of the store, will only point you in a direction and tell you the aisle number. This is not helpful for a store that has over 150 isles to choose from. Also, in my overall experience with Menards, things are generally merchandised well so you as a consumer can readily locate items yourself. This is not the case for this location. It is very cumbersome, confusing, and merchandised in a way that doesn't seem to make any sense. It's a very frustrating experience overall, and if I had to suggest a location for any home improvement needs in The Cottage Grove area, I would suggest making your way up to Woodbury to either Lowe's or Home Depot, as their level of customer service far exceeds anything you will receive here. Again, this is not based on a one-time experience. I would highly recommend to management to dig deeper with your team, their product knowledge, proper customer service training, and also the tools to perform their job well. For instance today, when one member of your team was trying to get answers for me, the couldn't because their walkie talkies were...

I am one of the frequent flyers at this menards, since my mom practically had her own cot in the back. So, I purchased my first appliances for my home and figured since I've used here for every thing else since young adulthood. Oh boy, I know i said my dryer was electric, yet I was sold a gas dryer, i didn't even look bevause I didn't think they would get it wrong. Anyways, shame on me for not reading the receipt. I got it in my house, and had to take it all the way out.. Now it was a display, but I'm 100% it wasn't damaged like the one I got was. So, I head back to store and the manager is very nice. But this isn't just my fault, I said I needed electric. Anyways, I'm told that I have to now pay for the electric unit, repay delivery all over again, and they'll give me the refund on the other one when they trade it out. Anyone have extra 866 bucks laying around? And with 2 delivery fees, I've now paid full amount, actually more, for the dryer, so that kinda urks me.. if I was gonna pay that much, I would've just bought a nicer line/brand, instead of paying it all in delivery and fees. Albeit I'll share responsibility,, not menards, nope. Completely on me, and at my cost. I had to transfer all my personal accounts to get enough to pay for a 3rd appliance. I don't have that kind of money. Maybe better train staff to ask questions bevause maybe she didn't hear me when I said electric... nonetheless the dryer i got was damaged and I can assure you the floor model i viewed was not damaged as this one is, so either way it would need return. The damage to this is significantt on each side and no one would take a mark down of only 11 dollars on that kind of damage. That would be absurd. I'd take an undamaged one and pay the 11 bucks.. just really...

Watch out for the germaphobe cashier. If Terri is working you can save yourself a half hour and get someone else's line. She'll spend 3 minutes checking you out and 5 minutes cleaning up after you. I watched her go through the whole routine after every customer. I can understand wiping down the credit card machine and the things someone actually touches, but the entire check out area got a good scrubbing and sanitizing. Front to back top to bottom. When she repeatedly scrubbed down the shopping cart at the end of her lane when no one had touched it, I knew we were dealing with some kind of obsessive compulsive behavior. The second time I saw her do this I couldn't help but laugh out loud. This caught her attention and she immediately turned, recoiled in horror, loudly reprimanded me that my mask was not being worn correctly and needed to be pulled up even further if I was to be helped. Upon seeing this the guys behind me burst out laughing and were met with the same icy stare. The customer behind them did the smart thing and promptly moved to a different checkout lane. I applaud Menards for employing people with behavioral difficulties and maybe it was childish of me to laugh, I also feel it is a poor management decision to have her working check out. Obviously a source of distress for her and frustrating for me as a customer having to wait for this performance between every check out. And don't scold the customer. That's not appropriate...