Sutherlands — Local services in Fort Smith

If there is one thing to believe about the negative reviews, please believe that the customer service is dreadful. I will never spend another dime at this franchise, and I encourage others to read the negative reviews recently. I decided to give Sutherlands a chance as I was mostly unfamiliar with them after habitually shopping at Lowes, Home Depot, and Atwoods. My good intentions were not rewarded unfortunately. I live an hour away from the Ft. Smith store. On May 21 I ordered (and presumably reserved with payment) 30 bags of river pebbles to complete a back yard project. Several hours later I received an email notification stating that my online order was ready for pickup. I was unable to get to the store until the 24th. When I arrived, I was told that my order was not available as the bags of rock had been sold. This was after driving an hour to get the order that an email from Sutherlands state was available for pickup. The manager came and spoke to me and was gracious and apologetic and seemingly willing to help. He even offered to ship the product to my house, which I thought was reasonable and a great solution to the ordeal. Fast forward 2 months later, due to a vendor issue in which I understand the store has no control over, I still had not received the product. However, the Hot Springs location had 829 bags of the product 2 weeks ago and 746 bags of the rock today. Due to corporate policy, the stores are not allowed to transfer products and my order was cancelled after waiting 2 months and actually paying for the product. My money was refunded. However, the message I would like to convey is that this store has no interest in customer service and was not willing to go out of their way to correct a mistake that they made and would only correspond about my order after sending a message to the corporate office. I have never encountered an issue like this with Home Depot, Lowes, or Atwoods. I'm sure on site purchases (albeit more expensive than the chains) are more than serviceable. Just know that if there is a mistake Sutherlands makes on an online order, they will not correct it. Please take your online...

Where to begin... I signed up for the Garden Club and went in Saturday for the Cleveland Pear Tree's for $19.99, I was told by an employee they weren't outside with the rest of the special price trees but in the garden center. I was even shown by another employee where they were. Both employees denied even talking to me when I went to the register and they rang up $37.99. I was given a slight discount to $29 each; I shouldn't have bought them after the cashier argued with saying yes they were the same exact tree but because they were in the garden center and not in the front of the store the price was different. I was also informed the Saturday soil special price was sold out, the store had just opened. I also bought $150 in lumber and asked for help loading it, no one ever showed up... Lastly, all employees need a name badge or Sutherland's branded shirt. You couldn't tell customers from employees. 3 registers open, extremely long lines, 4 different customers around us had items that rang up wrong price... The gentleman in front of me had a plant with a $15 price sticker on it that rang up $50. The cashier argued with him saying he had to charge what the register told him, I believe he walked out leaving...

Woman from the lawn and garden area was so rude. I asked about a sale which she confirmed would happen but could not tell me if there was a limit on the item. I asked if there was someone else that I could speak to, which she rudely responds “Well I’m the lawn and garden person and I don’t know, until y’all know.” Ma’am the sale is tomorrow! How could you not know? She was so rude! I simply told her Thank you and have the day you deserve and hung up. I figured Sutherlands was a smaller business but with rude workers and terrible service, I’d rather go somewhere else. Also the “sale” price is what local garden centers are already offering. I was just trying to give my business to a place I used to enjoy going to. I won’t be back. Plus it seems from other reviews that the workers are not friendly at all. I hope management can get it...