Madden's Ace Hardware 3 — Local services in Holly Hill

Buyer Beware! I just had an extremely unfortunate loud argument with the "owner" of the local Ace hardware. Yesterday I purchased a set of Torx heads from their store. They were recommended and I was told they would work in my ratchet wrench. I tried one and it wasn't a great fit so I put it away for return. Right torx head, not such great advice on the ratchet. So, I re-wrapped them and took them back today. The cashier said; "look at your receipt- no tools returns accepted." (What a fine place to let you know- after the purchase.) The assistant manager, same story. The "OWNER" and I got into a big 5 MINUTE argument. All I got out of the argument was my own incompetency at using a ratchet set. Our voices escalated and echoed throughout their store. I told him he was making me feel like a fool and that he was making me nervous. He required I follow him to the tool aisle where he showed me a faded, sheet on the back side of an end cap which stated no tool returns. I said; "you could at least place it where customers might see it too." I stated that his employee sold me the item and said it would work in any ratchet set; it did not work for me. In fact the owner couldn't make it work in front of me either. (At that point I said; "now you're embarrassing yourself as well.") I even offered to go get my ratchet set. I said this is what your employee sold me, his advice. It didn't work and I want my money back. He then dragged the poor smuck who sold me the item up to join the argument. He finally asked me to leave the store and I told him he was a real jackass. All this, actual YELLING on both sides, for a re-packaged unused item. Total Price $6.99 + tax. Total Value: lost sale from me that day: $11.99 + tax and never shopping there again. plus telling the whole internet, all family and friends that this store does in deed have a very poor return policy. THE OWNER TOLD ME I SHOULD SHOP AT WAL-MART IF I WANTED THAT KIND OF RETURN POLICY. I told him I would start shopping at Home Depot from now on. I should of know from previous returns at this store. They would always say. Can't you keep it, don't you think you will use it...

I've never been to this Ace Hardware. I don't even live in the same city. I've only dealt with Jonathan (the store manager) over the phone. I had a problem with my Kamado Joe grill (that I didn't even purchase from this store), and this Ace Hardware is a KJ dealer. KJ's corporate support is absolutely terrible, and I was getting nowhere with my issue. I started calling dealers near me, and Jonathan definitely answered the call. I described my issue and asked if Jonathan could help me at all with a Real Human phone number at KJ, insight into reasons why KJ support was so terrible, or any information why the warranty-replacement part I finally received from KJ support was the wrong part. Jonathan didn't have any immediate answers for me but was very sympathetic to my issue. He said he'd call his dealer contacts to try to get me more information. A few hours later, he did. He'd spent most of those hours going through his dealer contacts and finally got a KJ human who was incredibly less than helpful. Jonathan passed that info back to me and said he wouldn't stop trying. The next day, he said he was able to get on the phone with one of the upper managers at KJ support who was just as appalled at my issue and the horrible customer service experience I had with KJ's support staff. That afternoon, I received an email from KJ support that completely cleared up my issue and confirmed the warranty-covered order of all necessary replacement parts (basically, everything on the outside of the grill that isn't ceramic when my original issue was that the hinge broke). Jonathan went above and beyond what I'd hoped, and if he's managing that store, I have to imagine he trains his staff that way. If I'm ever in the area, I will go in the store to shake his hand and...

Maybe ok for small items, but beware their return policy for bigger ones. I've been shopping here for the past 6 months as I've been renovating my house. Today I purchased an electric pole saw. When I got it home and out of the box there was no power through the pole, but power if connected directly to the saw. The pole itself was sloppily assembled, the grommet for the power cord was not aligned and the handle had a gap. I took the screws out and fixed the grommet, but noted that the wiring inside was poor quality. For $100 I decided I wasn't happy with it and took it back. Instead of giving me a refund, they took it to the back and came back up and insisted that it worked fine. The employee in the back (the manager?) insinuated that I just didn't know how to operate it (who cares if that's true, I wasn't happy with the quality and wanted a refund - what kind of store doesn't respect that?). He also kept asking me if I just didn't want a pole saw. ??? I have no idea what he was getting at, they only had one other one on display and the box was already open on that one! The customer is always right, if I return an item because I am dissatisfied with it, provide the refund. I am disputing with my credit card and am quite confident I will prevail. Of course, they made it a little harder, as they took my receipt! You can get better prices at Lowe's, and while you won't get much personal attention, they will definitely allow you to...