Murdoch's Ranch & Home Supply — Local services in Killeen

UPDATE: We stopped patronizing this place after several times when they had run out of the horse feed we were buying and after several conversations with management at both the store level and the corporate level. We saw no improvement and finally decided the entire experience was too frustrating to continue:

ORIGINAL REVIEW: Visited yesterday during Grand Opening which is not always a good barometer reading since staff can be new and unfamiliar. But there are some facts that remain noteworthy that override the newness of the store and staff.

First, THIS IS A FARM AND RANCH store where most of the customers will be arriving in large pickup trucks. Yet the parking lot is striped for the maximum number of compact cars one could fit in the space. One truck will need almost twice the space of a compact car. True, this was a recycled location from some other type of product but the parking lot could have easily been re-striped to suit their clientele.

Next, being over excited about their new store, they overloaded their outside inventory so that trailers, hunting blinds, Stock panels etc. needed to occupy numerous parking places. NOT a good move when you're expecting a large turnout. It's like inviting 100 people to your house for a sit-down dinner when you only have 6 chairs at your table.

We noticed a discernable difference in the floor layout and product stocking between the women's apparel and the men's apparel. The women's side was Overstocked and the layout was crowded and not easy to manuver a shopping cart in between clothing racks without knocking stuff off the rack or off a shelf. NOT A COMFORTABLE experience. However, the men's side was open and easily navigable. Did they not get all their supply for men's wear or is it that they think men are so much larger than women that they need more room to move around?

For a new store that wanted to make a positive impression upon the community, the manager should have assigned someone to monitor and clean the restrooms more than at the end of the day during closing. The men's room was littered all over the floor with the small trash bin overflowing.

Knock off one star for the parking lot, one for the overcrowding and one for the restrooms and you're only left with 2 stars. I think I'll downgrade that one more since this is not their first rodeo and they should have known better....Lucky them, they get a 1-star rating.

On the positive side, the staff we encountered were polite, friendly and helpful. The product lines had a good variety of necessary items for anyone with Farm and Ranch life needs.

Is there room for improvement - always! Looking forward to improving my rating on a...

After reading all of the reviews, I came to a very disturbing revelation: All of the negative reviews have a common thread in that this store and the corporate management have a terrible understanding of CUSTOMER SERVICE. It's like they think Customer Service is something the customers are supposed to do.

Well, today, I experienced the same - in person. There were only two bags of the feed we wanted on the shelf - one with an obvious rip in the bag and a sloppy job of retaping - BUT, no markdow price. So we took the other bag. However when we got to the pickup to load up, we noticed this bag also had a tear in it and feed was spilling out all over the parking lot. That means another trip back into the store for a refund. Guess what? They don't want to refund the money. They insist that someone can go to the back and get us another bag. So now we wait and wait.

Problem 1: Why do they wait for a customer to complain before someone notices that it's time to stock the shelf? If there were more in the backstock area, why were they not already on the shelf for customers to pick up?

Problem 2: Offering damaged merchandise that may not be the full weight but not offering a discount on the price is not only bad customer service, it's rude and insulting to your customers.

Problem 3: The space on the shelf right next to this feed which is dedicated for another type of feed was completely bare? How does that happen? A feed store should be selling feed. If the shelves are empty, you've made some serious mistakes along the way. Who's job is it to monitor that?

Problem 4: Why do you wait for the customer to walk in the door before you decide it's time to give them lip service and think they're dumb enough to mistake that for customer service.

Obviously this store's staff and the corporate managment who are in charge of oversight are in the wrong jobs. From what I can tell, I wouldn't hire these incompetents to sweep a...

UPDATE: Was asked by management to contact them via email. Sent detailed description. 5 months have elapsed, and still no change in customer service. We stopped doing business with Murdochs because of it. ALWAYS OUT OF STOCK Seems that no matter when we go, the horse feed we want is not on the shelf. Or it's outdated and risky to feed. Before, we've asked a manager and he assured us he was there to change things. Two weeks later things have changed. He's no longer there. Now there is no product on the shelf and there is also no back stock in the warehouse. The help on duty today: 2 guys and a gal at the sports counter yammerin' away but doing nothing. Asked if someone could check. One called someone who said she'd get to it in a minute as she was busy with something else. Meanwhile, as we waited and waited, the same three kept up their conversation in front of us as if we weren't there and still doing no work. Finally another gal came back and said she was going to check. Then came back to us from the warehouse (very quickly) to tell us they were completely out of what we wanted but they'd probably get some more by mid-week. It's clear that the help at this store does not have a rural mentality. I don't know what their experience level is but the casual way she blew us off as if we could easily drive another 50 miles into town anytime we choose was about the rudest thing I've ever encountered from any store employee anywhere. Sure I can take off work and drive back in or I can pay a man by the hour to drive in for me and do the job we should have been able to accomplish on our regular trip into town for supplies, but where's the guarantee that they'll have what we need then? Honestly, this store has no idea what the customer needs or how to supply it. They're all show and no go. I'd say it's just a joke but I'm...