Goodwill of Orange County — Local services in Lake Forest

My girlfriend and I went here to shop as we usually do. We are regulars here and enjoy thrifting around the area. We’ve been coming to this goodwill for a while and usually run into great employees and customer service. But in all my years of going to second hand stores I have never ran into an employee and manager as deceitful and straight up rude for no reason. Me and my girlfriend both work retail and understand the hardships of customer service and how important it is to be at least nice to the customers. Apparently not everyone believes in this approach as these two at the counter, one who’s name is Lean or Leanne and the other who is the supposed manager of the store who’s name we did not catch. To be honest we’ve been here a lot and I don’t even think she was a manager, as I’ve met most of the management there. These two were rude from when we walked up to the counter and immediately grabbed our items and rung us up. My shirt I bought was unmarked and she priced it which was fine but i decided to pay in one dollar and some change which they both proceeded to laugh mockingly at me for. My girlfriend bought two items that they had trouble being nice about one of which were a pair of children boots that were scuffed and used. They priced them at 14.99 and said they were new when they definitely were not. Then they decided to mark up her second item, a plant bowl because they thought that the price was too cheap, I kid you not. A goodwill employee up-ticked the price of a donated item because she thought they were priced too low. When we walked back inside after realizing what had happened. (We didn’t have time to think because they were constantly rushing us to finish). When returning to the store and asking for a refund for the item that we felt pressured to buy they said it was non refundable and refused to work with us and assumed a mean voice and look as if they were disgusted with us. We are going to file a complaint and talk to whoever we can to get this resolved. I’ve had a lot of bad experiences thrifting but this tops everything. She was the rudest person I’ve met in all of retail, thrifting or any...

See below for positives and negatives... Positives: Usually clean, friendly staff, tons of items and variety, great brands. • Negatives: Dressing rooms. There are three dressing rooms for the entire store and they are very hard to use and get to. They are tucked away in the back corner of the store and two people can barely pass each other on the way in. You need a staff member to open the door for you and the staff usually walk away leaving you to go to the store front to ask for someone to open them. They need more dressing rooms for a store that size. OVERPRICED!!! Many items are overpriced! You can buy a lot of the items for cheaper brand new at the store of origin. This is supposed to be a thrift store but they sell their USED items for a higher price than store value. Glassware area is messy. The shelves are always overstocked and messy. It’s nearly impossible to look at anything without knocking other things off the shelves and breaking them. Checkout. They put my items in a plastic bag that tore and they didn’t replace it. They also didn’t wrap my glassware and proceeded to give it to me in the broken bag. The cashiers talked amongst themselves and didn’t even address the customers (“Hello!”, “Did you find everything okay?”, etc.), make eye contact, or so much as smile in my direction. Pricing at checkout. They need to have a price book for items that do not have a price tag (EX: $10 boots, $5 sandals, $2 cups, $3 shirts, $5 jeans, etc.) instead of asking the manager what the price is for every item. It would be much faster and a more efficient use of time. After all, this is a THRIFT store of USED items and a few dollars cheaper than the manger’s personal preference won’t make much of a difference. Clothing drop off. Maybe the guy handling the clothing drop off was having a bad day but he...

My gosh the prices are SO high! Goodwill is meant to help people. I get it. But these stores are meant to help people too. Making the prices sky high saying 92 cents of every buck goes to help. Well that's why people donate money. They donate goods and clothes so that people that can not afford to purchase them for themselves and their family can have a way to. I can go to walmart and get brand new clothes for a fraction of what they cost at goodwill. That's not right! Especially with inflation higher than ever. I don't know how you sleep at night. And don't say you keep prices competitive. You shouldn't be competing like a retail store. And your prices are higher than everywhere! Shame on you!

I am updating this because they replied to my review as if what I said mattered to them. Since then they have continued to reply to other reviewer complaints with the same "we give 92 cents!" And "we try to stay competitive with our prices!". Yeah I just like pointing out when places clearly have no regard for the people they are serving. Hello? Are you seriously going to use all that money to help people get a job? Come on! That is all a lie. And pointless. You help them get a job that they have no clothes to wear to cause they can't afford them at Goodwill! You should be reported! How many people know that when they donate to you that you turn around and try to become rich off donations and decide how it should go. You are not a retail store! Stop saying you are competitive! You are an insult to the meaning of Goodwill. People are suffering and you would rather take advantage of them. PEOPLE PLEASE DONATE TO SALVATION ARMY! They will use your donations...