Goodwill Southern California Store & Donation Center — Local services in Los Angeles

Goodwill on Beverly used to be filled with 100% amazing, friendly, and courteous staff. Cody is the kindest manager there and his team are mostly still there and so kind. This review is not about them. This review is about the "new" manager that began working there several months ago. I believe his name is Jose. He is a young, tall Hispanic male maybe 6'3 with long black hair that he sometimes wears in a pony tail. This individual is rude, discourteous, aggressive, and makes up his own rules in how to run the store. I have been a customer at this store for years and never have I heard any Goodwill employee, let alone "manager", treat customers the way he has. I have been in the store when he aggressively gets on the loud speaker to yell at customers and tell them they need to go home because the store is closing. He does this before the actual store closing hours and locks the front doors with clients still shopping which is a code violation. There have been times I have come to the store 20 minutes before close and he has already locked the doors and denies entry stating they are closed when the operating hours show they close at 21:00 (09:00PM). If you are lucky enough to make it in before "his closing hours" you will hear him yell at people that they need to get in line at 08:20PM otherwise they will not be helped. His tone is atrocious and full of hatred towards the customer and you can see clients look at one another in disbelief when he speaks as he is so condescending and rude. He closes early when he is working, he rejects handling exchanges because he feels like it and tells customers everyone knows they take too long to process, he is abusive and confrontational with customers and guilt trips them if they arrive to shop at 08:50PM or if they need to exchange something at 08:30PM. He is often heard bossing other employees around instructing them not to help customers and to yell and speak aggressively with customers "like animals" at closing time otherwise the customers won't listen or leave- according to him. He obviously HATES his job, or at the very least HATES CUSTOMERS! Especially women. I do not know where this individual came from or who transferred him to the Beverly location and made him a "manager" but the clientele in this demographic deserve better. This store location does not require this kind of authoritarian, corrupt, street type manager. He might be better fit to be transferred to another Goodwill location because he is not a good fit and HE IS NOT IT. The customers there deserve to be treated with common courtesy, humility, and respect. Most who shop there also donate there,...

I went to this location twice. The first time I was there I was with a friend and after going through all the stuff I found only one shirt I really loved. Compared to other goodwills I've been to this one isn't very organized and is kind of dirty. Anyways I loved the shirt I got that time though. Later in the week I stopped by with a friend and picked up a film camera. After I bought it the lady working there told me that if it didn't work I could return it in a 7 day period. I got it checked to see if it worked and it didn't so I returned back to the store to return it. The lady working there then said that "returning" an item meant exchanging it and not getting the actual money back. I told her I had already looked around the store earlier that day when I made the purchase with my camera and there was nothing I wanted to exchange for. She then told me to come back another day and I told her I was leaving the next morning for the East Coast. She then started telling me that the policy regarding exchanges was written "all over the store" and that it wasn't her or any of her workers job to tell people what the true exchange policy was before they bought an item. Also she said the exchange policy was written at the bottom of the receipt to which I pointed out I was handed the receipt after I made the purchase, and that if I had known that was the exchange policy I wouldn't have purchased because I was told by the other employee there would be no problem returning it if it didn't work.I asked her to repeat a sentence she said because I didn't hear it and she made a snarky comment. I understand if a place has a policy they have to follow it but I'm upset because the policy should be made clear to the customer before buying it and I feel like the first employee saying it would be no problem for me to return it was false advertisement. Also the lady working was very rude to me. All in all you might find some hidden gems here but you're going to have to look very hard and at least the workers I dealt with aren't very kind and the store is...

One thing they don't teach here is customer service. I saw the cutest overalls on a mannequin on a Tuesday. When I asked the employee how I can get them, she was very rude and and almost laughed when I asked if it can be taken off the mannequin. She told me I'd have to come in early Saturday and purchase them since mannequins are changed Saturday mornings. She couldn't even tell me the price when I asked her and said it would be priced Saturday. I followed instructions and found the overalls. Unfortunately they were $49.99. In the whole store, the most expensive item on all racks is $14.99. Why is there such a gap in prices? When I asked another employee to confirm the prices because everything else is under $20 (literally skimmed through all the racks), she said that the overalls are cost over $100. She was also rude. Isn't there a set price list that your company follows or do employees have the ability to modify the price if they deem it more expensive and therefore, mark it at a higher price ($35 higher) than everything else in the store. It doesn't make sense. When did Goodwill become like this? Honestly, every time I have an interaction at this store, staff is so rude and they literally do not wanna be here. Finally, after speaking to another employee, it was explained that items on the mannequins are "high-end" and are marked "a little higher". Why would you display higher cost, high-end items on the mannequins when the rest of the store is priced 1/3 of the price. It's misrepresentative of the store and some may consider this price inconsistent with the company's values and policies. I donate money during each of my transactions but if this is the type of staff that this money is going towards, I'm definitely stopping and suggest others...