Grainger Industrial Supply — Local services in Los Angeles

Back in the '80s when I did maintenance work we used to order supplies from the Grainger catalog, so I was familiar with them. This weekend a friend of mine and I were trying to plumb a backyard fountain, and we needed a bigger catchment basin, but one that would fit in the space available. "A half-round garbage can would be perfect. I'll just run to Smart & Final and pick one up," sez I.

None at S&F. Nor Home Depot. Nor True Value. Then I remembered Grainger-- those catalogs had a dozen versions and sizes of EVERYTHING...

I tried calling this Grainger location, but it was a fax number. Another LA location's phone number worked tho, and I was able to order the item with the first person I spoke with. A half-round 21-gal can wasn't in stock at any of the nearby locations, but she said she'd order it, and it would be ready for pickup by tomorrow morning. (that fast?!) ...Or they could just deliver it to me directly.

"Great! Let's do that," I said, thinking that even if it didn't arrive until the end of the week, it would save me a trip. Besides, we wouldn't have time to work on the fountain until Wednesday anyway.

"All right, it will be delivered to your home by tomorrow sometime." (That fast?!?) I couldn't believe an out-of-stock item would appear so quickly at my home. She assured me it would.

She was, in a way, wrong. The garbage can was delivered to my home the same day I ordered it! My son was in the front yard when a man in a red & gray Grainger uniform walked up carrying a half-round 21-gallon garbage can. While quizzing my son later I asked what kind of truck he was driving, my son said "No truck. He walked here, asked if this was the right address, and handed me your garbage can."

I don't think Grainger deliveries are actually made on foot from their distribution center, wherever that is, but this showed a commitment to customer service that is rare these days.

They certainly have my business (what...

Worst experience ever. I called in a day before to set up a will call pick up and they said they will have someone to meet me at 9 am and will also give me a confirmation call between 7 -9 am. So I woke up at 8 today, still no call from them but drove to the branch by 9 because that's the time we agreed to meet. And no one shows up until 9:30am. I called the 27/7 customer service line and all they told me (after being on hold for 20minutes) is that they are trying to contact whoever is the person that they designated to show up since 6 am and they were not able to get an answer from the person. They had 12 hours since last night at 8pm when I called to set this thing up and they still didn't have a clue about who is coming. I would have really appreciated if they called me in the morning to tell that they're still trying to get things straightened. I did not get a single call until I actually called them. Ridiculous. And the customer service representative told me that someone is going to meet me in an hour. That's two hours that I've wasted this morning. So this person finally shows up at 11am and suprise, they got my order wrong. So now I'm sitting in my car again waiting for them to get my stuff. Just like I waited here for the last two hours and fifteen minutes. Weekend emergency will call is supposed to work for emergencies, right? Well my emergency situation has not bees resolved what so ever and I'm still in my car waiting for my products. Well done...

I made an online purchase with Grainger and waited for 5 days for Grainger to notify me the merchandise I purchased is ready to be picked up. According to their email the merchandise should be ready on the 30th but I didn’t receive any updates from Grainger so I called them and found out the order was cancelled because I don’t have a business account with Grainger. No cancellation emails were sent to me notifying the cancellation, I have waited for 5 days for the package to arrive and I’m in need for these goods. I find it very frustrating if this item is not available to sell to the public then why would you let me purchase it in the first place? And no cancellation email was sent to...