Spence Hardware & Supply — Local services in Moscow

When I moved to Moscow there really is not any good equine feed stores , only Spence to get horse feed and not much of a selection, when I have asked about some products I have used the people there are not very educated about equine things and feed. The prices are very high, compared to what I was use to paying. We needed some horse panels, it was cheaper to go to Lewiston and back to get the panels. And also it took them forever to figure out the right panel, they kept telling me that they did not have any panels only gates when I just come into the store after looking at the panel I wanted the price on. There are very over priced. Well the straw for me to ever shop at Spence again was when we bought a rototiller there yes it was on consignment but the catcher was the guy there told us that he just did a service on the rototiller and that it did not have very many hourss on and that it was almost new. Paid a new rollertiller price for it because we took the word of this service man there and stating that there was nothing wrong it was almost brand new. Well brought it home used it for a small section and than put it in reverse and that was it. The guy at Spence was rude to us when we asked about the rototiller, saying us that there is nothing he can do because it was a consignment. We took his word that it was in good running order and nothing wrong with it and he just got done checking it out. Took it to another shop and the transmission is fried and needs replaced. I don’t believe the guy at Spence was honest and he just wanted to make some money for selling a broken item.i believed he knew it was trashed when he sold it I will not ever shop at Spence hardware again, they shown me Nothing more than dishonesty and lies with extremely...

Copied and pasted from an email that I submitted on their website: This morning, Sunday, 8/17, I visited your store and was helped by Robb. I wanted to let you know, if you don't already, what a wonderful employee you have in him. I had a project that I needed advice and recommendations in order to complete. Robb provided us with that information and more. He had a great sense of humor, was very kind and patient, and was very knowledgeable. Having been a customer service manager many years ago, I know that you can teach people a lot of things, but you can't really teach them to care about others, and to be conscientious. You were either wise or lucky to hire well. I lean toward the former, because I have encountered a few pretty exceptional employees at Spence over the last few years that I've lived here. Saturday night, there was a competent young man who helped me to preliminarily assess the materials that I would need. (I wish I could recall his name - but I do remember that he was wearing boots that he mentioned were passed down to him from his dad.) With his good ideas, I returned to purchase this AM when Robb was so helpful. So many retailers these days lack an emphasis on training and customer service; Robb and his young colleague exemplify both - a refreshing change from the status quo! I hope they are both well-cared-for and appreciated in your organization.

Thanks to Spence Hardware and Robb for helping to start my project - and my Sunday - off on a positive...

Employees are very condescending about their (often incorrect) knowledge on how to feed various livestock. With the current grass hay shortage and with my pastures not quite being ready for hoof traffic I had prepared to swap my sheep to a ration that was straw for the main forage to ensure they had some long fibrous material available to slow down digestion of concentrates and to assist in heat production since they have been shorn and the weather is still dipping below freezing; supplemented by concentrates to add additional energy and protein to the ration. When I inquired about what they had in stock and went to straw after they stated they had no hays in stock the cashier assisting stated that "straw will shred a sheeps intestines". If you know anything about how a ruminants digestive system works you would know that by the time any forage gets out of the rumen its a wet slosh of whats been in the rumen fermenting and getting ruminated on for a good while, and by the time it makes it to the omasum and abomasum to make its way to the small intestine for the more standard digestion process it has very little structure which would not be able to, as this employee stated "shred an intestine". I would recommend that their employees avoid giving feed advice as it is clear they don't have a good grasp on the basics of how the animals they would be making feed recommendations...