Ace Hardware — Local services in Mukilteo

From what I hear, Ace Hardware is the place you go as a consumer and not a professional for hardware and that may be their niche. I am not a professional. Ace has done fairly well to provide customer service in this day and age of entitled employees that seem to not provide good or even exceptional customer service. For the most part they seem to have what I need.

In my case. Items are not stocked well and I find items costing way more than the tags that are below them on the shelf vs when I get to the register. With the first few situations, I just dismissed it; but it became a regular thing. I have had multiple encounters at Ace where few items do not come up correctly at the register and the cashier starts out great and investigates the issue, but when the supervisor jumps in they politely and firmly state that is the price. When I explain its very inconvenient to see a tag and then have no compromise. I should not have to decode their price tags to what is on the package every time.

I explained and described the location and they took a look. They saw what I saw. Multiple items in the same location with lower price than what is at the register. So far every other company will investigate, fix the shelf and then find a reasonable compromise to the price. Some give the tag some meet in the middle. It must be an Ace culture thing; where two different ACE locations have the nerve to blame the customer, stating not having time to fix the mess they encounter with customers leaving an item in the wrong place. Very unfortunate, they would blame their lazy shelf stocking practices on the customer. I explained I could see if the item was the only one, but clearly shows others lined up. I also showed the tags low to high $14, $15, $29. I pulled the item form the $15 spot and it come up at $45 which I never saw a 45 tag option. I said lets compromise meet in the middle. Very unfortunate that they would be so outspoken to my face and blame this on the customer.

I worked for Fred Meyers for more than 10 years in the 90s and early 2000s. Many times at the customer service desk working with a policy to take care of the customer if it was under 20$ and if it was over, to investigate the issue correct the shelf and just take care of the issue. I have also trained at other retail stores to become a store manager and one of the lessons I learned is that you take care of the customer; the 10-20 price difference is nothing, when the argument you are engaged in is in front of other customers. Especially when you have a business that has a revenue in the 100 of thousands to millions of dollars a year.

ACE needs...

Disappointed in Quality and Warranty Support for the MS-170

I purchased the Stihl MS-170 chainsaw in September 2023 at Ace Hardware in Lynnwood WA, expecting the renowned quality associated with Stihl products. Unfortunately, my experience has been disappointing. After using the chainsaw about five times in the past year, I encountered a significant issue: the engine would die whenever I tried to press the throttle for full power.

I took it to an authorized dealer, Ace Hardware and Garden in Duvall, and was informed that my warranty had expired just 30 days prior. I had to pay $43 for diagnostics, only to confirm what I suspected—a carburetor issue. I was then quoted $50 for a new carburetor and $30 for labor, adding up to more than $120 for a chainsaw that had barely seen any use.

Adding to my frustration, the manual specifies a 2-year limited warranty, but I was told this did not cover the issue. When I reached out to Stihl directly, they initially promised to check whether the carburetor could still be covered. After more than two and a half weeks and several follow-ups, nothing was resolved.

I am extremely disappointed that this chainsaw required a costly repair after such minimal use. The lack of responsiveness and support from Stihl compounded my frustration. I expected better durability and customer service for a product of this reputation and...

So I went in to this store to seek some help for a hardware part, I didn’t know how to explain it cause it wasn’t being used in an atypical application. Was pointed to a tall older gentlemen, as I was trying to explain to the guy what I was trying to do, he interrupts, snarling at me, “what do you want”, taken back by his abrupt hostile behavior, i meekly showed him what I got, he again snarled and said we don’t have that, and dismissed me, didn’t even give me direction on how I could go about finding what I need somewhere else. this store has never really given me problems, but his behavior is not good customer service, and luckily for me, there are other ace hardware stores within driving distance. Talk to a guy at the Everett store, got way more help at that store. So now I have to drive to Everett from my hometown mukilteo to get hardware stuff. That guy...