"The customer is always right" is definitely NOT the case @ Lilleys. I woke up last week barely able to walk. I have degenerative conditions & they got really bad w/the cold weather. I immediately had to go out & get a walker, a reacher, and needed dog bowls that I could reach ASAP because every time I bent down to the floor it made the pain excruciating. I spilled water & food all over. Online I found elevated dog bowl diners which would be great for my dog as well, but it’d take 1-2 weeks to arrive so I thought I’d buy local @ a higher price to get it ASAP.
On Tuesday I called Lilley's. The older woman who works there (now know is the owner's wife) answered the phone & told me 2 brands that she could get & one of them was the one I wanted. I told her it came in 2 sizes online - 3 cup & 12 cup. I wanted the 3 c. size. She told me she’d call the vendor to see if she could get that size for me. A short time later she called back to say she could get the 3 c. size for me. I asked her how much it would cost. She wasn't sure. She couldn't remember how much the vendor said it’d cost them. She said $29.99 or $39.99. I’d found it online for $14.69, but other places also had it for $29.99 (Tractor Supply & Petsmart). The only place that had it in stock was a Petsmart an hour away. She said she could have it by Fri so I told her I’d take it.
On Fri. I went to the store & saw the diner - it was the 12 c. size. I said it was the large size, not the small. She said I asked him to send me the smallest one they had. I said but you told me you could get the 3 c. size. She had the order book in front of her & I asked her to see it. It said that the diner was MSRP $39.98 & was for tall dogs. I felt like this was a "bait and switch" situation. Why did she tell me she could get the 3 c. size if only the 12 c. size was available? I asked her if she could call the vendor. No, it was the day after Thanksgiving & most people had the day off. I told her I wished I had known Tuesday that they couldn't get it - I would’ve ordered it online for $14.69, but I was hoping to get it sooner than 1-2 wks. Then the young woman that works there (now know is the owner's daughter) said we can't help you. Then an older man who loads stuff in the cars, who I thought was a hired hand, (now know is the owner) says, just turn around & leave the store! No one else was in the store at the time. I can't imagine I would’ve been spoken to this way if others had been in the store.
I’m on disability & when I feel I’ve been treated unfairly I’ve tried to advocate for myself. So, I thought I would contact the owner of the store. I thought if he’d been there I surely wouldn’t have been treated the way I was. Online I was able to find out the name of the owner & his home phone #. So today, 8 days later, I called. When I heard the voice I realized it was the older man who’d told me to leave the store! I asked if he was the owner of Lilley's and he said yes. I told him that I’d been treated badly at the store but I didn’t want to say anything as I was sure he was one of the people who had mistreated me. So he says, are you the woman who was upset because we couldn't get you the dog bowl you wanted & I said yes. He said, well you know vendors. Many times they try to sell you something, which isn't what you want, hoping you will take it because it’s what they have. That is exactly what I thought the wife had been trying to do. It's called bait & switch. We rehashed my visit to the store & then he says we apologized to you. I said I never heard the words "I'm sorry" come out of anyone's mouth. He said that's because you were too busy griping. He said you are the one with the problem. If you are going to complain in the future don't come in our store again. And don't call me again at my home. If you do I'll have you arrested. And he hung up on me.
Well, Lilley's doesn't have to worry about that. After being treated like that you couldn't pay me to step foot in that...
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