Michaels — Local services in Tukwila

This may have been the worst customer service experience I’ve ever had. I ordered 2 items on-line for pick up. I received the text that my items were ready. I parked and chose curb side delivery. I sent the text letting them know I was there. 10 minutes later I received a text thanking me for picking up my items, which were never brought to my car. I went inside to the area where pick up items were staged for “quick pick-up”. My order was not there. The store has just opened so I was the only person there. I went to the front end supervisor and explained the situation. He looked up my order and said there was no order in the system. I offered multiple times to provide the order number, which he declined saying that looking up by name was easier, even though he couldn’t find that an order even existed. After being passed off to 3 other people, they called the “picker” up to the front asking her if she filled the order that morning. She said she hasn’t gotten to that order yet but she did see the order come in that morning and that she was working on other orders first. I asked if anyone else was there in the store to pick up their order other than me. She ignored me, in fact she wouldn’t even make eye contact. Now 30 minutes after receiving the text that my order was ready, a 4th person came to “assist”, at which point I said I would go get the items myself if they would just point me in the right direction, which nobody would do. The 4th person then sauntered, yes sauntered, up the aisle to get the items. She came back with one of the two items. She said my order was split between two stores and that I would have to go to another store to pick up the 2nd item. The other store was 20+ minutes away! So I asked why, and of course they didn’t know why the order was split. They said they didn’t even know that an order could be split between different stores. I asked them to just cancel and refund the second item. I asked if they had the item in the store in stock and the said YES! When the woman started to saunter up the aisle again I said I just wanted a refund. Now brushing me off they said I didn’t need to be present for the refund and that they would take care of it right away, but I could leave. Actually, they said I SHOULD leave. Now running 45 minutes late I actually HAD TO leave. And big surprise… I still haven’t received my refund. It’s been over a week. So when I called about it, again they told me they couldn’t find the order and so couldn’t apply the refund. The only reason I even gave 1 star is because you can’t give a review...

I just had the worst customer experience with "Tim" working customer care at Michael's. Checking the receipt after purchase, I noticed the 50% discount was not applied on the $7.99 Recollections Value Pack 50 set cards & envelopes that sat above a sign stating "50% Recollections Value 50 count large and 25 count small". I spoke with Tim to ask what was on sale. He escorted me to the aisle, stopping 4-6' from the sign and product and said they were out of the sale item. I asked what near the sign was on sale. We continued down the aisle. He read it allowed and said only the 25 count small size was on sale (which was out of stock). I picked up the item I purchased - a standard size card (maybe 4x6), and stated nowhere does it state if it is small or large and all verbiage between sign and product match. He responds "well, that's not on sale." No further reason - no showing how the copy doesn't match, nothing.

I again ask what by the sign is on sale. He lifts the sign, looks about, and moves the sign 4-6' away. He returns. I ask "how would one know this is small or large as it doesn't state it anywhere?" He finally says, (after my 3rd or 4th question about the size and sign verbiage) that he'd give me the $4 discount - but seriously, at this point I'm really bothered that I had to make so much effort to get it - and no apology or acknowledgement that anything was wrong with the sign (obviously it was my inability to recognize a roughly 4x6 card/envelope was "small").

At the register, still looking for apology for the issue caused or some acknowledgement that I'm not an idiot for not being able to read the sign, I refer to the sign and say something like I have a Masters Degree and couldn't figure it out - to which he responds "clearly". Nice going, Tim of Customer Care. Needless to say, I didn't buy the product and am now really sour on a store I used to like. Never have I had to work so hard for such a small benefit - and made to feel like I was an idiot for not being able to match a misplaced, poorly worded sign...

I love Michaels! If I want fabric or jewelry supplies I go to the other guys. I'll come to Michaels for soap making (they have the best soap bases - even better than the massage supply place off of Ravena), yaaaaaarrrrn! (love, love, love their store brand yarns), and professional art supplies. They do have a decent selection of jewelry supplies, some of which are a different brand than the other guys, and the scrap booking selection looks pretty good too. Mostly I like the variety of different crafts they have represented, and the people at the Southcenter Michaels are always friendly and helpful.

What I'm not so happy about are: 1) Being disabled it's difficult to wander the store, especially with such a hard floor (the other guys have some stores with electric shopping carts - hint hint). 2) The website is a pain to navigate. Making changes to one little thing in the cart or on the wishlist means you have to wait for the page to load all over again (a big issue when you have an older computer). It would also be nice if you could break the wishlist down into categories, so you could actually find that lovely thing you saved last month that you're now needing for your new project. Web shopping is a big deal to me (refer to my disabled comment).

Meanwhile they have good prices and good quality stuff. Between them and the other guys I get nearly all my...