Hmmm ... somehow this review is being blocked, but trying again. It may be slightly long, but it is utterly true, and oddly has stopped showing on yelp. I am resubmitting it with updates. I was a thirty-year customer of ACE hardware, and for twenty years specifically at the Aptos location. It was always a very friendly experience. Before today I would have left the highest review ratings for this store, however I am shocked and appalled by today's experience -- and with the "manager", no less. Recently I went to the store seeking a simple rubber belt for a Hoover vacuum cleaner. Turns out there are various sizes for different models. The fellow working in that department suggested I get the model number of the specific vacuum for which I needed the belt and then come back. I did just that, and returned today with the model number (BD120) off the cleaner. Of course the whole idea was to match the correct belt to the specific cleaner. First, the fellow in the paint department searched the belts in stock, however the belts each have a unique part number, but each package doesn't list the model it's for, and the fellow wasn't familiar with them. I suggested a quick online search to match the model with the part, since they have numerous computers in the store. I did not have my cell. Another fellow tried to help and get online in the paint department but could not get Google on that computer.
I then spoke to a woman on the floor and asked if she could do a simple part search online. She said that only the manager had internet access. I asked if the manager was present. She then said, "I'm the manager". Her name is Rachel. I again asked if she would do a quick search to match the model. It would have taken perhaps thirty seconds. She would not do it. In fact, it was an unusually slow day and the store was fully staffed. When I came in, other clerks were there chatting with her. Not do a parts search in a hardware store? Huh?! She said, and probably will say, that "we don't have the part." She and her staff could not know that, since they did not know how to match the model and the part. Again, the point was to find the part number via the model. So, they might have actually had the correct part, and it could have been easily found. Again, the guys who looked simply did not know the part number. It might in fact have been in stock.
I explained to Rachel that I was a regular customer at that store for fifteen years. I said I had never received such unhelpful customer service there. She then sarcastically said, "So write a letter." Huh?! Like, "Hey, I don't care, don't bug me. Go ahead and complain." Rachel apparently takes her job and customer complaints very casually. I cannot express how shocked I was that the store manager would be so rude and disrespectful, and worse yet, so utterly dismissive of customer service. ACE is the "place for your friendly hareware store", right? All previous managers I've known there over the years have been helpful, couteous, and friendly. Rachel did nothing to help me as a customer and in fact only escalated the situation. Again, I was accustomed to this being a friendly neighborhood store, but Rachel was quite offensive.
At no point did I even raise my voice or behave antagonistically, I merely suggested to Rachel that it would have been an easily solved problem if she would help do a part search. Rachel had the audacity to tell me to leave the store. Again, this store had been a regular and friendly shopping experience for many years, and in fact many of the staff relish a visit with my dog. The cahsiers looked embarassed by Rachel's behavior.
I wonder how many thousands of dollars I have spent at ACE over the last thirty years? Many, many thousands. I won't spend another cent at an ACE again. Somehow, this particular store in Aptos now has a manager who is completely mismatched with her role. Rachel really should not have a customer-centric role, especially as a manager. I am sorry for the rest of the staff, who have been so helpful over the years, and whom Rachel embarrassed. Rachel reflects very badly on them and on ACE as a company. I am shocked and disappointed. Update on Oct 16: I checked the part number at home and it took thirty seconds. They DID have the part. So nobody won here. The mission of a business is to sell their existing merchandise. ACE Aptos would not sell merchandise they had in stock! Only because the 'manager' Rachel would not offer a few seconds of service. On that day, ACE lost money and a 30-year customer. That's the bottom line.
Jack L, Aptos CA read more