I visited the Bradenton SR70 store this evening. I sought assistance regarding a bulb for my undercabinet lighting. It's rather confusing, so much so, that the older gentleman who was helping me sought the help of the other older gentleman in the store. Neither was certain of what I needed, despite the fact that I brought in a bulb with me. Well, it wouldn't have been so difficult if the first gentleman hadn't dropped it and broken it, although he refused to admit doing that. Needless to say. we all decided upon our best educated guess as to what I needed and I was going to buy 6 of them, 2 double packs and 2 single. The man told me that if I put it in the fixture and it burned out, then it was the wrong one. I asked if I could return them and he said yes, I could return the unopened packages. I asked about the open one and he said no, "that one's yours." I said "even though you're advising me that this is what I need, you won't honor it and give my money back for the open one, the wrong one that you sold me?" He said no. He allowed me to put the items back on the shelf. In an age where Home Depot and Lowe's surely have to be making your business more difficult by the day. In an age where Amazon is beating the hell out of retail stores, so much so that even Sear's, Macy's, Victoria's Secret and others are closing doors because their business has suffered, your employees would not honor a $6.91 bulb, that likely cost them between $3-$4. So, not only have you lost my business, but you've lost the business of anyone I tell my story to, including internet reviews. All for $3. I chose to shop local to support local business and small business. I thought ACE was the place to go because I needed some personalized assistance but that didn't work out so well. Sad. Not smart business. Not friendly, not neighborly, and just bad judgement, and it's not the first time I had a less than pleasant, and less than successful experience there.
So I can say thank you to these gentlemen. I was going to spend about $36 on bulbs that I was unsure of, after being treated in a gruff manner by men who were neither friendly, knowledgeable, nor respectful (one of the men walked away when another customer, a male, walked up and rudely interrupted them while assisting me while I was in the middle of a question to him). Instead, super irritated, I came home, got on Amazon, and bought a damn 10 pack of my bulbs for $9.95, free shipping. So their poor business decision, poor customer service and treatment, and poor attitudes saved me a boatload of money, but it sure cost them a whole heck of a lot! read more
