Harbor Freight? More like Harbor Fraud.
I ordered an item online because it was not in stock at this location, where I shop. The item had arrived broken in the box. The representative said to return it to the local store and I would be refunded the full purchase price, taxes, and shipping. I returned the item with the shipping label and invoice on the original box.
The clerk first asked me what was wrong with the item and I showed him the broken part. Two sales clerks stood together whispering to each other about how to handle my return. There was quite a discussion about it. There was some discussion about manually entering the amount. It concerned me that they would have to manually enter the amount with everything I had given them, including the order number when they had asked for it. I heard part of what they said and there was some question about the shipping expense, but because they were whispering, I only heard a little. I asked if there was any problem and I was advised at that time that there wasn't, and that I would receive my full refund.
I then specifically asked about the shipping cost. Only then was I told I would not be refunded the shipping. I told them what the service representative had told me. They repeated that they could not refund shipping. At my request they called for the manager. He came up and gruffly said that there was no way for him to give a refund for shipping because there was no way to key that into the register. He dramatically gestured pushing invisible keys in space over the keyboard.
I called the customer service number and their solution was to refund the shipping to me from their end. The cash register clerk then processed my refund without the shipping, but when I looked at the combined total amount I was being refunded, it didn't add up. I was still being shorted..
I spoke to the manager, but it was his position that he had over-refunded me. It was an outrageous thing to say. Now, as an aside, later, when the young woman was helping me further, I heard him repeat the exact same statement when a different cashier came up to him about a discrepancy in the amount of a refund someone else wanted. It was so comical to hear him say the same thing concerning someone else's refund discrepancy, I almost laughed. I realized his attitude towards refunds; be gruff, act annoyed, be domineering, and then tell the customer they've been OVER-refunded. But to get back to when I was talking to him, I told him the numbers didn't add up. I did not receive my full refund, even if they were applying a 20% restocking fee.
He said that I had a problem with "Harbor Freight" and he gestured up into space, "not THIS HARBOR FREIGHT STORE" and he gestured down with his hands in the shape of a box around himself. I explained that I did not see that this Harbor Freight store was different than the Harbor Freight that had taken my money for the purchase.
He asked how much I had paid and I told him and showed him the email showing my order. He became angry and said that I had not shown the receipt before. I explained I had given everything that was asked for including the order number. The store manager gave a dramatic huff and sigh and passed me off to the female clerk and said to give those things to her, and in particular the receipt. I was holding the refund receipt in my hand at that time and I said that this was the refund receipt, not the original sales receipt because I had ordered it online. He said in a condescending tone that he "had stated clearly and confidently" what I was to take to the sales clerk and then he turned his back on me and began to stomp off.
I had had it at that point. As he walked away I said that I agreed he had stated it "clearly and confidently," but his "confidence" did not mean that he was correct. That brought him back quickly. He said that I had been "explosive" since the moment I came in the store. His tone was angry, and customers were turning to look at him. I told him that he had not been there when I came in the store and stood in line to get my refund, before they called him over at my request, or from my interaction with the clerks. I told him I was not "explosive," and because he wasn't there when I came into the store, he was not able to make a comment as to my demeanor at that time. He stomped off again.
The young woman cashier looked over everything and manually did her calculations on a piece of paper. Now, magically, other buttons could be pushed on the cash register and I could receive the money they had shorted me.
The refund for shipping has still not shown up on my credit card. I've attached a screen capture of the Harbor Freight "No Hassle Return Policy." I guess it's no hassle if you don't want ALL your money back for a product delivered broken in the box, and you don't want your shipping fee back as you had been promised you would receive. read more