"The customer is always right" is definitely NOT the case at this place. I woke up last week barely able to walk. I have several degenerative conditions and they got really bad with the cold weather. I immediately had to go out and get a walker, a reacher, and I needed dog bowls that I could reach ASAP because every time I bent down to the floor it made the pain excruciating. I was spilling water & food all over the place. Online I found elevated dog bowl diners which I thought would be great for my dog as well, but it would take one to two weeks for one to arrive so I thought I would buy local at a higher price to get it as soon as possible.
On Tuesday I called Lilley's. The older woman who works there (who I now know is the owner's wife) answered the phone & told me two brands that she could get and one of them was the one I was hoping to get. I told her it came in two sizes online - 3 cup and 12 cup. I wanted the 3 cup size. She told me she would 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 cup size for me. I asked her how much it would cost. She said she wasn't sure. She couldn't remember how much the vendor said it would cost them. She said $29.99 or $39.99. I had found it online for $14.69, but a couple other places also had it for $29.99 (Tractor Supply & Petsmart) if I ordered it online. The only place that had it in stock was a Petsmart a two hour drive away. She said she could have it by Friday so I told her I would take it.
On Friday I went to the store & saw the diner - it was the 12 cup size. I said it was the large size, not the small size. She said I asked him to send me the smallest one they had. I said but you told me you could get the 3 cup size. She had the order book in front of her and I asked her to see it. It said right in the book that the diner was MSRP $39.98 and the diner was for tall dogs. I felt like this was a "bait and switch" situation. Why did she tell me she could get the 3 cup size if only the 12 cup size was available? I asked her if she could call the vendor. No, it was the day after Thanksgiving and most people had the day off. I told her I wished I had known Tuesday that they couldn't get it - I would have ordered it online for $14.69, but I was hoping to get it sooner than one or two weeks. I didn't even know if they could get it, or when they would know whether they could get it or not. Then the young woman that works there (who I now know is the owner's daughter) said look, we can't help you. Then an older man who loads stuff in the cars, who I thought was a hired hand, (who I now know is the owner) says, just turn around and leave the store!! No one else was in the store at the time but me. I can't imagine I would have been spoken to this way if others had been in the store.
I am on disability and lately when I feel I have been treated unfairly I have tried to advocate for myself. So, I thought I would contact the owner of the store. I thought if he had been there I surely would not have been treated the way I was. Online I was able to find out the name of the owner and his home phone number. So today, 8 days later, I called. When I heard the voice I realized it was the older man who had told me to leave the store! I didn't want to pursue it at that point but I asked if he was the owner of Lilley's and he said yes. I told him that I had been treated badly at the store but I did not 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 and 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 is 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 and then he says well we tried to apologize 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 ever again. And don't call me ever 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 store ever again. read more
