I bought an apartment in the neighbourhood about five years ago, and I used to come here for hardware supplies, mainly to support a small business in my neighbourhood. Sadly, the customer service has really declined over the past few years. Tonight's episode takes the cake. I doubt I'll go back. There are several small hardware stores close by, and the lure of 24 hour-a-day-access to hardware supplies is not worth the lack of knowledge and horrible customer service the Nuthouse now demonstrates.
About six months ago, I bought a quart of paint from them, to have on hand for touch-ups. I went to use it today, and found that the paint had separated completely out, though it was still usable. They hadn't provided me with any stir sticks when I bought my paint, so I had nothing to stir it with. "No problem," I thought. "I'll just head over there and ask them to give it a shake on their paint-shaker." Big mistake. You would have thought that I was asking them to sacrifice their first born child. First, the staff member told me I needed a reciept, but changed his tune when I pointed out there was a label on the can with Nuthouse Hardware on it, since they had mixed up the paint colour for me. He begrudgingly took it and asked why I didn't just shake it at home. I told him it was too separated to shake effectively by hand, and that I had nothing to stir it with at my apartment.
What should have been a relatively simple task seemed to take an inordinately long time, because no one seemed to know how to operate the paint-shaker. Additionally, the demeanor of the three staff members involved seemed to indicate that I was taking up their valuable time, which before I gave them my request, seemed to consist of standing around talking to one another. While I was waiting, they also stood around making smart-mouthed remarks about me, like "Oh, he wants it shaken, not stirred..."
In order to not have to trouble them again if the paint separated out again, I asked if I could have a couple of stir sticks to take home (which every other hardware store I have ever gone to provides for free with any paint purchase.) Once again they acted as though this was an unheard-of request, couldn't seem to find any stir sticks, said they didn't have any, and one of them was even reaching into a bin of what looked like off-cuts of quarter round, as if he was going to break a piece of that off to give to me. I just told them it was fine, and left.
I would definitely not recommend this business. There are plenty of other hardware stores in the neighbourhood, with far more knowledgeably and helpful staff. 24 hours a day notwithstanding, this place deserves to go out of business if that's the level of knowledge and customer service they provide read more