Bad product and terrible support. Satisfaction guarantees are less than worthless.
I purchased hundreds of dollars worth of paint (their interior 'super'paint+primer, plus a few cans of exterior) from this SW location to repaint my entire house with fresh paint to prep for a sale. Overall, the sales process wasn't terrible, other than them breaking one of the cans in the shaker and boxing it up without telling me they had broken the handle and asking if I was OK with that. Less than professional, but no big deal, I suppose.
The real problems started with the quality of some of the interior paint. I don't know if it's an indictment of SW quality in general (heading downhill?) or a flaw with something being done at this particular store. I began painting about 2 weeks after purchasing the paint. I opened one of the cans to find that the paint had more or less COMPLETELY separated into the tint at the bottom with several inches of clear liquid at the top. I couldn't believe that a paint could separate this much after only 2 weeks. I had opened paint before after months of being stored with less separation than this. Can after can exhibited this separation...I finally realized I needed to document it...one of those cans is below (and that was one of the better ones). Regardless, I went ahead and used it, figuring it would be OK once it was thoroughly mixed.
Boy, was I wrong. The paint was complete and utter garbage. I had to stir it for 10 minutes until if finally appeared to be blended. Even then, the paint appeared to separate into its component shades both in the pan and even while on the wall!! You can see a little evidence of this in my picture below. Dark brown streaks appearing in the tan paint...and no amount of mixing, no matter how much pressure I would apply (light, med., heavy) would make it stop. It flowed very poorly. It felt much too heavy to me...it was matting my rollers quickly causing me to spend a bundle on them, and took 3 coats in most places to cover the old, similar paint color. This was supposed to be paint and primer in one! I figured I'd need 2 coats, at most! Apparently, I was duped by this new marketing gimmick.
The exterior paint, ironically, did not separate like this and went on just fine (I used a roller there, too...proof that I do know what I'm doing when it comes to painting).
Anyways, I went back to SW and told them about my experience and asked about their 'satisfaction guarantee' and what it entailed. Come to find out, it is basically empty words...meaning 'we guarantee you'll be satisfied....or, I guess you'll learn your lesson and shop elsewhere next time' I was completely civil to them, and they started getting defensive almost immediately, I guess because other customers were there. But what am I supposed to do?! After about 5 minutes of talking about my problem with one of the staff members, who eventually got his manager for me, the manager told me I needed to come back with the paint, and he couldn't discuss it anymore because he HAD PAYING CUSTOMERS to attend to!!! Wait a minute, hadn't I been a PAYING customer only weeks before? It's not like I went in there shouting or taking up tons of their time. I was just describing my issues with the paint in a calm demeanor, and had only been there a few minutes. Apparently, though, this is what SW thinks of you. Once they've made the sale, you're not their concern anymore and they won't give you the time of day. I was so offended that I never even bothered to go back (I had gone in there with a bunch of pictures on my phone thinking that would be enough, and to make a general inquiry about the satisfaction guarantee....my mistake, apparently). But, I wanted to make sure I posted this for everyone to see. I don't remember the names of the employees in particular...but this store has some EXTREMELY RUDE staff, and shoddy paint to boot! AVOID! read more
