An online store to avoid - "The Great Hardware Store" - a serious rant

First of all, I would like to say that I'm a pretty easy person to please. When I get good service, I tip well. I also give good ratings.

This is not one of those times.

I placed an order with The Great Hardware Store http://www.thegreathardwarestore.com/ for a window heating unit on 11 October. I received no communication from them. I called. Left messages. Sent emails. No response.

So I sicked my sister on them (nothing like a lawyer to scare the crap out of someone). By selecting EVERY option on their phone menu, she finally got a call back from a person in the Commercial Sales division. Apparently since that's where most of their business is centered, they do not care about consumers who visit their website. He assured her the heater would ship that week (3 weeks after it was supposed to). So we waited another week. Nothing. Sent another email to their "customer service" email. No response.

Finally frustrated (and freezing in the house) I called and left a message for them to "cancel the f***ing order." (I believe those were my exact words.)

And they did. Quickly. Within an hour the order was off my account. And they got my money refunded in a week. If only their customer service were so speedy...

So we ordered from Northern Tool. Same item, $150 more expensive. I called their customer service to make sure they could figure out the convoluted shipping into the park, and spoke with a live human being within 30 seconds. I told her my story of woe, AND SHE MATCHED THEIR PRICE. Yup, great customer service, shipped when it was supposed to (with tracking info) and they gave us a good price.

Caveat emptor

I will never buy from The "Great" Hardware store again.

Northern Tool has my business. And my respect.