Big box return desk vs. local hardware store, the local one won after 20 minutes

Last month I bought a cordless drill at a giant chain store and the chuck jammed on the third use. I took it back to their return desk and the guy barely looked at it, told me I needed the original receipt even though it was on my store card, and then made me wait 15 minutes while he called a manager. I left frustrated and drove to the small hardware shop a few blocks from my house in Tacoma, the one where the owner knows my name. He took the drill, opened the chuck with a pair of pliers, handed it back and said the gear just needed a twist, no charge. Same problem, two totally different approaches, one actually helped me. Has anyone else switched to a smaller shop after a big store made a simple thing impossible? What pushed you over the edge?

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piper_flores6926d ago

You ever notice how a big store can make you feel like you're the problem, even when their tool broke? My buddy had the same thing happen with a lawnmower he got at a warehouse club. The return desk wanted the box, the receipt, the original credit card, and probably a blood sample before they'd even look at it. He gave up, took it to the old repair shop his dad used for years, and the guy fixed the carburetor in twenty minutes for twenty bucks. Last I heard, he still takes everything there, even stuff he buys online, just to have someone who actually looks at the problem instead of the paperwork.