Swasey's Hardware & Hobbies

Our standard posted tarp policy is no returns on opened tarps. Issues of repacking them, along with...

customers using them for
a few days, then returning have cause this policy. If we do feel it is a legitimate return we charge a 15% restocking fee. We offer
full refund on defective tarps.
The following details the interaction with the customer between my employees and myself.
1) Customer came in to buy a tarp 1, they pick out a size to cover their roof, they where very unsure if it
was correct, we told them to check before opening.
2) They brought tarp 1 back saying it was to big, they then purchased two tarps to cover their roof. Tarp 2 and Tarp 3.Full refund, no stocking fee on tarp 1.
3) They then brought tarp 3 back saying after they got on the roof it had a tear. We gave them full credit for tarp.
Upon examination of tarp later it was obvious where the tear was that is was damaged while putting on the roof.
4) They then questioned the quality of these tarps, we encouraged them that these are the tarps all of our
roofing contractor clientele use, they are heavy duty, but you can't drag them over sharp flashing on the roof.
5) They then brought back tarp 2, opened, wet, with the label destroyed to the point we could not see the tarp size on it.
We charged our 15% restocking fee on this refund.
The customer mentioned in the filed complaint that she was a regular customer and that she should not be treated in this
fashion. None of my staff or myself have ever seen her or her husband before. Her husband was very nice during the
exchange and did not have a problem with the restocking fee.
With honesty and truthfulness,
[redacted]
 
[redacted]  Swasey's Hardware & Hobbies 1[redacted]  
[redacted]  
[redacted]  M-F 9am-6pm, Sat 9am-5pm Enjoy your faith on Sunday!

As mentioned in the first response, none of the staff or myself have ever seen the couple in our store before, the damage to the tarp was in a place that could be from dragging it over a sharp object, we do not sell tarps or any other items with hand written labels, we will refuse service to this person at anytime in the future. I wonder how many other claims that they have filed against other business?
With Regards,
[redacted]

This is the first claim I have ever made against a business. The hole was not made by scraping over a roof. As I said, we unfolded it and there was a hole. How could a thick tarp get a hole in it by dragging it over a smooth roof anyway? As for the claim my husband was not upset, he was extremely upset and stated as soon as we got into our truck that we will never return there again. Again, the size of the tarp was hand-written, not the label.  I am pretty sure that banning us from the business and not resolving this in some way is hurting their business more than it is hurting us. We have told every single one of our friends not to shop at the store. As a matter of fact, we recently had friends move here and they wondering where to go for a greenhouse. They saw Swaseys advertised and we immediately told them of our horrible experience.  Also, I have posted on [redacted] a few times concerning this awful experience. 
Ironically, yesterday we opened a bag of zip-ties we bought from Swaseys and every single one of them broke when we tried to use them. It was a joke. My husband and I have a new term: "That is so Swaseys" meaning anything that is crappy.
So now I will make a point of telling anyone I can not to shop at Swaseys, not just our friends.

Review: My husband and I bought two tarps from them. They were for the roof of our house. The tarp needs to last us through this winter, we are tearing this house down next year and don't want to fix roof. The tarp we bought for roof was way to large. We returned house tarp to buy a smaller tarp but kept other identical tarp thinking we may use it. When we got home with smaller tarp we found there was a hole in it. So we had to go back to buy another tarp. Again, no problem but another receipt was given to us. A week or so later we decided that we did not need the second large tarp so we went back with our latest receipt for a return. They would not return it unless we paid a 20% restocking fee. We were not happy. This is a local place in a small town that we shopped pretty regularly. They just have open shelves with piles of tarps. What is the restocking fee for? Also, they made some pretty derogatory statements that day to the affect of "This is becoming a pattern". There was a hole in the tarp! It really bothered us they said that. So I called them today to express my unhappiness and to tell them they lost our business. The same lady who charged us the fee answered the phone. While I was telling her how upset I was over this she interrupted me to tell me the reason she charged the fee was because they were convinced that we put the hole in the tarp ourselves! I was floored! Why would we do that? Especially since they return things with a receipt? I was so upset that someone would think my husband and I would do something like that! Very very bad business!Desired Settlement: When they charged us a restocking fee, we thought it was possibly because the packaging was wet and the dimensions of the tarp written by hand by them was a little worn off. Still, we did not think that was fair. So when I called them and found out the reason for the restocking fee was because they thought we put a hole in the tarp, I was flabbergasted! I want my 20% restocking fee back since it was not for restocking or because of the packaging but because they thought we damaged their product

Business

Response:

Our standard posted tarp policy is no returns on opened tarps. Issues of repacking them, along with customers using them for