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| - Terrible customer service.
I'll start by saying that I go out of my way to support small and locally owned businesses. I have shopped at this Ace for well over five years, and always had a relatively positive experience. My most recent experience will likely be my last.
Yesterday I needed to buy some paint samples because I had an HOA deadline to meet. I knew that I wouldn't be able to get in until the evening, and Ace closes at 7 pm, unlike the big box stores, which stay open later. I called sometime around 6pm to ask if they could mix the paint for me before I arrived, as I have done at Dunn-Edwards. I needed 9 different colors of paint, and knew it would take a while for them to make all of them. The sales associate said that they couldn't do that because people might order paint and not come in for it, which is understandable. I asked if I could order the paint and pre-pay, to guarantee that the paint would be purchased. The manager told me that they couldn't do that either, as it is against their policy to take payment over the phone. She was abrupt on the phone, and didn't sound terribly eager to help. I decided that I would go to Ace to order the paint that I needed because I could make it before they closed. I arrived at 6:53, 7 minutes before they were closing and when I asked to have the paint made, they said that they couldn't do it. They were closing in 7 minutes. I explained that I had called earlier, and that I had tried to avoid coming in at the last minute to have all of this paint mixed.
The managers (both of them) treated me like an inconvenience. I could see the woman who had identified herself as the manager when I called, slink into the back to get her supervisor. She didn't speak to me or acknowledge me.
There was no attempt at customer empathy. Honestly, I wouldn't be leaving this review if one person had said, "I'm sorry, but.... that's our policy," or seemed anything but completely annoyed at my presence. No one smiled, or asked now I was doing. One manager quietly joked to an employee about all of the overtime he would be earning (they finished mixing the paint at 7:15). The employees who weren't rude, just completely ignored me and avoided eye contact as I waited and entertained my young son.
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