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I spent over $13,000 on a kitchen remodel and bought my cabinets at the exasperating Evansville, Indiana store. The so-called designer made an error on the CAD drawing which forced me to spend more money on additional cabinets and brought construction to a halt for 3 weeks.

Then, regarding the cabinets they should NOT have put on the order, I got "No ma'am, you absolutely cannot return those two cabinets, they were special order." They also lost the entire computer file (read here - most likely deleted it when they saw they made the error because the guy got up and left the area for a few minutes to go to another computer, returned, and after "searching" for a while, said it was gone. Yes I still have the printout of the file though). They refuse to admit they made a mistake, and the store manager, C. M., is a *** who only cares about covering his own rear end and tells "Guest Services" he talked this over with me several times with the resolution that I didn't want to return the unnecessary cabinets.

He called ONE time and that was nearly 6 weeks after the cabinets came in. Also, the Eau Claire Guest Services will "only do business by mail".....snail mail. They don't thoroughly read the mail you send them, so their answers are inane and uninformed. They also did not respond to the BBB complaint until 3 weeks after the case was closed.

Completely frustrating, unbelievable indifference, and outright denial. Even after numerous letters of explanation of the problem, Guest Services still was saying it was a manufacturer's problem. Now that the Attorney General is involved, they are saying they offered to take them back and I said no, but when I asked for that in writing, they refused.

NEVER NEVER NEVER again. My contractor referred his next remodel to another store after seeing what lousy service Menard's has.

Location: Evansville, Indiana

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Guest

I can attest to the fact that when it comes to training it's employees, well let me put it to you this way if I hadn't been a stocker at another company, I wouldn't have known what the *** to do. Their idea of training is to give you a hand out, you read it, and there's a multiple guess, true or false section at the end.

The management in stores is THE ABSOLUTE WORST! I don't know where they get people to be store managers. You have to work in every department to become an assistant manager. Then, you work your way up to department manager, then assistant store manager and then you get your own store.

That takes roughly six years and you get a week of training up at corporate.

The geniuses up at corporate couldn't find their *** with both hands tied behind their backs. Store policy, when it comes to a problem such as the one mentioned here is often vague and sometimes left up to the discretion of the store's manager.

Guest

Yep menards sucks big tyme

Guest

I just stumbled upon this posting. I used to design for Menards.

Menards does not have any kind of design training or program for people who are designers. I worked in the millwork dept. and sold doors and windows and they needed a designer so i volunteered. That is how serious they take their design training.

However, I was very interested in it and quickly became a top designer. I paid attention to the customers needs and made sure that every detail was covered thoroughly. As I was aware that I had had no formal training. I am now an experienced designer and and no longer work for Menards.

I feel very bad that you had such a horrible experience. The idea that they would have deleted what you needed from the system to save their skin does not surprise me. I have seen it done. Which is exactly why I no longer work for them.

It is too bad that you had such an awful experience. Remodeling your kitchen can be a fun and enjoyable experience when everything goes smoothly. I hope that in the future you don't shy away from doing it.

Just be sure to ask the designer for credentials or perhaps some sort of portfolio before beginning the project. Thank you for reading.

Guest

i came in there a week ago and this asian guy or whatever he is was so rude to me its unreal, he was shouting at me and disrespected me. i even brought it up to employees and they said they couldnt do anything.

as long as that guy is there, ill never shop there again. hes very rude.

his name started with an R i believe.

Guest

Bob: Very clearly you haven't read all the notes here. I did supply measurements and they did NOT follow the measurements.

That's pretty plain and simple. Enough said.

Guest

They gave it everything. And you know, it wasn't good enough. It wasn't good enough for me, wasn't good enough for you, wasn't good enough for anybody!

Guest

I'm just going to say this: You signed a contract, did you not? A team member designed a kitcken for you. Did you supply the measurements that were used in the design? I'm sure you did, or had the contractor take them, as Menard's doesn't do this. That is one of the ways they have to "CYA"....I'm just saying the mistake began when you signed the contract. There is a no return policy on special order items.

I am a former employee of Menards Evansville. I resigned in Januarary of this year, and my friend that makes statements about "take the money" chants.....well, you must come from a store that is a little more than corrupt. It is part of the motto, do all that is necessary to "make the sale", last resort if you can't "up sell" is to just "take the money."

We never chanted, hummed, sang or whistled "take the money." I was an assitant in the Yard/Rec dept, and have seen my fair share of ticked of customers because special orders were wrong. Both parties share responsibilities in this matter. :eek

Guest

Employees have to be careful what they say on social networking sites, or even pages like these. Big brother corporate office is everywhere, watching for things to fine employees for. Its like a jealous spouse always looking for signs of cheating where there is none, and then actually poisoning the marriage with that mistrust.

Guest

Sounds to me like you have your head together. The only thing I have to do with Menards anymore is strengthening customers' defense and taking shortcuts through their parking lot. They won't be sending me a fine anymore!

Guest

I agree that there really is no good context for "take the money" since I doubt they were enthusiastically chanting about customers returning merchandise and taking the money home. A company policy of requiring an employee to pay for a mistake may not be illegal, but I feel it is unethical....unless the employee did it maliciously or habitually made the same costly mistake and had been forewarned of the consequences of repeating the mistake.

I'll be happy to walk away from this with my money back and the confidence that I need never darken the door of Menards again.

It doesn't hurt that a coworker told me yesterday that she and her husband bought all their new carpet through Home Depot last week rather than Menards, as had been their original plan.

I hope there are Menards stores out there that don't employ the tactics the Evansville, IN store does, and I hope they have the increased business to show that this is what works. Likewise, I hope the stores that use mercenary actions against its customers have the failing business they so richly deserve.

Guest

Let's hope the economy improves or else there will be no joy at Menards on either side of the name tag.

Guest

Cheesehead,

Well I would like to know what store you worked at so I never transfer to it. In the 15 years I have worked there I have never seen a G.O yell at a manager or a guest and if they do or did they should have been fired on the spot. And take the money = so our competitors donรขโ‚ฌโ„ขt get the money!! Who ever did you training never did a good job thatรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs for sure. And yes Schrock are one of the nicest cabinets they sell I prefer Medallion.

Oh and at the stores I have worked at yes if the team member screwed up the order then the store or the team member got to pay for there mess up (PRD) not the guest and so yes the guest did get to take the money home if they returned the merchandise. And all so unless they have changed the bounces you speak of that to would be taken back when the product is returned to. And as far as I can tell Menardรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs is not saying its Schrockรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs fault just that store. When did you work for Menardรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs any ways they been open since 1962.

Guest

""Oh and I work at this Menardรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs and I am a manager there to. The hole take the money thing that other person was talking about took it way out of context to by the way. And I have been there for a long time (around 15 years). And we have never sold defective or damaged products nor been told to by any one from the general office. A lot of the people that say stuff on this place that are รขโ‚ฌล“formerรขโ‚ฌย employees most likely were let go because of poor attitude or sloppy work. (BIG trouble for admitting mistakes) And that comment is wrong to. As a good manager this would tell me that some one needs more training or need to be moved to a different department that may suit them better and if at last resort he or she would be let go. ""

Wow. I just don't NO where TOO start TOO respond TWO this HOLE statement. Obviously the way to dismiss my comments is to label me as a former, most likely dismissed for incompetence or attitude problems, employee.

I took the 'take the money' thing out of context?!? Just what context does that work well in? How about this. If our employee screws up a kitchen design, they should be allowed to bring back the cabinets and TAKE THE MONEY back home... or maybe TAKE THE MONEY the employee got for a bonus for selling a custom order, and give it to the customer that is spending hours and hours trying to fix a situation that never should have happened. (Schrock cabinets are super excellent cabinets, by the way, and Schrock is an excellent company to work with, and having Menards blame them for this screw up is ridiculous.)

In our store, I was asked to work for the cabinet dept, I was asked to start to move up the Menards corporate ladder, I really wanted to work in retail and at a hardware store, because way back in college (before there was a Menards) I worked at the largest Ace Hardware in Wisconsin, where customer service really was #1 and the managers really cared about the quality of the product and the service. I thought that when it came to the mid-life change of career opportunity came, that I might really like to do that. Wrong. It was not that the company did not want me, it was the fact that, at the Menards I worked at, which was full of great people (managers included) that the entire philosophy boiled down to store profitability. If you happen to live near a profitable store, you will have happy managers, happy employees and happy customers. Life is good. If not, watch out. I've watched corporate visitors come into the store and scream at a manager for not having an endcap full of merchandise. A customer walks up to the situation who has had good experiences with this manager and begins to defend the manager. The corporate visitor then yells at the customer. Customers and employees were watching on like they are watching a terrible automobile accident occur. This HAS BEEN Menards. I hope things are changing.

Guest

I donรขโ‚ฌโ„ขt blame you for not wanting to go back to the store. And Dennis Dixon is more or less in charge of day to day operation now that Larry Menard retired. Have you gone on the Menard web site and sent in a comment about the store and the problem? If you send one in there then most likely the store GM will have to answer right to him. And your problem my be resolved faster and more to your liken. I have seen 1st hand that Dennis Dixon cares about our guest and the way we treat our guest. People my say he is a *** and such but he has to be once and a while to keep things running the way they should be and the people that say that are most likely ones that did something wrong and got in trouble.

Shoot copy and past this to the message it may help some to.

Guest

Charles: Yes, I agree with what you have said. In this case, the manufacturer immediately resolved the issue with the cabinet doors.

The Store Manager preferred to believe that the design error made by his employee was the manufacturer's fault, which it obviously was not.

Just like in any other situation, acknowledging the mistake is the first step. Continuing to deny there is a problem at all only inflames the issue.

Guest

Employees are individuals that can react differently to the same situation. Whether they are managers, or kitchen design associates.

The whole 'take the money' motivational meeting chant reflects the Menards corporate philosophy of making sure they maximize sales by getting the sales transaction to occur ASAP at their store, instead of any other store, and then make sure the customer is satisfied enough to not take their money back. Employees will choose to interpret that in many ways. Perhaps they should make a rule at Menards that the motivational meetings are all well and good to try and boost employee enthusiasm about profits, but still be respectful to the customer. As a customer, and a Menards employee, I found that phrase disrespectful to the customer, and somewhat representative of the kind of corporate philosophy that can poison the consumer well.

This story demonstrates management styles can vary widely as long as the store makes money. It is my experience that it takes a superior person to handle the corporate profit pressure and still be able to do the right thing by the customers. Menards spends a lot of money on advertising. They need to realize that an unhappy customer experience affects future profits.

In this case, a short term loss of fixing the mistake, and then being an advocate on behalf of the customer towards the manufacturer would have avoided this whole mess. The attitude that once the sale is made, that the problem is between the customer and the manufacturer ignores the implied satisfaction guarantee that the store is supposed to provide.

Guest

Thank you for your response. I'm not familiar with the name Dennis Dixon. I received snail mail letters from several different people from Guest Services, none of whom will speak on the phone or use email, or give me the name of a supervisor.

The Store Manager here that I described is Craig Millis. He definitely has issues interacting with customers and was literally walking backwards away from me as I tried to talk to him, repeating over and over, "That's between you and the manufacturer." It definitely is not.

I had called in advance and stated I wanted to talk to the Store manager when I came in, but when I arrived, no one knew anything about it and I had to request he be sent for. When he arrived at the desk and I stated the problem he began walking away. He is also the one who told Guest Services that he had spoken with me numerous times and resolved the problem. I saw him in the store once and spoke with him on the phone once, no more. Other times I tried to call him he was "not in" or "at a seminar." Let's hope it was an interpersonal skills seminar!

I'm sure there are other Menards stores which are not like this one and which provide quality products and good service, but unfortunately, having a Lowe's and a Home Depot, as well as an Ace Hardware store nearby, I doubt I ever return there.

Thanks again.

Guest

Ok I understand what you are saying. To bad you donรขโ‚ฌโ„ขt live here the Menardรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs I live by they would have made it right. Would have returned the wrong cabinets and ordered the right ones only having to pay the difference between them if there was any.

Oh and I work at this Menardรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs and I am a manager there to. The hole take the money thing that other person was talking about took it way out of context to by the way. And I have been there for a long time (around 15 years). And we have never sold defective or damaged products nor been told to by any one from the general office. A lot of the people that say stuff on this place that are รขโ‚ฌล“formerรขโ‚ฌย employees most likely were let go because of poor attitude or sloppy work. (BIG trouble for admitting mistakes) And that comment is wrong to. As a good manager this would tell me that some one needs more training or need to be moved to a different department that may suit them better and if at last resort he or she would be let go.

And as a Manager for this company I do apologize for the store you are haven problems with. Not that it helps or solves your problem though.

Oh did you send a email to Dennis Dixon?

Guest

Chevy388: No. What I am saying is this...

1. Menards designed the kitchen and gave me a schematic of that design, which I approved as seen in the schematic.

2. Menards ordered cabinets in sizes that could not be installed according to the design that I approved. I agreed to have them installed differently, but even at that, two of the cabinets could not be used at all, because of the error. I had to purchase two additional cabinet sets to replace those.

3. Any cabinet ordered at Menards that is not a "stock" finish is considered a "custom" order. Almost every finish that you order is not stock. So if you want almost any finish, it is custom. For instance, when I was buying some drawer hardware I chose a handle that was on display with all their other handles. They just don't keep any of them in stock, so it is considered "custom." All cabinets I bought were standard cabinet sizes, nothing unique or unusual, Menards just doesn't stock any of them. Therefore, custom.

4. There were a couple of cabinets with flaws in the door that was a totally separate issue that was the manufacturer's problem, and they (Schrock) remedied this immediately. The issue I posted here had nothing to do with this.

Therefore....the problem was that Menards ordered cabinets in a size that made it impossible to install as they depicted in the drawing that I approved. Hopefully that clarifies it a little bit.

Guest

So are you saying that they order the right cabinets but Shrock or what ever kind you ordered came in different then what was on your special order contract??

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