on 11/1 I purchased items from store;16.It was alot of sales using coupons.I didn;t realize till I got home that I didn;t receive the full discounts for the coupons.2nd time this has happened.I have spent a lot of money at harbor and resent being cheated.You have lost a good customer,and will never shop there again. Clay Pierce Modesto,CA

Too bad I read all this too late. Same here, ordered Product, charged next day, product supposedly shipped one day later, so far nothing here. Tracking number does not work as they say it shipped Postal Service but their website points to Fedex. Customer NO Service is as expected of no help whatsover and claim the 14 day rule - which by the way is NOT stated in their shipping terms.

As others have siad wished I read their reviews first, ordered 3 items 2 do not work. Customer service does not answer and their retail store does not accept returns from online purchases (too easy for the consumer). Anyways a little more weary of online ordering please pass this info on to any that plan to order from them.

My Letter to the President. I have never heard a word back from them.  
 
Dear Sir,  
 
You have lost a customer due to problems with an order and a resolution that was not satisfactory.  
 
I placed an internet order online (# 9888983) and waited 21 days for delivery. Your internet order form asks for a shipping address which I provided.  
 
My shipping address is different from my mailing address. I live out in the country where there is no mail delivery, so I have a P. O. Box as a mailing address.  
 
In talking to your Customer Service folks (Dexter-he did a fine job and was very professional and polite) it turns out when an order is under a certain weight it is mailed instead of shipped. There was no notification on your web site of this so my order was mailed to my shipping address. The result is I never received the order.  
 
Since the problem was on your end and appears to be a procedural problem I asked for the order to be reshipped with expedited shipping at your cost for the faster shipping. I agreed to still pay the regular shipping charges so your cost would of only been the difference.  
 
It appears the only option was to get 7-10 business day (11-14 real days) which I accepted, but it means due to HF error I will get my order about 35 days after I placed the order.  
 
I look at it as, I have just saved you a lot of money by identifying an error in your order processes that has and would caused your future customer problems resulting in more lost business.  
 
For someone who just saved you some real money in the future, I feel the way my order was resolved was not appropriate.  
 
Needless to say my only recourse is to not do business with HF in the future.  
 
Sincerely,  
 
 
 

Great prices, horrible shipping. Placed order online and shortly after I received the typical order confirmation email. A couple of days later the online order status page showed the order as shipped via Fedex but did not provide tracking information. After a week had gone by I never received the order nor a tracking number. I have never had a Fedex ground package take more than 6 business days to reach it's destination in the contiguous US (aside from lost packages). I contacted customer service a couple of times and each time nobody would give me a tracking number. They insisted that tracking information is only provided after 14 business days have passed! That is almost 3 weeks! I did eventually receive the package just shy of the 14 business day mark. It was sent just a couple of days before I received it via USPS. So basically I paid for the item and they had my money for roughly three weeks before actually shipping the product. Furthermore they informed me that the product was shipped when it did not. I think it is bad business practice to charge customers for merchandise before it ships. In their defense their website does say 10-14 days for shipping but I feel they are lacking on communications when it comes to shipping. As of this writing the website still shows my order as shipped by Fedex only 2 days after I placed the order yet it arrived by USPS postmarked 3 weeks after the order date.

In May of 2005 I ordered a fire pit as a Christmas gift for my sister. Instead of sending the fire pit, they sent a two ton hydraulic jack. Then they gave me a hard time when I asked them to send UPS to pick up the jack they mistakenly sent and send me my fire pit. They finally agreed and said the fire pit would arrive before Christmas. This promise was made on November 29, 2005. The fire pit finally arrived on January 9, 2006, too late to be a Christmas gift for my sister. I will never order from this company again.

I purchased a #90385 air compressor from HF back in August '05. I received the compressor within 3 days. I assembled it and put it in my store room. About 3 weeks later, I went to use it and found all of the oil on the floor. I called HF and they promptly sent UPS to pick it up. I recv'd the compressor about 2 weeks later. Again, I assembled it, put oil in it and put it in my store room. A few weeks later I went to use it. It ran for about 30 seconds then quit. I called HF and they again sent UPS to pick-up the compressor.  
 
Yesterday I recv'd the 2nd replacement (3rd compressor). Upon opening the box, I found the entire compressor drenched with oil. I had no intention of cleaning it and plugging it in because the electric motor was full of oil and a potential fire hazard. I called HF and they offered me a refund (upon receipt of the compressor) which I reluctantly excepted. I have found that it takes 2-3 months to receive credit for defective items that I have returned.

This review was modified by its author, wkavery, on 1/10/06 6:02 PM.

I mean, what's going on? Your system shows shipping dates which are inaccurate (UPS tracking numbers are assigned quickly but packages aren't PHYSICALLY mailed right away). TWO weeks from New Jersey to Washington DC is insane, I feel bad for pacific coast customers unless there is a distribution center there). I finally received my item, like I said, about two weeks later and whaddya know...broken. They issued a call tag which arrived more than 7 business days later (there was no way of knowing when they would arrive) so I handed the package over and here it is, August 6th, a whole month later and I still have nothing. My first and last with this company.

This review was modified by its author, OneTonHammer, on 8/6/05 7:12 PM.

I have ordered items off the back of cereal boxes that arrived quicker. I placed my order 2 weeks ago and nothing. After talking to customer service I was informed my order was not scheduled to arrive for another week. 3 weeks is ridiculous.  
 
If you can't find in a local store DO NOT buy from the internet. The wainting time is horrible. The downside is that Hrabor Freight marks price up on store items. Sometimes you can bring in a print-off of the online price and they will match the price.

Do not buy from this company. With Harbor Freight, you get what you pay for and their dirt cheap prices are not worth the dirt-poor service you get in return.  
 
Highlights from my first (and last) shopping experience:  
1. My item apparently was backordered when I placed my order. However, nothing on their site indicated this. It wasn't until I emailed them 3 days later that they informed me that the item would be backordered for 2 weeks.  
2. When my item was finally "shipped" and my CC billed, the item didn't leave their warehouse for another 2 weeks.  
3. In all, it took 3 1/2 weeks to receive my order.  
4. It takes their CS department 2 business days to respond to emails.  
5. I used a $5 off coupon on my order. My order confirmation showed the order total with the coupon applied. However, my CC was billed for the full amount.  
 
In sum, Harbor Freight's low prices just aren't worth the very poor service you get. Knowing what I know now, I would have just bought the item from Sears.com (or a similar store). It would have cost twice as much, but I would have received a higher quality product, delivered within a few days, and backed up by decent service.

The prices are low at this store but its anly to draw you in. Don't be fooled. This store can backorder their products up to a year. I ordered from them two months ago and my item has been on backorder for those two months. Ontop of all that, it takes 12-14 business days for the item to get to your house from the store after they get it in stock.  
 
I will never order from this store again.  
 
NEVER...  
EVER  
 
Dont be fooled, this is a bad store with extremely bad service.

Placed order on 1/18/2004 got email conformation that order was placed. That was the last I heard from this company. No shipping information no tracking number. Credit card was billed on 1/19/2004. Contacted customer service, took 20 minutes to reach someone, then they still had me waiting. Appeared they were working with other contacts at the same time. Finally received order on 2/2/2005 and it wasn't complete some items back ordered. No way to tell on sight if items are in stock. Took 15 days for order to travel from GA. to FL. Prices of items are cheap and so is quality. Very poor service. Don't know if back ordered items will ever arrive.

I ordered about half a dozen items; they cancelled two without telling me. One of the items that came was a cordless drill, which was DOA. I called up, and was told they they would send out a replacement 7-10 days after they received back my broken drill. They would pay for shipping (ground) back and would ship (ground) back to me, CA-NY. So we're talking a minimum of three weeks roundtrip.  
 
The sales rep I talked to:  
 
-- would only tell me her supervisor's name, Lauren, after great effort on my part  
-- claimed to be unable to transfer me to her supervisor (needless to say, I called back immediately, asked to speak to Lauren and was transfered immediately to her extension)  
-- her supervisor never called me back after I left a message  
 
I eventually opened up the drill myself and fixed the broken trigger with a small screw of my own and some krazy glue. Sure, might have voided my warranty but something tells me I don't really care.  
 
It's the last time I buy from them. They're definitely cheap, but it's just not worth it. The drill itself is fine; the screwdriver bits are made of soft metal and last about a screw or two, and the drill bits aren't much better.

Ordered several products and chose for UPS shipping ground, they did let UPS deliver products after their truck drove them cross country. If they would let UPS pick up the order would have been here in 3 to 5 days but the way they did it it took 15 days. They backordered 1 product and did not even notify me. 1 product I recieved came in broke (welder) and had to be returned.

On the 3rd I ordered 35777-5VGA 17-3/4'' x 12-3/4'' x 5-3/4'' ALUMINUM CASE and 47802-2VGA SELF-CHARGE AUTO JUMPER from harborfreight.com. I haven't received any email updates, no phone calls, no letters, and not even my items. I called Harbor Freight's 800# to be put on hold for 20 minutes, finally a representative picked up and said I had to call a different 800# for customer care. On hold another 20 minutes, finally someone picks up and tells me that the Toolcase is on backorder until next month and that it takes up to 14 business days for an item to go through the shipping process. She said the auto jumper already shipped but I need to wait till at least the 28th of august before I should expect it. So I get to wait 1 month for 1 item, and then I get to wait another month for an item to come in from backorder then 14 business days for it to ship. This is unacceptable and HORRIBLE business practice. There is nothing on the website that says 14 days to ship and it DEFINITELY doesn't say anything about the Toolcase being on backorder, especially not for at least a full month. I cancelled the backorder but there was nothing she could do for the auto jumper until the 28th. I would avoid this company's online business at all costs. The only reason I ordered from them is b/c there is a Harbor frieght 2 hours from where I live and I figured it wouldn't take long to get me the items. I didn't know they were shipping from some warehouse across the nation and that they were backordered.