"I ordered an Earthway Seeder, they sent me a Chapin Seeder.
I called Essential Hardware customer service, they told me that there was a mix up in the warehouse and that they do not have anymore of the Earthway Seeders in stock. 5 minutes later I checked their website, it is still listed and "in stock" for a higher price.

The item they sent me was worth half what I paid, and could have been bought at my local Walmart.

Essential Hardware customer service began to process my return, without me asking for a refund. I called back again, asking them to ship the Earthway, again they deny having it, they say there is a listing error on the website and it will take 24-48 hours to fix. It's been over 48 hours, this item is still listed for sale and in stock on the website.

Horrible, horrible company. I lost so much time and labor dealing with them AND not having the tool that I bought. "

"Ordered a 50 foot air conditioning line set worth $190. Received a 3 foot flexible gas line worth $11. Customer service is non existent. Their computer system is unable to track status of order. All they do is politely apologize and get no results. So far it has taken six phone calls."

"Do not order from this company. I ordered a cabinet for a remodel. Cabinet arrived in a timely manner and I opened the box to see if it was what I ordered. Put the cabinet aside for install by my contractor. As is often the case in remodeling, there was a delay. When my contractor went to install the cabinet he discovered it was damaged on the top. I called Essential Hardware about returning/replacing refund and was told I would be contacted in 1 -2 days. No call. I called them and was told since my order was over 30 days (it was 45), there could be no refund. I explained my situation and delay in remodeling and that the cabinet was in its original packaging, but nope no exceptions. They sent a damaged product and then took no responsibility for it since it was not within the 30 day period. Terrible customer service. Do not buy from them. Awful company."

"Thank you for shipping my order so quickly! Glad to come by your store. Will be coming back again.
-kt"

"I ordered from them about 6 times now. I've never had a problem. On some stuff their prices are much lower than elsewhere."

"I have ordered from Essential Hardware over the past couple of years and have been more than satisfied with the products, selection, and price."

"Do not order the coco liners from here! They are inexpensive and I do not think they will last a season. I ordered what I believed to be a 48" liner as that is what I had searched for and ordered what I thought would be a deeper one for more money and there were no details for item and I received a 36" that was in among the 48" I had searched for. Now it seems that I have to pay the cost of the shipping and it is the same as cost of liner so I am out the cost of liner and shipping! Will not be doing any more business with them!! For the cost of the liner, most companies will refund you and not expect you to send it back. Anyone in need of flimsy liner for just shipping, let me know!"

"Shortly before noon on 02.01.2017, I found Essential Hardware’s listing for the lowest price online through Google Shopping for a specific set of totes. Knowing already that the line was discontinued through the manufacturer’s website, I called the customer service department of Essential Hardware (1-***-***-****) and spoke with a customer service representative who checked with the warehouse to confirm that the totes were actually in stock. The rep confirmed for me that they were in stock and that they would ship with a pack of 6 in 1 carton. So after the call, I ordered them from the website and received a confirmation email that stated:

“Once your packages ships we will send an email with a link to track your order. You can check the status of your order by logging into your account.”

Come Monday morning 02.13, I called Essential Hardware. I was told, after the rep looked at my order information, that I needed to talk to Mary, the manager for Escalation. When she called me back, she told me that she had talked to Amber who had talked to the warehouse and that the rep was mistaken over the weekend. Mary said that there was no problem with my order, and it was going to ship that day (and she guaranteed that the totes would be at my house by the end of the day on Tuesday). She told me that I was guaranteed a tracking number by the end of the day from UPS. However by the end of the day on Monday, I had not received anything from UPS.

On Tuesday morning 02.14, I called Essential Hardware at 8:00am and they informed that I needed to call Escalation at 9:30 or 10:00am. They gave me a direct number for New Jersey to reach Amber: 1-###-###-#### and Amber’s email address: ****@****. I attempted to call Amber from 9:30 am until 11:00 am and always got a voicemail. I then called the original customer service number back and asked for Mary. When I got Mary, I asked for Amber. When I finally waited long enough and spoke with Amber.

When I spoke with Amber, I asked her what was happening with my shipment and she assured me that she had spoken directly with the Warehouse and that the totes were going to ship by the end of the day on Tuesday and I would receive a tracking number. I told her that I was going on a trip over seas and needed the totes by the end of the day on Friday. She told me, “I guarantee that the totes will arrive at your home by Friday afternoon, if not before.” I told her that I have had several other guarantees but none of them have happened yet, so if that guarantee did not occur, then we would talk again on Wednesday. I told her that my trust that was already eroding would be gone and the conversation would be very different.

On Wednesday morning 02.15, at 9:00 am, I called the direct number for Amber and a man named Harry answered the phone. I asked him if Amber was available. He told me he was going to take over the case. I told him my order number and explained the situation to this point. I asked him what he was going to do and what I was going to get from waiting a couple of hours. He told me that he was going to get me my tracking number and confirm that the package was shipped already. I asked him when I would hear from him. He told my by noon at the latest that I would hear from him.

At 10:25 am I received the following email:

“Hi *********!
There has been an update to your order. order # ############ (Sent to Warehouse)
Hello! We cannot apologize enough for this situation. For the past few days every time we called the warehouse they promised and reassured us that the order was shipping. Today we again called and inquired about your order we finally got to the bottom of the issue. Again, we sincerely apologize, but due to a major inventory issue with the warehouses the product on your order is not currently available. The inventory which they had listed was defective and damaged goods. The item has immediately been removed from the website and your order has been refunded.”

So the conclusion of the matter is this: I did all my due diligence to ask from the beginning whether the product was truly available or not. I was reassured of lies from the beginning for 2 weeks that there was no problem - that the totes were ready to ship – that I would receive a tracking number by the end of the day – that I would receive my package by Friday – that there was absolutely no problem with my order – that I would be called back. And for hours and hours over the course of days, I waited on hold and I discussed the issue with the same people over and over who wasted my time with false assurances.

And in the end, none of those promises were true. All they want to do in the end is to say “sorry, we can’t apologize enough” and tell me that they “never had my money to begin with.” They must be held accountable for their business negligence and wasteful and terrible business practice that wasted 2 weeks of my life depending on them."

"They had a De Walt D28402K grinder on sale for $109.32 normal price 124.99 this is a discontinued item from De Walt... It was replaced with DWE402K which cost 89.99... Well any way I knew the difference because of De Walt's advertising and other company's that know what they have in stock... I placed the order for the D28402K and paid 109.32 called there customer service and talk to a gentleman named Chris he called the warehouse to make sure that the D28402K was IN-STOCK I explained the difference between the 2 products. I told them i did not want a DWE402K and if they did not have a D28402K too cancel the order and give me my money back... Well Chris puts me on hold for 3-5 minutes and said he called the warehouse that they had what I was ordering and then it took 2 business days to ship the order... Well I did get a package in the 5-7 business day time frame.... They sent me a DWE402K a $89.99 kit from eBay.... I called customer service and wanted to why I got a DWE402K and not what I ordered... When I had their customer service call the warehouse to make sure that their product inventory matched what they were selling on line... I have talked to Amber the manger on this issue she blamed the warehouse and De Walt's advertising for the "Mistake" they would not refund my money or give me a discount for the product... instead they sent a return shipping label and said since it was a mistake we will cover return shipping... I asked what mistake I called you to make sure you had it in stock but instead... I have to drive 15 miles out of my way to go to computer and printer print a shipping label then drive another 12 miles to ups store all together all because this business is incompetent and not mention my time on the phone wasted... There was no compensation from the company and acted like they are doing me favor by covering shipping what about time and gas... Go to a better place of business... This is entirely their fault they did not have track of their inventory they're selling a cheaper product at a marked up rate... Now I will have to wait 3-5 days to get my money back as they will not release it till they get the product back keeping my money **** even longer all because of there lack of professionalism... I DO NOT RECOMMEND doing business with this company or there customer service again... UPDATE I finally we got my money back after essential Hardware received the product that they shipped me which was wrong they assured me that there was a refund but my bank could see no transaction of any such refund so I called essential Hardware on the phone with conference call with my bank on the line essential Hardware gave me a confirmation number and told me that my bank would be able to track the transaction I wrote the transaction number down at this time my back rep... Interrupted the call and said they have no transaction on file Chris from essential Hardware assured me that it's a wire transfer from their Bank to my bank that it would take 24 to 48 hours to show up my bank said if the money did not show up they would escalate the situation... The money did show up in my account today!!! Now how long did they have my time and money wrapped up all because they couldn't keep track of their inventory... Do not do business with this company... Not to mention they could have just refunded my money by putting my money back on the card to reverse transaction which my bank would be able to see and track just for the record..."

"If you buy from this company you're saying "yeah I want more companies to take my money and then treat me as if I'm not a customer who contributed to their business". Spend the extra $5-$10 on your order and buy from a company who knows how to handle their inventory and does what they say. I won't be a repeat customer and regret being one the first time.

On 2/15/17 (6 business days/8 days after I placed my order and three phone calls later) the package has finally shipped. With no apology or offer to make things right. Just an annoying sentence told by a very sad individual, probably his 10,000th time repeating this phrase, "rest assured your order will arrive within the 5-7 business days plus 24-48 hours to process the order. This man has got to be on the verge of suicide. Please don't support this company! Make the world a better place by shopping elsewhere.

I rated the "cost" of products and services very high because of the stress it's caused me and waiting for my order to arrive so I can finish a job for a customer. While I'm waiting it's costing me time I could have been making money. So while their prices were low the cost of doing business with them is very high. "

"Ordered over $500 of window bars that were "in stock" according to their website. Nothing for 5 days so I called. They said they were being picked in the warehouse. Two days later, nothing so I send an email. The order has been cancelled because they are out of stock. So a full week before I knew and I had to contact them to find out! "

"I've ordered from these folks twice now. Both times I had enough to qualify for the free shipping and both times I saved nearly 40% over my local retailers. Although it says up to 11 days, my stuff arrived in just a few days, exactly as I wanted. I will continue to shop with these folks. "

"The items are shown as available on their website but they cancelled my order because they don't have the items (4 different things) in their warehouse. Are you kidding me? This is e-commerce era. If you can't handle your inventory, don't waster customer's time."

"I wish there was an option to leave 0 stars, this company is a joke I would warn anyone that is operating under the assumption that they are going to get any kind of resolution from any issues arising with an order to beware and stay away. This company has caused me nothing but frustration and anger, do yourself a favor and go somewhere else, I wish I did. "

"Ordered parts on 11-10-2015, requested 2nd day delivery. Parts shipped on 11-11-2015 for delivery moved up to 11-12-2015 from 11-13-2015. I tracked the package on 11-12-2015 and there was still no movement from the origin scan. I e-mailed the vendor on 11-12-2015, requesting they investigate. On 11-13-2015, their robot e-mailed me a tracking number...the same one that was stalled with UPS for two days, completely disregarding my message that the package has not moved since its origin scan.

I have been on the phone with this company for almost an hour, trying to get them to reship the parts. Then, at 1:57pm, Mary says their shipping department closes at 2:00pm and will not ship the parts today. Is it their fault that UPS has seemingly lost the package? No. But they have HORRIBLE customer service (Prince, Mary, and Mary's conveniently unnamed manager) who could have easily resolved my issue, instead of Mary wasting time trying to school me on internet shipping policies.

When I pointed out that we had been talking for the past hour and they could have been reshipping my parts and requested to speak to her manager, Mary put me on hold. I was on hold for 30 minutes before Mary even had the courtesy to pick up my call again to say that her manager was "busy." Ridiculous.

BUYER BEWARE! Do not let low prices and a fancy website fool you. This company is not worth it."