I drove forty-five minutes from my home in Napa to the Rockler store in Pleasant Hill, CA with the sole purpose of buying the K-Body Kit that was on sale for $99.99 for four hours only today. I arrived at the store at 8 AM, granted this was one hour after the doors had opened, to find three clerks standing behind the counter and one other shopper in the store. I did a quick loop through the store and didn't see any K-Body kits so I asked the clerks. They gave a slight chuckle and said that they had sold out of their meager quantity of kits within the first ten minutes after opening the door. I expressed my disappointment but since they weren't offering rain checks there was not much the clerks could do. I browsed around for few more minutes and then approached the desk again- in the meantime they had taken a phone call and turned away one other customer in the store for the K-body kit. I mentioned to the clerks that if they could pass along some info to their manager that I was very disppointed that they hadn't planned well and should have had more stock on hand. They shifted the blame saying it was a manufacturer's promotion and that Bessey had only supplied the whole chain with a limited amount of kits to sell so after they were gone that was it. It seems that this is a common tactic these days, not just in the woodworking field but in electronics and other sectors as well- i.e. offer a special limited promotion with a limited number of units to sell at a great price to suck people into the stores thinking they will buy other merchandise as well. Well for me it just pissed me off and made me even more likely to buy my woodworking supplies from on-line suppliers- competitive pricing, often free shipping and rarely do I have to pay sales tax. And because of my bad experience with Rockler's store it will make me think twice before ordering anything from them on-line when I can get the same or similar product from another supplier. I told the clerks that if they continue to turn away customers empty handed and upset then maybe Rockler should think twice before participating in any more "manufacturer's" promotions such as this. I should have bought some of the Jorgie cabinetmasters when Home Depot was closing them out. Sigh. Out to the workshop for some therapy.
Dale