Dollar Tree

One of those times when I wish I could leave 0 stars! I PRAY corporate reads this. I had purchased 12 balloons from 2 Indiana Dollar Tree locations for a baby shower in IL. My friend in IL had me purchased them since she could not find her desired colors in IL. She also informed me not to get them blown up, as I could go to an IL location the day of the shower and with original receipts, an IL Dollar Tree would blow the balloons up, as she was informed by an IL southside Chicago Dollar Tree location. At both locations in Indiana, staff members, one being a manager, in Indiana confirmed that as long as I had the original receipts and presented the balloons at a Dollar Tree, the store would honor the purchase and blow up the balloons. As you can see, this was the SAME THING my friend was told in IL at one of the southside Chicago location.
Last Saturday, I was on my way to the baby shower and stopped at the Melrose Park Dollar Tree, about 12:45pm. I went to the register with my 12 deflected balloons and two receipts. I showed everything to the cashier. She first asked me to locate the balloons on both receipts, which I did. I informed her of the information above that 3 Dollar Tree stores had informed me. She replied, «We don’t do that here. We do not give out free air.» I again informed the cashier of the information provided by the three stores and that I had receipts to show I obtain all 12 balloons at Dollar Tree locations. Also, I have purchased the balloons from Dollar Tree stores and thus, I have already paid for the air. «I will go ask my manager, but we don’t give free air.» I told her to go talk to her manager and I would wait.
Upon her return, the cashier said that her manager was going to honor my purchases but «In the future, know that we don’t give out free air. We (our store) don’t make any money off of what you paid for in Indiana.» I informed her that Dollar Tree DID get their money, so I am not sure who is NOT getting their money. 2^nd, please fill the balloons as your manger agreed. She took the balloons and started to fill them.
As she was filling the balloons, the cashier stated she wanted to ask me a question. «So if I didn’t fill the balloons for you today, what would you have done? What if we didn’t have air at this location? That would have been an inconvenience to you. THAT is why we don’t allow people to fill balloons at different stores.» It took EVERYTHING in me not to get loud and rude in the crowded store. «I would have driven to ANOTHER Dollar Tree until the receipts were honored. Now that would have been an inconvenience on my part. But since I’m buying these balloons for a celebrate, this was not an inconvenience to me.» The cashier had nothing to say after that. Then she followed me out the store to see if I was going to talk bad about her to my friend. No, I’m too classy for that, boo.
Never had I been so taken aback by the rude treatment of honoring a simple request. They had 3 – 4 O2 tanks. She saw my receipts. I understand her needing to get approval if the store didn’t usually honor this, but she went too far. Also, if this policy is something that the STORE makes, this should be listed in the balloon section, which was not the case at this location. Same applies if this is a policy that corporate has establish (if any at all); none of the stores had any information other than their word to confirm or deny this.

I can’t believe it — Dollar Tree has also improved along with other stores not quite up to par. Winston Plaza is really working hard at getting the stores to work together to bring the dollars into Melrose Park.
First, this is the most organized and cleanest that I have ever seen Dollar Tree. I don’t go often, but every time that I have, there was «stuff» everywhere and children playing with toys and/​or running around, (do you know where your child is?). No doubt, the store is taking the initiative and parenting children whose parents seem oblivious to their little darlings inappropriate behavior.
The computers were all working so check-​out was speedy and everyone was pleasant and even smiling. Isn’t it amazing what a smile can do.
I’ll need to return during a holiday time to make a better assessment, but for now, two days after the Fourth of July — good job Dollar Tree.

I am a Dollar Tree queen! I love everything about the Dollar Tree. Almost all my holiday decorations come from Dollar Tree. Wrapping paper, ribbon and bags — check! Stocking stuffers — check!
I’ve bought a little bit of everything from Dollar Tree stores. I’ve been to many DTs around town and this is my second favorite one next to the awesome, huge one in Des Plaines (Elmhurst and Golf), but that one is way, way to far to go to on any sort of regular basis, so I was delighted when I found this one near to my house!
I have bought frozen entrees here, pizza crust, mops, decorations, socks, shower curtains, cookie cutters, napkins, and so on. I even have a decent collection of makeup I’ve found here! I like this location particularly because they have a pretty decent selection of everything and the store is typically pretty clean. But like any Dollar Tree or any discount store, the quantity of the holiday decorations are limited and if you don’t get there early enough, you’re risking missing out on the good stuff.
The service, well — I have no complaints. There’s one gal who has been the one to check me out a few times now and I really like her personality. She seems like a really positive person and I like how she interacts with customers. She’s a total sweetheart and takes the pain out of having to wait in long lines to check out.
Quite honestly, I’ve continuously had my expectations exceeded with Dollar Tree «stuff». And then of course there’s times where I’ve had things break or fall way below my expectations. But, that’s what you can expect for getting something for nearly nothing.
The Dollar Tree is the bee’s knees. And this one in particular hits the mark in my book!

I don’t think I would ever go into Dollar Tree if it weren’t for Pinterest. Pinterest gave me the idea to do this one craft. I went online and lo and behold, Dollar Tree online had the best price for the materials I needed. In fact, they gave the option of picking it up from a store and not having to pay shipping! SCORE! Working with the folks at their toll-​free customer service number was a real delight. They were all friendly and extremely helpful. Even though the order was in M’s name, they helped us have our package delivered to the store near me so that I could pick it up.
I called the store a day or two after the anticipated arrival date to see if my order was there. They had NO CLUE what I was talking about. They didn’t know folks could order stuff online. They didn’t know that those orders could be delivered to the store. They wouldn’t check to see if it was there.
I called the toll free customer service. Once again they were super helpful and called the store and explained everything. They told me that I could go the following weekend to pick up my purchase.
I called the store when my purchase was supposed to be there and they confirmed that it was there. They said that they would have the box ready for me at the front of the store.
I went in and it was crowded. I didn’t like it. There was no clear customer service area so I stood in line for a cashier. Right before it was my turn in line, the cashier said that she was closing her station and I would have to move to the next line. Um… I told her I was just there to pick up a package. She yelled (literally) for the manager (who was behind a wall) and the manager yelled back. I waited some minutes for the manager to come out.
The manager had me sign for the package. I asked if everything in the package was okay (like, not broken) and she said yes. Not that she checked or anything, but whatever.
Long story short, I would have been upset going to that store as a regular customer. I was already disappointed going as an online customer. I didn’t like the cashier closing her line on me after I’d waited in line for a long time. I didn’t like her yelling for a manager and the manager yelling back. I definitely didn’t like how they initially treated me on the phone the first time I called.

I used to love dollar stores and this one in particular because I thought it had a lot less junky crap than other dollar stores. But now that I am much more mindful of the quality of my purchases, excess packaging, how far the item travelled to reach me and all the other stuff that goes into a green mindset I am not so jazzed about this store.
It still is a good place to go to for decent greeting cards, gift wrap, holiday decorations and Mylar balloons but most of the other stuff is low quality and the staff is not so great. I was handed my receipt with a «thank youuuuuuuuuuu…» as the cashier had her back to me and he hand outstretched behind her. Her conversation with her co worker was more important than the customer in front of her.