Grainger

Oh Grainger, what would the world do without your overpriced industrial supply store? I come to at least once or twice a month for work related items. Grainger is pretty much an international mega corporation which specializes in industrial supply of anything you can think of for contractors and businesses. Like I had mentioned before, their mark up on items is massively huge, a power tool that you buy here could cost twice as much than the same model at Home Depot. But since my company has a Grainger account, I’m stuck coming here to get things.
The Grainger at Raytheon road has taken a major turn for the worse, ever since about a year ago this location has got worse and worse with customer service. They are terribly understaffed because most wait times exceed 15 to 30 minutes for a simple will call ticket, this is completely uncalled for considering the price of labor to send a field person to pick stuff up is massive. The number ticket system does help a little though, although its still slow. Another issue I have with this Grainger is the lack of stock. Like most companies now, they don’t want to pay inventory fees, so they stock as little as possible, relying on overnight deliveries to appease customers. This is not how supply stores work, having things in stock for emergencies should be what they’re about.

Although they have everything, they are understaffed and take an incredibly long time to get through lines of people. Also ridiculously expensive. Hate coming here simply because I dread waiting in these lines while I watch the people that work here simply flip through a catalog taking their sweet time. Most of us are working, need parts and item in a timely manner. This doesn’t help.

Rippers, rippers, rippers! No mercy! Their entire inventory can be bought from 5% to 300% less elsewhere! Just bout a v-​belt @ $ 25.00, elsewhere, $ 6.00!!!

Grainger San Diego has lowered the bar to a new level. There is a prominently displayed paper number dispenser and marked queue when you enter the Store which means nothing. The Staff ignores that process completely and when a recognizeable Customer arrives they blast right up
to the Counter passing whoever is waiting their turn. The Customer who was in front of me got so pissed off after watching this happen several times he threw his hands up, said «F it» and then went outside to phone his order in since Will Calls also take priority over whatever «system» they’ve adopted here.
This is not my first trip to this Branch and I’m familar with how laissez faire the Counter help is-​but seriously I am done shopping here.
There is a photo of their Manager welcoming comments on how their service is but I decided my energy was much better spent on this review.

if you don’t have a corporate account they will treat you like a leper, even if you have a catalog, cash or credit card, know exactly what you want and say pretty please. I had made many purchases as warehouse manager from a former employer, needed something as I was at that time self employed with my own new business, (did not have a Fed. ID# yet was not claiming tax exempt for resale) the brushoff and rude change of attitude I got when trying to purchase something was amazing. I understand not wanting to dork around with end users and the public but they seem to forget that individuals who work for businesses get to decide who they purchase from and will move from employer to employer and will remember tomorrow the way you treated them today.
I’m happy for them that the economy is so good they can turn away paying customers, and waste their time when they drive to their location when they had what they came for, didn’t need their hand held or nose wiped, and could simply take their cash/​credit card and send them happily on their way.
For the record, another customer behind me felt so bad about the situation he put the item on his account, accepted cash from me and really made my day. When it got to that point you’d have thought the counter rep would have not had another customer have to do that. Not these guys.
Not really sure what motivates this policy as prices are retail, not wholesale.
I’m sure this seems irrelevant to those of you with a big corporate account. Just consider that smile and a handshake and desire to satisfy you and make your business work you’re getting now is phoney and not being extended toward you as an individual but for how many dollars that can easily be extracted from your corporation, when those big numbers are not behind you it’s time for the bum’s rush out the door.
In dozens of reviews I’ve made on Unilocal I realize I’ve got so many 4 and 5 star experiences from similar businesses in industrial supply that I shared because I appreciated how smoothly my day went and the job got done. What went wrong here? Was it me? I don’t think so. I was cheerful and polite. I’m not even angry writing this. Could it happen to you? You bet.

Grainger has a large supply of just about everything. You must know exactly what you are looking for. The counter people will not be able to help you with selection of parts and materials. Their prices are not good, but they usually have everything within one day drive. Ordering is easy by phone or web. Walkins, non will call, will be very slow. Non will call orders usually take 15 or more minutes in the store.

Grainger would be fine if McMaster Carr wasn’t 10 times better in every aspect but price. Grainger is usually 10−15% less expensive, but the hassle of finding what you need here vs. McMaster makes me go to McMaster unless I know exactly where to find something in Grainger. Also, their representative told me i could get stuff from their suppliers that was not in the catalog from the customer service people and they couldnt do shit. Disapointing, but the account representative is really nice, and they have good prices.