Complaint Review: Menards

Apparantly, Menards has a practice of putting one price on a display and a completely different price in their computer. In my sitution, the price for cabinet hinges were 12 cents on the the display. When I got to the checkout, they scanned at 99 cents.
Don't believe the respondent who said that the store will honor the price in the favor of the shopper. I talked the the checkout person, the assistant manager, and the store manager. None of them were willing to let me purchase the cabinet hinges for the advertised price of 12 cents per package.
Needless to say, I left all the merchandise on the checkout counter and went to the nearest Home Depot.

After a few hours, I became more angry and composed a letter to the Menards corporate office in Eua Claire, WI. I expected an apology, at least. I thought that, perhaps, they would want to keep a customer, especially in these days of growing competition. They sent back a response. They informed me that it is my duty to take every item that I wish to purchase to a consumer use scanner located in the aisle of the store. That way, I can find out whether or not the price on the display matches the price in the computer. They went on the say that the scanners are "convenient and fun".
My idea of fun has never been an afternoon of trying to determine if a retailer is trying to rip me off.
Obviously, all of my home improvement dollars are now spent at Lowes or Home Depot.

Basically, this guest was looking for a better deal just like everyone else.

The way Menards works is, if the pricing mistake is in the favor of the guest (i.e. priced below what the computer actually says) we will honor the mistake and correct it. If the signage mistake is in favor of Menards (i.e. the sign reads 1599 instead of 1499), but the computer has the correct price, the guest will receive the item at the correct price (the price that matches/beats any competitor) and we'll consider that fair.

If, however, both the sign and the computer are higher than an advertised price of a competitor, we'll not only match the price, we'll also give the guest that points it out and 11% discount.

Plus, to make sure that this item is marked down ASAP after we find out, if the store has to give the same discount again, the store manager, assistant store managers, department manager of that department, and assistant department managers of that department are all fined against their yearly profit sharing. That is incentive enough to most (I say most, because I believe there are those who are not as diligent as myself, and my assistants) managers to make sure that mistake is immediately corrected.

Ok so a sign someone hand wrote was wrong. Give them a break, they are human you never make a mistake i guess. The price was the same as the other guy so whats the big deal you not getting ripped off or anything. You didnt pay more then you would have at the other place.

The also don't understand the words "legally bound" to "honor the lowest advertised price."

I really can't believe Menards would not honor the price guarantee. I've seen this company sell products at a loss to help the guest. $100 off a $1400 product is a very absorbable cost. That would nearly ensure your return business and loyalty.

We have no orange box down the street, but we do have the blue box, and I am there once a week writing down prices of their products and filling out 'comp' forms to beat their prices by 11%.

This is taken quite seriously at my store, so i would assume this is true with all menards. It could be possible that the location you visited doesnt take this as seriously, but i can also ensure you that the menards corporate headquarters does.

I beleive Bill from Indiana has too much time on his hands. I am a cuurent employee for over 3 years, I visit our competition on a regular basis. If you are looking for an easy target Bill, just visit the orange box down the street where customer service and safety are at an all time low. Prices are continually higher than ours even though they claim to be the lowest.

Recently a T.V. news station went to the major 3 home improvement centers and made several purchases. This was done to determine pricing accuracy and also to qualify the claims of the lowest prices. The orange box had the most pricing problems and was 16% higher on prices than Menards. The blue box was the highest priced,(about 22% more than Menards) and had a moderate amount of pricing problems. Menards was the lowest priced and had the fewest pricing problems.

I persaude eveyone to check for themselves.

Ok I just finished reading your report on menards not honoring the price match. Being a former employee for a few years, i know very well how that policy works. I am also all too familiar with employees writing signs incorrectly. They did not honor the 11% due to the fact that the computer already listed the product at the same price as the competitor. Regardless of what the sign said, when you got to the checkout the item would have rung up as whatever the computer had it listed at which would have been the $1499.00. It was an honest mistake, and had you checked out the correct price would have come up and the problem would have been solved. In the past we have underpriced items on signs by mistake, and honored what the sign said with respect for the guest. I quit the company on a bad note due to conflict with management but in my honest opinion Menards standard for customer service is the highest i have seen amongst any of the home improvement companies.