TSC Great customer service

So I went to TSC.. needed some dog food and wanted to stock up on baling twine for the year. Went in no food on shelf. Found an older gentleman (dont know if manager or not) checked on food and there was some on a skid in the back. Told me to follow him back so I did with the cart. found the food and unstacked a couple layers to get to the one I wanted. Asked me if I needed anything else. I told him that I noticed no twine on floor yet. AGAIN he said no but just got some in ...on a pallet over here. So I helped him unload the top couple layers of other stuff and I got my 7 boxes of twine. I told him that the store in the big town south would have never done all he did. He said.."you pay alot in gas to come and get what you want..you should get what you want" Great guy, great service, I left with a smile.. not often anymore can I say that.. I did email the company and told them about this guy and the experience I had..made my day!!

Hopefullly, his boss and those further up the ladder appreciated his efforts. Too often these employees get a scolding for not completing an assigned task. Employees are not rude without upper management being in the know. I remember working at CT years ago and some days the word was put out that if you took too long with customers you were out on your tail. Most retailers are like that.

I got the same line when I worked for CT back in the 1990s. I asked them if they wanted me to sell parts or stock shelves. Sales won out. I left for another job, and the DM said they could hire anyone off the street to do what I did. 6 months later he re-hired me with a raise and better working hours. Ag parts sales dropped 50% and sprayer parts dropped 70% while I was gone.

Hopefully he won't get reamed out for letting you in the back room or unloading pallets. Lawyers and insurance companies rule the world these days. Wouldn't stop me from getting you what you need though...I am old school.

I would be willing to bet I have talked to you over the phone on stock transfers.
Any store I worked really did not allow for an either/or choice for stock or the counter. They had projects that they expected to completed along with manning the counter and by design it was intended you needed to be very short (time-wise) with customers. I was threatened like you were but I was making them too much money so the threats got to be for show when a bigwig came by. It was a decent but flawed company when I started with them in 1989 but it was all downhill from the mid-1990's onward. They had pretty well made the decision to be a Walmart wannabe with fast turnover merchandise, minimal customer service, and little sales support. The joke was among upper management to find a way to get customers to be pretty much on their own and if a way could be found to eliminate stockers and cashiers they would do it in a second.

Our TSC is new and a great bunch of people. You can do a survey. TractorSupplySurvey.com or call 1-877-789-1443. They thank me and I thank them. Even a handshake.

We have a local farm store, not TSC, that had a long time manager who did not allow the employees to have small chat with anyone. The employees at the register were deadpan and the other employees had their head down when you met them in the isles. I got so I avoided that store if I could. The old manager retired and the new one came in with a smile and the employees were allowed to chat if they had a minute to do so. It really turned the store around and the customers started pouring in. If I need help finding something an employee is right there willing to help me, unlike before.

One day I when I happened to meet the new manager in an isle I stopped him and complimented him and told him the employees seem so happy and friendly with him at the helm. It definitely took him by surprise and I could see he didn't know how to adequately respond, probably because he was so accustomed to fielding complaints instead of compliments. LOL

TSC opened a store caddy corner across the road from us, since day one, the customer service has been just fine. As a store, within a national chain, I would suppose most have their own opinions, at least the service is good. Even better was last fall, we finally got a hardware store in town again, ACE, again the service is great. I have never seen any native American Indians in this town or that I can recall and the store is staffed by a great bunch, always help you find what you need, greet you at the door. Knowing its new and most don't know the layout, its highly appreciated. I thought maybe they were from out of town, just for the opening, but that is not the case, people sure make the difference. Again, national chain, and there is no substitute for the hardware stores of old and products you used to be able to get, but.... this will do just fine. Most if not all local business's I frequent take customer service very seriously. You may chat with them sometimes, its usually brief and the customer should respect that they have work to do, other customers to help, but its nice to have friendly people working at these places.

I worked for them for 5 years. I loved it the first 4+ years as it was fun and the customers appreciated what we did for them. Then the way they do business began to change, everything became task oriented. Ignore the customer, just stock shelves and clean. Only respond if the customers asks for help, not what I signed up for. I left as did several others with experience. The place has become the Wal Mart of farm and animal junk. Not all is junk, but it's amazing when you get lucky and find something thats not from China in there.
I buy all my feed from a local feed store now, drive right past TSC to get there. Funny thing, I see old TSC customers there every trip.
Your good service from the older guy is a rarity, take advantage of it while you can. He probably won't last long since he's going against the system by actually helping customers.

CT was far worse before it closed in the early 2000's. It was a blessing to be away from the counter with all the problems going on. People had gotten used to doing business in a certain way and then corporate changed the rules and left the employees hanging. Stores used to be able to order truck toolboxes for direct ship or company system but then every order would be required to go through corporate. They would take their sweet old time while the counter person at the store was getting tore up by the customer when the order did not arrive on time.

One time one of the regional bosses decided we had too few rebuilt item sales and directed employees not to send customers to the regional hub. Failure to follow this policy would have been immediate termination. That angered more than a couple customers before they went over the regional manager's head.

One time we received a directive from corporate that there was to be NO follow up service for a particular vendor. Failure to follow this policy was immediate termination. Of course on the same day this memo comes out a customer comes in wanting us to handle a matter with that vendor. That customer left beet red in the face and later called the manager and the manager broke the rule leaving me twisting in the wind. It was becoming quite clear staying employed there was an exercise in self-torture.

I was pretty happy to see it close for all the anguish it created for myself and others.

We probably did talk! I was at the Salisbury, MD store from 1994 to late 1998. The merger with (insolvent) Quality Farm & Fleet was what really wiped them out. We lost our good long-time vendors, and got absolute crap from crappy vendors. First it was sold, then it was re-sold, then we had stockholders, then no stockholders. it was a great company with lousy management at the end. I still miss it. I didn't get rich, but I had great co-workers, I loved our customers, and i loved helping them. That was the last fun job I have ever had.

They inflicted a lot of their own wounds by paying vendors well passed the due date. That's how the process got started with crappy vendors. The worst thing they did was deciding on rapid growth at the expense of being stabile. They were never going take on Walmart and the Walmart boogie man never came to be at least in NY in terms of selling agricultural specific items. They should have spent more time being unique but even one of their district managers admitted they did not want to pay the salaries that went with capable store personnel. They were looking at bottom feeder mall stores in terms of pay structure like a Payless Shoe Store.

Like I said they were never a blue chipper in agricultural products but at least they were bearable until 1995.

I wonder if it was reginal management. My wife (just buried her last fri) did not have those problems. She was working at a variety store not liking the new owners way of doing things. Went to shop at CT, had a sign up for managers. Char sent in her app, the day they got it called her, big manager came into town just to interviue her and had to get a motel room, they met in motel loby after she got off work at 9. When she came home was hired by CT to be in management program. 2 weeks later she was working in management at the Urbana, Ohio store and after 1 or 2 weeks they sent her to Georga for a week to help hire for 2 new stores to open in the Valdosta, Georga area. It took a bit longer to get the paper work completed or we would have been living down there when the SH--- hit the fan. Quality Farm & Fleet actually bought out CT. The owners of CT held out the used parts business. When the get together was completed she was able to transfer to the Wapakoneta Ohio Quality store (7 mile instead of 47 mile one way). She was there a while and things were looking worse so she picked up a app for Lowes, filled it out but did not send it in right away as things started looking better, few months later could see the end was neer, got out the white out and changed the date and sent it in. As soon as they got her app she was hired at Lowes for about 14 years untill she passed away last monday. I miss her so much. Any way she never had the problem of management you are talking about but she was in the top 2 assistant managers at the store. When her locker was cleaned out at Lowes there were several certificats and pins for high customer service. Lots of her cowerkers came to the visitation including the store manager. But the Urbana store did not have those problems you are talking about. When it got to the bankruptcy judge in his infinate wisdon he decided a couple thousand dollars higher bid from TSC for the store was worth more that keeping a going bussiness operating as the orignal owners of CT could not come up with enough cash to over ride TSC bid with their intentions of closing the store to get rid of competion and they did. Char carried the key for both CT and then QF&F and had the job of both opening the store in mornings and closing at nights.

Not a real big fan of the TS we have here. Just seem like drones doing what they have to. I would much rather deal with a small local store. Friend of mine owns a hardware store and people drive right past his place ands go to TS, Lowes, or Home Depot. They will stop on the way back and get what the others didn't have or they forgot. Morons. If he doesn't have something, most times he can get it. He carries everything from cleaning supplies to farm parts. He has some loyal customers and he is a great guy. As soon as you walk in the door he greets you. The same with his staff.

New York and Ohio would have different regional managers so maybe that would explain the rebuilt parts issue. And at the same time we moved a fair amount of reman starters, generators, and carbs to name a few. Of all that 95 percent would have been for 1960 and older. As I recall it was a new RM and I think he was trying to assert himself with out knowing the situation. I know I would never turn away a reman sale and I doubt anyone else would either. He probably looked at the numbers for something like a 4020 and made an untrue assumption. I don't think I ever took an order for any remans on a 4020. If somebody would have requested it I would have ordered it. For a while they tried implementing a policy where they needed a deposit to order any rebuild whereas prior to that they would order without a deposit unless the item was over 500 dollars. These abrupt policy changes would always create more problems than what they solved as none of our customers wanted any change.

Yep I remember the Quality days and the Country General days. My blood pressure just went up.

The other issues were corporate and were changes that went over poorly with customers. Managers often bent the rules to retain customers at the expense of rendering floor employees ineffective. If you did not like what the floor person said which was corporate policy you just yelled for the manager. It was just a waste of time for all involved. Either empower the people on the floor or junk the corporate policy. I felt sorry for the person manning the 1-800-Complain line in those days. Probably had to go out for a few stiff drinks at the end of the business day.
Your wife got lucky if the people above her left her alone to run the store. Where I was from 1996 on was flat out demoralizing but when you have bills to pay you can't just quit and sit home. Jobs have been scarce for a long time around these parts.

(quoted from post at 10:45:02 03/23/15) Our TSC is new and a great bunch of people. You can do a survey. TractorSupplySurvey.com or call 1-877-789-1443. They thank me and I thank them. Even a handshake.

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Yeah, you are probably dealing with the "start-up crew." A set of highly-paid professionals who work at new stores for a few weeks to get things going and train the locals.

We've got the "first walmart super center to open within a city limits" nearby. When it first opened it was great. Happy clean ambitious people willing to help, and you'd breeze right through the checkout. After the start-up crew left, it went dowhill, fast. The cashiers are surly and slow, to say the least. I won't shop there.

Just about every retail store seems to work about the same. Their worst enemy is middle management. Middle managers need to make a "splash" to justify their existence and make an impression on their superiors. As such, we have untrained, inexperienced college "educated" yuppies in those positions trying to work their way up the corporate ladder. Most of the time, their new policies fail due to their lack of knowledge of the business that they are involved in. Too bad college did not teach them anything about the real world and customer service.

The demise of service and downfall of TSC and the failure of CT was the Quality Farm-Fleet buying of CT and then TSC then buying the Bankrupt Farm-Fleet and KEEPING the senior Management of Farm Fleet.TSC had until that point,DMI,Underferth,M&W and other major ag brands of equipment to sell.

I think it all depends on area, attitudes of employee, and attitude of management. More than once various employees at our local WalMart have gone to the stockroom to get items for me that were out of stock on the shelves.

Egg zactly! They can have all the rules they want but a lousy store manager will still run the business away before corporate figures out what is going on. Our local TSC has had a string of lousy management for quite a few years now but has stayed somewhat busy because they didn't have much competition. Now RK is moving in closer and closer and even TSC has added two stores less than 45 minutes away. I haven't been to the local store for a very long time. Actually if the closest Blaine's Farm and Fleet wasn't 4 1/2 hour drive I would darken the door of any of the others.

I have real problems with TCS. This is true at all three stores within driving distance (about an hour + each way. There should be no reason why you have to go in the back and unload pallets to get what you want. In my opinion, they have the major problem at corporate headquarters. You don't blame the engine crew when the ship doesn't go; you hold the captain responsible.

You sure don't give any breaks, do you?

Suppose the stock order had just come in and the clerks had not yet been able to re-stock the shelves? So, the clerk goes to the trouble of getting the customer what he needs from the order sitting in the stockroom. For that you criticize him??? Glad I don't work for you!

Not every inconvenience is attributable to laziness, neglect, or bad attitude. Sometimes it is simply just a matter of timing. The clerk deserves the praise in my opinion. He was in no way obligated to help a customer to get an item that was not yet out on the retail floor. He just went the extra bit to help out a customer.

Got a few TSC stores near me.
all are fine, good service.
The newest, also closest to me is great.(even after the excellent start-up crew left)
If you go there often, you get to know which worker(s) to ask for help.
As in everything, be nice, ya get nice.
(tip....turn off the tractor expert/guru mindset and let that nice worker [i:64a5e91d26]help[/i:64a5e91d26] little helpless you...always works lol)

Guys, I see a lot of TSC bashing on these boards.
I would much rather have one nearby than have none.
Do they have everything...no
Like everywhere else, is their quality slipping..yes
But, they do have a LOT of stuff rural tractor people need,
and they are always open.
Hope my local is there forever.

Agree 100% with No New Parts!