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Store is hard to shop with merchandise and trash everywhere from frieght
StarStarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 2/51

ALTOONA, PENNSYLVANIA -- Tall older gentlemen putting out merchandise while customers are trying to shop and had no concern that they could not get past his mess of empty boxes and merchandise blocking whole aisle. Had a skid blocking the aisle with paper products and you could barely get a cart through and there were numerous customers in this aisle shopping. Constantly trash/boxes and shelves all around store. This has been the case a few times I've been here to shop. I just had enough of dealing with this clutter and mess while I try to shop. It very annoying when you can't shop what you need cause someone has stuff everywhere blocking that aisle putting out merchandise. Or when you are constantly bumping in to things or running over trash in cart.

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Crazy Return Policy
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

ROUND LAKE BEACH, ILLINOIS -- I purchased a solar light not knowing your bizarre return policy! Which should have been stated before I bought it, I would have not purchased. The light did not work. I tried to return it with a receipt and was told I need to come back in 14 days. I waited 14 days and tried to return it and was told I need to take another additional 14 days to return it. When I finally get to return /exchange this item I will never shop at a Big Lots again. The manager at the store Evans is incompetent, couldn't Evan explain the return policy, all he said is all stores in the area are doing the same thing... which is a lie!! I have returned things from the auto parts store, Home Depot.

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Worst online service ever
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

I went to buy a mattress and headboard at Big Lots online. After putting my information in and confirming, it kicked me out. Re-did and the same thing happened.I called their customer service 800 number and they had no record of the order and said they were experiencing "computer issues" and to try again later. Then my bank called. They had 2 pending charges from Big Lots totaling $1,736.38. I went back to Big Lots to get them to cancel those pending charges and then began the Odyssey of the absolute worst customer service and shopping experience I have ever had. They basically "borrowed"- I would say STOLE 1700- and I had to jump through hoops to get it back. I didn't do anything wrong - it was all on their side. By locking up my money on a double charge I was late with rent, phone bill, car insurance payment. I couldn't buy gas or food. They sent me an e-mail saying someone would get back to me and this would be settled in 24-48 hrs - No call, I had to call and it was just the "next step". They demanded all this information to send to my bank and when I asked I asked when it would be done (this was Noon on Friday 08/02) I was told that they didn't know and that department was gone for the weekend and no one was there that could help me or talk to me. They did send me once to the "Manager voice Mail" which they obviously do not listen or respond to and if its emergency - call the 800 number (that I was just transferred from) and they will assist. I finally got my money back after I disputed the charges. NEVER USE THIS COMPANY

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Manhattan Sectional Sofa
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

EXTON, PENNSYLVANIA -- I purchased the brown Manhattan Sectional Sofa from the Big Lots in Exton, Pa, on Lincoln Highway. It has been returned three time, each time it has cost me to have it picked up and re-delivered. The last time it was returned the sewing was coming apart so Simmons ok'd the return yet again.

For the past year and a half I have been living with the corner of the sofa actually ripping and coming apart. This sofa has been used only by myself as my husband passed away and kids are grown. I actually purchased a piece of the fabric trying to make a repair on my own, calling someone to make the repair was much too costly. I feel that Big Lots, nor the companies of their products do anything to help out situations. I guess I will be forced to just put it in the trash and purchase another from a reputable store.

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Broken Couch
StarStarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 2/51

LOCKPORT, ILLINOIS -- We bought an L shaped couch and have only had it for a year. It has broken twice. It's not sturdy and with it being broken again I'm not sure how to handle it! I want another couch to replace this one because it's garbage but don't know what my options are yet. The couch is dark brown and is broke in the same place as the last one was broke. For it to break in the same place twice tells me it's not sturdy at all. This should not happen. I should not have to worry about sitting in my couch!

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How Big Retailers Go Out of Business
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS -- Have you ever wondered what causes so many retailers to have to close stores, layoff employees and liquidate their assets? I don't have to wonder because I was at Big Lots today. It was at Big Lots that I realized that corporate America has fallen so very, very far.

I can remember when businesses hired people for employees that really wanted to work. I can remember when employees were trained. I can even remember when the people left in charge (management) were in charge because they not only had more experience but also were capable of directing other employees. I can remember when being a member of management meant that you had leadership skills, customer service skills and took pride in your work.

Imagine my surprise when I encountered a manager that not only didn't have ANY leadership skills, any customer service skills, any pride in his work or place of employment, very little if any training and very bizarre and disturbing behavior. Now I realize that sometimes businesses get so big that it is often difficult to monitor all of their employees. I even realize that sometimes some employees slip through the cracks but surely Big Lots has employees in place (like district managers or regional managers) that should be monitoring management and operations at the local level.

I unfortunately discovered today that apparently there is not ANYBODY in charge of the hen house in my area of the United States. Now you might be asking yourself what in the world would make me say such a thing. Today, after arriving at the college that my son will be attending for the next several years, I realized that there may be some additional things my son would need before starting school. Now since the college has grown so much that it has encompassed a large amount of property and has virtually taken over even a small strip mall at one end of the campus, I found myself at one of the two stores left in the strip mall, Big Lots.

I entered the store thinking I would be able to make the necessary purchases and maybe even get a deal or two. I was wrong!! The store was very cluttered with unattended pallets of merchandise and pallet jacks. I mistakenly thought that perhaps they were just putting out more stock. I soon realized the clutter and impassable aisles were just a small indication of an even bigger problem. While I wasn't pleased when an employee almost ran me over with a flatbed, I was even less pleased with his rude indifference. I was soon to discover that this encounter would be the highlight of my experiences at this store location.

I completed my shopping while watching out for any additional disgruntled employees. I thought when I had made it to the checkout that the unpleasant experience was almost over. I was wrong!! What could possibly go wrong? I was checking out and within 50 feet of the door. Finally, this was going to be over! Wait, what was that price? What?! Double the amount it was supposed to be? That's not what the sign said! "Sir that is wrong, let me show you where I got it and what the sign says." So I thought, well surely once I show the "manager" where it was and what the sign said that he would realize I was being charged an incorrect price.

But to my utter amazement after acknowledging that the sign indicated the item I was purchasing and indicated it was half of the price I was being charged he said "but not for that one!" What?? What do you mean not for that one? These are all alike items! "Yes" he replied "but that one will cost you double." I told him that it was not right to indicate an item and a price but then change it when it was being purchased. I then asked for a corporate number. It was at this point that he began to tsk, sigh and roll his eyes.

As he was towering over me in my wheelchair, he continued to tsk, sigh and roll his eyes then scared me half to death when he snarled at me. "Well if you are going to make a big deal out of it, I guess I will have to give it to you at that price". He then walks up to the cashier and tells her to give it to me at the advertised price. By then I just wanted to get as far away from him as possible and I was afraid to give them my Big Lots reward card as I was scared that when he found out my address he would come to my residence.

I can't help wondering how many people has he scared into paying the higher price with his antics. How many parents bringing their kids to the college has he pulled this stunt on? I am giving this experience a one only because there are not any negative numbers allowed.

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Some Info on Big Lots
By -

Hello all, I currently work for a Big Lots store and have for going on 3 years. I will say I agree with a lot of the comments people have made on here. A lot of the policies the store has are pretty ignorant, but if you (the customers) are to ignorant and irresponsible to keep a receipt for a short period of time then it's your own fault. I have checked out numerous people that will buy something for their car, go out to see if it fits, then it doesn't and then come back in for a refund, and have already lost their receipt somewhere between the front of the store and their car;then they whine and complain, " oh I just bought it", "You remember me don't you", Yeah I do remember you it's only been 5 minutes, but what people don't understand is the employees have to go by company policy. Do you think every manager likes having to say "No sorry sir, I know you were just in here but I can't do anything without the receipt". No we don't but and in some cases the manager will look the receipt up if it has been a very short period of time, but we also want to keep our job even if it is not the job we would really like to have right now. We are just enforcing their rules, and usually it's the customer that gets rude before any employee because they are upset they can't return something or get a refund because of policy.

It's not the managers fault or the cashiers fault, it's the fault of a company that should have some better policies in place for certain situations. We can't bend and shape the policies for every customer and every situation that arises just to please everyone that walks in because every situation is different in some way. I know my store manager does a lot more than he is supposed to when it comes to making sure the customer is happy and won't call corporate. It's a double edged sword in retail at Big Lots, if you try to go by straight forward company policy you piss the customer off and they want to call corporate, but the manager doesn't want that to happen because even though he/she is going by company policy they will still get yelled at because they didn't please the customers every whim.

So then, at my location anyway, the store manager usually winds up giving in even though most of the time the problem is the customer not having a receipt, and should not get a refund anyway. It states clearly on the receipt, Returns accepts for 30 days with receipt and original packaging, it's not the employees job to keep customer receipts, it's your job as a customer and a responsible adult. But when a customer is in our store literally acting like a little kid that didn't get an extra cookie after dinner our store manager usually lets them have their way. I know there are different refund/return/exchange situations that are more difficult/complex to deal with but this is the most common.

Another issue that the customer base just doesn't understand is that Big Lots is a close-out store which means that a lot of item/furniture /patio furniture is overstock or discontinued items from other retail store and manufactures. This is especially true when it comes to patio-furniture, most of this product is the manufacturers previous year model inventory, so when Big Lots runs out they may or may not get the product back in again before the season is over, we can't just crap out another one to please you. We can't call the manufacturer because nothing is ordered at the store level, all product is ordered at the corporate level. The most we can do at the store is call another Big Lots location and see it they still have any in stock.

And I at the store I work at moral, is and always has been since I've been there, very low, because the store does nothing to boost moral or raise the spirits of the employees and when most of your employees are depressed it's going to show when dealing with customers and work productivity is going to suffer. But with the economy the way it is and jobs very limited we all know we just have to try to keep out mouths shut and try and keep our jobs no matter how depressing it gets. This is just my two cents and I could say a lot more but I'll leave it at this for now.

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Unfair Treatment
By -

WEST JORDAN, UTAH -- **, who claims to be the store 'manager' at Big Lots #4485 (90th and Bangerter) kicked my kids out of the store because my 14 year old daughter was not using a chair to her standards, and then got 'mouthy' in her opinion. What the so-called "manager"€™ didn't know was that I was one aisle over and heard the entire conversation. My 14 year old daughter was sitting on a floor model chair with one leg over the side. This employee asked my daughter to "sit like a lady". My daughter complied by setting her other foot on the ground, and responded with "Okay".

** then snapped back by telling my daughter "There you go; now you'€™re acting like a normal person". My daughter told her she was a normal person, and that "you don't know me". This must have been what ** found to be 'mouthy' because she proceeded to speak to my daughters in a very loud and even more condescending tone. She asked if they "€œwanted to leave"€ and told them that €"we can play it this way. Is this what you want? Well, is it?"€

Both of my daughters answered only with "no"€ more than once, but ** was already calling security to escort them out. My 11 year old daughter told ** she "€œhad done nothing wrong"€ and that she needed to "get my mom€." ** said "I know, but that'€™s too bad, you're with her (referring to her sister), you need to leave too." Then started shooing my daughters, waving her arms at them with a "€œCome on, let'€™s go, let's go!"
€
She fully intended to send my minor daughters out into a parking lot without regard for their safety. She lacked concern for notifying or locating an accompanying parent or adult and denied my daughter the opportunity to do so. Fortunately, being an aisle over I was able to catch up and walk out with them. I feel the store 'manager' thought my daughters were in the store alone, targeted them for that reason and looked for an excuse to kick them out. ** said all of two sentences to my daughters before telling them to leave. I call that age discrimination, possibly sex discrimination, since my daughter's ability/inability to sit the way ** figures her gender should was at issue.

I have considered purchasing furniture from Big Lots in the past and was allowed to try it out beforehand, that's what a floor model is for, right? I have never seen a diagram on how Big Lots customers are allowed to sit in a chair, more specifically how a lady should. Is this 'managers' job to tell people how to behave if it's just against her personal code of conduct? My daughter simply had her leg over the arm of the chair. I don't believe that is against the law or destructive to store property. If this is damaging to the furniture in any way, that chair is poorly made and Big Lots should reconsider putting their name behind it.

If ** has some type of degree that makes her an authority on identifying a normal and moral person it must also entitle her to belittle those who don'€™t measure up. After my daughter sat in the chair the way she was asked to ** should have walked away and left it at that. ** antagonized the situation and acted aggressively towards my children. At 14, 24 or 54 my daughter has every right to defend herself against someone personally attacking her.
I'll make sure to tell everyone I know about my bad experience, as its well known that is exactly what dissatisfied customers do.

I will post this on my Facebook and MySpace as well as any consumer blog I run across. I will never shop at Big Lots again. My daughters and I set down approximately 35 dollars worth of merchandise and hadn'€™t even made it half way through before exiting the store. At minimum wage, that's practically half of **'s wages for an 8 hour shift. In today's economy I don't see how Big Lots can afford to employ people such as **, let alone promote them to 'manager'.

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Anti-Consumer Attitude
By -

I shop at Big Lots because they have good sales on many items. However, many of their prices have gone up considerably within the past three to five years. That narrows the margin between their originally good prices, and the prices of competing stores. Big Lots is slowly losing its appeal to thrifty consumers.

As far as customer service, their clerks have always seemed bored and robotic to me. On six occasions in two years, clerks have forgotten to place purchases in the bags before I left the store. This happens more at Big Lots than any other store I've frequented. It's evident that this company doesn't make any effort to motivate personal enthusiasm in its employees. To add to my several unpleasant experiences at Big Lots, I've witnessed blatant rudeness from clerks, who seem to develop a sort of mob-mentality when dealing with customer complaints during checkouts and returns.

It is not unusual for two or three clerks to gather behind the checkout counter and address a single customer "en masse". This is very juvenile, and rather obnoxious. It is an "us against them" attitude which no proper business would want to portray to the public. Returning anything at all to Big Lots means the consumer has to deal with the "third degree". If you don't have a receipt you might as well give up. This doesn't happen as much with other stores that take the time to research transactions via computer, if necessary.

Case in point: I was assured by a clerk that I could return something after the 30 day limit on returns. I told the clerk BEFORE my purchase exactly when I might make the return (to the day) because it was a gift to be given after the 30 day time limit for returns. I asked, "Would it really be alright to return it after 30 days?" The clerk said, "Absolutely! No problem." Still, to feel really comfortable about this, I asked a different clerk the same question, and he told me that there is a very liberal policy on returns after the 30 day limit- not to worry.

Because of these assurances, I felt at ease making my purchase at that time, thinking that there would be no problem with stretching the return time period by two weeks. Looking back, I probably should have asked the workers to sign my receipt. But who thinks of those things during what seems like a friendly, respectful transaction?

The gift for my friend didn't work out, so I took my receipt, and the unused item back to Big Lots in its unopened packaging. But... it turns out that both clerks had misinformed me at the time of my purchase. This misinformation caused an embarrassing scene. I was told that never would a clerk who worked there assure me that I could return something after 30 days, nor that another clerk would have told me that there was a liberal return policy.

Suddenly there were three rather nosey Big Lots employees at the checkout stand, who presumed to tell me what two other clerks had said six weeks prior, when they were not even there. Although they had no way of knowing what had been said, and were absolutely in error, they pretty much told me I was lying about my experience. One clerk mentioned she could lose her job if she let me return the item. I was flabbergasted, and very much offended by it all.

I decided to call the main office and was treated even worse. The manager there told me I didn't even deserve a store credit, but that he'd give me one anyway. Gee, thanks. Whatever happened to the "good will" policies that didn't make a consumer (a repeat shopper at that) feel embarrassed and defensive?

I won't be frequenting Big Lots as often now, and I believe I'm not alone in my disappointment with this company. There are other stores that treat their customers with dignity, and still have fair prices which don't escalate every year. Those other companies are wise enough, and flexible enough, to think outside the box when it comes to dealing with the public. Good public relations = good business.

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WHAT more can you expect??
By -

Does Big Lots still have Layaway on furniture?? If SO... can I make arrangement to make MONTHLY payments instead of weekly or bi-weekly? I am a senior disabled lady living on a low fixed MONTHLY income, and I can only make payments as I get my check on the 3rd of each month! You have some bedroom furniture that I would LOVE to have... but, I can NOT afford to pay CASH for the complete outfit, and I don't want to run the risk of losing the availability of part of the set by purchasing it by one piece at a time.

The items I am wanting would run about $250 - $300, so it would take me about 3 months to pay it out of layaway by making monthly payments of approximately $100 per month! I also live about 50+ miles to the nearest store, and I don't want to waste the time/money/gas to drive all that way IF you don't allow layaway. PLEASE let me know ASAP, as IF you allow layaway...I would like to plan a trip for March 3rd...when I get my check! Thanks!

This is the reply I got back from Big Lots...in a timely manner, I must admit! "Good afternoon and thank you for contacting Big Lots! Big Lots stores do not offer layaway for any of our products. We do offer a Price Hold policy for our furniture products. Price Hold is not a layaway, only the price is guaranteed for later merchandise pickup. We do not store your items. Big Lots holds customer payments until items are paid for. Feel free to contact your local Big Lots store for further information."

OK...Am I missing something here? Does anyone make any sense out of this 'Price Hold'? Sounds like a wild goose chase to me... and I think the GOOSE gets away with the money, and I end up empty handed all the way around! At any rate... I've decided that as much as I would LIKE to HAVE those pieces of furniture, I'm NOT going to travel in excess of 50 miles (one way/per trip) to take the risk of being taken even MORE! SORRY Big Lots! But, you USE to be a decent place to shop for furniture... but, I think you've gone downhill with the rest of them! I'll keep checking around... ONline if I have to! I'll find a better deal *somewhere*, I'm sure!

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Big Lots Rating:
Star Star Half star Empty star Empty star
2.7 out of 5, based on 37 ratings and
110 reviews & complaints.
Contact Information:
Big Lots
300 Phillipi Road
Columbus, Ohio 43228-5311
614-278-6800 (ph)
www.biglots.com
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