EDITORIAL - When Home Depot announced they were opening a store in Madera, I was excited like many other Maderans. We needed a good place in town to buy lumber and a one stop shop for home improvement. Then a few years later along came Lowes less than a mile from Home Depot. Now we had two large box stores that would stock everything you would ever need to fix up your house.

The only problem was, despite the large inventory of everything you could ever want; they forgot to stock the one thing Maderan’s want more than anything else, CUSTOMER SERVICE. How many times have you walked the aisles of either of these stores looking for an item, only to have NO ONE around to help you find it?

How many times has a customer needed advice on a purchase only to have a Home Depot or Lowes associate act as if they have no clue about what your real needs were? Then there are experiences such as I had when shopping for a new dryer. There was a woman working one of these BIG BOX store appliance sections, but she found it more important to finish her phone conversation with her grandchild and asked me to wait (for over a half hour).

If I am going to spend seven hundred bucks on a dryer, a major purchase for me, the one thing I want more than anything else is CUSTOMER SERVICE. I don’t need to hear a conversation about what happened at school with her grandkid. I need answers for the questions I have about the products they are selling. In this case, after the half hour wait, ‘Grandma’ really only informed me that of the four or five dryers they had on the floor, the one I was interested in would need to be ordered. In other words, it would take a minimum of two weeks to be delivered.

‘Grandma’ was visibly upset with me when I left the store without buying anything. I got in my car and drove to downtown Madera and found the same machine at Massetti Brothers Appliance for fifty dollars more. Then I found out my delivery and setup was about $25 less than the BIG BOX store would have charged and I could get my new dryer delivered and set up the next day.

At Massetti’s the associated helping me was the owner of the store. I told him my needs and he gave me a couple choices. I then told him my experience with the BIG BOX stores and apologized that I didn’t just start with his store. Every other appliance in my house (except for my refrigerator) was purchased at the local Madera store. I was embarrassed that I didn’t follow the example of my parents tried to teach me and buy local.

Brian Massetti told me it was ok, that I was not the only Maderan to have told him that they have learned this lesson for themselves. The next day I had a brand new dryer in my house that Brian himself delivered and setup. Today I also have a matching washing machine next to my new dryer, both HotPoints, which Mr. Massetti explained are made by General Electric and carry the same very high customer satisfaction ratings. ‘Grandma’ had not mentioned any of this at the BIG BOX store.

CUSTOMER SERVICE cost me $25 and to me that was well worth it. You would hope that I really did learn my lesson in SHOPPING MADERA but I did not. I’ve been back in the BIG BOX stores looking for some other home improvement goods. But again, other than being told my item was on a certain aisle, there was no one to show me exactly what I needed. In this second case I was trying to match a screw for my daughter’s golf cart. I don’t know where anything is in those aisles!

So back in the car I got and drove down to Howard Road and walked into GBS (General Builders Supply). As soon as I walked in someone asked how they could help, I handed him the screw and their employee found exactly what I needed. I even had a choice of silver or black finishes. Within minutes of entering the store I found my screw and confirmed yet again something missing from the BIG BOX stores, CUSTOMER SERVICE.

I don’t need any more lessons to realize that the BIG BOX stores will never offer me what I think is the most important product. In case you have not been paying attention -  CUSTOMER SERVICE. I am not a DIYer. My hobby is not home improvement. I know how tools work; I just don’t use them every day. So when I go into a hardware store, I need help. What I’ve found is the guys at GBS know their stuff. So that is where I now go first when I need something. And yes there are some times when they do not have what I am looking for in stock, but that is ok because they will tell me exactly what I need and then I can find it at the BIG BOX store.

There are other times when the BIG BOX stores just don’t have an item because they say it is seasonal. Try getting pads for an evaporative cooler in November. Lowes and Home Depot won’t have it but guess who does?

I clue I should have noticed earlier in life, was the number of contactor’s trucks parked in front of GBS. My plumber, at M & M Plumbing, told me he loves the local store because he can get in and out with the parts he needs and back to his job site. Now here is a guy that not only knows exactly what he needs, he knows where to find it in most any hardware store. It’s enlightening that he picks GBS first.

At GBS if I need a key made, I don’t have to track down the guy that knows how to make keys, like at the BIG BOX stores. I can rent a carpet cleaner and be out of the store in five minutes. They no longer have a nursery for plants like they did when I was growing up, but just a few blocks away is Peter Brothers Nursery with plants that aren’t going to die on me in a couple weeks and employees that can answer questions about how best to plant and care for them. I have learned my lesson about the BIG BOX stores and now the product I want first is CUSTOMER SERVICE.

Because the peace of mind I get is well worth the fifty cents I might save shopping on my own.

SIDE NOTE: Just for the sake of full disclosure, I need to tell you that, yes, I did buy my brand new refrigerator at Home Depot last summer. I did start with Massetti Appliance but unfortunately they did not offer the exact brand and model I wanted.

You see I live in a fifty year old Berry House on the westside of Madera. As many of you know that live in a house like mine, size matters. The last time I bought a refrigerator for my house twenty years ago we had a hard time with the size constraints. So this time all I wanted to do was replace my Frigidaire side by side with the exact same model because I know it would fit and I just got twenty years out of the old one.

But when the time comes to service this unit I bet you can guess who I will call…..