Michaels Arts & Crafts

Once again the manager Doug has refused to honor sale pricing clearly marked on items. Came in to get a Christmas tree, signs up-​and-​down saying 50% off. After agonizing over a choice for almost half an hour I finally decided on a tree and reach for the slip to take to the register. Just then an employee came along slips new prices into the pockets of each tree, so I asked her what was going on are they not 50% off anymore? She said they were whatever she was marking them. I asked again about all the 50% off signs and she just walked away. I went and found another employee and asked him he didn’t know and call this manager Doug. I explained to Doug that I wanted to buy the tree for the price of 50% off which was on the signs. He says «where are these signs?» so I showed him the two that I could see from where I was standing. What did Doug say? He says oh I turned those around you have to look at the other side (Which just says big savings on trees.) I said but the side that’s facing me says 50% off. He says nothing he just stares at me grinning. I said so you’re not going to honor the price of the tree and I won’t get it for what the sign says? Doug says nothing just looks at me like I’m nuts and then tells me it’s not his fault it’s corporate’s fault they tell him to turn the signs around. And that is that this is the fourth time in the past three years that this is happened (not honoring prices as marked) I am very unhappy with the store management, glad there’s a Joannes and an AC Moore right here. It’s not even the fact that the signs are wrong, it’s this managers horrible horrible customer service attitude.

This is probably the worst organized Micheal’s I have ever been to. The signs for the isles are all blocked by the amount of stuff piled up in the store and how high the shelves are. Prices are high compared to WalMart or Target, ²⁄₃ of what you can get here you can get at a Christmas Tree Shop, WalMart or like store. I was able to lap the store 3 times without finding anyone that worked there, when I did finally find someone I wished I had not.

This is not the best Michael’s in the world. It’s a bit cluttered, things aren’t arranged in a way that always makes sense, things on the shelves are often helter skelter, and I’ve always found the check out people to be rather cold.

My wife wanted to have some pictures of our youngest son framed for Christmas so when I saw a coupon in the paper for 50% off we decided to go there to get them framed. I wish I had not now.
The final framed piece looks great, but that is completely overshadowed by the experience getting it framed. I feel taken advantage of by the phony baloney discount pricing sham they offer. The counter help told us framing is always on sale, at least 40%, sometimes 60% but most of the time 50%, never at «full price» So I slid us there the day the coupon expired in the snow to get a discount I could get any time? You have a big banner with the prices and then 50% off sign, but you sell at the price on the banner? It took forever to write it all up so my wife decided she wanted to get it done, just we’d never go back. They made this sale, but won’t get another from us for framing.
We also attempted to buy two little wooden kits for the kids, both clearly marked $ 1. Interestingly one came up $ 3 at the register, starting to see a theme here with what I call lack of truth in pricing. After a Federal case they begrudgingly sold the kit for $ 1 but reminded us it was marked incorrectly. Didn’t really matter I was done as a customer of Michaels at this point or what price they wanted or should have put on it, I was going to pay the price that WAS marked on it.
So I wrote a letter to them about my frustrations on pricing. I bet you are surprised to hear that I have not gotten any kind of reply…
So if you want to pay random prices for what you are trying to buy, and get what appear to be false discounts go to Michaels you should be very happy. But I’ve vote with my pocket book and go to the one of the many other crafts stores in the area the next time I need a craft supply. I have a picture of my youngest hanging in my house reminding me everyday not to shop at Michaels.

Every Michael’s I have ever set foot in manages to have shittier service than the last one. I don’t get it, is it a competition? Do they purposely not fill the store with enough employees to care about the concerns of customers? Why must one stand around for extended periods of time in order to obtain help? And more importantly, why are the employees generally incompetent?!
I’ve been into this location several times, most recently a few times in the past month. The first trip, the boyfriend and I were getting two items framed. The woman who helped us took … good lord … forever … she kept measuring and remeasuring and kept reentering the information into the computer. She was seriously completely ill trained to do anything in a productive amount of time. I didn’t get what was so complicated, but obviously she needs to be retrained.
This last time that I went in (today), I stood at the framing counter for about 10 minutes before anyone showed up. Someone only showed up the moment I was getting ready to turn around and head to the front to retrieve help. I think that, in this behemoth store, there were five people working. FIVE?! Maybe six. But not nearly enough to be attentive.
Disappointing, Michael’s. Disappointing!