Michaels Stores review: uncomfortable experience 54

The manager at local Saugus, MA location was extremely rude. She made me feel like I created rewards/coupon and was trying to use it and scam her. WTF! Didn’t even look, said it was not coming from Michaels! Where else it comes, if not from Michaels? Didn’t try to help, was not willing to look into the issue. I walked away. Never again I’m going to shop at Michaels, not at this location or another. If you can’t train your managers how to serve customers, you are going to lose your customers! I’m so glad I realized about their rude manager in the beginning and not after I spent hundreds of dollars. In fact, I signed up yesterday, liked their store and received a coupon asking to come back. Wanted to shop more today, but the [censored]y manager made a huge favor today. Thanks for her, I will go somewhere else where they value customers!

Michael's is a soulless, money-grubbing scam of a corporation.

I am a type designer. I earn my living through font sales and/or licensing. They used one of my "freeware" fonts to make some commercial "Initial" hanging ornaments, and I contacted both the legal department through calls and a registered letter, as well as a registered letter to their CEO. All were ignored. With the letter was included the original text file from the font stipulating that all commercial products needed to be licensed by me. I submitted all kinds of collateral proof of ownership and intent... Not even a note from Michael's to explain their side of the issue.

The license fee I sought would have worked out to a tiny $1 per store! What a bunch of cheap people! Even with all of the proof I'd submitted in regard to my request, they couldn't even honor me wiht a reply. I stopped being a customer right then and there, and a few people I know also stopped going there. If I've cost them the equivalent in sales of what would have been my modest licensing fee, that's perfect!

I only wish they'd go bankrupt (as they have done at other times)... but this time liquidate. When you need to steal from creative people you don't deserve to be in business!

I wouldn't want to see the employees hurt, but coporate stealing needs to be stopped at any level!

I went to Michael's to have some artwork framed because I had a 65% off coupon with an additinal 20% off the sales price. I thought that with that I would pay a little less than $40 for what I estimated to be around a $100 framing job. I normally use a local frame shop and am pretty good at estimating my costs. When all was calculated Michaels quoted $83 + tax. I questionned the proper use of the coupon and was told that the original price was $238. I took my artwork to the local frameshop without a coupon and with the same style frame same matting the total came to $72. Please be smart don't be fooled by coupons. I will only buy minimal supplies from Michaels from now on and only when in a pinch.

I'm relieved to hear there are other unhappy appreciated employees . Michaels has screwed me over for years. Since 1999, I've worked there. Through change after horrible change. Manager after manager. I was a supervisor ..and a great one for years. All of a sudden...store of the future...no more position..40 hours to 8 hrs a week..pay cut maybe illegal...I have 3 kids to support and after all my years of dedication to this corporation ..I'm at the bottom of the ladder. .constant customer praises and emails loving my service and not recognized one time. When its time to move up...another change...matter of circumstance ...I had to sit back and watch my promotion I had already been training for be swiped from a guy from another store cuz he couldn't work I. the same store as his wife...so he moved to mine. And new management...she brought her own people from another irrelevant job she was at...she even tried to get me a job with a friend of hers elsewhere...just so I wasn't there ...hating on me for knowing more than her. And the biggie...I started in 1999 at 4.75 or something like that. Now in 2016, , , I'm making 11.71 with 8 hrs a week. No more raises or bonuses nothing cuz they said I'm maxed out..one time they gave me extra 75 bus on my check but that was it.I'm done with these ### and hobby lobby is way better anyways...thanks for letting me vent.I feel so much better

Michaels is the only craft store within about a hundred mile radius of where I live and even at that I have to travel to the next town to get there.. which i am doing less and less. The store is always dirty - dust bunnies in the aisles, stuff spilled out of bins all over the floor, glitter and the bathrooms are the grossest i've seen -even gas station washrooms are cleaner. and yes.. barely two people in the entire store to help with the customers. I've sent in complaints via Twitter about the dirt and filth in the washrooms and yes the store manager responded.. things did not improve. how can they when the employees are short handed all the time. Many of the items I want are being discontinued in favour of new items that are poorer quality and higher prices. I have begun to order my supplies off eBay - Michaels buys from China so I'm skipping the middle man, and saving more than 10% in the bargain.

Ask your parents to take you shopping elsewhere then.

Dear ex-shopper and all other frustrated persons,
I am a current Michael's employee and I wanted to take this time to express my sincerest apologies for your unhappy experiences. No matter what your particular issues are, I can promise you that, at least at my store, nobody is more dedicated to meeting the needs of every customer. No doubt, there are many flaws to any system, we are no exception. Whether its an unclear sign or a disgruntled clerk, there are going to be issues in every business. I myself have been guilty of not being 100% open and friendly. I will make you a promise. I will do my best to be my best, as i think of all your concerns throughout interactions with you. Just try to keep an open mind that we are also very human, and all of us have at least three never ending tasks that we have to tackle every shift, being that retail is a job that is never done. If you have concerns with our signage or concern's involving how our store functions, I strongly encourage you to fill out the survey that you will undoubtedly receive on your receipt at some point. Also, keep in mind that store managers do the best they can with what they are allowed by corporate. So many things are out of their hands. We NEED your input if we are to better serve you! I have read through all of the complaints on this board and I regrettably understand a lot of your complaints. Help us help you, but try to be receptive to our position as well, when giving your feed back. The retail world can be rough on both sides of the fence.
Sincerely, understanding employee

On Sunday Jan 18th I went into the local Michaels to make a purchase inspired by their sale ad in our Sunday paper. My enthusiasm clouded my judgment for the second and LAST time when it comes to their deceptive sale's promos and inconsistent signage. The items I wanted had "color coded" tabs and ONLY a certain color was 50% off. I take responsibility for not picking up the "correct color"(deceptive advertising) for ALL my purchase HOWEVER MY POINT is when you have signs plastered throughout the entire display where the 50% in print is 5 times the size of the small print (green labels only) that's intentional deception in my eyes. To eliminate the deception they can separate the sale items to a clearly defined area where their customers aren't disappointed and angry at the check outs. It's not he faults of the sales clerks...this is clearly an operational decision that's sending THIS SHOPPER to spend her money at JoAnns and Hobby Lobby.

I recently tried to return items at the Newport News, VA store and found not just the line staff but the manager unwilling to accept the returns without a lot of hassles. One of the cashiers misled me about the return policies and then rufused to wait on me. I have never been in a Michael's store where the staff from the top down have been so poor and if this is what the company prefers in their associates, i will do business elsewhere. i doubt their corporate headquarters cares. it would have been eaiser to return the items without a receipt them with it.

Thank you, I work at a michaels and this is the first time I've seen a customer stick up for the employees, it's common sense literally, and michaels is not the best place to work, they put so much work on your shoulders plus rude customers, but there is aot of employees who still smile through that, it's just the customers that make it even worse, so thank you:3

I must say that I feel many of you people are clearly very entitled. Perhaps it is because you have never worked in retail so I will give you the benefit of the doubt. Retail is truly one of the most miserable experiences I have ever taken part of in my life. You can be the most helpful person ever and not even get a thank you. If an employee in retail gives off a vibe that they do not give a ###, do not be fooled, they truly do not give a ###. You get paid minimum wage to deal with ### who think they own the god damn world and pretend like you care about their stupid problems. I worked retail in college and as i was paying for school, rent, Bill, etc I had to drag my self to Michael's 30 hours a week when I need ed to be doing homework. Please please please people relaize that as we are living in a capitalistic country you areare a slave to the work you do especially when it comes to retail. I worked my ### off and still never had enough money, and to make it worse I had to deal with your whining annoying problems that I did not care about at all. If you get exceptional service, be very thankful, because that person certainly does not want to be there. And if you get ### service, you probably are a ### person with unimportant problems.

I must say, not all stores have horrible customer service like so many of you say...To make your shopping experience a bit nicer, may I suggest a few things? Come prepared, if you want to use a coupon, read the exclusions listed, and don't throw a hissy fit when you want to buy the item that's excluded...If you have a so called "smart phone", please learn to use it, I do not know how to use one, I do not own one, I do not want one..THERE IS NO WIFI in the building, TAKE A SCREEN SHOT OF the coupon off line just in case your phone goes dumb..READ THE SALE signs...Associates get up very early on Sunday morning to sign the merchandise on sale, use your eyes, the signs are specific as to what IS ON SALE...IT IS ONE COUPON PER CUSTOMER per day, its been that way for a very long time, its being enforced now...Don't throw a fit because YOU WANT TO USE 4 ON THE FOUR ITEMS YOU WANT TO BUY...And lastly, I work there, I do not know all the products, I HAVE TO READ LABELS for the directions of use, YOU CAN READ too, find out for yourself...And one more thing, CONTROL YOUR YOUNG, we are not a playground and we are tired of picking up after you and your kids...thanks

I am a customer at michaels and love it there everyone is helpful and friendly I'm here to complain about the other customers I get stuck behind in line!
Maybe if some of you people...
1. Read coupons so that you don't argue about something that's printed right on the thing your so "despratly" relying on to stay in your budget for inessential craft items.
2. Read the sale signs posted in the section your shopping not simply assuming everything in the whole isle is on sale!
3. Brought your coupons! It's obvious their policy on coupons is strict why do you insist on forgetting them at home then begging some poor employee to give you one when their company OBVIOUSLY doesn't allow them to.
4. Pulled your coupon up on your smartphone before you get to the payment process.

Maybe I'll continue the list another time but frankly I think most of you people are so self absorbed and arrogant that you will take nothing from the advice I'm offering.

I'm a manager at Michaels (Not *the* store manager - what some places call a Shift Manager). . .
Penny Stuff: the SOP as of 10/2013 (yep it changes - a lot) is if a customer is checking out and has penny stuff - they get to buy it at a penny BUT they cannot go get more. We are to go get the rest of it off the shelves. . . so if it's in your hands and/or cart - you get it. BUT here's the kicker - people are putting their finds on the internet and I had a pair of customers in yesterday specifically looking for penny baskets - one brought a basket up for a price check - when it proved to be a penny - she became upset because I went and got the rest off the shelves - so after trashing the baskets - they went up to checkout with 2 carts full and left most of them in an aisle after finding they were not a penny. . .then one of them called Corporate and said I grabbed baskets away from her (nope - but I did catch a pile that she almost pulled down onto her head - and then offered them to her) - so the district manager called and chewed me out and the store manager has to call and apologize to this customer (who basically admitted she was there to ripped the company off - by getting merchandise cheaper than the marked price) who lied. . . so I hope this customer is REALLY HAPPY.

Look people - if I (or some other associate) doesn't seem welcoming - look around you - how many people are working that day - like someone else said: when you stopped me, I was most likely: a) answering a phone call - a customer shopping by phone, b) have 2 or more customers waiting for me to get back to answer their questions, c) being called to register to act as back-up cashier, d) being called to key a void, get something out of the locked cage and/or one of the paint cages (locked because some people feel they must steal) . . . so if I'm frowning - I'm concentrating on remembering everything I need to do in the next 4 seconds. . . . . .

For the people that want to make floral arrangement like one they see. . . .many times (when they are on sale) they are much cheaper to buy than for you to make - unless you are making several as gifts - the florist (at least ours does) carefully selects bushes that are on sale and splits them over several arrangements - thereby making a nicer arrangement (more colors/different flowers) for a cheaper price. To duplicate them you would end up with a lot of waste and mostly it will cost more because of that. BUT if you can come to our store when it's not busy, I will help you find everything you need to duplicate it. Also understand, it's the exception - most of the associates hired don't know how to craft, don't want to know how to craft and don't care - they just want a paycheck. . .sad but true - I've been here 5 years and only make $3 more than minimum wage and I'm seriously thinking about leaving because of customer abuse like above.

So many of these complaints are legitamate. Go to Glassdoor.com and check Michaels and see the reviews employees have given this company. There is an underlying thread throughout every review. I can understand why some managers are rude and nasty and mean, they are constantly being threatened with losing their job because everyone is over worked. Unfortunately their open door policy and complaint procedures are not even recognized. As an employee if you complain, you are harassed abused and forced to resign or you are fired. Can't blame the managers of the stores either because they are just as abused as the rest of the staff. If your are going to complain send your complaints to the Board of Directors, flood them with your complaints.

A total bunch of corporate jack ### ! The replenishment crew go to work at all damn hours, Mostly anywhere from 3 to 5 am i don't know where the corporate big wigs live but it's dark at that time, I just learned ( because my wife unfortunately works there ) that her manager has been threatened with her job because she has been overriding the lights so they can see to stock and build displays etc i mean really wtf . What a bunch of total idiots, but yet if they don't get a 8 hour pog (the big metal display you see loaded with crafts etc ) done in 5 hours or less its a ### chewing . Wish i could be there 1 time when My wife was getting a chewing over crap like that ! Any real employer knows that treating employees like that does not get productivity . They treat them very i for will be glad when my wife tells them where to stick it ! but she is a team player and don't just quit a job because of issues all jobs have down sides to them and I understand people need to work and pay bills BUT FOR ME I WOULD RATHER BE HUNGRY THAN TIRED AND HUNGRY ! SO FOR ALL MICHAELS CORPORATE BIG WIGS KISS MY ### ! As for you employees good luck wish you the best .

I have worked at the Columbus Michael's in Georgia for two years. I have been a very faithful employee. I only call out if i can not move out of bed or if i am in the hospital. When i lost my car do to being unable to pay for insurance, instead of making excuses about not being able to get there, i started walking every day. 10 Miles there and 10 back. Sometimes i would arrive late because of traffic and weather conditions which were beyond my control but i would always make up for the lost time. Now i make sure i am always at least 30minutes early. I have had all of 3 customer complaints, 2of which were misunderstandings which were solved by me and said customers. The other during Christmas, which if you go in to a Michael's around that time who wouldn't complain. I do all the kids crafts, demos, kids classes, birthday parties and the like.why? Because every one else in there refuses to without some sort of extra pay. I help our florist out when i can and i know where everything in the store is. If i do not know about a product i ask the customer about it to use for future reference. I try not to gripe about hours because i am aware that our store cant afford many. And before our new manager came in i never really had a complaint. However, i find it extremely unfair that i make less money than associates that have been there 6 months due to the change in minimum wage. I feel as though that should have been altered for the pre-existing workers as well. I find it insulting that there are women that get more hours than i do when i find them slacking off or zoning out 70% of the time and i spend most of my shift cleaning up after them. I am by no means the perfect employee but i deserve better than 17 measly hours a week. It has become almost impossible to pay all my bills on time as well as feed myself on these kind of hours as this job is my only source of income. I feel as though my store manager has a personal vendetta against me for whatever reason i am unsure. When ever someone else gets a compliment from a customer they get recognized. I get told it's my job and it's what is expected of me. He lectures me like a child for getting stressed which i do not appreciate. And it seems to me and others have said the same that he is harder on me than any one else in the store. But i have stayed there through all of this in hopes of advancing in the company. Recently our part time CEM has announced she is leaving, a position that i have wanted for a while(and i have been clear about wanting) and feel qualified for. I have been there longer than anyone who isn't a manager, and longer than some of them as well, and i am obviously dedicated to my job. Today i find out that the store manager has offered it to a cashier who has been there for 7 months and has only been a cashier and has no managing experience or even experience on the floor for that matter. Though i have nothing against her i am FURIOUS that he didn't even think to ask me. Not once did it cross his mind. When i later asked another manager why she stated that he most likely didn't take me seriously due to my age even though the former CEM at 23 is only a year older than me and had been in that position for over a year. I ask you where is there any justice in this? This store has become complete joke and should seriously be taken down or fixed. After 2 years of this ridiculousness i have had it! I AM DONE!

I work on the floor at a Michaels Store, and I am a class instructor as well. Our customer service has suffered due to the lack of personnel at the register or on the floor. Corporate lets us have the bare minimum in our store except on Saturdays and Sundays. We do our best to help everyone who needs it, we run around like crazy trying to do everything. Most retail stores are now like this now. As for penny items, we never throw out the penny items! We group them together in grab bags and sell them for a very small cost, usually a large bag or box of items for $2.00. Some items do get sent back to vendors too. None of the stores in our region throw items away. We even sell damaged items for a quarter of the price rather than throw them away. Please retail customers, be patient with your retail service workers, don't expect them to be your personal shoppers. Read the labels on the products before asking for help and information. Be a good shopper by not dumping items where they don't belong. Put items back in their proper location, or give them to the cashier at checkout. Keep your children at your side, and don't let them play with everything in the store. Don't enter a store 10 minutes before closing expecting to get A1 personal service, and detailed project advice. Store associates need to do closing tasks before the store closes. You will get better service if you are a better customer... we will get better customers if we give better service.

So I can find the SOP policy for the penny merchandise in the office? That is good to know. I had a customer come and ask me for the official policy . In our store we are allowed to sale a customer one of the penny items and then we have to throw away the rest. I have had issues with customers taking advantage of this and I am afraid of getting in trouble since it shows up on my sales record. These last two times I believe the customers came from other stores in the area and were specifically hunting for the merchandise.

As for the rest of it.
Our store does not have a FES, and the managers always tell me to pander to the customers. Customers are not always right, and it seems as though they are illiterate as well. Corporate makes some pretty silly policies and what works in one store does not work in all of them. I have gotten to the point where I can anticipate what the managers will tell me can do it. What the fellow employers have said about the payroll and the staffing is true, but it doesn't help that the people that are hired are not the best. At my store we had a pretty good team but the old manager moved. Now its like people have some what stopped caring about their jobs and fallen into a passive aggressive state.

Also while the customers are getting frustrated for lack of help, it does not help to come to the register with a sense of entitlement as well as quite frankly not reading. It does not take a genius to see when something is clearly put down in the wrong spot or the label that is to the far left of the merchandise is not the right one. Lets not forget the meltdown over a coupon and well if you READ the coupon exceptions you will understand why you can not use it on certain items. It does not call for customers to act childishly, throwing items and walking away with out us trying to reach a compromise. I have had things thrown at me, poked and prodded by fake flowers, things dropped on my foot and yet with the exception of peak season I come to work ready to give good customer service. I have had coworker cussed out to tears on her second day because of company policy to give return no receipt returns on a gift card. I have had another one broken down to tears because the customer demanded and blamed her for all the things wrong in the store and when she was near panic attack tell her that she is too sickly and inconsiderately told her sick people should not work.
I have had a man come up to me, as I ring him out he blatantly tells me that the price is wrong I should change it, when I told him it was correct that some one may have put the item in the wrong spot he tells me no I grovel at his feet because he is a paying customer and some one else put it in the wrong spot, that I should make the item that price because it was it said. See now how do these things make me want to be nice to others?

And about the registers, if customers worked at Michael too they would understand why its the worse place to be and other associates avoid it like the plague.

Do not come into the store if you are in an extreme hurry and get pissed when you are talking on your phone and the price is wrong.
Make sure you read the signs please, if we are wrong we are wrong its no problem.
I promise we are not trying to make your life worse but if you be kind to use you get the same in return.

As a matter of fact, Michaels tells their employees all of the time to push sales to customers, put damaged merchadise back on the shelves so that a customer will unknowingly re-purchases it, and will knowingly sell a product to a customer that is low quality.
NOTE MICHAELS CUSTOMERS: The store does not care about you, your crafts, or your pocketbook. The managers are mainly men that treat crafty women like dumb housewives.

If you work for a Michael's Arts and Crafts, you get what you see: paid minimum wage, treated less than-mimimum respect. It doesn't matter what previous experience or skills you have, you are only a warm body that can carry things, point directions, count change, and stock shelves. Even the framing staff is usually untrained. They are not professional framers. As a matter if fact, they don't want to hire professional framers because then they will lose money! A professional framer will actually take the time to do a good job and use the correct materials for your artwork! Michael's doesn't want that because it is a few more pennies out of their pocket. If the store is below their daily sales goal, they send their minimum wage employees home so that they might save that 7.35 per hour per employee.
Michael's Arts and Crafts is little more than the sweat shops from where they buy their merchandise.

Almost all the people who shop at Michael's Arts and Crafts Store are mid-age and up women with nothing better to do with their lives than spend their husbands money on crafts. They are irritable, irrational, and ### women with issues with not only the company but with their own lives as well. Company policy is company policy and some employees are told different things than others. Things happen and none of those customers have to right to induce anger and frustration towards the workers who don't have the luxury of an old husband that pays for every god damn thing. These women that walk in and impulsively put "needed craft" items into their cart frantically looking for things for whatever they are making to pass their precious time. They look for specific items that do a specific job in a store that carries over 30, 000 products and a description of "like a thing, looks like another thing, uses something" is not going to cut it in finding the item. And the horrid anger and frustration and hateful attitudes these women undergo when they can't properly describe and find their craft is overwhelming to the point where your day is just almost ruined. So their done right? With all their shopping items in their cart they wait in line. It takes longer than expected.. waiting, waiting, waiting... What is taking so freaking long!?!? Oh wait, it's another ### in line getting all her 50 craft items scanned. She carefully looks at the screen, at every item checking the price twice making sure it is what she thought it to be. Then almost radically out of no where she goes like: wtf why is everything so expensive, my total should not be this high (no way shocked) this is false advertisement! This should not be this price. I want to speak with the manager. So obviously the cashier not wanting to deal with the ### uses the computer to manually override the price to whatever the ### wants it to be. Then the f***er pulls out 18 coupons trying to use them all on her precious arts and crafts whereas company policy states that it's 1 coupon per customer per day. 1 you motherf***ers, 2 if your nice, and 15% total purchase teachers discount if your not a stupid f***ing teacher and is a well known friend who f***ing tips. So all items priced the way they should be, almost done, just press the green button ma'am.. ma'am please press the green button, green button ma'am, GREEN BUTTON LADY I can't understand why YOU can't understand that you need to press the green button to finish the transaction GOD. So transaction is done, receipt given to purchaser, and finally next in line. Oh but wait... ### has some items she has to return from yesterday's purchase. Great, now the impatient customers get even more impatient bout to take out all their ### once they get to the cashier (not just craft ### if you know what I mean). Mrs. Dick, you can't return this item it's handcrafted. WHAT!?!? Yes ma'am our policy states clearly on the back of our receipt that you cannot return floral handcrafted items. This is absurd! What is wrong with you people!?!? And she storms out taking her out-dated thanksgiving floral arrangement she used as a centerpiece purchased over 6 months ago and is deemed "nonreturnable". Well f*** you too old lady now I'm stuck with a bunch of other angry customers bout to go through the same exact ###. Good day.

Can you return purchases you made a total of around $400? Will they give back your money or will they give you a card with that amount?!?

cricut cartridge- if you even exchange it for a different item... its not an even exchange. you also know you cant use coupons on it... so seriously, what was done by the original cashier was correct to the best of the associate's ability. i hate hearing from customers about how we *should* do one thing or another for them. If they worked retail for one year they would be much easier on everyone. I've found that the people with legitimate complaints about attitude or associates lying are usually people who have worked retail before and understand policies and that your job is on line whether the policy makes sense or not.
Framing- your stuff should all be covered with a lifetime warranty, if it hasn't been fixed already, take it to the next closest Michael's for repairs.

Not sure who Psu87 is but with your response I would never talk about autism. It is a serious matter and you are just out there, way out there.

Do some research and you will find out that Michaels is owned by Bain Capital, isn't that the company that the present want to be President makes his money from?

Perhaps the problem can all be traced back to who owns controling interest in the company. Bain Capital, isn't that the company that our what to be president makes his money from?

Michaels is a TERRIBLE corporation. I worked at the corporate offices and we are trained to basically rip paying customers off. I traveled abroad to find the cheapest factory for goods and the conditions were HORRID to say the least. Don't be a fool and your waste your money on the products Michaels sells, they are inferior quality made in factories by child labor! It is a terrible company to work for on so many levels.

I work in the Framing Dept. at my local Michaels. I'm sorry so many of you have had such bad experiences with your local stores. I don't like it when we have to work with a skeleton crew after having busy days, but the lighter days it's not so bad. We get very few complaints from customers and very few complaints about items that we've framed. I've only been in Framing since last fall, but I've picked up on everything there is to learn rather quickly. I don't agree with the way certain things are run in the store, but I'll keep that to myself. I wish I knew what advice to give all of you about your complaints, but all I can say is to use our official site and keep making comments or suggestions in the comment box with hope of it being resolved. Sometimes we can't help it when lines get backed up because don't control who does or doesn't know how to run a register and other times the floor person is busy trying to handle all the customers stopping them while they're working. If you were on our side of things I think many of you would understand just how much of what happens is out of our control. If I've helped a customer who's back near my area I always offer to ring them up so they don't have to stand in line at the front of the store. It's our job to help you so you would want to return. No matter how bad or stressful of a day I have, I try to put a smile on for my customers. I hope future visits can be more pleasant.

I know of a former employee whose family member died and was given infractions because they took off to bury the family. Then was fired for not being on time due to getting caught in heavy traffic. I've been in the store when the managers were calling out the high sales at the time that were coming in from other stores in the district. Michael's is not competing with other retailers. Their in competition with themselves!
Other times I have heard the GM in a store telling custom framers to sell the product like they were in car sales. I actually asked a framer how much commission they make for frames and was told none. these people go to the effort of learning a skill and only receive an hourly wage!Usually bare minimum. I could go on but other have posted before me. They need to put this on Facebook, and other social media, other wise no one will ever be made aware of the corporation' s slavery, and I for one will not be taking my money there anymore. I checked out who owns the company. Three, private financial firms. The company was taken off the NYSE in 2006, and now only make money for a handful at the sweat off the backs of billions. { employees & customers alike.}

I've had serious issues with the Framing Department at the Houston Bunker Hill store. A senior staff member today could be heard swearing from the framing room. This was within earshot of myself and my child. I am now very displeased with that store. I previously brushed off their short-comings when there were splinters of glass inside the artwork that I'd had framed there. I previously brushed off their inability to get things level in the matting and frames. I previously brushed off the thumb marks on the inside of the glass, and badly finished work wear the dust sheet was hurriedly and roughly trimmed with a sharp blade. I previously brushed off the fact that one of my paintings had the d rings upside down (on the wrong side of the frame). But I draw the line at rudeness and swearing.

just come to hobby lobby guys :)

UGh WE Can be Desperate in $$$$
This place is bad to work for especially ever since the company was sold to jerks who have now clue how to run a craft store and Corporate who just sits on chairs { I hope they have big fat ### im sure they are laughing}, all day making stupid demands like arts and crafts is what people eat it like food, I know its frustrating to be a customer at the store but seriously 4 people closing the store or all day One manager, second a cashier, also third framer and forth a if there is a another employee for floor. How are we supposed to give wonderful costumer service, whe have tons of stock to put away and be back up cashiers and help with phone calls helping people if we have 30 items of clearance ### and helping customers on the floor with how to make a project like if we knew how to make crap, just be creative yourself, There was a stupid customer who came in with arrogant talk and said " HEY you where is your craft specialist ?" I turn around and said "hold on Let me call " First of all what no manners "Hello can you help me find something please " NO we get the " DO YOU KNOW WHere i can find BLah BLah Blah" . Another thing we cant know how much ### we have in the store and how it is used since we stock items and Micheals doesnt give any products to employees to work with we just read labels as you should do also.
THERE IS NO FREAKING CRAFT SCHOOL TO KNOW HOW TO MAKE A CRAFT, I COULD SHOW YOU THE PRODUCT I DONT USE PERSONALLY AND IF YOU ASK ME HOW ITS WORKS READ THE FREAKING LABEL ON HOW TO USE IT. DONT YOU KNOW HOW TO READ OR HAVE MORE EDUCATION SINCE YOU TREAT US LIKE CRAP TRYING TO HOLD YOUR HAND TO SHOW YOU WHERE THE PRODUCT IS ALSO BCUSS MAN YOU CAN'T FIND THE ### OH WAIT ITS IN FRONT OF YOU DUMB ###. OK . We still need to put away our returns and make sure we smile thru the day of ### we put off with. If you kiss ### and smoke and brings cupcakes you might make it being promoted to best customer service hero lol. what the ### is that just a piece of ### written in it without a district manager lol signature on it, It show show you much the company cares. OH infractions seriously, If you get sick doctors note don't work so why bother with that, they don't work with yours schedule. Upper management don't care as long as they just get a big fat $ and if you complain to anybody is like talking to a wall. District manager are ###, they should only have regional managers that a stupid job that is useless corporate should look into since oh wait their stupid also. OH wait you get no breaks unless you work a 6 hours exact but by then you have to take only a lunch no break. and then if you say i need to leave 10 mins early for a doctor app they look at you like a deer in headlights stupid. people get about 3.5 hours a day to work how the hell are we supposed get all our work done. and don't forget to clean the store as you are working. IS corporate STUPID. Give us more hours and and extra people in the store. PEOPLE if you don't have the money to shop DON"T shop. this isn't the dollar store. even at the dollar store they don't sell a penny stuff. ### WOMEN SHoppers who want things for free with their ugly bad attitudes im sure you are not getting any of you know what, that you probably taking in off employees bcuss you want some crafts done to do more junk to environment. I hope MIcheals store closes and the looks of it it might bcuss stupid corporate decisions. Las thing 40 percent coupons is one per customer per day.Dont have your 5 year old paying for some stupid Cricut Cartrigde. Seriously are you desperate in crafts. go buy your kid nice shoes or a ice cream.

As far as calling the hotline, once a complaint has been placed, it is forwarded to the store manager through email who then has a period of time to contact the customer and attempt to resolve the issue. They also have to send a report of the attempt to corporate and their district managers.

SOP on penny items is actually NOT to sell it. Seriously, where are you getting this information especially being an FES. Go into your office, pull out the SOP binder and reread that SOP. Once a penny item is found, it is corporate SOP to remove the item from the register as they CANNOT BE SOLD through the register, simply place the penny item in the bag for the customer, finish the transaction and call an employee to check to see if there is any remaining product. What this means for the customer is that they are being given a free item but a professional FES or cashier will not make a big deal of it and will just void it from the POS and continue on. Yes, penny items are tossed occasionally but they have also started a grab bag system with penny items and all stores should be doing this. Penny items are thrown into bags and sold for a few dollars a bag. A good deal actually and infinitely better than the old policy of tossing the merchandise.

Ready to dish...
why_do_we_bother is completely right, penny merchandise is not sent back to vendors. An item becomes a penny after it has been on clearance or has been discontinued for a certain amount of time and can no longer be sold and must be thrown away. However, these items aren't always found before a customer finds them. When a customer brings a pennied merchandise to the register, we follow the appropriate SOP (Standard Operating Procedure). And that is to LET THE CUSTOMER BUY THE ITEM OR ITEMS FOR A PENNY AND PROCEED TO GET THE REST OF THE PENNIED MERCHANDISE OFF THE FLOOR. ANY associate who says they can't sell you the penny merchandise is either ignorant of the SOP or just plain lying because they are like most of our associates, lazy and incompetent.

I am a front end supervisor, which means basically I am a cashier with keys as no one seems to believe an FES has any authority. So many times in my employment at this friggin company I have stopped and looked around and have realized I am surrounded by idiots...by which I mean my fellow employees. We are all bitter to some degree or another, mostly due to a horrible lack of payroll hours pushing us to within an inch of insanity. But not all of us are fools...just most of us.

When you see one line open up front and ten people in line, know that I do not like it anymore than you do. I don't like feeling like everyone in that line wants to slaughter me. Most of the time I can call up a sales associate (who takes her sweet time coming up usually), on several occasions I've had no one to call and have been told theres nothing that can be done (by a manager who usually feels they are above hopping on register for a few minutes). This company constantly drills into our heads that we must provide excellent customer service. Yet, it gets quite difficult when I have no backup for registers, I am answering the phones, I have to say a little ditty about our framing/floral sales on the phone and intercom, and I have to make sure during the time that each customer is in front of me I ask them to sign up for our email list, give them flyers and tell them I'm giving them said flyers, highlight and point out the coupons they receive with their receipt, and highlight and tell them if they have a survey with their receipt. On top of giving actual customer service instead of loading them up on all of our crappy offers to get them back in our doors. By the end they dont want to hear it, they just want to get away from me and I can't blame them. Answering the phone is the worst, it's so rude to do in front of a customer but if I don't do it I get yelled at by others who can't move a few feet from where theyre talking together to answer it themselves.

The reason we have long lines, the reason you can never find anyone in the store to ask for help, the reason why theres only a few people on a shift at night is because of payroll hours. And the worse a store does in sales, the less payroll hours the store gets. It's a vicious cycle really. No customer service means crappy sales which means no payroll hours which means even less customer service and so on and so on until we all shut down...

And honestly, calling 1-800-MICHAELS doesn't help. They have outsourced that customer care line to India, same place our help desk line has been outsourced to. If you think your local Michaels couldn't care less, wait until you talk to some Indian woman whose probably never heard of your small town much less been to it working full-time out of their home in Delhi.

Try finding and calling one of our U.S. corporate numbers, and you will most likely be rudely directed to the outsourced customer service line. You can't even get people on the corporate level to show you some respect.

A couple of more points then I'm done ranting. About the exchanging of the Cricut cartridge. While Cricut is often treated more suspiciously than most other items in the store because of a high shrink rate, theres no reason why, with a receipt, an EVEN exchange can't be done. Hell, it's easier for us just to do an even exchange, and if the box is unopened and you have the receipt, the manager should have had no problem whatsoever with it. Utterly ridiculous that these ###ic associates pick such petty, petty fights.
Next, while sweeping is important at the end of the night, no employee should ever, ever, ever make a customer get out of the way so they can finish an aisle. They can skip the aisle and either come back to it or skip it altogether if its not dirty.
As far as the custom floral arrangement goes, the associate should not have been a [censored] about the fee. Helping you is not costing him any labor, it's his job. The labor fee is in place for the time and supplies the floral designer has "store-use"-d that he or she uses in the arrangement. Walking around with someone helping them decide on flowers to use in an arrangement they want to do themselves is not the customer trying to be cheap, and that associate was an ### for suggesting it. Its good to try doing something new yourself, and I'm sure the awesome floral designer at my store would agree with me. Shes one of the best employees Michael's could ever hope for. Oh and to the same customer who went through that, I'm sorry the manager of that store was an idiot as well when it came to your survey. Instead of asking why you didn't make a complaint in the store, the manager should have offered a Michaels gift card. Sounds like its too late now though because of their stupidity.
Lastly, for the person who wanted to sign up for cake decorating, you should have been given a syllabus to look at if you requested one BEFORE having to buy into the course. Usually we just let people look at it but not keep it because it comes with a coupon in it, but if we know that the person is coming back to sign up we sometimes give it to them. We are supposed to encourage people to take the courses, not make them want to punch us in the face.
Ok, I'm tired from ranting now. By the way, I'm still an employee at Michael's, so I'm gonna stay as anonymous as possible. A lot needs to change, from the ground up...

The point made here that penny-priced clearance items go back to the vendor is misinformed. Employees in the know are lying when they say you can't buy it because of it being sent back. The vendors won't take them; they already made their money off Michaels over-buying! The items are THROWN IN THE GARBAGE!

As one who has worked in a Michaels or two for many years, I must say that since the company has changed hands, each time, the employees take the blow the hardest, and they've become more miserable over the years. I've seen managers lose their sanity, become bitter and easily set off due to schedules, cut-backs, general corporation demands, having to stay for more than 50 hours a week, you name it. On top of that, dealing with a staff that's frustrated and red tape preventing more much-needed supplies needed for the store's basic needs because of Corporate's demands for more cash.

Want a doozy for a laugh? To celebrate Michaels reaching the $4, 000, 000, 000 mark in profit, rather than giving every store a little pizza party or some sort of small break, the company purchased little tiny gold and blue pins that said "$4B" for employees to wear on their aprons. Uh...why the hell to your underpaid and overworked slaves-to-economic-desperation CARE how much YOU profited off THEIR backs? And why should they wear a pin celebrating you, Michaels? You've pushed them to the limit with demands, had it trickle down even FURTHER to the frustrated and over-charged customers, and now you're telling them all to celebrate how amazing your cut-back and price gauge strategy worked. "We sucked you all bone dry! Come celebrate with us!"

I just don't understand how this company is still around.

Oh yeah, congrats on your losing tens of thousands to New York State for being sneaky little rats with your frame shop "sale" tactics. Be sure to punish the employees good for that one. Because, you know, it's all their fault and never yours.

The items that ring up for .01 lol they get tossed in the trash they don't ship them back. I cant believe she said that, and if a customer finds a item that is 0.01 then we have to sell it. Some things get missed just cus they are all mixed up and the clearance gets so messy so fast i should know at my store i will clean in then 10 min later someone comes by and it look like a storm went through. But yes you are right Liz.R she should have sold them to you.

Went to a Michaels yesterday and a couple of items rung up for $.01 and the cashier gave me the items. I went to another Michaels today and found a few things on clearance. Some rung up for $.01 and this cashier refused to give them to me for that price. She said the items were supposed to go back to the vendor, and I could buy them, for the price that the item was tagged for. So...if they're supposed to go back to the vendor, why are they still being sold? It's not so much the price as the principle of the matter? Very disappointed in Michaels.