On the evening of Saturday March 21, I stopped into the North East Advance and left completely disgusted by the level of unprofessionalism. From the moment I walked in, it was clear customer service was not a priority. One employee sat at a computer in the corner and never once looked up, acknowledged me, or made any attempt to help — not when I entered, not while I was standing at the counter, and not even when I left the store. He stayed glued to that computer the entire time as if having a customer in the building was an inconvenience.
Meanwhile, the younger employee at the counter was too busy staring at his phone to notice me for several minutes. When he finally did, I was greeted with “what’s up man,” and then called “dude” multiple times during the interaction. That might be fine talking to a buddy, but it is completely unacceptable when speaking to a customer. It was lazy, disrespectful, and unbelievably unprofessional.
The condition of the store only made things worse. The place was a mess. The counter was covered with pizza boxes, soda cans, parts, and clutter everywhere. It looked filthy, chaotic, and poorly run. Nothing about it gave the impression that anyone there took pride in their store or their job.
When I asked about a part, the employee gave what felt like the bare minimum effort — about a minute of “looking” before hitting me with, “I ain’t got it man.” No effort to actually help, no offer to check another location, no attempt to see whether it could be ordered, and no interest in doing anything beyond getting rid of me.
I understand stores won’t always have every part in stock. What I do not understand — and will not tolerate — is being ignored, spoken to with zero professionalism, and forced to stand in a store that looked like a break room exploded. This was one of the worst retail experiences I’ve had in a long time, and I will absolutely not be back.