Local (Oklahoma City) Tandy Leather Store

[Brokenolmarine]

Miss Tina and I drove up to OKC today to run some errands.  I wanted to visit my local (Pffft, local.  two hours each way.  Yeah, local,) Tandy Leather.  Tina needed to visit HER local Bernina Store.  That is a post for a different forum. 

I have had a great relationship with this Tandy Leather. There is a great employee there... she has been helpful from my first visit... She gave me her email and told me if I needed advice, help, had a question.  Email.  If I was stuck, call.  She was there every day but Wednesday.  I try not to be a bother, but it's a two hour drive.  I have an inventory of my stamps, so I emailed her the list and told her I was driving up this week and asked if she had time would she look it over and make a recommendation in filling in the holes in my arsenal.  I knew I needed a few smaller bevels, a couple smaller/larger pear shaders, a lifter or two.  I could use a veiner or two more, and a couple basket weave stamps added.  I would be open to whatever she suggested but wasn't interested in just buying stamps to have stamps, no one time use things, or stamps with a very narrow focus or use.  A couple days went by and I got an email, coincidentally the night before we planned on going up.  She had a list made up.

When I arrived, she and I went over the list, and ALL the stamps I had written down were on her list, and there were an additional ten or so, she suggested I added.  All would be helpful since my skills had improved and I was carving more.  Then, as I had ordered a couple large patterns, she helped me find the right leather to accommodate both.  A couple more items we added, and I asked about this one and that one and she shook her head.  (Nope, don't need it.)

That kind of service keeps me from ordering online, and waiting until I can get back up to OKC.  It's the same every time.  If I am in OKC on a Wednesday when she won't be in the store, I don't bother. 

 

Customer service like this will guarantee return business.  You can bet bad customer service will guarantee that Miss T and I never return.  It has happened a LOT... even if that store was the only one of it's type in town.  We would drive an hour away to find another store rather than reward bad customer service with return business.

Edited March 4, 2023 by Brokenolmarine

[Mulesaw]

One single great employee can also make me return to a shop.

I do most of my stuff shopping at the local lumberyard. In the pro section they are like 6 guys and one lady. They are all extremely helpful, knowledgeable and appreciate a bit of small talk. 
The great thing is that they can normally always match online prices, and if there is ever a problem with a product, returning it is an absolute hassle-free experience.

Thumbs up to you for supporting a "local" business and telling about it. I wish more people did that.

Brgds

Jonas

[DwightT]

Our local Tandy (20 minutes away for me) has been like that.  Unfortunately they just lost my favorite employee - he decided to move on to other things.  They have a new guy in there that I just haven't warmed up to yet.  I'm hoping it's just a matter of my going in more often to get to know him better.

And I agree with Jonas - Thank you for supporting local.  Online shopping has it's place, but we need to keep the local stores in business too.

    /dwight

[kgg]

12 hours ago, Brokenolmarine said:

Customer service like this will guarantee return business.

I agree regardless of the items being sold whether it's a vehicle or a cheap widget. I purchased a Honda Fit about 2 years ago, no trade, from a dealer about 2 1/2 hours away not because there isn't a Honda dealer closer but the difference in price was $2000 and they delivered the vehicle to me. I can get sewing machines and leather / material in Ottawa which is about 3/4 hours travel but after shopping there I just felt like I needed to take a shower. So I drive west to Toronto for machine related items and east to Montreal for leather / material related items which are both about 3 1/2 hours from me.

kgg

[Tugadude]

Nice to read a positive story.  Might be good for you to share the story with Tandy itself so that they are aware of their standout employee.

 

I have had generally positive experiences in all of the Tandy stores I've visited and I've visited many since I used to travel for business and covered multiple states.

My main source is Springfield Leather, 3 hours from me, but I had several of my children attend university there, so and I also covered that territory for business so I was able to make frequent visits.  There is no substitute for personal visits.  Springfield Leather has a ton of stuff they run sales on that never hit the internet.  They have bins outside of the store, by the entrance where they offer super deals on hardware, belt blanks and even some leather goods.  And they also have discounted sides in the store you can look through.  Can't do that online.

Their salespeople are very helpful and friendly!

[Mulesaw]

Like @Tugadude suggests, send an email to Tandy. Even big companies have someone who reads the emails that are sent to them, and my guess is that they get a fair amount of angry emails. So it might brighten someone's day to have an email praising a commendable effort from one of their employees.

Brgds Jonas

[billybopp]

26 minutes ago, Mulesaw said:

Like @Tugadude suggests, send an email to Tandy. Even big companies have someone who reads the emails that are sent to them, and my guess is that they get a fair amount of angry emails. So it might brighten someone's day to have an email praising a commendable effort from one of their employees.

Brgds Jonas

I agree 100%.  Having managed customer service teams for various companies, they have ALL had some form of recognition for this kind of praise.  Sometimes just a note on their record or similar, but more often than not there's also some sort of financial reward too!   It's usually not a LOT of $$, but a little something.  It also looks very good for that person if they intend to stay with and move up in the company!

- Bill

[chuck123wapati]

i really like nice people too. Makes life so much fun no matter where you are!!! May god bless them all. next time your there go straight in and tell the boss, nothing says thanks as much as taking the same time for them.

[JLSleather]

The one in Des Moines IA had a girl in there (maybe 30?) who was very good, and a little girl (maybe 20?) who didn't know leather, really, but was learning from the other one very quickly.  But they got a manager in who was such a jerk it just wasnt' worth it and she and i both left

[Brokenolmarine]

The first thing I did when I got home was to send a thank you email to the woman herself and a CC to her store manager.  Then I sent an email to Tandy corporate that started:

"I know you get a lot of emails complaining, but once in a while I thought you might like to hear when someone does something right....  I took my time and outlined how she had been so helpful on my first visit, offered her card and email, and had always been there when needed."

It was about four paragraphs long.  I know that the Lowes I used to frequent in VA gave points for customer comments, and with a certain number of points the employees earned gift cards, even raises.

 

What I forgot to share with you guys because I had forgotten, is that I had to go up one Wednesday, "HER" day off and she had said she would leave word with one of the other employees that I was coming and what I was after.  I got there, and ... there she was waiting for me.  She came in on her day off and met me at the store.  She said, "I am meeting my daughter for lunch and you said you were coming up before your 11am appt at the VA and would be here at 9am, and here you are, at 9am when we open."  She spent an hour helping me in the store, even sitting down at the work table in the back and helping me in my carving techniques.  I left at 10am to go to the VA appt, and she left to meet her daughter for brunch.

[SUP]

Hmm. I seem to have bad luck with Tandy. One store in CA, the single employee working the shift did not come out from the back room for 15 minutes while we waited. Then, she refused to give me any information at all.. I was very new then and needed information on what to buy for a book cover I planned to make. I finally had to leave without buying anything. 

Fast forward to GA, the manager is so busy trying to sell, she tries to push the most expensive items even after I told her I was a noob and did not want to spend too much until I was sure it was what I wanted to do. . At a basic construction class, she provided a thin awl with thick needles, made us do a double knot on the thread which was thick, so  it would just not go through the holes we made with the diamond chisels, even after re-punching with the awl. Even the men in the class had trouble pushing the thread through and mine actually tore twice due to  the force needed. I finally took the project home, used thinner needles and a thicker awl and completed the project. Her information on antiquing was incomplete even though several of us asked her about it - we were putting an antique finish on the class project - so my first 2 items ended a dull brown because I followed her instruction on how to do it.

Another employee tried to make me take a used jar of leather conditioner - he kept pushing a specific jar at me as I tried to get another one. I got a little suspicious and opened it - it had fingerprints in it! I kept it away and got a new one - opened and checked. He did not even look embarrassed at being caught!

2 other employees there are fine. They do not try to push the most expensive items and are actually helpful. In fact, in another class, when I asked how to make lace, one of them taught me without trying to make me buy a lace maker. 

The other good employee provided all the information needed to repair an old case and provided a small piece of leather to do it. He did not even charge me for the leather! 

The 2 employees are the ones I look for, if I need to go back there.

Unfortunately, when the manager is around, she is the one who comes forward and runs around so enthusiastically that after a while, I wonder if she is on something. With her, I cannot ask anything and expect useful information because her answers are always angled at making a sale. 

I know that their job is to sell, but if they took the customer's needs into consideration, they would have had long term customers. Now, I just came home, called Springfield leather and received all the information I needed and great leather as well, at great prices. 

A long rant! For those who read it all, thank you for your patience!

Edited March 24, 2023 by SUP

[1961Mike]

Hi

If the lady in the original post was gray haired, that was Barb.  I took an introductory class that she taught.  She's very good and knows what to get and what not to.

Later