Woodcraft of Austin

Update 2023-October-16: Sandy, the manager of the store, contacted me to discuss the situation. He was adamant about making things right, and we agreed on a future resolution that was suitable to me. I cannot say enough good things about his willingness to listen to me, and do what it takes to make me a happy, continued customer. I'm changing my score from 1 to 4 stars. I am hesitant to give five stars simply because of my prior experiences that led to this post; but if I could, I would give Sandy a five star rating simply for his customer service. ---------------------------------------------------------------- I waited a while before deciding to post this negative review, thinking perhaps I would mellow out. But the situation still irritates me to this day. TL;DR -- customer service is horrible. Background: I signed up for an introductory class the first week of June, and the instructor Sandy was great; he was knowledgeable, friendly, and provided an excellent environment for learning. I enjoyed the class so much, I decided to register for a couple more, the next one being a July 3-day bent arm savannah chair class. I planned my travel and arranged to board my dog for that weekend. Issue: I showed up for the class the last week of July, and introduced myself to the instructor (not Sandy), only for him to tell me I’m not registered and shouldn’t be there. The way he responded wasn’t very customer-friendly, so his response put me on edge. Now, to his credit: we took a look at the registration book, and sure enough I wasn’t booked until September 15. I’m a bit annoyed at this, especially considering I paid in advance and I had a calendar entry for the July class. The Woodcraft employees recommended that I stay registered, as this particular class fills up extremely quickly. I was still interested in learning, so I made the necessary arrangements to be available for the next class. Fast-forward to September 14, and I receive a call from Woodcraft. With less than 24 hours until the class start, I was informed that the class was being canceled because I was the only one registered, and that my money would be refunded. So much for this class being in high demand, I guess. I was now extremely frustrated, as it wasn’t the instructor who informed me of the cancelation; and whoever the employee on the call was, didn't give two sh**s about my situation. I lost hundreds of dollars due to wasted time, fuel, and pet boarding fees. There was no offer of compensation, even if just a small store discount or credit for inconvenience.

Asked if they could rip a piece I was planning to buy and they said yes so I Bought the stock I needed and waited a little bit for them to cut it. They decided to start helping other customers after I had already paid for the piece. Wouldn’t have been that much of a deal since they were doing me a favor but they botched the cut and had to recut the stock. Seems like they were trying to rush. Hopefully I can work around it now.