City Hardware

I’ve shopped at City Hardware downtown Burlington regularly for years — often multiple times a week for hydroponics and farm supplies — but I recently had an experience that completely changed how I feel about this store. I bought a submersible pump (a red-tag item) after confirming with the cashier that returns were allowed if defective. The box felt greasy, but I assumed it was just from storage. When I opened it at home, the instructions and unit were covered in oil, and the pump barely ran except for turning on and off intermittently. It clearly wasn’t functioning properly. I brought it back the very next morning to return/exchange it and was met with extremely dismissive and hostile treatment by the assistant manager. Instead of troubleshooting or acknowledging the defective condition, he implied I caused the damage, told me he didn’t believe me, and made the return process feel accusatory. At one point he tossed the pen toward me to fill out the return form — just an unnecessarily disrespectful interaction. Later, when I returned to buy PVC fittings, I overheard him still talking about me and saying he was going to “check the cameras” because he thought I was doing something shady. I left with no refund, no exchange, and not even the broken pump. I’ve supported this store for years, but I won’t be coming back after this. Hardware emergencies happen — customers should be treated with basic respect, especially when they’re long-term regulars. I hope management takes customer service seriously, because Burlington deserves a hardware store that values its clientele.

Today I forgot my bike lock hours from Burlington, and was also having trouble with my brakes. So two of the employees very kindly went to the shelves and got me a new lock and set of wrenches so I could keep an eye on my bike that was parked outside in front of the store. They were clearly busy and a little stressed, and I really appreciated their help with things.

Needed some cleaning supplies and the employee was so helpful and helped me look for the monitor cleaner I needed! Such great people!