Need help asap! (Portland, Harbor: sales, Home Depot, transfer) - Oregon (OR) - City-Data Forum

StillLookin' · 08-09-2011, 11:01 AM

My husband has been sending his resume all over Oregon to facilitate our family move there from West Virginia.

He's a Retail Operations Manager for a large department store that has a good, solid reputation, nicely updated & clean store, good benefits. His very first choice to get us over to Oregon is to simply transfer within his company, but there aren't any positions for him now; so he's been blasting his resume to all of the Retail Store Manager or Assistant Manager jobs anywhere in Oregon.

Whelp, he got his first phone call reply - from a place called Harbor Freight Tools. I've read that "customer service nightmare" web page from back in 2002, along with its updates to 2009. I've also read reviews that their customer service STILL stinks most of the time, but that they're a good store for do-it-yourself guys who want to buy cheap tools made in China.

But is that all there is to Harbor Freight Tools???? They seem to have a nice, updated web site, and they seem to have a lot of products and a lot of store locations....and they're hiring Store Managers (hence, they'd pay for our move out there).

What are YOUR experiences with Harbor Freight Tools?
Have you or anyone you know worked for them?
What was your/the person you know working experience with them?

My gut is sending me a bunch of "red flags" on this one....but in the interest of thorough due-diligence, I feel like I need as many CURRENT opinions & employee experiences as possible for my husband calls this recruiter back.

Please help!

AztoORegon · 08-09-2011, 11:24 AM

I have not personally been employed by Harbor Freight however I do shop there a lot. They have great stuff for cheap and side walk sales all the time. I have had one friend work there as a cashier and they never complained. People may complain online on their reviews because of the items might have been broken so and so forth but is your husband being offered pay that will allow you to up and relocate your family to another state? Are you going to be working as well? Or is this just going to be on your husbands dime? Maybe he should take that position if it pays well enough and the move, then look for something more to his liking once he is a local?

StillLookin' · 08-09-2011, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AztoORegon

I have not personally been employed by Harbor Freight however I do shop there a lot. They have great stuff for cheap and side walk sales all the time. I have had one friend work there as a cashier and they never complained. People may complain online on their reviews because of the items might have been broken so and so forth but is your husband being offered pay that will allow you to up and relocate your family to another state? Are you going to be working as well? Or is this just going to be on your husbands dime? Maybe he should take that position if it pays well enough and the move, then look for something more to his liking once he is a local?

Well, it's not to the point of an offer just yet, but he doesn't want to go down that road unless he's aware of HF's local reputation. Whatever happens, he'd need a relo package from anyone making him an offer, along with a decent-enough salary to facilitate our move there until I can find work. I'm in seach of an Administrative I.T. job.....looking at a number of places, but there's no hope for any relo package "on my dime" as I'm re-entering the workforce after being an at-home Mom for the last 4 years. I'd need to have more recent references/experience to get that particular benefit.

Please tell me - you say you shop there "often" - what's the store like? Is it well kept, clean, neat....or a mess?? That in itself can say a lot about the staff and managers of any store.

AztoORegon · 08-09-2011, 11:44 AM

Its not as big as home depot or lowes or walmart, it is smaller isles, well kept from what I can tell, isles are clean, deals galore, friendly people, feels more like a mom and pop shop feeling but they are well known for sure.

hamellr · 08-09-2011, 11:46 AM

I like Harbor Freight as a company. Their quality has gone downhill due buying product from China, but for tools (especially one-off or little used ones,) they're great.

Their customer service has always seemed decent to me, but my interactions have always been "do you have (insert tool name here,)?" and them pointing me to it.

StillLookin' · 08-09-2011, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AztoORegon

Its not as big as home depot or lowes or walmart, it is smaller isles, well kept from what I can tell, isles are clean, deals galore, friendly people, feels more like a mom and pop shop feeling but they are well known for sure.

More like an Ace or True Value Hardware store, maybe???

AztoORegon · 08-09-2011, 11:54 AM

yes like ACE or True Value...Exactly

ccjarider · 08-09-2011, 12:10 PM

I do not work there but I have interviewed with them down in LA where the HQ is located.
They were an old family owned operation that within last few years has turned over all the Sr. Mgmt. They are claiming to be much more aggressive about growth and want to shake the operation up. They have hired lots of new people from outside to foster new ideas. I kinda liked the aggressiveness I heard when I was there.

If your husband wants to help foster change, he may like it/

hamellr · 08-09-2011, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StillLookin'

Well, it's not to the point of an offer just yet, but he doesn't want to go down that road unless he's aware of HF's local reputation. Whatever happens, he'd need a relo package from anyone making him an offer, along with a decent-enough salary to facilitate our move there until I can find work. I'm in seach of an Administrative I.T. job.....looking at a number of places, but there's no hope for any relo package "on my dime" as I'm re-entering the workforce after being an at-home Mom for the last 4 years. I'd need to have more recent references/experience to get that particular benefit.

It's been my experience that blue collar companies don't tend to offer relocation packages except for very senior staff.

BTW - I believe they started here in Portland, but they have 350 locations nationwide (according to their website.)

(*EDIT - apparently they started in LA. Not sure why I was thinking they were a local company.)

StillLookin' · 08-09-2011, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hamellr

It's been my experience that blue collar companies don't tend to offer relocation packages except for very senior staff.

BTW - I believe they started here in Portland, but they have 350 locations nationwide (according to their website.)

(*EDIT - apparently they started in LA. Not sure why I was thinking they were a local company.)

Well, he's been out of the blue collar jobs for a while now. He's considered white collar with being an Operations Manager, and since he's looking for a Store Manager job, that's also known as white collar. He's already gotten one relo package, but it was a rather forced move here to West Virginia. We're not happy here at all, and are urgently seeking the green, holistic, Democratic, healthy Oregon lifestyle!