harbor freight HARBOR FREIGHT GOING OUT OF BUSINESS? Internet

Harbor Freight has always had very poor customer service especially if you try to contact them at their Camarillo, California headquarters about problems with orders but now it's almost impossible to get someone on the phone. On their website they list an 800 phone number for problems but that number is disconnected! You have to be tricky and call their order line and then tell them you have a problem. IF you finally get someone they will jerk you around reading back every word on the order (name, address, phone number, email address, item you ordered, item number, order number, when ordered, etc.) until you are about to explode and then try to get a straight answer as to what happened with your order. In my case they showed the item shipped/order completed (I needed the item quickly so paid for FedEx EXPRESS shipping). They led me to believe item shipped but FedEx said they never received the package from Harbor Freight. After I started yelling on the phone the guy said the item was backordered from CHINA! It never shipped, the order was never completed, but they sure charged my credit card immediately. This whole thing took more than a week. I told them it was too late and I didn't need the tool any more so cancel the order and refund the charge and he said they would. I AM STILL WAITING FOR THE REFUND! Not only that, but for the past couple of months I've noticed that their local warehouse store is not restocking. I've been in at least six times in two months and each time there are more bare spaces on the shelves and the employees keep getting less friendly and less helpful and fewer in numbers. Some areas in the store are about 30% empty! In my experience empty shelves, no restocking, and unhappy, surly employees point to a business that is going under. I would not order on the internet or phone again because I don't want to be caught holding the bag when they go under. I suggest that anyone wanting to buy from Harbor Freight call a LOCAL STORE (ONLY) before making the trip (if anyone will answer the phone). Everyone I know agrees (and has for more than 30 years) that Harbor's tools are junk but they are CHEAP so if you break one you can just throw it away. Also, I've seen them having sales on small electric generators (gas powered) lately. They have pallet loads but I also see many people bringing them back within a week and saying that they worked once and quite or never worked at all so you can pretty much guess they are crap and not worth taking home. Unfortunately Harbor has put a lot of smaller discount tool joints out of business with their low prices and now, in many areas such as mine, they are the only game in town.