Hardware heartbreak

My relationship with hardware stores is going through a rough patch at the moment. I still need to purchase stuff from them, but I'm don't feel like I'm getting the service I should.

• 'Price guarantee' - if you haven't noticed both Bunning's and Mitre 10's 'price guarantee' is only valid if you find it at a 'cheaper' price. If you find it for the same price, they won't beat it by the 15%, which means you will find both stores selling the same item at exactly the same price (including mimicking each others sale prices) so they don't have to give you the extra 15%off. eg. the waterblaster we purchased last week. So I rang both stores to see if they would give me an incentive to buy from their store...Mitre 10 refused; Bunnings said (after a quick 'hold' time while they checked) that they would give me the 15% off as an incentive to buy from them even though it technically didn't qualify for the 'price guarantee'. But when I went to purchase it, the checkout girl wasn't going to give me the discount as it was the 'same price', I relayed my telephone conversation from that morning and then got grilled about who I spoke to (I couldn't remember his name)...Anyway she rang someone who authorised it, so I got the cheaper price. BUT...when it broke and so returned it and it was getting exchanged for the exact same thing, the checkout woman (different one to the first time) was going to charge me the full price and make me pay the '15%' that I had got discounted for the initial purchase.
• Customer service - went to Mitre 10 to get some oil to oil the nice clean deck with. Right from the start the guy who served me in the aisle was talking to me like I didn't know what I was doing and what we had done/were planning to do was all wrong (which it was not). Not to mention his overbearing helpfulness - every time I escaped him and went to another part of his section to get something else on my list, up he would pop and ask if I needed help, when all I wanted to do was to be left alone to consider the different product options myself and make a decision. He did give some good advice on paint brushes without just trying to sell me the most expensive ones. But my experience would have been much more pleasant if he'd had the ability to be available when I needed advice, but given me the space I wanted to make my own decision.

It has got me thinking about how having 2 mega hardware chains dominating the market is not very helpful. Although you may get a larger range of stuff, you end up being viewed in terms of profit margins so customer service and satisfaction suffer. And their seemly 'cheaper' prices aren't actually that cheap as there is no competition to stimulate real price beating. Unfortunately most of the smaller and independent hardware stores no longer exist, so I have no choice but to purchase from the 'mega chains'.

I have to visit the hardware store again - we need more decking oil, as it soaked up the first tin like a sponge. My aim is to get in and out of there as quickly as possible...no lingering to browse like I sometimes do - my heart is hardened to you O hardware store.