The customer service I received at Lakota Safe was...

The customer service I received at Lakota Safe was awful.

The long story short is the owner is downright rude. Their post sales support is non-existent no matter the circumstance. If you think there s even a chance you might need a return or exchange, do NOT buy from Lakota Safe as there is a no refunds and no exceptions policy, which is not stated on their website (it has since been updated) or receipt and was not told to us.

The owner s response below is indicative of his attitude toward customers, and he suggests I made demands and that quality issues weren t a primary reason for return. This and many other statements are flatout false. He also states he will have an attorney contact me over the matter. This is absolutely absurd and has no merit. All of my emails were cordial, and I would gladly share them with anyone.

This is a company you should avoid.

I love supporting local companies because typically the experience is much more personable. However, you would get far better support from a big box retailer.

That being said, I will admit that the lady that worked with us the majority of the time was very nice and helpful.

However, the other owner, who I believe is her husband, was notably brash. We didn t work with him much during our three visits, but on the one time we did work with him, a customer walked in while he was busy and he accusingly asked them you been drinking? It struck me as direct and forceful.

The funny thing was I remember telling my wife before we ever walked into the store that I appreciated the fact that the owner consistently replied back strongly to negative reviews on google and gave his side of the story. There s no doubt in my mind that he will do that yet again here.

However, I would strongly encourage readers to look at other 1 star reviews that people have posted and be sure not to discredit those opinions like I did based on his strong-armed replies. I now believe there s a lot of truth to those negative reviews.

We ended up buying two safes- an allegedly new, open box unit and a scratch and dent unit. When we arrived home, we immediately noticed the door to the new open box safe didn t open completely and the key entry only worked half the time. It also had more scuffs and scratches for a new, open box safe than expected.

The scratch and dent unit had issues with its thumbprint reader, tamper alarm, App, and just ended up being too small for us.

That night, I requested an exchange for the one safe, and by the next morning, my disappointment with the other lead me to request a return for both. I offered to apply the return to buying a different safe.

When I called about the return, I was almost immediately cut off and told to call Vaultek to solve my problems. When Vaultek s customer service line said they weren t taking calls, I called Lakota back and asked for a simple refund. Afterall, I had the safe for half a day and hadn t used one at all and barely used the other.

I was yet again told I had to work through Vaultek who I hoped could somehow return the safe, but they didn t process the sale, so they bounced me back to Lakota.

I was told by Vaultek that they would replace both safes, but we still felt a replacement wouldn t meet expectations and would be too small, so we told Lakota that if they would return the safes, we would happily buy another safe, and they could receive the replacement safes from Vaultek that worked properly which they could then sell to a future customer. It seemed a very simple solution that would ve worked for everyone.

They refused. Not once. Not twice. But three times. All emails and phone calls about the return were with Mateo and the owner. He reiterated time and time again they don t accept returns of any kind. I was extremely apologetic and solution-focused truly believing that taking a more cordial, human approach might work. I was wrong.

In the end, I thoroughly regret purchasing from this company, and I m absolutely amazed at the complete and utter lack of any sort of support or care for a customer.