Northwestern Loan & Pawnbroker

I had a great experience when I bought jewelry here. The owner is very knowledgeable and helpful. The staff were courteous. The prices are very fair.

I gave them one star because I am being rude just as the lady in the back who cashes checks and does money orders is. She is very rude, ugly and has 0 customer service skills. Its places like this that constantly gets away with treating people like crap. but look where they’re located… on Pennsylvania ave where nobody gives a fk! im sure they never read their reviews and could care less but I am writing this so that other can stay away from this dump. the only reason why I go there for money orders is because its the only place close by that does them. otherwise I would travel to Europe and back if I could just to get one. they either need to close this place or get rid of that hoodrat lady who has no respect for anyone. rude old bat! and tell her I said it!

Great service and easy transactions. Thanks!

Their website seemed like they knew what they were doing, and had a good reputation to keep. The prices were high, but they had a few things that I can’t find anywhere else, so I thought it might be worth it. So I jotted down what I was looking for, and gave them a call while I was already out in the area running errands and had the chance.
First, a woman picked up the phone and mumbled a few words I couldn’t understand (I had to stop and ask «Is this Northwestern Loan?». I began to tell her the item I was looking for, and before I could even finish my sentence, I was cut off with a «Please hold.» *click*
An employee oblivious to their own rudeness right off the bat? There goes one star.
Then, a gentleman picked up the phone and also mumbled a few words I couldn’t understand. I began to tell him what I was looking for and I got cut off again mid-​sentence with a short «What’s the number?». I gave him the make and model, which I assumed would be helpful, before he put me on hold to search for it.
The gentleman came back and said (in a tone that appeared pretty rude to me) «That’s not the number I need. I need the stock number.»
Another employee being rude and unprofessional? There goes another star.
The stock number? How am I supposed to know what the stock number is? I explained to the man that all I had was the make and model, and THAT’S when he explained to me (very shortly) that the seemingly useless number listed next to each item on their site is something that’s absolutely necessary to have when asking ANYONE in the store about ANYTHING, otherwise there’s «no way» of knowing where it is or if they have it anymore. Because, you know, it’s not like employees should be expected to know what they’re selling or anything like that.
I explained to the gentleman that I was currently out, and had no internet access, so I couldn’t get a stock number for him. I asked if there was anything he could do to find it for me, and he immediately replied that he couldn’t.
I find that INCREDIBLY hard to believe. I work in retail, and our company stocks hundreds of thousands of different items both in-​store and online. When customers call me, I don’t expect them to have the stock number for me even though it IS listed at the top of each item’s page. There were five things that I do for customers on a regular basis, and which could’ve been done for me to remedy this situation right away:
1. Know your own store’s inventory, like I know my company’s inventory.
2. Put the customer on hold and take a short walk around a specific section of your store to find the item, using very basic physical and mental skills.
3. Check your inventory list yourself (you really can’t tell me you don’t keep track of your firearms).
4. State on your website that you must have the stock number on-​hand when getting a stock check.
5. Get on your own website and find the stock number for the customer who’s eager to throw money at you, even though you don’t deserve a penny of it.
That could be minus another five stars, but since you’re short to start with, I’ll only take away one.
Finally, out of desperation to just get what I wanted from them, I said «That’s alright, I’ll just stop by the store later and take a look myself.» Apparently THAT was a wrong answer, too! Instead of the gentleman saying «Gee, maybe this guy really just wants to buy something, I could do a tenth of my job to help him out and make an easy sale off of him», he tells me that I can’t just come in and ask to look at something if he’s not already sure he has it ready.
WELL, what you COULD do is FIND OUT if it’s ready, so I can come in and BUY it!
There goes another star, for a complete lack of salesmanship.
What’s that leave us with, one star? That sounds about fair.
It’s okay, though. I’ll bring my business and naïve spending habits somewhere else.