Tanks For Less

Bought a rainwater collection tank. In-​person service was great and the product looks to be good (haven’t tested it yet).
Lessons Learned
— Shipping can cost as much as the tank itself, so you save a bit of money if you choose a tank in stock locally and pick it up yourself. Of the tanks I looked at, only the Norwesco and Polymart were stocked.
— There are multiple variants of a single tank on the website, so if you call to check stock, make sure you specify the exact part number. Otherwise you may arrive at the store only to find out the variant you wanted isn’t actually stocked.
— Some part number variants are for direct pick up from the manufacturer. Since in live in North Austin, direct pickup from Polymart would have been half the drive and cheaper. Since nothing on the part number webpage specifies direct pickup, you have to call to find out.

What’s not to like: manufactured and sold IN AUSTIN, Texas! Friendly folks, great product and reasonable pricing with an array of styles, shapes and colors. I started with a 200 gal; then 250 gal and then 1,500 gal. Also have two HD 86 gal that hide my air conditioners and double as a planter (urn lookin things). Okay, they laughed when I picked up the 200 and the 250 gal with a 4×8 trailer — made it home to 78 704, all good!
Linda

Knowing very little about rain tanks or barrels, my wife and I did some research and decided we wanted a 500-​gallon rain harvesting tank that we found on the expansive Tanks For Less website. She suggested I call so that I would make sure I was getting exactly what we needed. I called and asked for a rain harvesting tank and explained how we were having gutters put up to keep our patio from flooding. The quote given was $ 20 less than what was online, but I didn’t question it. We decided to pay the $ 65 delivery fee since we don’t have a truck and wanted to avoid the hassle. It arrived just two days later and the delivery guy and I carried it into the backyard. It looked a little different than the picture, but what doesn’t?
Fast forward two weeks. The father and son gutter guys finally are able to come out due to delays on both ends. The son takes one look at my tank and says, «This is a storage tank. Did you explain to them that you were putting up gutters? Yeah, I’d call them back.» D’oh!
I go inside and call Tanks For Less. The guy is very understanding and says, «Oh, I can have it out today, in fact this morning.» I tell him no rush. The gutter team got done pretty quickly and left. A bit later, the new tank shows up, the guy rolls it into the backyard and rolls the other out. I help him load it into his truck. Then, he tells me, «Oh, there’s a $ 20 difference in the price and I’m going to have to charge you $ 20 for swapping the two out. Would you like to have them call and get your credit card number?» I’m not going to argue with the delivery guy, so I agree, then go inside and call the office. First, I get the original salesman, who gets defensive when I try to explain that what I ordered and what I got were not the same thing. She talks to the manager and calls me back and says they are already being generous bumping down the delivery charge and that had I ordered the correct thing to begin with, it would have been $ 20 more. I ask to speak to the manager, and he tells me the same thing. He does agree to bump the delivery charge down to $ 10, and once I figure I’m not getting any further, I agree, accepting partial responsibility.
Here’s the kicker– Later, I get a call from the delivery driver, who turns out to be the owner. He’s upset because he went out of his way to immediately fix my mistake and I’m complaining. According to him, I should have realized from the invoice that I wasn’t getting the correct item (which is why I accepted partial responsibility), and that anyone can tell the difference between a storage tank and a rain harvesting tank. What I got was what I ordered and it was my problem that he went out of his way to fix for me and I must have said something to the manager to get him to drop the delivery price. He even went the extra mile and rolled it allllll the way into the backyard when it was really just curbside delivery. It got to the point where I almost starting cursing at the guy because he was being so incredibly rude.
I’m giving two stars instead of 1 because I did end up with a nice tank. I just hope now that it rains sometime soon!

What’s great:
— detailed website with tons of helpful information
— amazing selection, every brand, size, style, color of rain barrel you could want or need
— really great prices
— you can place your order online (but then have to call in to pay with your credit card)
— they will deliver your rain barrels to your home for a reasonable charge (but I highly recommend picking them up yourself if possible)
What was frustrating:
— Misinformed about availability: I was told I would be able to have my barrels in about a week (so I scheduled my rain gutter installation based on that information) when I didn’t receive a call to schedule a delivery time I called and learned that it would actually be about another 2 weeks because they didn’t have them in stock
— Poor customer service: I did not receive a call to schedule delivery when they did receive them, as I was told I would. I had to call to schedule the delivery after waiting and waiting.
— Delivery service is just offered as a courtesy, better to find a way to pick up your barrels yourself: after I scheduled my delivery date, I received a call back saying they would have to reschedule for a later date. Then I received a voicemail the day before my delivery reminding me of my delivery and if I wasn’t able to be home requesting that I let them know. About 30 mins after they were supposed to arrive I called to ask if they could tell me when they anticipated the driver getting to my home. They had the woman who had scheduled my appointment (and left the nice reminder message) call me back to tell me that they canceled my delivery since I hadn’t called and confirmed my appointment. Arghhh! That was not what she said, I still had her voicemail and offered to let her hear it, but that did not get my barrels to me that day. Delivery was rescheduled for a 3^rd time… apparently the charm.
— Every time I call I have to wait for someone else call me back with an answer
— City of Austin rebate guidelines require installation of barrels within 30 days of purchase, I received them exactly 4 weeks (29 days) from when I purchased them.
What was funny:
— When I opened the front door I saw the scene in the attached photo… First thought, «Huge error! I thought the diameter listed on the site was in inches!» Second thought, «What in the world am I going to tell my husband when he gets home and sees this?!» Third thought, «Wait, I know I didn’t spend that much.» Then the driver understands the combination of shock and incredulity on my face and actually laughs while assuring me that my barrels are in the back of his pickup… that one isn’t one of them.
In spite of everything, I have determined that I need one more barrel. I will be ordering it from Tanks for Less, but this time I will be prepared to continually follow up on my order and for the possibility of a month-​long wait.