Habitat for Humanity ReStore San Jose

We donated and were returning an item that didn't work and the attitude from volunteers/workers in both spots were very rude and dismissive. When donating, no one acknowledged us, offered to help us unload or offered us a receipt. When doing a return on an item that I had asked about their policy on before I bought it, it was clear that they did not want to accept the return. It was an air conditioner that wasn't functioning as described, and had a horrible smell (like mold) when we turned it on, plus I had discovered damage to it that wasn't obvious when I bought it, and made me worry about the safety of using it. At the desk, one women tried to tell me it was a swamp cooler (it was not) so that's why it wasn't cooling that well. The other woman at the register said to her coworker "usually people look these things up before buying them and do more research," which was really rude given that they have a return policy and I was following it, and had asked about it when I purchased the item. It wasn't a good experience and I left feeling very disrespected over the return, like I was somehow trying to break a rule or something. Truthfully, I had asked our local recycling center about dropping it off but it would have cost me even more to do that, so instead I went back out of my way to drop the unit off so ReStore could handle it. I didn't even really care about the cost of the item. Even worse was when I bought the unit, I stubbed my toe in the store and was bleeding. I told them what happened, and asked about a bandaid and the worker pointed me over to where I could buy some. No concern at all. One of them was laughing, as well. Generally if someone is bleeding in a store they offer to help you. I wouldn't go back. I don't understand what was going on in there, but the vibe was not welcoming or caring.

Staff is mostly great. I love Habitat & the Oakland store is wonderful. BUT this one... pretty boring & pricey. No unique or interesting finds. So it makes sense that a couple of times I brought very fun items (vintage & antique piece of furniture, art & decor items) to donate and the guy on the door accepting donations gave me a teenage girl "really?" look & said that they didn't "take stuff like that" it was too unusual & no one would want it. So I took it up to Oakland... They were thrilled and someone wanted to buy one of the items before they had even written the donation receipt. I hated the fact that to donate & find unusual, vintage, fun items at good prices... I had to go to Oakland when I live in San Jose. Thank goodness the Found San Jose Rummage & Reuse Hub opened in downtown. I am clearing out a ton of stuff I have collected over the years to make my life simpler as I age and can now take my stuff there. They know what I am giving them and usually say stuff like "OHHH come & look at this" to their coworkers. The only downside is their limited hours and not getting to check out what is on offer in Oakland but it is a long drive for someone my age.

I was really disappointed in this habitat restore. The ones I have been to in the past (all in San Diego or Riverside county) all are huge, have lots of good stuff, and outdoor supplies. This one… had very little. I was looking for a dresser and they only had one very old and unattractive dresser and they wanted $100 for it. They had no outdoor materials or furniture at all. They hardly had anything besides doors and couches. Maybe i was just spoiled with the ones down south but darn, this one was terrible.

DO NOT DONATE OR USE RESUPPLY SERVICES. It sounds good. You want to help someone give good reusable pieces of furniture. You start off getting a reasonable estimate. Because you've already uploaded your photos. Then, the actual mover shows up, and he triples the quote. A better bet is to just call vets move junk. Unfortunately the way they move the items, they end up damaged even if they were in perfect condition. Their truck is not large enough. And the young men they employ are definitely not furniture movers. They scratch the walls, even though we removed doors. Their Dolly scratched the wooden floors. I think they created more damage in an hour and a half then we did living here as renters, over twenty years.

Restore used to have interesting collections of picture frames and furniture. The last few times we were there, the selections were very limited. The quality of the pieces weren't as good. The prices for many items are almost like new products. I understand the store sells items that had been donated to Habitat for Humanity. All I can say is that the donations in the last few years have not been as good as before.