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Decrease in Home Depot Customer Service

Discussion in 'Homeowners Corner' started by Carol Al-Ajroush, Aug 29, 2004.

  1. Carol Al-Ajroush

    Carol Al-Ajroush New Member

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    Has anyone else noticed a decrease in Home Depot's customer service recently? My husband and I noticed that within the past 6 weeks there has been a steady downfall of service. For example, yesterday we went to swap out our propane tank and had to wait 20 minutes before someone came to assist. Last week my husband said that he asked 3 different individuals to assist him in locating some products and he left feeling like the staff simply did not want to bothered. He's also had a few other similar experiences.

    We left Home Depot's and went to Loew's and by comparison we had all of our questions answered patiently and competently by one of the staff.

    We've decided that if we need something fast and know exactly what to get, we'd probably go to Home Depot for the convenience to our home but on any other home issues, we now favor going to Loew's.
     
  2. T8erman

    T8erman Well-Known Member

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    I have a good friend who works there and they are having serious problems hiring/keeping employees. He said alot of perspective hires balk when it comes to taking a drug test.
     
  3. Wick

    Wick New Member

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    Unemployment is low in the county. Home Depot is probably having trouble competing for competent employees.
     
  4. vacliff

    vacliff "You shouldn't say that."

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    I think Home Depot did what a lot of the major chains do. When they first open, they bring in a lot of experienced employees from other stores to get things up and running. The problem occurs when they return to their home stores and we are left with an inexperienced, understaffed store.
     
  5. MD_boy

    MD_boy New Member

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    It's been like that more than 6 weeks. I began hating that store almost a year ago. They usually only have one cashier working. The staff is indifferent, un knowledgeable and not helpful at all. Last time I did a tank swap it took about 30 minutes. After waiting 20 minutes I found the manager. He at first tried to ignore me. I chased him down and asked if he could get the tank for me. He stated "Just look for someone out front". Finally the cashier came out and opened the cage. She had to abandon 6 people who were waiting in line since she was the only one on duty. What a joke that place is.
     
  6. boomertsfx

    boomertsfx Booyakasha!

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    Our home depot sucks, unfortunately (don't carry as much, or no stock on some stuff).... I stick to Lowes (preferref) and the Cascades HD if neccesary.
     
  7. Carol Al-Ajroush

    Carol Al-Ajroush New Member

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    I went to HD's web site and did send a message to their corporate customer service about our experiences. It'll be interesting to see whether I receive a response.

    However, my husband did try the HD in Leesburg yesterday since we needed sod and most places around here were out. He said the difference between the HD's was night and day. As he was walking down an aisle with his cart, someone actually came to him and wanted to know if he needed assistance. He said overall it was a very pleasant experience at the Leesburg store and reminded him of what we initially had vis-a-vis service here in Ashburn.
     
  8. hornerjo

    hornerjo Senior Member

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    I've had the opposite at Home Depot, CS has been pretty good. Bought a pressure washer a few weeks ago, HDs website had it listed for about $30-40 cheaper than in-store. Manager just had me print out a copy of the online price and bring it in. Clerk verified it with the manager, and rang it up without a problem.

    Had a few keys made a couple months ago. They did one set wrong, went back and they fixed it in a couple minutes fo waiting.

    Beyond that, I've found that it takes forever to get a propane tank exchanged anywhere. Food Lion, believe it or not, has been the fastest yet.

    ---------------
    Got Broadband?
     
  9. Dwarflord

    Dwarflord New Member

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    I also find that lowes has better pricing and more selection than our HD. I agree, if im in a rush and only need 1 or 2 things, Ill go to HD. But if I need a lot of something or something specific, Ill go to lowes. I just hate gettin in and out of that lowes parking lot....what a joke!

    DwArFlOrD
     
  10. brim

    brim Member

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    Don't go to HD if you're in a hurry. :)
     
  11. mdcrim

    mdcrim Member

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    I walked out of Home Depot a week and a half ago, WITHOUT my purchase. I had parked and come in the garden area. Finally found what I was looking for (large deck box). Put it in a cart and went to check out. In the meantime they had closed off the garden register. So I had to meander my way (with large deck box) all the way to the other end of the store. 2 registers open, 6-7 people in each line. I decided that the deck box wasn't that important and left. Even if I had bought it, I still would have had to hike it all the way back across the parking lot to get to my car. Not worth the hassle if you ask me. Oh, and since Safeway also has it's own situation going on, I ended up getting a better looking deck box there for $30 less.
     
  12. Carol Al-Ajroush

    Carol Al-Ajroush New Member

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    I wonder if we bought the same deck box? We were pleasantly surprised to see this nice wooden deck box at Safeway and reasonably priced as well ( I think it was around $50).

    Funny...one of our poor experiences with HD was in the garden department. My husband is not an American and not as familar with some of the deck decorations that we have here. He was intrigued by the tiki torches but did not understand how they worked. I was not with him during this visit so he (finally) found a sales person to ask them about the oil and upkeep of them...the sales person was very flippant and made fun that he did not know what they were and actually laughed and walked off. Needless to say, although my husband had some other purchases in his cart, he walked out after that.

     
  13. Dutchml

    Dutchml Member

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    That's been Home Depot's modus operandi from day one. It's how they ran Hechinger and every other Mom and Pop hardware store out of business- by putting in all the experts in their stores to draw the business away from the little guys. When all the other hardware stores were gone, so were HD's "experts".
     
  14. SK8R

    SK8R On the Clover Meadow

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    Actually, I think this is just One Bad Home Depot.
    I have been several times to the Home Depot in Leesburg. It is nothing like this one. Everyone is friendly and helpful.
    I always leave happy.
    The Home Depot in Sterling is sporatic in customer service. I don't go there much.
    Lowes is fairly consistant. I was there last week and waited in line f.o.r.e.v.e.r. They only had one checker open. It was just plain awful.
    This Home Depot, however, I have not had a good experience there... lately (past 6 months or so).

    They pay minimum wage at these places and it isn't a great job if you don't have enough staff behind you.
    My daughter had a cushy, far better paying summer job working for a bunch of eye doctors. She would have never considered working at Home Depot. My other daughter babysat all summer making $8-10/hour... beats Home Depot.
     
  15. Carol Al-Ajroush

    Carol Al-Ajroush New Member

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    I have heard that HD starting pay is about $12/hour whereas Lowe's is several dollars more per hour. Hence why Lowe's overall may have better customer service. Don't know about Lowe's but HD at least requires sporadic drug tests.

    I wonder if the frustrations with HD customer service are solely with individual consumers like ourselves or if any of the builders and other contractors have similar issues?
     
  16. Wick

    Wick New Member

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    Can't disagree with anything that's been said.

    However, my mindset is to use the Ashburn HD anyway. I would like local businesses to succeed and will generally give my business to Ashburn businesses even if there is a similar store in a different town that may be better. Personally, I would hate to the Ashburn HD shut down. I think it would reflect poorly on the Ashburn area and have greater ramifications than me having to wait an extra 10 minutes in line on a Saturday afternoon. But, that's just me.
     
  17. Zansu

    Zansu New Member

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    We've had some trouble with Lowes as well. We spent almost 2 hours in there trying to order a new front door (the one Van Metre put in has leaked for the 5 years we've been in the house). I finally went to the front desk asked for the manager and rapidly got response. He also recognized me the next time I was in there and asked how the service was.

    I will say, however, that it was not unwillingness or ineptitude on the part of the staff, just too much work and not enough staff to handle it (BTW, this was mid-morning on a week day, not prime time).
     
  18. Carol Al-Ajroush

    Carol Al-Ajroush New Member

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    I also would not want the HD here to shut down. I started this thread just to determine if what my spouse and I have experienced were isolated incidents or not. However, in an efforts towards improving the service of HD, I've made our dissatisfaction known to the management. If and when we see noteable improvements, we will also be sure to be the first to give credit where it's due too.

    Hopefully others who are experiencing the unsatisfactory service at HD will do the same so we can get the kind of service that should come naturally to return sooner!

     
  19. boomertsfx

    boomertsfx Booyakasha!

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    I'm complaining straight to Tony Stewart! He'll get things done!
     
  20. wahoogeek

    wahoogeek New Member

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    I gotta say that as a new home owner which means that I visit HD or Lowes daily that the HD has done better in customer service. More than once I have Lowes associates answer "I dunno, this is not my department..." HD folks have generally gone the extra step to make sure I've found what I need. Then again, I have not been there during Saturday rush hours.

    Just tonight I guy in HD lumber helped me find and then cut some lumber and then he marked it all as scrap for a grand total of 51 cents.
     

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