This is worse than service being dead

[Mr._johngalt]

The March '05 issue of Consumer Reports rates dishwashers.

Top rated is Bosch SHU66CO  $880
Best buy is Kenmore 1603 $520

Repair survey of 122,000 dishwashers shows most reliable as:

Whirlpool
Kenmore
Hotpoint

Least reliable is Asko, followed by Bosch Kitcheaid.

Our dishwasher (that would be me) is very reliable. Only problem
is the dishes pile up in the sink until there is no longer room
to prepare meals and etc. I then tell DW that soon the
"dish fairy" will come and then when she gets home from work all will be
squeaky clean.

JG

 

[gratefuled]

I don't even shop at Home Depot anymore and I can't imagine what it's like buying a major appliance from them.

I quit patronizing HD when I realized every single store visit was wretched and joyless.

-It's damn near impossible to find what you want; the store layouts aren't standardized enough.
-They've been dumbing down the staff...it's seldom that you'll find a trade-experienced person.
-They've been decreasing the staff-to-customer ratio.
-"Straight Lumber" is an oxymoron at HD. I got tired of sorting through racks and racks and racks of lumber.
-Their new register/accounting system is TERRIBLE. I was regularly in the checkout line for fifteen minutes, watching a gaggle of cashiers and managers try to sort out pricing discrepancies, software malfunctions, etc.
-They push Ryobi tools.
-They make you wait in another line on the way out so a numbwit rental security guard can eyeball your recepit, punch a hole in it, and wave you out.
-They spam the crap out of my mailbox.

I could wax on and on. You get the idea.

Ed

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I had a lot of the same experiences Ed, unfortunately the place is about 1/4 mile from my house and I have to drive right by it to get to another hardware store. You're right, their lumber is lousy...when I built a fence last year I had to climb up on the pile of 4x4 posts to get the ones that werent smashed and splintered that they stack in the front. "Here, take our crappy throw-away lumber!"

Prior to this extravaganza, what was going to push me out of the store was their new policy of closing all the registers except for the self-checkouts.

I dont mind the self checkouts...I can work the register with no problems. But when they close all the regular ones, you end up with 10 people in line at the self checkouts behind a bunch of people who dont know how, or want to know how, to work their own checkout.

I guess thats one way to solve the 'union problem' of high wages and benefits...eliminate all the people.

 

[laurence]

Ah yes! At first I loved the self checkouts, zip right through while everyone else waited in line. But now the masses are trying to do it, and somehow the system mystifies them. "waddya mean press any key to continue? Where's the any key!!!" . Ironically, I now zip out by going to the traditional register while they all struggle to check themselves out. Home Depot was the only game in town, but now Lowe's is right across the street, so competition has made both stores better.

 

[gratefuled]

Oh, and one more thing about HD. It's a scenario I've been through a hundred times.

I'm one item away from freedom and the kid in the orange vest holds up his hand to stop me from rounding the corner.

Kid: "Sorry, sir, we're shutting this aisle down."
Forklift: "BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!"
Me: "Look, man, all I need's a [left-handed pipe stretcher]. Can't you wait until I grab one? It's right there, I see it."
Kid: "No, sorry, can't let you down the aisle."
Forklift: "BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!"
Me: "Can you get it for me?"
Kid: "No, sorry, I can't leave my station."
Forklift: "BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!"
Me: "Oh, come on, man, I've been in here for an hour. How much longer?"
Kid: "Maybe ten minutes?"
Forklift: "BEEP! BEEP! GRONK-KKK-SPTZZ!"
Forlklift Operator: "Ah, hell!"
Kid (looking over his shoulder at the smoking forklift): "Make that a half-hour."
Me: "Good luck with that ESOP, kid."

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Ok, I guess this calls for my favorite home depot story.

They put those "maytag skyboxes" on sale for basically half price by the time all was said and done. Its basically a personal vending machine, you can put cans and bottles in there, holds about 3 cases worth, push a button, get a beer or soda. We go through a LOT of drinks in the warmer months, which around here is February through late January

So they have this huge sale item, its on the front page of their flyer. I stop in to get one.

They look and look and look and look. Oh wait...heres some in the stores 'front lock up cage'. But they're all the way in the back, someone put about 10 refrigerators in the middle of the cage aisle so they all have to be removed before we can even walk back there, and of course someone put all of them with the side that says what color they are all facing the wall. Half an hour later, we discover they're all silver instead of the black I'm buying.

They look and look and look. Oh wait, here are some more on the top shelf of the back wall behind a bunch of other boxes of stuff. With the side that says whats in them facing the wall.

They close half the aisles so Ed has to keep waiting for his tools. 25 minutes later they discover that none of them is the skybox but rather the overpriced stand they try to sell you. But wait...over there on the next shelf! Theres one! And its black!

Then you have to take it to the pro register to check it out (too big to go through a regular checkout) which is on the opposite corner of the store...but wait...before you leave you have to take it to 'special services' to sign a document that says you've received it. Special services is on the opposite corner of the store. Cant they bring the paperwork here rather than lugging this 150lb refrigeration unit way over there...because my car is RIGHT OVER THERE as I thought I was being smart to park near the checkout exit. Nope. That box pretty much circumnavigated the store twice and it took an hour and a half total from leaving my car to loading the skybox. For a front-page sale item on fire sale. You'd have thought they'd pull those down and have them ready as word has it they sold out of them in the first day of the sale.

Then theres the time they had a huge sale on a really nice stainless steel grill but decided not to build any of them in advance until someone bought them. Then they didnt have enough people working during the week so they couldnt build them until the weekend. Then they were offering if you trade in an old gas bottle you get a new filled one, except the guy who can decide if your old cylinder is acceptable doesnt work on weekends.

Heck, maybe you better line up at your broker to sell your home depot stock right after you're done dumping your GE stock...

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I cant believe I managed to get all of that out in a *single* post without having to follow it up with a second one!

 

[laurence]

I just bought a stainless steel grill from home depot, Charbroil "Performance" series. I love this grill! 4 burners, 48,000 btu, side burner, and it was only $259. Costco's equivalent is $400. The key for me was the grilling surface, huge cast iron grills with porcelain coating. Was their loss leader. Pretty much the only thing I buy there now.

 

[gratefuled]

I have had that very conversation with my broker. "We should short [Left-Handed Smoke Stretchers, Inc.] because the company is neck-deep in fools."

And it's always a lousy sell signal. Customer service and stock price seem to be uncorrelated in the American economy these days.

Ed

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Sure. The thing is most people are too busy or too dumb to care about it. Maybe most people expect crappy service, for things to take forever, and for everything to be screwed up.

At the end of the day, 90% of what we're complaining about translates to cheap labor, cheap management, and cheap policies (like not stocking anything). Combine those and you get no customer service, no foresight, no planning, but great end of quarter numbers.