Scott Burns burns Home Depot

[REWahoo]

Scott Burns takes Home Depot to the woodshed in his latest column.

"...One of my friends started to seethe when I mentioned Home Depot. He’ll buy things almost anywhere, except Home Depot. He hates having his time abused.

And that’s what Home Depot does by short-staffing. It abuses our time. We can’t get the help we need and we can’t make our purchases quickly. The result is that a once iconic, wonderfully American store has become an aggravation rather than a blessing."

 

[Cut-Throat]

If he wants to see bad, he should go to a store called Menards. - It might be a Minnesota store.

But - you'll never find anyone to help you

 

[bright eyed]

i agree...

i went there once to buy one simple item, which of course is like a needle in a haystack and it took almost an hour for one associate to help me because there were like 5 of us following him around waiting for our turn. good way to piss of a 7 month pregnant lady! i was not happy!

they have gone down down hill...the big question mark commercials from their competitors (loews?) really say it all...it is sad of they have let it get that bad...

 

[bssc]

When I lived in Washington, there was a chain like this called Hechingers. Needless to say, they are out of business.

 

[Khan]

Scott Burns takes Home Depot to the woodshed in his latest column.

"...One of my friends started to seethe when I mentioned Home Depot. He’ll buy things almost anywhere, except Home Depot. He hates having his time abused.

And that’s what Home Depot does by short-staffing. It abuses our time. We can’t get the help we need and we can’t make our purchases quickly. The result is that a once iconic, wonderfully American store has become an aggravation rather than a blessing."

And the CEO left with 213 million as a reward.

 

[samclem]

I guess we're lucky--the HD near us is still okay as far as the number of folks they have. Unfortunately, most of them know very little. Things do seem better at Lowes--the guys in the elctrical department and in plumbing actually know the applicable bulding codes and what is legal/smart. That's worth a lot to me. From my little view (4 stores--2 of each) Lowes is apparently still doing what both chains used to do--hire and keep former professionals from the trades who have left their former line of work. HD is hiring people off the street.

 

[Corporateburnout]

Their installation department is just as bad. It took a couple of months to get their vinyl windows installer to come back for minor repairs.

A local TV station had an investigative report about the shoddy work their contractors are doing and that a large number of customers have filed formal complaints with the Better Business Bureau.

 

[mickeyd]

I have roamed the isles of HD many times and the "orange vested" folks are useless. With this response to this Q: " Where can I find hammers?" Orange vested guy: " I don't know, man, I'm only part-time here and this is not my department. I'm in Plumbing."

I'm now a fan of Lowes. But if HD gets better, I can be won back.

 

[unclemick]

Here - it seems(so far) the best is Menard's, then Lowes and Home Depot are close. Being INTJ and male I try to research before I get there - and sad to say take it back when it doesn't work THEN ASK! Now if it is electrical/plumbing and I can admit - I dunno - from the get go - I go to a popular Ace recommended to me.

heh heh heh

 

[maddythebeagle]

I have actually had good experiences with home depot....the hq for menards is just down the road in Eau Claire, WI....John Menards is one of the few Wisconsin billionaires....we affectionately call it the local chinese hardware store....Lowes and HD by far have higher quality stuff....

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

The home depot here is worthless. Large swaths of unstocked areas. Half the stuff is in the wrong place or the wrong boxes. Junky broken stuff everywhere. You have to dig about 3' deep into the wood to find a piece that isnt cracked, broken off or warped (HELLO? NOBODY IS GOING TO BUY THIS CRAPPY WOOD...THROW IT OUT! Oh wait...when someone has you pack and deliver an order you give THEM the crappy wood).

I had a delivery on my wifes old house. Gave me all the crap wood nobody will buy, the wrong water heater (propane instead of NG), white paint instead of the buckets of pre-mixed that I specifically had the paint people take to the contractor desk for the delivery, and several items missing.

But they made it right for me when I exchanged the water heater. The door doohickey beeped at me when I was walking out with the correct heater, but the pro-desk guy just waved me on out. When I got to my car at the opposite end of the parking lot, in 110 degree direct sun, I was apprehended by some lady that claimed to be an assistant manager. She insisted I take the heater out of my car, put it back on the cart, and bring it back into the store so she could 'properly' scan it from their system. When I said "No @#$^%#$ing way!" she threatened to call the cops on me.

Bunch of buttheads.

Oh yeah, and they use evaporative coolers instead of air conditioning like Lowes does. Nothing like a nice damp, warm store in the middle of the summer.

A week before Lowes opens up, they put up a big sign with a huge photo of the manager with the message "Call me at x123 from any phone in the store if you have ANY problems!".

They got hit with a bunch of problems. Underhiring, underpaying the underhired, and the building boom pulling anyone that knew jack from the store to work as a contractor building homes.

Now that the damage is done, it'll take them years to rebuild customer loyalty.

However....if they add a beer aisle, I'll reconsider. Why home improvement stores dont stock beer is beyond me.

 

[JohnEyles]

We have Lowe's and HomeDepot virtually across the street from each
other, and I ALWAYS go to Lowe's.

 

[bssc]

One of my friend's stepfathers used to be a mediocre auto mechanic. He now works at Home Depot's. On the other hand, they sold us a Andersen sliding glass door with a 30 installation fee. The guy said that it should have been much more but the computer brought up 30 dollars.

 

[Goonie]

Our local HD is pretty good, and the folks working there (that I've dealt with) have been fairly knowledgeable. And they seem to be all over the place....I've yet to have to go look for a worker, they always come up to the customer and ask if you need any help with anything. The Menards across the road from them is awful! The people know virtually nothing, nor do they have any clue where anything is located in the store. Of course that is probably due to the high turn-over rate...they are constantly losing employees to HD. And the dimensional lumber at Menards is terrible quality....it would be fine if you wanted to build a pre-weathered run-down shack!

At HD they are helpful and know where stuff is....or they will find the person who does know! The building materials I've bought there have been pretty good, too. And they have a very nice garden center with a good selection of nice plants, trees, and shrubs....and the workers out there have some knowledge about their products.

I'd really like to see a Lowes come in around here....nearest one is over 40 miles away.

 

[Telly]

The home depot here is worthless. Large swaths of unstocked areas. Half the stuff is in the wrong place or the wrong boxes. Junky broken stuff everywhere. You have to dig about 3' deep into the wood to find a piece that isnt cracked, broken off or warped (HELLO? NOBODY IS GOING TO BUY THIS CRAPPY WOOD...THROW IT OUT! Oh wait...when someone has you pack and deliver an order you give THEM the crappy wood).........

ALL the HD's I go to are like that now. If I'm looking for lumber, I've got a major digging and sorting job... if I'm lucky. Their handling and storing of pallets of lumber is poor too. They are putting warp into whole pallets full by having them sit uneven outside, then when they get rained on the lumber relaxes and follows the curve. Of course, PT lumber is soaking wet from the pressure tanks of the treater, so any uneven storing of those puts a nice bend in them too.

I never really needed people in HD to tell me where things were, or how to use them. I trust my own knowledge and abilities more than theirs. However, if I need someone to cut and price something, I can't find anybody. I've walked from one end of the store to the other, and didn't see anyone down any aisle! I go to the front, some poor woman gets on the phone and PA to try to get the person supposedly covering that area, nobody answers. Sometimes I've personally collared the store Manager, if I could find him/her, to help me personally. Of course they tell me that xxxx is covering that area, but then they themselves can't find anybody! It's like there is a big crap game going on out behind the loading docks or something.

I regularly push their tall stairs around and help myself on upper rack levels. Sometimes somebody finally comes up and says "sir, I can't let you do that", to which I say, "oh, uh, really?" as I finish up getting what I located and got on my frickin' own!

Like their "lot loaders" too, who don't help until you just finish loading the truck yourself, then they come over and say " Can I help you?"

I know one guy who works at a HD. He is very good, and is always running around when I do see him. He always looks very frazzled. Often he seems to be the only one around.

 

[riskadverse]

I use HD and LOW. Both have serious customer service problems. HD seems to have better prices, so I frequent them more. I think these stores, like Wall Mart just reflect what the majority of Americans want - I guess that includes me too.

 

[VoyT]

Couple of years ago, DH came home seething after a trip to HD. Took 20 minutes to find someone to help him, he said, and the person who finally showed up was worse than useless. He complained to the manager, whose attitude, he says, was "Yeah, what do you want me to do about it.?"
DH fired off a letter to HD, never got a reply. So now we go to Lowe's or Menards.

I will say one thing for HD, when they opened the store in my neighborhood, it shocked the Menards next door into beefing up its inventory and service....

 

[Khan]

In my neighborhood, HD has a decent staff and Lowes has no discernible employees; but then I haven't been to either in more than a year.

This week I got a mass mailing about a Menards opening locally.

My first choice is always the ACE local (1 mile away); the employees know what they are doing and are very helpful (very good when my arm or back was out of whack).