Home Depot's Public Relations Backfire
by Randy Cassingham
A lot of public relations professionals are just that -- professional. Sometimes, though, an inept practititioner -- a "flack" as they're often known -- tries to intervene and ends up doing more harm than good.
In my column This is True, which reports on strange-but-true articles from newspapers (with a usually funny "tagline" added on after the story, as a comment), I wrote this item about a criminal's attempt to steal from Home Depot. It was in the 30 April 2000 issue:
Do It YourselfPolice in Albuquerque, N.M., say Edward Hall, 50, stole a utility trailer from a Home Depot store by hitching it to the back of his pickup truck and driving away. A few miles from the store, it came loose and crashed beside the road, so he went back to the store and stole a second one. The second also came loose and crashed just 75 yards from the first. As a Bernalillo County Sheriff's deputy investigated the crashes, Hall clipped the deputy's parked patrol car with, yes, a third trailer as he drove by. A chase ensued as Hall tried to get away -- at a mere 25 mph, "probably because he knows the trailers, at high speeds, don't stay on very well," a detective said. Hall was charged with possession of burglary tools, three counts of unlawful taking a motor vehicle, and leaving the scene of an accident. (AP) ...However, he's been signed to do a series of Home Depot commercials with their new slogan, "Take it From Us!"
Now any dolt can see where the story ends and the smart-assed comment begins, right?
Well, Home Depot's flack couldn't. A few days after the story went out in True's free online feed, I found the following message on my voice mail:
Yeah, this is Don, Home Depot's public relations manager. Randy, you did a piece about a guy who stole not one, not two, but three trailers from our Albuquerque, New Mexico, store before he got caught. All of that is true. The last line, however, in your story, however, "He's been signed to do a series of Home Depot commercials with the new slogan, 'Take it from us!'", uh, that's very humorous, Randy, but this is FALSE! You lost some credibility with me, big guy! < click >
Notice he didn't leave his phone number for me to call him back. Which just goes to show: when it comes to Home Depot, you can never find anyone who knows anything to help you.
>:-(
Randy Cassingham is the publisher of This is True and the Mug Shot Museum -- and is the founder of Cranky Customer.
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Comments
Here is one of the few time that I must disagree with you Randy. I have had great luck with finding Home Depot people who know how and are willing to offer good advice. One of their plumbing aisle workers named Nathan guided me with tremendous patience in doing all of the plumbing for a full kitchen remodel. As far the gent stealing the trailers, I have to wonder if he was using a 1-7/8 inch ball to steal trailers with 2 inch sockets. Just a thought. If your balls aren't big enough its hard to be a successful thief.
Posted by: Jack Waters | February 7, 2006 8:44 AM
The people who work for Home Depot are the most USELESS wastes of space ever produced.... I often wondered if they lobotomized their staff to remove the "customer empathy" portions of their brains before turning them loose on the sales floor (that is, before I stopped going there). Your story is a perfect example!
Posted by: Monique Wilson | February 10, 2006 10:41 PM
This is the same Home Depot chain that recently got a lot of publicity when its Metheun store security banned a regular customer from the store for life and threatened to file Civil Charges.
Seems the guy (a contractor) borrowed one of those carpenter pencils emblazoned with the store name & logo to jot down some calcs when purchasing lumber, and put it in his pocket when done. Then proceeded to buy $100+ worth of lumber, pay for it, and walk out of the store, only to be stopped in the parking lot by store security.
Maybe this PR guy ought to be training his security staff, rather than spending his time reading your website (not that it's not entertaining!).
Posted by: Tim Bonham | February 10, 2006 11:32 PM