Cranky Customer

My in-laws were painting their den and custom ordered 2 cans of a specific color from Home Depot. The first can went on fine, but the second can did not match. My father-in-law returned and they mixed a new can for him, based on remnants from the first can. It didn't match either so he went back a second time. At first the paint guy refused saying it was policy to only adjust color one time once it left the store. My f-i-l held his ground though, and insisted they call the manger. The manager agreed to mix a new can but said this would be the last one because it was his (my f-i-l) fault the color wasn't coming out right to begin with. How could it be his fault?!? They mixed the paint themselves based on color swatches from their display! Because they wouldn't refund his money, my f-i-l took the paint and luckily it matched, but he fired off several emails and tried to call Atlanta. He never got any repsonse.

I've had all the normal problems that everyone has had with Home Depot. It's actually a tired joke with anyone I talk to about how unknowledgable and hard to find 90% of their staff is.

The capper for me was when I went in to get refill blades for a manual grout scraper. They carried the scraper, but no replacement blades could be seen by me. I am pretty darn sure that no blades will ever be found, but I wanted someone to acknowledge to me the stupidity of such a lapse in inventory by the store that "has everything you need." No employee could be found within 10 aisles.

I went to the "service information desk" and asked for help. They paged. Five minutes ... nobody. Return to the desk, page again. Ten minutes ... nobody. I ask for the manager and am directed to a guy standing a few feet away engaged in conversation with someone who appears to be neither a customer nor employee. I walk up and stand in his field of vision a few feet away while he continues a conversation about his kids and his vacations. It's VERY obvious that I'm there and that I'm not happy and that I want to talk to him. Nothing... for another five minutes.

So, back to the service information desk I go, to inform them in a voice sure to be overheard by anyone within thirty feet of all of what they have not done for me. As I am walking out the manager catches up to me, plaintively inquiring about my problem. I respond, firmly and bluntly, outlining the litany of customer service transgressions I have incurred in the last half hour. He offers to personally help me then and there.

I inform him that Home Depot had a total of five times in the last half hour in which they could have been of service to me and blew each one. At that point it was waaaay too late.

Having worked as a retail store manager for two other chains (though thankfully out of retail now), I can tell you that Home Depot will likely solve most problems if you follow my advice.

When you are encountering a problem that is not being properly taken care of by an associate, promptly ask for the store manager (or the manager on duty).

Explain the problem without emotion or threats in non-abusive terms, along with your desired solution. Unless you are a convicted shoplifter, you will probably get your way.

If the solution isn't satisfactory, ask for the district manager's contact info (it's frequently posted at the service desk). Believe me, few store managers want to hear about customer problems from their bosses.

If that doesn't work, contact the regional office (again that information should be readily accessible), then the home office.

My bet is that most problems will rarely get past the district manager. If so, either the company is inept, or the complaint is spurious.

Most of these megastore places get my ire up on occasion, but I do like to tell the story of the Home Depot employee that refused to let me buy a water heater.

A few months ago, our water heater began failing. I had replaced a few gas heaters, and figured I knew what was needed. Overconfidence is something that is not new to me. Not only that, my dad-in-law, who has remodeled, bought and sold more houses than anyone I know, came with me to help load the water heater in my vehicle.

We go to the nearby HD store and find the water heater aisle. There's only a couple of gas heaters there, and while we're standing around jawing about which one to get, a store employee comes up to ask if we need help.

I've done a lot of remodels in my last two houses, including building a giant deck, so I know it's a rare day when a Home Depot person initiates contact. I tell him what I have, including the fact that the vent is different than a "standard" heater. I note that they only have one direct vent model, and there's only one box. I start loading it onto our cart, with my 70 year old dad-in-law assisting (he's a tough ol' coot) and the HD guy tells us...

Wait for it...

"No, I can't let you take this water heater. It's $800 and if you don't have the measurements right, you'll unpack it and try to make it work and then end up paying a LOT more money to get the venting done right. You MUST have the measurements. I can't let you buy this."

Then he helps us take it off the cart, gives us the name and number of a plumber friend, and says that direct vent water heaters have to be installed by a licensed person.

"Hmm" my pa-in-law and I say to each other. "Sure seems like a scam."

We return home, make some measurements, and decide that the HD guy is scamming us and go to the nearest Lowe's store. Now I must admit -- I have never ever found what I needed when I've gone to this Lowe's. They have a knack for having a bazillion square feet of exactly what I don't need or want. But I was willing to give 'em a try, because hey, maybe they don't have a bro-in-law plumber like the HD folks, ya know?

So my favorite father-in-law and I get to the Lowe's water heater aisle and quickly notice there are no direct-vent heaters. We track down a "sales associate" who has no idea what we're talking about, and to be honest, they escalate our question about a direct vent system to just about everyone in the store. Finally they find someone who actually knows what we're describing, who informs us that the direct vent system will have to be special ordered, because "no one ever gets those and I know because if they did, we'd have them."

That's our cue to sidle to the door. Both of us don't even need to confer. This Lowe's is bad water heater juju.

"What the heck," I say. "Let's see if that heater at the HD matches," and off we go.

We sneak into the water heater aisle, watching for the hyper-alert non-selling HD guy, but he must be on break. We check the specs, and they're within a half inch of what I already have. Being the risk taking type, I decide we'll go for it and out the door we head, peering furtively over our shoulders in case the hulking HD associate should see us making our way to the cashier with a giant box full of direct vent water heater.

Scads of credit later, we're out the door, loading the heater into the ultimate utility vehicle, a 1990 Saab 900 hatchback.

We had some close calls on the install, where I had to use tin snips once, but ended up with the water heater needed, and months later is still working fine.

So it's a mixed review. The guy who didn't want to let us buy the heater at first knew that it was a tricky install -- he had that right. And he didn't sell HD installation. He DID know what he was talking about. Fortunately we were able to make the thing work. It would've been a big problem. No, a HUGE problem, if the $800 heater that we unboxed and unpacked wouldn't have worked. Fortunately it did. And it proved, for our area (north Seattle) that the Home Depot folks have the edge in the knowledge dept. over the Lowe's Joes.

My husband & I adopt many rescued animals. Among these were two four month old Belgian foals. We became very emotionally attached to them, as most people do, and considered them family members. Summers in the midwest get pretty hot and require some relief for outside animals, so we installed big fans in the barn for the horses. We bought these fans at Home Depot (the only place that sells them). Last summer we turned on the fans, one shorted out and electrocuted and killed both horses instantly. After inspection of the situation we determined the fans were improperly constructed with absolutely no insulation (rubber grommets) between the motor and fan cage. We went to visit our local HD to look at the fans they had for sale currently. Sure enough, they were selling the same fans - still being manufactured without insulation. Upon inquiring about who manufactured the fans, so we could contact them, we were told the fans were made by various companies, but sent out with HD's own label on them. We asked to speak to the manager on duty and were met by a 20 something kid. We shared our story with him and told him these fans were a serious risk to anyone who used them. His reaction was simply "You are the only ones to ever have this problem. Have a nice day." We were then quickly ushered to the exit door. While waiting the usual 20 minutes or so to get to talk to the manager, I was able to get a phone number for the distribution company of the fans from the employee at the information desk. I immediately called that company and was told the EXACT same thing.... "You are the only ones to have this problem. Have a nice day. CLICK" We don't shop at HD anymore because of their attitude and that of their suppliers as well.

I will never go to Home Depot if my life depended on it. The last time I went I was in search for a tire for my riding lawn mower. The lawn and garden center had no one in sight. I asked for someone to be paged to the area. I waited for 20 minutes and 2 pages for a sales associate to finally arrive and walk right past me while saying "excuse me" to help someone who just came over to the department. She got through with that customer so I approached her and said "excuse me" again and the sales associate walked right past me into another department. By that time I was fed up and left. I haven't stepped foot into a Home Depot since.

Find a local hardware store and stick with them. A little more expensive? Yes, but most hardware stores are family owned and everyone working there knows exactly what they are talking about. Another benefit is once they get to know you, they will bend over backwards to help you, even give you a heads up on upcoming sales or bless their hearts, just give you a preferred customer discount. If my hardware store doesn't have it, they order it, or know exactly where I can get it and how much it will cost me (Ed has made many phone calls for me over the years). I personally will never set foot in a Home Depot ever again. Aside from all the other problems people have posted, try checking out on a weekend when only two cashiers are working.

I've frequented Home Depot stores throughout the years for various projects. I recently purchased a beautiful piece of unfinished furniture and was preparing to finish it.

I went to home depot and found an employee at their station in the paint and stain section. I asked him which stain would be best for a piece of unfinished furniture. He shrugged and said, "Dunno. You could try that one. It looks like it would work." I asked he had used it before he said "nope." I asked him if he knew what else i might need. He said that he doesn't do that sort of thing and walked off.

Frustrated I bought the item he had suggested. I realized that I still didn't have the information I needed. I went to the locally owned store and found someone who admitted that he did not know about the stain I had purchased but that he regularly worked with wood and could suggest several cheaper and highly effective products. He also let me know all of the items that I would need to complete my project and even wrote down instructions for me on how to do it.

While I did not expect Home Depot employees to have been experienced woodworkers, I do expect a decent level of customer service. If you don't know the answer, make an effort to find it. I think it's sad that a company that makes its money on DIY'ers and offering classes for us to take, that their employees don't know squat about their products and for the most part have a general lack of interest.

Steer clear of Home Depot. My husband and I took out a $30,000 line of credit with them to redo our house. We started by getting estimate for hardwood flooring. Home Depot swore to us they would stick to the estimate. Their installer came out to measure, and suddenly, the cost was 150% more than the estimate. Guess what? They wouldn't stick to the estimate. They wouldn't even come within 50% of their estimate. Then they didn't want to cancel the line of credit. I've switched to Lowes, which, while not perfect, seems a whole lot better.

Home Depot stories... I selected Jeld-Wen flush fin vinyl windows for a remodel. I ordered one window to make sure it would work well and so I would not have some nasty surprise that would cost me if I ordered all 7 windows I at once.

First window fine. So ordered the remaining 6 windows, waited the two weeks, rented the truck to pick them up and the roll all 6 windows out on a single cart stacked vertically. My heart sank. I could see they had no sort of protection, no edge protection and that the bottom flush fin had been dragged across the floor and dragged onto the cart. These windows were going in on the second floor and the bottom edge was highly visible. I rejected them and informed the special services person that this was just not the way flush fin windows should be treated, he agreed and said he would re-order them an ensure they were shipped correctly.

Next day I get a phone call from the Home Depot store informing me that they had called Jeld-Wen and that Jeld-Wen said they would not change their shipping practices and that they never ship the windows with any sort of protection. Home Depot said they would not re-order my windows and they had canceled my order. My only option would be to accept the damaged windows or pay for another line (more expensive) that would ship protected.

So a vendor ships a special order in a manner that damages the product? I find that very hard to believe. I believe Home Depot is not treating received products with adequate care and expects consumes to put-up or shut-up. If the vendor is indeed being that difficult surely Home Depot's distribution clout would be able to effect some sort of accommodation!

Now I have one installed window that shipped undamaged, and six windows that need replacing-- but I can't get the windows that match unless I accept the damaged merchandise. Ever get the feeling customer service is non existent?