Home Depot complaint number

And the script they are reading is most likely being read from India....

My daughter works for Lowes...complaining to corporate is essentially useless but I have found that being insistant on seeing the store's general manager (check the name tag and expect it only during normal bank hours) usually gets some result. DON'T speak with a department manager unless you have no choice...they are only one step above burger flipper and their job focus is often to keep their job by hiding problems rather than dealing with them. They also sometimes have a position called "zone manager" which is about the same as department manager.

From there you can be insistant on getting a number and name for the district manager, assuming the store manager is part of the problem. Beyond that, you are in corporate hell and will get absolutely no results.

Be specific and clear in examples and names of offending employees and practices ("that little red-haired gal who walked by" will get no result). Think of it as a legal prosecution where you back the manager into a corner with facts and evidence. Who, What, Why, Where, When, How. Never exaggerate.

One last thing...welcome to the new American business model where customers are considered disposable nusances. It's a far cry from the old notion that a customer might only be worth a $ 3.00 sale today but was worth $ 30,000 over a lifetime.

Koz (who has dropped $ 500.00 in gathered purchases and walked out because Home Depot was out of a $ .23 bolt.)

"We are the Borg. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated. Para Español, oprima el dos."

-Frank

beautiful work Frank, really awesome knives.

walt

Home Depot usually bends over backwards to keep customers happy, even their dishonest customers. I'd much rather get a complaint resolved at HD than at the typical hardware store.

Keep looking for a number and keep hounding those HD folks.........sooner or later you'll get the right person on the phone. This past SUnday the wife and I went to Auto Zone for some oil and filters, some plasticote paint, grease etc etc for the vehicles and equipment that needed changing and maintenance pulled on. We stood in line for over 45 minutes with only two people ahead of us......while the so called counter man shot the bullshit with a few "sisters" standing off to one side, and everynow and then would ask the customer the same questions over and over, and enter the stuff in the computer, and shoot the shit some more, grab his crotch every other minute, and flash his gold teeth........It was gettingold fast but I really did not want to hit town and have to go another 25 miles to get the stuff........Finally we get up to the cashier, who is this same dude, and he is double entering the items, screwing up royally, and even asked the wife who was writing out the check waiting for the amount what check number.......etc etc....Get the total, hand the check over, and the check gets spit back out of the machine, with an error.........on their part. Then he replied, oh, we don't take checks right now........well excuse the f*ck out of me, you watched my wife write the check you played around for almost an hour wasteing our time, and your suposed to be the freaking manager? He was standing here with his head up his ass holding the check when the wife snatched the check out of his hand and told him to take a flying leap, and out the door we went................made the trip to town, and hit the Advance Auto parts store there........first thing the wife did was ask if they were taking a check today, as she was not about to go through this same crap again.......to which the manager and counter looked kind of puzzled, and they said we always take a check if its good......SO we gather up exactly the same items we had at the other Advance Auto store, and they ring it up and were finished in less than

10 minutes itme from when we put our foot in the door. I related the bullshit about the other store, and he was very interested as to what this fellow that made the remarks and screwing around looked like......told him long dreadlocks and gold teeth, and both the manager and the other associate started to grin.........he filled out a phone number on the back of a business card and told me to call the number on it that day, as the person would be there, and Advance autop or any other business can;'t handle having customers walk out the door disturbed.......Turns out this other fellow was the store manager, , and I say WAS as he is no longer employed at Advance Auto. I received a call from the fellow whose name was on the business card and he told me that if I go back there to please fill him in on how things are going, as the person that was the manager had been terminated......One too many problems with the dude.............

On Thu, 25 Aug 2005 15:54:13 -0400, snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net (Time Traveler) wrote:

============================================== Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked! "The original frugal ponder" ~~~~ } ~~~~~~ } ~~~~~~~ }

My experience is completely opposite.

Home Depot is the worst, agreed, but both times I have complained to Lowes, I got a call-back within 24 hours, first time it was on a Saturday. I got a gift card for being insulted by an employee. I would have preferred an apology from him for acting like that, but the gift card went to good use.

I don't shop HD anymore, and only shop Lowes, but prefer my local Ace Hardware. They are ALWAYS helpfull and cordial.

Rod

Koz wrote:

"Time Traveler" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@storefull-3136.bay.webtv.net... | Has anyone had a bad experience in using the Home Depot 800 complaint | number?I refer to them taking your name and number and assuming you | would get a call-back.When you call back they tell you they don't give | call-backs.They have no answer to see if the problem is resolved,they | just say they're sorry as if they are reading from a script to answer | any question.

Gotta tell this story and vent a bit. My wife and I purchased a gift card as a fundraiser for our kids' school and took it to Lowes to purchase a specific dishwasher. We found the one we wanted and since it was a display model, they took it out while my wife and I finished a little more shopping and went to the register to pay. No sweat, and my wife pulled the truck to the front to have them put it in the truck. I went to buy the kids some hot dogs and a pretzel. While the pretzel was being heated (they were out) I waited. After a few minutes two separate people came up to my wife and asked if they could help her, and she told them she was waiting for an appliance. After what seemed like an even longer time, it finally came out the door. The fellow had it on a (get this!) a simple hand truck, and as it cleared the threshold into the foyer place there, I watched it bounce off the truck and hit the floor. Got a dumb look. As I was in the middle of a transaction, I told him to take it to the truck right outside and I'd check it for damage when he got there. Right when he got to the back of the truck, he dropped it again! Giving me a dumb look, I strolled over, noticed a bent frame (it wouldn't have mattered,) and since it was an electronically controlled appliance rather than a mechanical, I immediately stated that I didn't want it and to bring it back. Still the dumb look, but never a word said to me. That didn't at all make me happy. I immediately stopped at the customer service desk and started explaining what happened. By now you can imagine I was not at all happy, bordering on losing my temper, and they knew it. I told them I want my money back, in cash in lieu of a gift certificate since I was taking my money to Home Depot where I expected not to have the same problem with careless employees. The manager got called and danced around for awhile while I stood my ground. Offered me a heavy discount (I was spending about $500 for it already!) and I refused, since it was visibly damaged and they didn't have another alternative that I wanted. I kept at it, so the manager overrode the gift card policy and gave me cash. Went to Home Depot and actually had to pay more to get the newest upgrade (they had sold out of that exact model) with no damage inside or out, still in the box. (I actually had to wait about a week for it to be delivered and swapped out with my old one.) No hassle there, and the saleswoman was outstanding, making it expensive, but worth the trip. About a week later I again visited Lowes, since it's about a mile from my house, for other items, and there was the same dishwasher now discounted over a hundred and fifty bucks, on the "get rid of this shit now" part of the store. I looked closely at it and yup, the bent frame was still there, and there was a small wrinkle in the front face metal from the hand truck. Glad I didn't get it, you couldn't see the scratch on the face easily as there was a film over it. The fellow that dropped it twice was still there, carrying the same dumb look. I hope the manager and him had a long chat.

I have high expectation from businesses. They compete for my dollar and when they hire folks who are idiots with no sense of the source of their paycheck (me!) I will quickly make a big deal of it. I've gotten checks, coupons, and free merchandise from Lowes, Church's Fried Chicken, McDonalds (many times, that's a no brainer!) and whoever that place was that used to rent out trailers for moving, plus a number of places that escape me now. I won't even tolerate that punk at McDonald's who has to turn his hat sideways while handing my un-inventoried food out to me. McDonald's prides itself on a clean, comfortable store, selling good food at a good price, and they generally do a great job. I remind the managers of that as I chew them out for letting such poor attitude go unchecked. They pass out piles of coupons there quickly just to shut me up, but they usually get my point. When you go to visit the manager of the store, spend some time discussing the basics of customer service, compared to the expectations they set, and then explain how they failed miserably. If it's a product that's bad, keep in mind that it isn't their responsibility directly, however, when vendors stock the parts racks and the bins are a mixed up mess, then I will crawl over them for expecting so little from their vendor, who is also competing with other vendors for the right to stock their store and receive their paycheck. It all boils down to the source of their paycheck, which is you, holding the ultimate power, only if you exercise it.

Looks like he's fully programmed as a phone-CS-droid, too...

"How much for this squishy pink one with the "HELLO! MY NAME IS FRANK" sticker on the front?"

I bought a $500 rug from the local Lowe's once. When I got it home I noticed that it had several flaws [unraveling border, mistakes in the pattern]. I took it back for exchange. They had another just like it so I took it home. I looked at it and it also had similar flaws. I took this one back for exchange but they were out so we went to another nearby Lowes. This time I asked them to unroll it at the store before I bought it. Sure enough, it was also messed up. They didn't have another one of the rugs so I drove across town to a different store. Again, I asked the man to show me the rug first. This one look OK but not perfect. I could live with the problems though so I bought it. At that point I asked if they were selling seconds (mildly defective items) and he said no. I don't really believe him. I think they are indeed selling rejects.

But anyway, a couple weeks later I go to the first Lowes and go look at the rugs just for the heck of it. Sure enough, the two defective rugs that I returned were right back on the shelf. I could tell because I had to wrap them in my own plastic. This is after I made a point to tell them that the rugs were defective.

Moral of the story... don't buy a rug from Lowes unless you look at it first.

But I do have to say that they never gave me any hassle about returning the rugs or having them take them out of the plastic and show them to me before buying them.

Ace hardware ?? I wrote my neighborhood Ace Hardware off a couple of days ago. They changed hands twice in recent history and thus their stock was getting run down, but I could accept that. Give them time to restock, OK. But the last time was the straw - They were out of both JB Weld and Gorilla Glue. I told my wife to kick my ass if I ever went to that particular Ace Hardware again. A Home Depot is only about a mile further away. They literally push JB Weld at you; blister packs of it hanging at the checkout line.

The Home Depot complaint line, and customer service line are outsoursed to a large international company. Most of the agents will just tell you what is in their script. They are not allowed to use common sense, or courtesy, only what is written for then by company lawyers and agreed upon by the client. Make sure you get a name of the agent you talk to, and if you don't get a reasonable answer, demand to speak to a supervisor. gary

Secondary Moral -- Never, ever buy anything that comes in a box that has been opened. It is almost surely to have been purchased and returned for whatever reason. If it is the last item in stock - run like the wind, for it is almost certainly going to be defective in some way.

Bob Swinney

Anyone else hear the story of the guy who sued HD. Apparently he had an issue with the contracting services, a no show I believe. Tried everything to get his money back to no avail.

So he goes to court and wins judgment against HD. Some time passed and HD never paid. Another order was given.... The guy showed up a couple of days later with the Sheriff at the local HD. Took a few of the John Deere lawn tractors as payment, as the court order had allowed him.

Must of been a fun sight to see while visiting HD.

Chris

PS at least that is the way I read it.

>

My post seems to hit a nerve with different peoples experience.Lowes was great when I had a problem,they called me back and went the distance to resolve it.Home Depot has their number as a buffer to deflect you into frustration.John Paul Jones said it first "I have not begun to fight"and I'm just starting.The post on outsourcing could be right,but was in the US not India.I had the pleasure of an American Nubian with no common sense.After awhile I told her to repeat after me "I got me a job but I'm useless".I've got the number for HQ and will try for the Prez.

Indeed, I'm fond of reminding employees that they may think they are working for (insert store name) but in reality they are working for me and the other customers, because if they piss off enough of us they will be out of a job when the store closes down.

I hope there was something besides that out of stock bolt which caused you to reach that decision, Koz. I would have balanced the time I'd already spent picking out the other stuff against the 5 minutes it would take me to stop off at an Ace or True Value one the way home and buy that bolt there.

**********************

I got a quite strong "smell of stupid" at a Staples stationary store this Monday.

I needed a new ink roller for my adding machine. I went to the service desk when I got in the store and asked one of the girls, "In which aisle will I find adding machine ink rollers?".

She said, "Follow me." and took me down an aisle where she stopped and proudly pulled froma bin a clear plastic bag full of coin rolls, (Paper tubes.)

I told her again that I wanted an adding machine ink roller and she said, "Oh!" and took me down another aisle where she pointed to a shelf full of rolls of adding machine paper tape.

Again I said, "No, no, INK rollers, those little black things full of the ink that prints the numbers on those paper tapes."

She stared at me blankly and I knew that I had just plumbed the total depth of her ability to help, so I thanked her and went off and found a GUY who knew what I was talking about and immediately said, "Aisle 12, right next to the adding machines". He was spot on.

Jeff

Actually, it was the last straw of compromise. You go in for for parts and the first peice is not in stock so you modify your plans to use what they have...go looking for the next and have to modify a little more because they are out of another item...and so on. By the time you have had to do "work arounds" 3 or 4 times on something that should be simple, the little $ .23 item easily becomes the last straw. More than once I have just dropped an expensive tool or other item I intended to purchase when they were out of/didn't carry some small part that should be readily available. As a specific example, they had 5/8" bolts but didn't even carry (according to the shelf tags) 5/8" nuts. It was a vendor stocked area but it does reflect on HD.

Another specific example is the wavy wood strips that you put under corrigated fiberglass panels. They're only 2 bucks each but they only had broken/skanky peices left and the department manager wasn't going to order any more until those were gone (" we might be getting more in a couple of weeks"). Down went $ 200 in polycarbinate panels for want of $ 15 in strips. Note: The foam strips were in stock but for a different pitch/style of panel so I couldn't just "make do".

Koz

Good when your there tell them to set up every store the same or provide a map !

"Robert Swinney" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

I disagree. I've gotten some great deals on "open box" items. Just grab an employee and confirm that everything is there before you leave.