Home Depot Inc Investor Shopping Experiences
I recently had a terrible shopping experience at both Home Depot Online and at my local Home Depot (HD) store. I was a bit surprised at how bad my customer experience was. However, I’m not the only investor to have had a bad experience. The Dividend Guy also had a bad experience at Home Depot and shared his feelings on his blog, where he writes:
“It was probably the worst shopping experience I have ever had. I went in for one particular item that was featured in their weekly flyer. You would think that if it was in the flyer that had just come out the store would be prepared to sell it and make it relatively easy to find. 20 minutes later and 4 sales associates later the item was finally tracked down. I grabbed 6 of the items and headed to the check out. The 2 staffed lanes and the 2 self-checkout that were open (the other 3 were ‘down’) were about 10 people deep each. Already delayed with a wife waiting for me to pick up dinner I said to hell with it and left. I was fuming.”
I had similar story with Home Depot. I recently had one of my worse online shopping experiences of all time with Home Depot Inc. I tried to order a patio set and gas grill back in March from the Home Depot website since it was offering free shipping this spring for patio sets. After almost 4 weeks I got the patio set, but it was missing the unbrella and base. Home Depot also cancelled my grill order.
Then I spent over 1 hour on the phone with them to correct the problem. Another month passes and I call them up. They inform me that no umbrellas or bases are available from their online store and maybe I could get it from one of their brick and mortar stores. I relent and agree to that if they can call up my local store and put it on reserve.
The local store refused the Home Depot Online customer service reps’ request and indicated there were only two more umbrella sets in the store. I raced off to the store to get it, and none of the employees at my local store (AKA DC Sniper Home Depot) would help me find the items, so I had to climb up on one of their ladders to get it myself! I should have fallen and sued them.
The good news is that they double credited my account for the umbrella and base, so I ended up getting back an extra $200. I guess this is why Warren Buffett sold off his shares of Home Depot. I wonder how Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) is doing? Hmm…
Home Depot is one potential wide moat company that I’m taking off my watch list until they resolve their customer service issues.
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WEB sold off his HD shares? I guess I haven’t been following BRK closely as of late. Quite frankly, I am not surprised. I was more surprised when BRK disclosed they had bought HD. I also expressed doubts about WMT back in Dec last year. I wonder if WEB still likes WMT.
The Lowe’s experience is pretty darned good. I find the Home Depot packed with merchandise, aka cluttered, lookin’ 1993 in 2006.
have been in the box for 9 years and have seen HD whither away. They know how crappy their company has become. Its just a matter of time till their the next Builders Square! so sad to see a guy so messed up in the head ruin so many good people’s lives.
read there gift card policy
Gift Cards, Gift Certificates, and Store Credit cannot be exchanged or returned for cash, credit or cheque.
The Home Depot reserves the right to request valid identification prior to accepting merchandise for a return.
The Home Depot reserves the right to limit or refuse to accept the return of certain merchandise at any time and for any reason.
The Home Depot will only accept the return of merchandise purchased from The Home Depot store.
Items purchased at a U.S. Home Depot may not be returned in Canada.
Purchases made with a Customer Agreement must be returned to the same location in which it was purchased. See Special Services Desk for details.
* Home Depot may issue a cheque for refunds over $1,000 (cheques are mailed from Home Depot’s Store Support Center in Atlanta, GA).
Effective August 2004
Sorry to everyone who had a bad experience. Although if you base your assumptions on only one of out 2200 stores, then I can see your experience being horrible. Your local store should have taken care of you.
We try everyday to help customers. My store is clean and organized. We don’t always succeed but we try hard. If you are ever in Colorado come check out our HD stores. They are much better than in other places!
Hi Paul, thank you for sharing a comment about Home Depot’s in Colorado. It’s it is interesting to hear that Home Depot’s are clearer and more organized in Colorado. Why do you think the quality of Home Depot’s varies so much?
I did recently revisit my local Home Depot. I found it to be much less crowded than it had been in the past. While that might not be good for business, it was a more pleasant shopping experience. The employees also seemed much more willing to help and even offered to assist customers when they looked confused.
Has Home Depot been taking efforts at the corporate level to improve stores and the customer experience?
I want to share with you, another happy experience while shopping at HOME DEPOT. I was in the garden section to purchase a large number, of very heavy bags of mulch.Due to my knee replacements, I should not lift over 20 lbs. A very nice lady, by the name of connie, helped me load up, check out, and place in my suv. She shook my hand, and thanked me for shopping at HOME DEPOT. Why would I ever ROAM when I can get super prices and great service at HOME.
I went to Auburn HD store with the their valid weekly ad. Their computer showed higher price than that in the ad. The sales person would not respect the ad price and the manager on duty was rude and said this ad expired , even though it clearly stated valid through 09/03/2008 in Auburn store.
Who is lying here? The store manager or the weekly ad ?