:i work at an hd. just an associate. what are your biggest pet peeves about :hd? anything in particular? : What's an "associate?"
Pet peeves, let's see:
------------------------- Sometimes the music, but mostly it doesn't bother me as much as, say, Orchard Supply.
Many times I can't tell what the price of an item is - you just can't tell unless you get someone to scan it, and finding someone to do that usually isn't easy.
Many times the person you can find to ask a question doesn't know the answer.
They don't carry as big a selection of a lot of items as a big dedicated hardware store.
My local HD for a while had a policy where they wouldn't let me in the store with a backpack. I guess they had serious stock loss problems due to shoplifting. This was a PITA for me, who usually goes on a bicycle. It wouldn't have bugged me except for the fact that they wouldn't check my pack! Every other store I've ever gone to that wouldn't let me roam the store with my backpack will let me check it.
Many times their prices aren't the best, but you can say the same for any store, in my experience.
In any case, HD is definitely my favorite source of home repair supplies.
I never said I spent an hour filling it up. Once it was full of buckets of drywall mud. Took two minutes to fill it up.
Another peeve: I was in line on day watching the "movement" in the adjacent line. The customer had some plastic doo-dad, a piece of trim for rain gutters I think. (I didn't know anyone in Tucson installed rain gutters but I digress)
Anyway, there was no SKU on it and the cashier was pleading on the intercom for a price check, while 10+ people stood in line fuming. The thing couldn't have cost more than 20 cents and I was tempted to shout, "Put the damned thing in the bag and move on."
They carry about 500,000 items but don't have what you need. I'm fortunate to have a local hardware store that carries few items, but seems to always have what I need for a repair.
On Sat, 10 Dec 2005 08:08:54 -0500, "SeaKan" scribbled this interesting note:
Having read the entire thread thus far, I have to say most of the problems with HD have been discussed.
However...
You knew there was a "However", didn't you?
As a general rule, if you feel the need to ask a question while at HD, a question that involves more than the usual "Where is it?" kind of question, the customer (being me in this instance) is almost always better off simply leaving and patronizing a real supplier for whatever parts or materials.
Here's the most drastic example I've experienced.
Needing some valve seats for a faucet one day, I go to HD expecting to find a bin full of various seats. I expect to be able to look through them and find the one I need, pick out two, pay for them, and leave happy. I knew there was a problem when I felt the need to ask even the simple "Where is it?" question. I ask an employee in an orange vest where are the valve seats? He directs me to a small display on the end of the aisle. I look, and I see miserable display. I ask him where are the rest of them? He, very self- assuredly, responds that there are only two or three different valve seats.
I'm serious. He seemed to believe what he said. Only two or three different plumbing valve seats found in typical homes.
I leave. My next stop was a real plumbing supplier. It is a fair distance away, but that one stop at HD for a couple of valve seats taught me to spend my time wisely. Don't go to HD for something if there is even the slightest chance they may not have it, since if there is that chance, rest assured it will happen. Rather than drive all over looking for plumbing parts at HD or Lowes, or even the local hardware stores, I go to a real plumbing supplier who I know will have the parts, even though it means I can't get those parts on a weekend and it means extra miles. Even with those considerations, time is saved by going to a real supplier instead of an overly generalized "Home Center".
Others have mentioned the crappy wood they carry. HD will sell an item like a lawn mower, yet not carry things like blades (another experience I've had first hand.)
Others have mentioned a lack of any help at the stores. My (at the time) seventy year old father once got into an argument with no less than two "associates" about a canvas, weatherproof tarp. He asked (that fatal mistake, again) where they were as they were not where they were the last time he needed one. The first "associate" couldn't find it, so he asked another, who said they have never had them. My father, with these two numb-skulls watching, finally finds a box of them on an upper shelf, he looks around for a ladder, and not seeing any, proceeds to climb the shelf to retrieve one himself since no help was forthcoming from the two obviously impaired "associates."
I had to perform a similar routine when buying a chain saw, except there were no "associates" to be found at all, much less a ladder. Climb the shelf to obtain what I'm looking for.
The biggest problem with Big-Box Stores? They come into a market, make a big splash by having good prices and stocking lots of items, drive smaller, dedicated suppliers out of business, and then proceed to tell their customers how and what to buy. This is why I try to buy lumber from a real lumber yard, plumbing parts and supplies from a real plumbing supplier, roofing materials from a real roofing supplier, etc., etc., etc. In each and every one of these cases, I spend less money, less time, have knowledgeable employees to ask any questions I need to ask, and in many cases (lumber and roofing in particular) they will expertly load my truck, which is something the fork lift drivers at HD never seem to be able to learn how to do.
Good luck with your new trade. You're gonna' need it.
-- John Willis snipped-for-privacy@airmail.net (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)
Once, when I was buying such an item, the clerk couldn't find the price and just said "have a nice day". Of course, that was at a small store, not anything like Home Depot.
You're right. It's best to take the customer to the product. And, that's actually company policy at HD, and other places, like Bed Bath & Beyond (where, for some reason, the employees really DO know where things are). My point was that too many associates at HD will wander aimlessly with you because they have absolutely no clue where things are, nor do they have even a logical guess as to where they should be.
I think the thing that pisses me off the most about the whole Home Depot phenom is that people actually get mad about it. Simple rule of capitalism, something people don't quite remember once they leave their six-figure job for the week - YOU GET EXACTLY WHAT YOU PAY FOR. If you're going to pay someone (frequently people with less-than-stellar skills and abilities) minimum wage to do a job, you're not going to get much out of them. I often see associates (I lay tile part-time) on the phone, hanging around in groups, and generally being unhelpful. Doesn't bother me at all when I realize that they're being paid minimum wage. If you want people to be great at their jobs, give them a reason to do them well. But that brings us back to the roots of capitalism once again . . . Also, you can't rightly complain about the quailty/tier of merchandise. It's like Wal-Mart. If you want high-quality goods, go somewhere that actually takes pride in the product over the profits. Aside from all that stuff, I don't like the way HD's are laid out. The plywood aisles are too narrow - they should just take the middle 3 or 4 rows of the store and blow them out to all lumber. That would be amazing. Lumber, underlayments, ductwork, major plumbing pieces right in the middle with an express lane or two to round it out. I guess they'd need to put some profits toward improving the actual company, though . . .
In many ways, it is a matter of expectations. That is why I am rarely disappointed at HD. I don't expect much. In a couple of areas - paints and tools - there are several older guys who are pretty knowledgeable and helpful And it has resulted in some major purchases (table saw, air compressor, nail guns). In other areas, I know not to ask anything beyond "do you carry xyz?"
For anything beyond commodities in the electrical and plumbing areas, I got to specialty stores. The same for more specialized woodworking tools/supplies and any wood products other than "2 by" lumber and plywood.
What bothers me is that they don't support the product liens that they sell. I was in HD recently looking for replacements washers for a Delta faucet. I bought the faucet from them a few years ago. They still carry a similar product. But when I couldn't find the replacement washers among a wall of faucet repair items, the assistant told me that they don't stock Delta parts and I should order it from Delta's web site.
I agree, but I don't think that is is so much tell customers what to buy as it is that they focus so intensely on immediate profit. If a product line is not moving, it is off the shelves very quickly.
About 100 years ago, I got a package of drill bits that was actually flat. I used it in my tool box for ages. Bought antoher one. Now I need more drill bits. and the smallest bit box (13 bits) is about two inches th ick, six inches long, and four inches wide.
What's the idea? It doesn't need the size of a loaf of bread to plastic pack
13 drill bits. And I don't have the room in my tool box to go along with the hammer, screw drivers, extrabulator, volt ohm miliameter, and so on.
Prices are too high and you dont carry alot of common stuff. Too much catering to high end fancy stuff. For example, I wanted some common replacement wood frame barn windows. All HD had were costly vinyl windows with all sorts of features that I did not need.
I find Menards much more to my liking, much more geared to the average farmer or homeowner, and better priced too.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.