Home Depot Rant

Are they preparing funeral invitations yet? They get worse and worse. There is hardly ever any help around anymore. I thought they used to have walkie talkies to get help with questions but none of them have them (did I imagine it). I went to get a shower valve and couldn't find it, first guy I asked didn't know what one was and pointed me toward the "plumbing guy". He figured out that they were out of them. I asked where another HD was and he told me but didn't offer to go check and see if they had them in stock. Went to the other HD and they didn't have any either. So I went to a Lowe's. Asked the Gal in the aisle if they had the valve I wanted and she had never heard of it but said she would call and have a plumbing guy come over. While waiting I found one in a packet that had been cut open. The valve inside was a used valve. When the plumbing guy arrived I showed him the used valve, he checked and said they had no more in stock but that another store had 12 in stock. So I went to the other Lowe's and got one there. Four stores to find a $12 valve, ridiculous.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher
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I was using a box of leftover wall tile on a backsplash. SHIT, 3/4 way thru the job figured out that someone had mixed about 10 tiles of the wrong "sheen". So I call HD, do you have 4x4 American Tile BW

703, bone white with stippled surface. Oh yeah, he said. Are you SURE I said? Yeah, we have it in stock he said. Could not believe my luck! So I drive up there. Guess what. They don't have it. I knew in my gut I should go back and peel the tile off of the wall while the mastic was still wet, and just get a new box of tile. But I asked if he could order it. Oh no problem he said. So I order a box, leaving the backsplash about 6 tiles short. Be there next week he says. Next week they call and tell me that they no longer make that tile. I had to rip the tile, sheetrock and all and start over. That idiot cost me about 8 hours of work. Round here, Menard rules HD.
Reply to
marson

Have you learned your lesson? Next time go straight to a "real" plumbing supply. They'll know what it is, they'll have it in stock, and it'll probably be cheaper

Reply to
RBM

If I bet you $1000 that you didn't give any thought at all to visiting a real hardware store or plumbing supply place, would I win the bet?

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

And yet you still go there. You got what you deserved. Had you gone to a real plumbing supply house, one trip would have gotten you the right part and maybe even cheaper.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

I've never had a problem getting help in the 2 HD's I visit in my area. And the Lowes that is RIGHT across from one of the HD's hardly has any costumers so getting help there is a breeze.

Reply to
Ron

I don't know where you live, but in my neck of the woods, if you can't shop before 5:30 PM you are SOL and HD is your only option. All the good stores close at 6 and the big plumbing supply house (which I've never been inside, for obvious reasons) at 5. Only a handful of good stores have Saturday hours.

it really frosts my cookies, I think the only reason they close early is so they don't have to deal with homeowners who don't know what to ask for, only contractors

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

SNIPS

Four stores to find a $12 valve, ridiculous.

Yes, it is ridiculous.

But its more you and not HD or Loews that is ridiculous.

Why not go to a real plumbing supply in the first place?

You might save $ .00 on a valve, IF HD has it, but you spent more than that in gas.

Patronize the local specialty suppliers.

HD / Loews are jokes.

Reply to
jJim McLaughlin

It used to be that way here, too (Rochester NY), probably because so many people worked for places like Kodak & Delco, where the day shift ended at

4:00 or 4:30. As those industries have shrunk, places like hardware stores have adjusted and are open till 6:30 or 7:00, maybe with one weeknight till 8:00 or 8:30. Sounds like these businesses in your town aren't interested in making more money.

There's a plumbing supply house here that's open at least a couple of late nights, as well as Saturdays & Sundays, and they do a huge business. Everyone there knows their stuff. You're in & out in five minutes with exactly what you need. Every now and then, they run TV & print ads that take pot shots at HD & Lowe's. They're perfect.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

Well... they're really more for more knowledgeable buyers. If you need guidance, you need the specialty store. -----

- gpsman

Reply to
gpsman

You guys are lucky to have plumbing supply stores that sell retail. Where I live (town of 80,000) there is not one that will sell to the public. Even as a general contractor, I can't open an account--have to have a master plumber on the payroll.

Reply to
marson

I think part of the issue is that I live just outside of DC and the area is, um, somewhat affluent. I'm the odd man out - the cheap bastard whose tool collection is worth more than his car, and doesn't mind fixing stuff himself. Most people just hire someone.

I've tried to pick up the phone and make that call, but I just can't bring myself to do it...

I'm sure the good stores aren't hurting for business just due to population density.

At least there is one good independent plumbing store that is open on Saturday mornings, and one good hardware store open late in the evening. But if I can't get it at one of those places *sigh* off to Big Orange :( (or more likely, ordering stuff online)

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

yeah, I feel like I'm pulling one over on Grainger every time I buy personal stuff there. (my employer does have an account, and they'll let you pay with a personal credit card, but if you can't drop the right names, no sale.) Ever since I discovered that you can order from McMaster-Carr online, I haven't been back.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

Or you could have driven straight to a plumbing supply house and gotten it for about $8.

In general, Home Depot and Lowe's should be last resorts for any product you're looking for.

Today I was showing a rental I have to someone. I had just replaced the carpet, and the potential renter mentioned that she had a rental that she also needed new carpet for, and where did I buy the carpet. She had gotten a very expensive quote, for poorer quality carpet with a poorer quality pad, from Home Depot (the _last_ place anyone should go to buy carpet). Carpet is extremely high margin, is all ordered from the same mills in Georgia, and there are scores of places that sell it cheaper and install it better than Home Depot.

Tile, laminate flooring, and granite are three more things that can be purchased for far less at builder supply houses (though not fancy home decorator centers). I'm sure there are many other items as well.

Reply to
SMS 斯蒂文?

To everyone in this thread that has busted on Ashton for not going to a "real" plumbing store, do you ppl always go the whatever "specialty" store every time you need something?

Reply to
Ron

Sounds like a business opportunity. The one I mentioned recently expanded to include general hardware, but even before that, it was open to the public. Now that I think of it, I got my Moen faucet from another place that's a fancy shmancy kitchen/bath showroom out front, with a warehouse-style plumbing parts counter in back. They were a few bucks cheaper than HD, who didn't have the model I wanted in stock.

There's also a huge lighting showroom with a parts counter staffed by true geniuses. I was there last week looking for a flush mount fixture to install in the eave over my garage door. It's a shallow cavity above the eave, so we're not sure if an incandescent fixture would be safe due to the heat generated. The guy told me to throw together a cardboard model of the space and bring it back. We'll figure something out.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

A real plumbing store can be one aisle of a real hardware store. So, to answer your question, I go to a real store 99% of the time for critical items. Might be a plumbing supply place, might be one of three hardware stores that are no further away than HD.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

Knowledgable, or for people who don't mind wasting 1/2 hour looking for parts that aren't placed logically, compared with getting in & out of a hardware store in 63 seconds.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

Ridiculous.

You do realize that HD hires carpet companies to install their carpet? So I don't know how it would be installed any better.

A glass company I used to work for yrs ago used to install HD's shower doors for them. We did just a good a job with their doors as we did our own.

Reply to
Ron

I guess things are the same everywhere, even though they're not. That explains the complaints seen here sometimes about HD.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

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