Home Depot Shopping Experiance - 6x8 metal shed

So I looked up metal storage sheds from the usual sources and Home depot had what I wanted and for the lowest price. Off to the Home Depot.

In the door and the high school kid directing "traffic" pointed me to Aisle 9. Got to Aisle 9 and all that's there is some shelving and small plastic "Rubbermaid" sheds. Had to hunt down another associate. They directed me to the back of the store. Went back to the back and nothing to be found. Hunted up another associate. They pointed off in the distance to "garden supplies" and said they were there. Off to garden supplies. Can't find any sheds and can't find any help. Back into the store looking for an associate. None to be found. Back out to garden and saw someone way up front and headed up there. They were in the process of checking out a purchaser so I waited around till they were done. Asked where the storage sheds were. The kid looked around like he'd been caught with is pants down then looked toward the back of the store and said "back there it that Aisle". As with all the associates I talked to after the "greeter" at the front door, they all seemed rooted to the ground. So I went back to the aisle and finally found the box with the shed. There was one intact box and another box of "shed" that was coming apart at the seems. Tried sliding it out but too heavy and unwieldy to risk without help. So of course, no one is around. Took a quick look into the store, saw no one so headed back up to the guy in front of garden. Told him I found the shed and would need help getting it on the cart. Wheels turned in his head... no chance he was going to be uprooted from his spot apparently so he called someone on the phone who seemed disinclined to provide much assistance. So he's looking around and around and starting to sweat. Then a couple of associates wandered into the back of "garden" and he relaxes and points to them and says "Joe should be able to help". So I head toward "Joe" not wasting any time since they could frighten and scatter before I get there. Told the two of them I'd need help loading a shed. From the expressions on their faces this was not the good news they had been waiting for. And clearly the one guy was a higher level associate as he made no pretense of "you want me to help this guy" and just waited for the other guy to hop to. So off we go to the aisle. Finally after about half an hour of this I had my shed on the cart (but it's "not the right kind of cart" according to the guy who helped load it) and was heading to the registers. Paid and just before I told the cashier I'd need help getting it into the truck there appeared, to my huge surprise, the guy who said it was the wrong cart and helped me load it.

Probably the most absurd "customer service" encounter I've had in years. One bright spot was that the price was about $20 less then it had shown online. The online price was $218 and I was out the door with tax included for $215 plus it had a "free" floor kit that wasn't listed in the online ad. I later found that this "floor kit" amounted to about 8 pieces of very thin sheet metal, probably not more then a pound or two of metal.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher
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...[long diatribe elided for brevity...basically OP unhappy discount store help not up to level of, say, Saks 5th Ave]...

I continue to be amazed at those who are adamant at having the absolute cheapest price yet expecting that to come with all the costly amenities. If cost control has to be a priority to get a market niche then it's ludicrous to expect that minimum-wage part-time help in less-than-sufficient-numbers is going to be much.

Just sayin'...

Reply to
dpb

The present generation has never seen good customer service in a retail store. Long before the Targets and Wal Marts we shopped at John Wannamaker, Gimbles, Macy's and the like. Every department had a staff that knew the product, help you make your selection and carefully packed it. "Are you taking it with your or would you like it delivered?".

Then the discounters started, but most had a run and crashed. Just in or area, long gone are Ames Two Guys Bradlee's Lechemere Caldor K Mart (previous owner) Zayre J C Penney and Sears, K Mart, are in the death throws.

They just could not compete with the two big guys still around. They are facing tough competition from internet sites too.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

We've all had bad customer service experiences at major retailers, but my shed buying trip to HD went a lot better than yours.

I didn't need anything as big or as costly as the shed kits at the borgs so I drew up some plans for an 8 x 6 x 6 lean-to style shed to store a few items in my backyard.

I hooked up the trailer, headed off to HD and $250 later I had all the

2x4's, plywood and T1-11 that I needed for the shed. Just as I pulled in the driveway I go "D*mn... forgot the stuff SWMBO needs for her project."

So I drop the trailer and head back to HD. This time I go in a different door and notice a big hand-written sign that says "Open Box Shed Kits On Sale. Inquire At Customer Service."

"What the heck. I'll see what they got." I end up meeting the nicest HD manager ever. She walked me over to 4 open box kits, one of which was an 8 x 8 x 8 Regent II, the one I would have bought if I wanted to spend the bucks. This is a Kingston, but it's the same shed:

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Regularly $499, she marked it down 50% to $249 - the same amount I paid for the wood for my little lean-to! We went back inside, she rang me put, put a Sold sign on the kit and told me to see her when I came back with my trailer.

I go home, get the trailer, return all my wood and go looking for Shannon. When I find her, she says "Let me get a fork-truck. Where are you parked?" So now I've got a manager driving the fork truck and helping me load the kit into my trailer - a kit I'm sure they didn't make much money, if any, on. I look the kit over real quick and notice that there are no instructions. Shannon goes back inside, looks them up on the web and prints out the 36 page manual saying "If there's anything else missing, find me during the days or tell any other manager that Shannon said to give you what you need.

I ended up going back a few a days later because two PT 2x4?s were missing. They gave me them for free.

I've bad mouthed the borgs in the past, but this time I gotta give Shannon her props!

In the end, I ended up buying open bundle shingles for $10 a bundle, some extra studs to beef up the walls and ended up with a really nice shed for less than the original $499 price, which did not include roofing materials or a floor.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

Did you know that Wanamkers was the first store in America to have fixed prices? Around 1870 or so. I gather before them and for a while after them, all the other stores dickered with their customers about price.

A lot of other interesting things aobut the store at itsr wikip entry.

We lived in a city of 50,000, with a good department store (or was it two) and a cheaper one. My father usually walked to work or took the bus, but sometimes he drove, esp. in the winter I suppose. It was

1.2 miles from our house to his office downtown. It was about 2 miles from the north edge of town to downtown.

When the good department store had, for example, purses on sale (meaning 40 or 50% off (10 or 20% was not really a sale by my mother's standards, or mine), if she needed a purse, she would call up the store and get the purse department and tell the woman what style, etc. she wanted, and she would send three or four with the store delivery man the next day. My mother would look at them, pick the one she wanted, then call and the delivery man would pick up the rest he next day usually, or at their mutual convenience.

If she sent them all back, didn't buy anything, that was okay too and there was no charge for anything.

Maybe all this happened because so many women didn't have a car during the day. ??

Of course they probably paid the delivery guy and the clerk bupkes, but otoh, there weren't that many toys to buy in those days, not even air conditioning,, so maybe they lived almost as well as we did but in a smaller house. Not sure about this paragraph.

Reply to
micky

No matter how bad a business may see to be, there are always a few really good people that are a big help. Shame there are so few of them.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

At least my local HD is stepping up their game. I used to be completely anti-HD after a string of bad experiences and while I still have issues with the fact that I typically can't get a complete shopping list for a project there (which is why I go to the supply house for electrical, etc.) their people are really trying to be helpful, and aren't as unknowledgeable as I've grown to expect. One lady in particular is always not only helpful but very friendly. There have been times when e.g. I needed wire cut and the guy for that dept. was on break and the people attempting to cover for him clearly didn't know anything about electrical stuff, but I think understaffing is typical of every business these days.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

At my local Menards, as she was ringing up his purchases, the cashier told the gentleman ahead of me that he was mixing black pipe with galvanized pip e, and did he realize that? Then she asked him what he was going to use th e pipe for. I didn't hear his answer, but she then rang off about half of what he was going to buy, and sent him off to return to the shelves what sh e rang off and to buy all black pipe fixtures, so I guess it was for gas, a nd not water.

When I asked the cashier how she knew not to mix the two pipe types, she sa id she didn't know where she learned it, she just knew that you shouldn't m ix the two pipe types and that black pipe was what you should use for gas. I told her that I didn't believe more then a couple of people in the whole store knew what she did about piping. She was happy to receive the comple ment.

Reply to
hrhofmann

"Ashton Crusher" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

So I looked up metal storage sheds from the usual sources and Home depot had what I wanted and for the lowest price. Off to the Home Depot.

In the door and the high school kid directing "traffic" pointed me to Aisle 9. Got to Aisle 9 and all that's there is some shelving and small plastic "Rubbermaid" sheds. Had to hunt down another associate. They directed me to the back of the store. Went back to the back and nothing to be found. Hunted up another associate. They pointed off in the distance to "garden supplies" and said they were there. Off to garden supplies. Can't find any sheds and can't find any help. Back into the store looking for an associate. None to be found. Back out to garden and saw someone way up front and headed up there. They were in the process of checking out a purchaser so I waited around till they were done. Asked where the storage sheds were. The kid looked around like he'd been caught with is pants down then looked toward the back of the store and said "back there it that Aisle". As with all the associates I talked to after the "greeter" at the front door, they all seemed rooted to the ground. So I went back to the aisle and finally found the box with the shed. There was one intact box and another box of "shed" that was coming apart at the seems. Tried sliding it out but too heavy and unwieldy to risk without help. So of course, no one is around. Took a quick look into the store, saw no one so headed back up to the guy in front of garden. Told him I found the shed and would need help getting it on the cart. Wheels turned in his head... no chance he was going to be uprooted from his spot apparently so he called someone on the phone who seemed disinclined to provide much assistance. So he's looking around and around and starting to sweat. Then a couple of associates wandered into the back of "garden" and he relaxes and points to them and says "Joe should be able to help". So I head toward "Joe" not wasting any time since they could frighten and scatter before I get there. Told the two of them I'd need help loading a shed. From the expressions on their faces this was not the good news they had been waiting for. And clearly the one guy was a higher level associate as he made no pretense of "you want me to help this guy" and just waited for the other guy to hop to. So off we go to the aisle. Finally after about half an hour of this I had my shed on the cart (but it's "not the right kind of cart" according to the guy who helped load it) and was heading to the registers. Paid and just before I told the cashier I'd need help getting it into the truck there appeared, to my huge surprise, the guy who said it was the wrong cart and helped me load it.

Probably the most absurd "customer service" encounter I've had in years. One bright spot was that the price was about $20 less then it had shown online. The online price was $218 and I was out the door with tax included for $215 plus it had a "free" floor kit that wasn't listed in the online ad. I later found that this "floor kit" amounted to about 8 pieces of very thin sheet metal, probably not more then a pound or two of metal.

You must live in a large city. Here in our small town Home Depot people are very knowledgeable and very polite and helpful. They even cut 4 x 8 plywood sheets for me no charge to sizes I want so I can get it in my vehicle. Load heavy items for me. No complaints here. WW

Reply to
WW

I never said I was adamant about getting the lowest price, only that they offered the lowest price. I didn't 'mention it in the OP but they were the ONLY people in the area that seemed to carry these Arrow Sheds and I would have paid more if they asked more.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

Maybe I should have said that not every trip to HD went like my last one did. It was like every slacker on staff had been scheduled for the same day. Some day's they are quite good.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

At the time I considered it but everyone has bad days and I didn't want him hunting for "bad employees". Individually none of them were completely terrible, it was just the sum total was so bad.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

dpb wrote in news:l40rng$8s1$ snipped-for-privacy@speranza.aioe.org:

Really? Well, then say it out of your ass.

Reply to
JoeBro

Ashton Crusher wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

I quit going to Home Depot years ago. I much prefer Lowes. But I'm sure some others have horror stories about them too.

Reply to
KenK

I avoid both when I can. Neither has the best materials or the best prices. I'm going to remodel one of our bathrooms. Nothing is coming from the big box stores. Most is coming from the local plumbing supply that has a selection far better than the big box stores and prices are the same or less. Tile is coming from a local paint/decorating store that has a much larger selection and better prices. Shower door is coming from the nearby glass place that does a lot of commercial and high end specialty installs.

Recent purchase of a washing machine came fro a local appliance dealer and was $30 cheaper delivered and the old one hauled away.

I did buy my under counter light from Lowes though.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

They both vary a lot by region and store. Here, HD is better than Lowes, though Lowes carries better appliances and electrical fixtures. Where I used to live, Lowes was much better.

Reply to
krw

Oh, yeah, Lowes has *far* better tools.

Reply to
krw

But yet if you visit a HD when there is a district manager in town waking the floor you have someone asking you every 2 seconds if they can help you. Amazing.

Reply to
Ron

Yup, and if Home Depot charged $1 more than anyone else for the shed, and had someone that knew where it was and helped you load it without you even asking, you'd go to the other place to save that $1, and complain about the poor service.

Reply to
dennisgauge

The Amazing Kreskin in da house! Kreskin, any chance you can use word wrap in Google Groups?

Reply to
Ron

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