Kudos for Home Depot

I knew there was a reason I was glad Home Depot came to town.

One year ago we purchased all the supplies that we would need to do a complete bathroom remodel - paint for cabinets and walls, tub & surround painting kit (Epoxy), Hardibacker board, tile, mortar, grout, and all the tools necessary (paint equipment and tiling gear). We've been putzing with this off and on at our liesure ever since. The tub turned out great (ps - it is extremely important to follow ALL of the preparation instructions on this), replace the sink with a white one (everything was yellow before), sanded and repainted the cabinets, faux painted the walls (sponging technique), and then finally, last month, started on the floor. It didn't go well. Pulled up the toilet and found a disintegrated flange and water damaged particle-board underflooring (under the vinyl flooring that was there before). Had to pull up that top layer of flooring and repair the plumbing, but finally got back to where we could cut and fit the backerboard. No problem there.

Now, exactly one year after buying that tile, we discover that one box is a different tile completely. Call Home Depot and talked to some very cooperative people. Unfortunately, they cannot get any more of the tile that would match the 3 boxes we would prefer, but the odd box isn't that far off from what we thought we'd purchased. Anyway, they have plenty of that pattern, so they are going to take back the three boxes and exchange them for three to match the other box.

Folks, it's been a year. Their posted return policy says 90 days. They didn't even blink. Just said bring it back and get tile that all matches.

Needless to say we're some pretty satisfied customers right now. We'll do business with them again.

Reply to
L Beck
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I have been considering painting our yellow tub too but all the one I have seen are not smooth. Do you have any pics?

Reply to
Martik

that's nothing they screwed up soooooooooo bad with my friends kitchen cabinet order, they gave him new cabinets and laminate countertops for $1400 (16 cabinets & 36 lin. ft. of countertop)

so naturally I took his receipt down to them and they honored the price minus 10%. so now my tenant has a brand new kitchen and laundry room for cheap money! (a rental is the only place I would use their cabinets for).

Reply to
gRANITE gUY

They are great on returns but it is also a problem because they put the returns back in stock. Never buy an open or resealed box. People take advantage of the return policy and remove/lose pieces. This year I saw a women returning her live Christmas tree on Dec 27th. I don't know if she was successful.

Reply to
calhoun

Again, it's all in the application and preparation. How smoothe it comes out depends on how you apply it. Use the very best applicators you can find. It's Epoxy. I used a roller, which does not leave the smoothest finish. I brushed the last coat (3 total) and it came out much better, but since I'd rolled the first two coats, not perfect. I did that because it was a one piece tub and surround. Use a very high grade brush and it'll come out smoothe.

Reply to
L Beck

Yeah, I bought a fitting to connect a sump pump to a hose, the guy pulled out of stock (last one) and the bottom half of the threads were covered in rust.

Obviously, used and returned.

Reply to
John Hines

The returned merchandise cansometimes work out in your favor. This year i went to find a BBQ cover. They have about 4 different sizes. The covers came in individual cardboard boxes and about half of the smallest size covers were opened and then roughly taped back together. Obviously many people had bought the cheapest one and returned it when they realized it wasn't big enough. One had an obvious tear in the cover.

So i said to an orange drone "A few of these opened covers seem to be damaged. Can i get a discount if i buy one?" He offered me 30% off. So i grabbed a taped box, opened it, made sure there was no obvious damage and went away happy. Sure it was a relativly cheap item but it still makes one feel good to save.

Reply to
kevins_news

While renovating my late Grandmother's house last year, I saw the same cashier at Home Depot every weekend for a couple months during the summer. My smile was rewarded with the employee discount. And on a $$$ fibreglass shower stall, I received at 15% discount for a non-visible cosmetic scratch.

It's not what you know, it's who you know and better yet, who you smile at.

Reply to
Darryl

Home Depot is so liberal in their return policy I think its going to put them out of business. Last year, I purchased a garden pump from them, when I got home and opened the box, it contained an old , used pump. Obviously someone purchased the pump and returned the box with their old pump in the box. Lazy return cashier did not bother checking the contents of the box.

Another story. I was ready to purchase a masonry drill bit. Took it to one of their new self serve checkout stations. When I tried to scan the item, it would not scan. Clerk came over and noted that the drill bit was not from the Home Depot, it had a True Value price tag. Once again lazy return cashier did not bother to check what was returned. I can't believe a company run by one of Jack Welsh's Six Sigma disciples at GE, can not force manage out the large percentage of baboons that work at Home Depot. I do get the sense things are improving there as of late. Service seems to be much better and knowledgeable, like it was when they first came to town.

BTW My wife just recently returned a pair of toodler shoes to Sears after one year.

Reply to
Roger Ramjet

Really? HD's around here don't give employee discounts. They do have a friends and family discount weekend where you use a 15% off coupon off your total purchase. Oh, and we are in Atlanta, the 'home town' of HD.

instructions on

Reply to
HeatMan

And that WOULD be considered theft...would it not?

Reply to
CBhvac

I'll have to look into this.

Sure? I also have a 'frequent buyer' discount at VW. I'm surprised you haven't seen me on COPS. Lol.

Reply to
Darryl

Take it out of context will you? Sheesh. If she if giving a discount, and there is no legitimate reason for the discount, then its theft. If there is no prior approval from a member of management, then its theft, and if an employee that has a discount, is allowing their employee discount to be used on a member of the general public, then its a form of theft.

Reply to
CBhvac

but that would fall on the offending employees back, not the customer...

------------------- Chris Perdue

*All opinions are those of the author of this post* "Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug"
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Reply to
Chris Perdue

True, and while its nice to walk out from time to time with a deal, when you know you are getting something that you should not, and allow it to happen, as the OP seemed to realize, then, it seems that responsibility would indeed be shared.

Reply to
CBhvac

No...I was laughing. I agree with your analysis. The VW matter is a little different. They did some free work for me, I repaid them with donuts and them repaid me with the frequent buyer (i.e., employee) discount (I used to buy a lot of tranny parts from them for various rebuilds). It came from the top though.

Darryl.

Reply to
Darryl

in an "ethical" sense i can see that, but in a legal sense the OP is not guilty since he did not negotiate some kind of "deal" with the cashier....

------------------- Chris Perdue

*All opinions are those of the author of this post* "Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug"
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Reply to
Chris Perdue

Hardly the same thing. The cashier isn't authorized to give out their employee discount to anyone they feel like. How the hell do you think a company can stay in business with the employees deciding who gets discounts and who doesn't?

If it was your company, your employee, your bottom line, would you think differently?

As a small business owner, I can tell you that this kind of frivolous misuse of employee benefits is theft, and it causes more business failures that just about anything I can think of.

Maybe the happy cashier won't find your big smile to be so meaningful when you bump into them in the unemployment line. Or are you going to return the big favor and start covering their lost paycheck?

Reply to
ZsaZsa

If the customer had any ethics they would refuse the "favor". At the very least.

The same goes for customers who don't mention when a cashier makes a mistake in the customer's favor. The loss has to be absorbed by someone, and it isn't the cashier or the customer, unless the store is put out of business. Then the nice cashier can just move on to contribute their charm to someone else's bottom line.

What ever happened to ethics in this country? Or even common sense for that matter?

Reply to
ZsaZsa

That depends on what you mean by "guilty". And I'm not sure that it isn't prosecutable actually.

Nevertheless, does right and wrong matter anymore?

And, does anyone think beyond the convenience of the moment what it means to rip off the "big guys" in the larger scheme of things? Everyone seems to think that a few dollars saved for them has no consequence, but it does have an enormous consequence on our economy, taxes, and employment statistics.

Why do you think no one wants to open businesses in high crime areas?

I once managed a medium sized food store where some Muslims put up a poster outside telling everyone that shoplifting from us was a spiritual imperative in service to Allah, that Muslim money should not go to serve the "white devils" and "infidels". True story.

Needless to say, the store is no longer there. Before it closed down, we did fire all the Muslims who worked there one by one for stealing and cheating on the cash register. I wonder where the Muslims shop now, or work for that matter, along with all the other people who lost their jobs when that store had to go out of business.

No one went to jail though, so I guess it was all ok.

Reply to
ZsaZsa

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