Customer Service at HD

[Ken Fitzgerald]

We had a traverse rod rip out of a wall tearing a fist size hole requiring repair. When my wife returned home from a trip, I discussed repairing it but we were unable to find a similar traverse rod. This one was probably 30 years old or older. So we discussed redecorating the living room. Custom blinds were ordered, new furniture was ordered and we shopped for carpet.

First we went to our local HD. Then we hit most of the carpet retailers in town. She found a carpet she liked and both agreed upon. The salesman came out, measured and provided a quote. We were shocked at the price.

We took that sample from Retailer A to HD and a guy waited on us. He searched diligently to find similar carpets in texture, color, materials, face weight and total weight. Finally he found one that was very similar in all aspects including color, specifications and warrantee. When he checked, he showed it had been discontinued. He checked online to see if other stores might have had enough still in stock to fill our needs. No such luck. Then he contacted the headquarters. It turns out, the reason it wasn't in stock was because it hadn't been produced recently but was due to be manufactured 1/16/2020. So while I was buying 5 gallons of interior paint, my wife placed the order. This morning we got confirmation calls from the installation team to schedule an installation date.

This flooring specialist at our local HD went above and beyond to satisfy my wife's carpeting desire saving us nearly $3,000. In this day of the internet and social media, it's as important to applaud excellent customer service as it is to rant over bad customer service.

[Paul F Franklin]

OK, so I'm still stuck on: you had a bad traverse rod so you redecorated the entire room including blinds, carpet and furniture????

Now I'm the first to admit I've had more than one project escalate (ok, maybe they all do), but I've gotta say I'm impressed:)

You were very fortunate to hook up with a good flooring specialist at HD. There are some good folks sprinkled in there; they are just hard to find sometimes. I've worked with a HD cabinet specialist a few times who has been wonderful.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Paul, it had been over 30 years since that room was redecorated. The carpeting we are replacing in the living room was maybe 20 years old but the carpet we are replacing in the basement family room and on the stairs is a short shag that was here when we bought the house 37 years ago.

[Jan Smith]

Glad to hear a positive story, I also have nothing bad to say about my local HD.
Especially the ones at the pro desk are extra helpful and friendly.

[Jerome Stanek]

When I had HD come out and measure they were way off on the yardage. At first they said I needed 32 yards. When I questioned that and said that the installers last time only used 21 yards. then they came back and said it would take 28 yards. I asked for their diagram and it showed that because the room was 12.5 ft wide that they needed extra to seam on either side of my fire place that the drop from the fireplace would be more then enough to seam with. I had them redraw the plans and they needed 21 yards so thats what I ordered and I still had a left over piece.

[Stan Calow]

When I have a good experience like that, I like to write a letter (not an email) to the store manager and commend the person. A good manager would value that kind of input.

[Edwin Santos]

Ken,
Please consider sending a quick email to HD complimenting the employee who impressed you. When I did this, I got a call from a nice person at their office in Atlanta who asked for a few more details and thanked me for the feedback. They very much follow up on emailed comments and I'm sure the employee gets recognized in some way.

[Arthur Fleming]

Good to hear of any positive experiences out there. Sometimes it seems it’s only the bad experiences we hear about. I’m an electrician and have worked on many houses, but I have no idea what a traverse rod is?

[Jim Koepke]

[edited]
I’m an electrician and have worked on many houses, but I have no idea what a traverse rod is?

My first thought is it is a curtain rod by a fancier name.

jtk

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Good to hear of any positive experiences out there. Sometimes it seems it’s only the bad experiences we hear about. I’m an electrician and have worked on many houses, but I have no idea what a traverse rod is?


My first thought is it is a curtain rod by a fancier name.

jtk

Jim's right. This particular rod has 3 "layers" with the outside hang a valence curtain, the next level is corded and open and closes some shades/curtains and the inner most layer held some sheers that are always in place.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Ken,
Please consider sending a quick email to HD complimenting the employee who impressed you. When I did this, I got a call from a nice person at their office in Atlanta who asked for a few more details and thanked me for the feedback. They very much follow up on emailed comments and I'm sure the employee gets recognized in some way.

Edwin, I already did that for the reason you stated.

[Jim Koepke]

When I have a good experience like that, I like to write a letter (not an email) to the store manager and commend the person. A good manager would value that kind of input.


Ken,
Please consider sending a quick email to HD complimenting the employee who impressed you. When I did this, I got a call from a nice person at their office in Atlanta who asked for a few more details and thanked me for the feedback. They very much follow up on emailed comments and I'm sure the employee gets recognized in some way.

This seems reasonable, but isn't always the case.

Some of my employers have given me lectures against having "gone above and beyond my duty" because customers then expect it from all the employees.

So if you send them a good word, do not explain the extent to what the employee did. Say something like they made you very happy to do business with them.

In Oregon, almost all gas stations have attendants to pump the gas. Until recently it was against the law for people to pump their own. It still is in counties with a population more than 40,000. These folks usually have to stay outside for their whole shift. When one of them does a good job, is friendly or washes the windows, my tendency is to offer them a $1 tip. Recently one of the attendants told me they couldn't accept tips and could get fired. They were also on camera. Most of the gas stations do not pay well. This one is attached to a large chain grocery store. The guy told me they do pay better than at the station where he used to work.

jtk

[Frank Drackman]

What kind of companies did you work for?



Some of my employers have given me lectures against having "gone above and beyond my duty" because customers then expect it from all the employees.

[Günter VögelBerg]

I have two home depots within about 1.5 miles. One is AWFUL. As in, I asked if I could get a piece of plywood cut to fit in the car and was told that literally no one in the store knew how to use the panel saw. The person I asked asked me what a panel saw was. I asked if I could cut it...

The other home depot is pretty good. The plumbing guy there is top notch and has saved my bacon a few times. When I was doing a somewhat large re-work he actually began to recognize me and ask me follow up questions about the thing we had talked about the last time. The checkout counter people are mostly pretty good.

The local Lowes is hit and miss. There is a really good tool guy there and the lady who does paint is good. The checkout people are often too busy flirting with each other to be helpful.

[Mike Null]

I am also an HD shopper even though I have a Lowe's much closer. My HD store is top notch and they give me my military discount with no hassle. Lowe's doesn't and neither does another nearby HD.

[Edwin Santos]

Some of my employers have given me lectures against having "gone above and beyond my duty" because customers then expect it from all the employees.


jtk

I find myself wondering if those employers are still in business.

Imagine the logic; lower the service bar as a way of keeping customer expectations down!

[Jim Koepke]

Some of my employers have given me lectures against having "gone above and beyond my duty" because customers then expect it from all the employees.



What kind of companies did you work for?


I find myself wondering if those employers are still in business.

Imagine the logic; lower the service bar as a way of keeping customer expectations down!

Frank, one was in sales in a camera and photographic supply store. That job didn't last very long.

The other job was as a field service tech. One time another tech was on vacation and a customer had a problem. My boss had me cover for him. The customer came in while the machine was apart. It was pretty dirty inside and needed cleaning. She freaked out and asked what the heck was going on. In my panic my reply was kind of mumbling the machine needed cleaning. My eye caught a corner of drawing inside the machine and said, "besides sometime you find something like this inside" and held up the drawing. She looked at it and grabbed it from me and walked off. Turned out they had been looking for that drawing for a couple of months. It was in record time that the machine was put back together and my behind was out of there.

Unbeknownst to me, the customer called in and complained about the other tech. My boss was upset at me and wanted to know what the heck was said to the customer. Nothing was said my error was doing a good job. Shortly before leaving that job it occurred to me most of the other techs took care of their monthly "Preventative Maintenance" tickets over the phone.

One of the funniest, to me, client visits was at an architect's office. After working on their blue print machine my usual routine was to run a check print. There was an old drawing in the bottom drawer of a cabinet. It was used and put back. Most of the time the print would be checked on the counter and then my ticket would be filled out for the job. The drawing would them be balled up and thrown in the waste bin. One time there was a distraction and the print was left on counter. About an hour later my pager went off and my dispatcher told me the client sounded frantic and wanted me to call them back as soon as possible. Turns out the original was one they had been trying to find for a few years. It was kind of an interesting drawing but it was never in that drawer again on my future visits.

Edwin, to the best of my knowledge neither of those companies exist anymore. One did linger on for quite a while. They did have a chain of stores at one time. They likely are not remembered fondly by anyone.

jtk

[dennis thompson]

Paul, it had been over 30 years since that room was redecorated. The carpeting we are replacing in the living room was maybe 20 years old but the carpet we are replacing in the basement family room and on the stairs is a short shag that was here when we bought the house 37 years ago.

Ken
We are in the process of replacing all of our blinds in our living and family rooms with plantation shutters and I hope it will go no further than that (as I, unfortunately have found out,plantation shutters are not cheap). I certainly hope my wife does not see this post and get any further ideas:)

[glenn bradley]

Always good to post positive experiences. Especially from the BORG, Harbor Freight and others who often get derided. I too have had very good service from the flooring folks at Home Depot and at Lowes; laminate flooring and carpeting at different houses.

[Michael L. Martin]

After I retired from the trades I spent a year or so as an employee of HD in a Chicago suburb. Let’s just say my first retail experience was one I’ll not soon forget...... and leave it at that. It’s nice to hear some folks are having good experiences with the associates. On the rare occasion I had a customer thank me for helping them, but that was rare. Ok I know what you’re thinking..... maybe you were not a good associate to begin with. Could be true. I was a retired carpenter, and management placed me in the plumbing section. So I’ll agree with the idea that I did not know everything involved with plumbing. For all those years in the trades I watched real plumbers do their work ... as I did mine. I eventually learned some terminology, what parts work where, was able to thread iron pipe, etc., but I would not tell someone how to do a particular task. And that’s where the problem was. Thanks to store training and my common sense, trying to tell someone how to do plumbing was not a good thing to do, especially if local and state codes were involved. But I did the best I could..... every day I was there. Something for folks to keep in mind.
And on several occasions I would go off to the lumber department to use the panel saw or radial arm saw to cut material for customers,especially when that departments associate was MIA. That was something I was comfortable with.