Customer Service at 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.