Yet Another Home Depot Rant

ugh…disappointing to say the least.

-- ㊍ When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

Yeah, they can be irritating. I went thru it recently with a special order door.

-- Ohh mann...pancakes and boobies...I'll bet that's what Heaven is like! ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣

fwiw – when I bought my TS, I actually had to tell the guy that they DID have it in stock after I already called it in to make sure they do (he told me they didn’t). (back then the Ridgid 4511 were hard to find … err… I guess they still are lol)

-- ㊍ When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

I go to home depot often and usually the employees are very nice and always ask if you need help. The thing is they cant help you. The trick is to go there and find what you need on your own. If you cant find it then they don’t have it. Its not a mom and pop shop where the employees know what they are talking about. Its just a giant retail store that hires people to be friendly not to know what they are talking about. I learned this when asking about paint once.

I still go there a lot for home improvement items but I never ask any of the employees for help. I learned I am on my own. The same can be said with all of the big retail stores.

-- Dan - "Collector of Hand Planes"

I ‘ve been threw the same thing with just about every big box store . Just can’t get good help now days…...I called H.F. One day they are an 1hr 30 min from me They told they had 3 of what I wanted in stock when I got there they couldn’t find any. Didn’t even get a sorry,kiss my a__ or nothin came home emty handed…........Schloemoe

-- schloemoe, Oregon , http://www. woodrehab.blogspot.com

When I bought my R4511 I had to threaten to use the forkilft myself to get it loaded, and before that I couldn’t get anybody to help me get it up to the register so I went on a wild goose chase to find a pallet jack and ended up on the other side of the store in flooring before I found one. I the pulled the saw up to the register. when I got there I had to wait for about 20 min wile some guy bought a whole deck. I like the Ridgid brand tools I’m not that big of a fan of HD.

“I thanked him and left.”
You omitted, “I’ll buy one at another retailer.”

amen and amen…....when it comes to tools…they don’t have them…...ive gone into the local stores here…and i came out very irritated…they had hardly no tools….and what they had was the worse selection ever…i would never go back to one looking for a tool…so thanks for the rant..it gave me the chance to get the last visit off my chest…

-- GRIZZMAN ...[''''']

I’ll add a Lowe’s story to this…
I went into the tool department and asked the nice young man if he carried a 2 3/8 inch forstner bit. He looked at me with that deer in the headlights look and said no. I knew… I just knew… I asked him if he knew what a forstner bit was and he said… you guessed it… NO! He then said the last guy who worked in tools had walked out and they put him in there a week ago and he really didn’t know anything about tools…
I took him to the drill bit section and showed him a forstner bit. I must say, he thanked me profusely and said he was trying to learn as much as possible about tools now that it was his department.
I laughed all the way to the car… and he didn’t have that 2 3/8 inch forstner anyway!

-- "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good." Voltaire

What I think is interesting is the way (in our area, anyway) Home Depot and Menards have done a flip-flop.

A few years ago, when you went into a Menards, you were entering hostile territory. The employees were ticked off at anybody that even acted like a customer.

Then, Home Depot came into our market. The new HD was well-staffed, and the customer service, tool selection, etc. was great. Now, it is just the opposite. Rumor has it that Menards put a training program in place to emphasize customer vice because they were afraid of losing market share and revenue to Home Depot and Lowes.

If Menards handled Ridgid tools, I might be their friend for life!

-- Gerry -- "I don't plan to ever really grow up ... I'm just going to learn how to act in public!"

Another similar experience, with a local plumbing and electrical supply store (Samon’s – Albuquerque). I called ahead and asked if they had half inch green gas pipe. They told me they did, in 20’ lengths. I got to the store and asked for some. They told me they didn’t have half inch green gas pipe. Never did. Only 3/4”. They used to be pretty good, too, but the big boxes destroyed them.

-- "A man may conduct himself well in both adversity and good fortune, but if you want to test his character, give him power." - Abraham Lincoln

I think we all could come up with horror stories of the Borg stores….yet I see folks campaigning for them to be built on almost every corner. We had a big political whoha in my area when they wanted to add yet another WalMart (a “Super” WalMart) to our area. The typical lines were drawn…and the fight began….I did not participate as I new that $$ would rule the day…and guess what…it did! So to make a long story short…be prepared to face more and more of these behemoth box stores in the future….

The days of the “helpful hardware man” (I would say “person” now a days but this breed is gone the way of the dodo) are already down the tubes…and if any are left….they are on the fast track to total extinction. The best you can hope for is the return policies at the Borgs stay as loose and informal as they typically are…..and that the customer service of the manufacturer is working.

My solution of course is to buy online….I got my Spindle Sander online from CPO/Ridgid and they had a promotion for free shipping….I also found out that they also have great deals on remanufactured ones… – A friend of mine bought one and it was almost half price with $5.00 flat rate shipping… it works like a charm… and comes with warrantee.

-- Woodworking.....My small slice of heaven!

Ask for a file card and see the looks you get. Most anywhere…..................

-- mtnwild (Jack), It's not what you see, it's how you see it.

I am so glad that I am not the only one with these problems. I’m not so glad that any of us have these problems. It is a shame.
I have the same problems these days in hardware stores and auto parts stores (my two loves). The hardware employees don’t know a ten penny nail from a table saw and the auto parts guys don’t know a starter from a spark plug. All they know is what the computer tells them. They never can comprehend though that computers can be wrong.
I have actually had an auto parts guy argue with me that the starter I was looking at in the box was an alternator because the computer said it was.
I spent six hours today trying to find an 80” bandsaw blade. I know I can order one, as every store told me, but I needed one now. I wrote a post the other day about this. The only hardware store that normally carries them had a problem that all the 80” blades they had were actually 82” They were supposed to get a new stock in today. I went there though to find out they won’t be getting them until the other ones sell out. I refuse (as I’m sure every other Craftsman 12” bandsaw owner in town does) to buy up their wring size blades just so we can get the right size. Take that for customer service.

-- http://wddsrfinewoodworks.blogspot.com/

I’m always surprised that people get so upset about the hassles of dealing with HD (or any big box store). Some are better than others, but we know (or should by now) what we’re getting into when we step inside the door. The floor help is usually some kid getting minimum wage and you’re smoking wacky tobaccy if you think that they’re very knowledgable. These ain’t boutiques, folks!! – lol

If I were the OP, I would go back to the website and print the page that shows “his” store having that tool in stock. Then, I would go back to the store with the page in hand and ask to speak to the manager of the tool department. My money says that the manager can easily determine if the tool is there – and might even order one since their ad said it was available.

Ranting is fun, I suppose, but winning requires that you learn to “game” the system. – lol

-- Adversity doesn't build character...................it reveals it.