My Home Depot Shopping Experience
I promised in my letter below to share with everyone I know my home depot shopping experience, so here you go!
To whom it may concern,
I wanted to share with you my shopping experience at the Fayetteville, GA Home Depot store.
A couple weeks ago I purchased a Ridgid oscillating spindle sander from this same store. After a couple weeks of using the tool (and enjoying it very much) it came time to buy more sandpaper sleeves for the sander. After doing a quick check of the Home Depot website to make sure the local Fayetteville, GA store had them in stock, I went the next day on my lunch break to pick up a set.
When I arrived at the store around 1:15PM on Tuesday, December 21 I did a quick walk down the tool isles where the tool and other sandpaper products are stocked and was unable to find the set of sanding sleeves. Luckily, a Home Depot employee approached me (I didn't think to note her name at the time) and asked me if they could help me find anything. I pointed out the Ridgid sander and told her I was looking for the replacement sleeves that matched the tool. She expressed some initial confusion about what I was looking for, but using the picture of the tool and sleeves on the box I was able to explain what I needed, no problems.
She immediately told me that "We ain't got that."
I then told her that the homedepot.com website listed it and said that it was available in this local store. She spent a few minutes questioning if I was actually on "THE Home Depot website" and if I was sure I put "Fayetteville, GA" in as the location. I assured her I did so. She then once again told me that "We ain't got that" and started to walk away. I asked her to hold on, and I'd pull up the item on the website so we can get a part number. She immediately rolled her eyes at me and told me that she had to have an SKU to look anything up. I told her fine, the SKU is on the website listing.
After a few minutes of searching the homedepot.com website on my phone I was able to find the listing for sanding sleeves, complete with SKU:
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xg1/R-100668727/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
By this time, the employee had walked off to do something else, so I found her again and gave her the SKU. She entered it in a Home Depot register to check the stock, which showed a quantity of (2) in stock, which I saw with my own eyes on the screen.
She turned to me again and said "Nah we ain't got that here."
I pointed out that it said 2 in stock and that the website clearly said "Not Sold Online" (meaning it could ONLY be bought in the store) and she repeated emphatically that "Nah, we don't sell that here they might have it in another store or online."
Recognizing that she wasn't going to be much help, I thanked her for her time and went back to searching the isles where I suspected an item like this might be. She didn't offer to help look for the item or anything else.
About 5 minutes later, she walked buy and evidently thought it was funny that I was still looking, laughing and asking "You find it yet?! Haha!" At no time did she offer to help me look for the item that your computer and website said was in stock and instead chose to make fun.
After around 10 minutes of looking I found the set of sanding spindle sleeves, nestled in beside some other Ridgid accessories on a wall rack. There were 2 in stock, just like the computer said.
By my estimation I've spent around $5000 at Home Depot in the last year. I've bought a table saw, numerous power tools like routers and drills, lumber, the oscillating spindle sander above, and more. As an individual consumer and not a contractor or business I think that's a respectable amount. I also have a Home Depot credit card to take advantage of the "6 Months No Financing" offers and for emergency home repairs. I would think that in the grand scheme of Home Depot customers, I'm your ideal demographic as a home owner and avid woodworker with a reasonable disposable income at my disposal.
I'm writing to let you know that is over. I'll be closing my Home Depot card this evening, and from now on I'll shop at the Lowes home improvement store that is less than a mile down the road. I've always preferred Home Depot because I've found the prices are a little lower on lumber and you stock Ridgid tools, which are my favorite brand, but no more. I'll happily pay a few cents more at Lowes and get my Ridgid tools from Amazon.com to avoid the type of "customer service" I've experienced in your store.
It really wasn't so much that your employee had no clue what I was looking for or where to find it that prompted me to write this letter- I would have been completely happy with a little help looking for it on the shelf so that I would have time to get some food on my lunch break. It is more her refusal to help me locate an item that was clearly in stock and her disgusting treatment while she made jokes instead of actually helping me that completely turned me off from ever doing business with your company again. I'll also be sharing my story with everyone I know and do business with to make them aware of how I was treated in your store.
I promised in my letter below to share with everyone I know my home depot shopping experience, so here you go!
To whom it may concern,
I wanted to share with you my shopping experience at the Fayetteville, GA Home Depot store.
A couple weeks ago I purchased a Ridgid oscillating spindle sander from this same store. After a couple weeks of using the tool (and enjoying it very much) it came time to buy more sandpaper sleeves for the sander. After doing a quick check of the Home Depot website to make sure the local Fayetteville, GA store had them in stock, I went the next day on my lunch break to pick up a set.
When I arrived at the store around 1:15PM on Tuesday, December 21 I did a quick walk down the tool isles where the tool and other sandpaper products are stocked and was unable to find the set of sanding sleeves. Luckily, a Home Depot employee approached me (I didn't think to note her name at the time) and asked me if they could help me find anything. I pointed out the Ridgid sander and told her I was looking for the replacement sleeves that matched the tool. She expressed some initial confusion about what I was looking for, but using the picture of the tool and sleeves on the box I was able to explain what I needed, no problems.
She immediately told me that "We ain't got that."
I then told her that the homedepot.com website listed it and said that it was available in this local store. She spent a few minutes questioning if I was actually on "THE Home Depot website" and if I was sure I put "Fayetteville, GA" in as the location. I assured her I did so. She then once again told me that "We ain't got that" and started to walk away. I asked her to hold on, and I'd pull up the item on the website so we can get a part number. She immediately rolled her eyes at me and told me that she had to have an SKU to look anything up. I told her fine, the SKU is on the website listing.
After a few minutes of searching the homedepot.com website on my phone I was able to find the listing for sanding sleeves, complete with SKU:
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xg1/R-100668727/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
By this time, the employee had walked off to do something else, so I found her again and gave her the SKU. She entered it in a Home Depot register to check the stock, which showed a quantity of (2) in stock, which I saw with my own eyes on the screen.
She turned to me again and said "Nah we ain't got that here."
I pointed out that it said 2 in stock and that the website clearly said "Not Sold Online" (meaning it could ONLY be bought in the store) and she repeated emphatically that "Nah, we don't sell that here they might have it in another store or online."
Recognizing that she wasn't going to be much help, I thanked her for her time and went back to searching the isles where I suspected an item like this might be. She didn't offer to help look for the item or anything else.
About 5 minutes later, she walked buy and evidently thought it was funny that I was still looking, laughing and asking "You find it yet?! Haha!" At no time did she offer to help me look for the item that your computer and website said was in stock and instead chose to make fun.
After around 10 minutes of looking I found the set of sanding spindle sleeves, nestled in beside some other Ridgid accessories on a wall rack. There were 2 in stock, just like the computer said.
By my estimation I've spent around $5000 at Home Depot in the last year. I've bought a table saw, numerous power tools like routers and drills, lumber, the oscillating spindle sander above, and more. As an individual consumer and not a contractor or business I think that's a respectable amount. I also have a Home Depot credit card to take advantage of the "6 Months No Financing" offers and for emergency home repairs. I would think that in the grand scheme of Home Depot customers, I'm your ideal demographic as a home owner and avid woodworker with a reasonable disposable income at my disposal.
I'm writing to let you know that is over. I'll be closing my Home Depot card this evening, and from now on I'll shop at the Lowes home improvement store that is less than a mile down the road. I've always preferred Home Depot because I've found the prices are a little lower on lumber and you stock Ridgid tools, which are my favorite brand, but no more. I'll happily pay a few cents more at Lowes and get my Ridgid tools from Amazon.com to avoid the type of "customer service" I've experienced in your store.
It really wasn't so much that your employee had no clue what I was looking for or where to find it that prompted me to write this letter- I would have been completely happy with a little help looking for it on the shelf so that I would have time to get some food on my lunch break. It is more her refusal to help me locate an item that was clearly in stock and her disgusting treatment while she made jokes instead of actually helping me that completely turned me off from ever doing business with your company again. I'll also be sharing my story with everyone I know and do business with to make them aware of how I was treated in your store.