Frustration with Home Depot -- More about big business using tech inefficiently.

[Dave Gray]

I had an issue with Home Depot over the weekend.  The whole thing was frustrating and difficult and resulting in me at the store, trying to buy their product, but they were unable to make it happen.  It seems that their technology that's supposed to make things easier ended up making things difficult and they don't put enough power in the hands of their people to make the choices to sell the product.


Home Depot emailed me a coupon for $10 off an order in the store.  I didn't request this -- they solicited me with it.
I received a gift card that runs as debit for Christmas for $100.

I intended to buy a $500 vacuum, on sale for $450.  -$10 for the coupon.  -$100 for the prepaid debit card.

Firstly, there is no organized way to ask for help there.  You just have to wander the aisle and hope to find someone.  Home Depot is a unique store where people have questions about products, more than ...say, Target or what have you.  Eventually I find someone.

Despite their inventory telling them that they have 3 items in a locked cage (it's not like it's just a shelf -- since the item is expensive, customers can't access it), they don't have them.  And the guy can't update the inventory.....he's just sorta like "well, they say they're here and they're not here."

But he walks me over to a little desk and we're going to order it...no problem.

So, we go through the order process and he can't accept my $10 coupon because it's an "online order".  But it's not an online order.  I'm sitting there in the store, paying at a register with money in my hand.  Their point of sale system might be online, but I'm there, ordering from the store with the store number as part of the order.  That's a failure of the tech.  ...but whatever, I'm out $10.

So, then I use the $100 gift card and that's it -- the order is complete.  But I didn't just buy a $450 vacuum for $100.  ...yet here I am with a completed order, knowing it's gonna be cancelled.  So the dude is dumbfounded, he has to call corporate to confirm that, indeed, the item will not ship.

After all that, I realize that there's really no point in me ordering from this guy's desk, so I'm frustrated and I leave.

Later, I call Home Depot because several other stores show the item in stock, but I don't trust that they actually have it, so I want to call the store to confirm that it's there.  In doing so, I am on hold for 40 minutes, bounced between departments that can't look up the item or I'm talking to the wrong person.  Eventually I am on hold indefinitely (lost in the phone system somewhere)...after about 20 minutes of musak and nobody returning, I have to hang up. 

My wife calls another Home Depot on my behalf and the woman there says that the item is online only.  I know this is not true because I saw the shelf space reserved for it plus the order screen that shows several stores have it in stock.  Finally, the $450 amount is a store special and they can't grant that other places.

So, I went on Costco.com and bought it in 5 minutes for $450.


It's just a shame that I am a customer in your store, trying to spend money on a product you coaxed me into getting, and you can't make it happen.  They need to put power in the hands of their managers to find a way to get me the item they're selling with the money I am trying to give them....override whatever tech issues they have.

[Spider-Dan]

You should always buy consumer appliances like vacuums from Costco anyway.  They have a lifetime return policy.

Anything like a vacuum cleaner, coffee maker, toaster oven, printer... I'm always buying from Costco so I can exchange it when it breaks.  I bought a Roomba from them last year.

[Phishfan]

I wonder if  this item was being discontinued? That may explain the online only answer from one store. As far as the rest of it I think you just had a dumbass helping you. Any manager should know how to update inventory.

[Dave Gray]

It's not discontinued.  It's a current product, as evidenced by my immediate Costco purchase.  They also sell older versions of the same thing, so even if they were phasing out, they'd phase out the older ones first.

The guy who was helping me wasn't a dumb-ass.  He was just powerless.  He kept thanking me for being patient.  He went to his higher -ups, they couldn't do anything -- he called the online corporate place, they couldn't do anything.

[Phishfan]

The guy had to be a dumbass or Home Depot has the dumbest inventory system in the world.

[ArtieChokePhin]

The guy had to be a dumbass or Home Depot has the dumbest inventory system in the world.

And also their customer service is not exactly upstanding.   There's a reason why I buy all my home good products from Lowes even though the drive is ten minutes longer.

[Pappy13]

While I agree Dave that Home Depot did a piss poor job of helping you, you didn't help the situation in my opinion. Don't have one of the stock boys help you, there is a person at the front of the store that specializes in returns, refunds, etc. I know, I've used them many times. Go to that person and ask them what to do. They are much better prepared to help you then this stock boy. First off they would have been able to find the nearest store that had the item you wanted which maybe would have been the best solution. Failing that I think they could have helped you with the purchase, the stock boy didn't know what he was doing and yes he should have had you go to the front, but again he didn't know what he was doing. First thing you do when you get someone who doesn't know what they are doing is go to their supervisor.

[Dave Gray]

While I agree Dave that Home Depot did a piss poor job of helping you, you didn't help the situation in my opinion. Don't have one of the stock boys help you, there is a person at the front of the store that specializes in returns, refunds, etc. I know, I've used them many times. Go to that person and ask them what to do. They are much better prepared to help you then this stock boy. First off they would have been able to find the nearest store that had the item you wanted which maybe would have been the best solution. Failing that I think they could have helped you with the purchase, the stock boy didn't know what he was doing and yes he should have had you go to the front, but again he didn't know what he was doing. First thing you do when you get someone who doesn't know what they are doing is go see their supervisor.

It wasn't a stock boy.  It was a dude at an order desk who was called over to help me in the first place, and he himself went to the front of the store to get help from the main customer service desk when he couldn't get it done.

[Pappy13]

It wasn't a stock boy.  It was a dude at an order desk who was called over to help me in the first place, and he himself went to the front of the store to get help from the main customer service desk when he couldn't get it done.

And they couldn't help you either? They couldn't even find another store that had the item you wanted to purchase or they didn't look? If that's the case then I sympathize with you. There was not much more you can have done to help the situation.

[Dave Gray]

The guy told me that other stores had it in stock.  Granted, the same info showed that his own store had 3 units in stock also.  But I was just as happy having him order it for me.  At the time, I didn't realize that the order wouldn't allow for the coupon, nor would it reject my pre-paid debit card.

And with what I know now, I couldn't get a store on the phone to verify if their inventory was correct, and who knows if it would've been the same price, since the stores have different prices.