I just got home from the local Home Depot. What an epic failure that expedition was. Wow.
At home I am doing a little renovation; I am changing what was the laundry-room into a bedroom (twins, you know). So I wanted to remove the dryer outlet, a 220 volt receptacle. I had the power shut off at the breaker box, tested the outlet and removed the plug from the wall. A junction box remained on the wall. A junction box without the need for a plug in. My Sweetheart was headed out to do some shopping so I asked her to stop by Home Depot and pick up a flat plastic cover for an electrical box.
She returned with a new plastic plug in that I could put back where the one that I had just taken out. In other words, the guy at Home Depot sold my Sweetheart one of the exact same things that I had sent her to the Home Depot with. Not what I needed.
After seeing the show Hoarders, I have decided that if I purchase something and it is the wrong part, rather than pile it in the workshop in the hopes that someday I might need it, I now take it back to the store from whence it came. Seeing as I was going to Home Depot to look at a wardrobe they have on sale this week, I thought I might as well take back the 220 plug in that I clearly do not need.
Walk in the store and there at the returns desk is a line-up of 12 people. And one sad looking young lady trying to help these two guys who did not have enough of a command of the English language to understand that she could not give them cash for an object they were trying to return…without any receipt. The crowd in the line-up looked like they were ready to take the poor girl at the returns desk hostage. That is 25 minutes of my life that was worth more than the $5 return.
The Home Depot adventure continued. My initial purpose in going to Home Depot was for me to have a look at some wardrobes that were supposed to be on sale. They are not in the place that my Sweetheart has directed me to. So I returned to the Customer Service desk. Nobody there. Wander back over to the Returns Desk and see the same girl standing there looking like she is ready to cry. Rather than asking her how she is doing, I cut to the chase and ask her where the wardrobes are located. While she stands there looking confused and emotionally fragile after the nasty returns line-up another random customer points me in the right direction.
I wander back to the flooring section where the wardrobes are located. Miracle of miracles, I see an orange apron in the vicinity. She has no idea which wardrobes were on sale. She tells me if I know the Item Number, she can find it for me. Uh-huh. She recommends I return to the Customer Service desk (where there was nobody working previously) and have them find out which ones were on sale.
I do as I was told (fool that I am). The man now at that the desk says that if I know the Item Number he could…he recommends I talk to the person in the wardrobe dept. He also says that i t was probably a department sale so I would be best helped by returning to the department. I wander back to the department.
The poor woman in the wardrobe/flooring dept is shocked they have sent me back to see her. She shrugs her shoulders and admits there is nothing she can do.
A customer standing nearby asks what it is I am looking for. I tell him about the wardrobes and he tells me which aisle they are in and what the choices are for colour. This is a random customer who was in the store looking at flooring.
Why does a random customer walking through the store know where items are, without asking me what the Item Number is? What a total and complete customer experience failure at the Home Depot tonight. Failure.
Fail! I hate that. I especially hate it at Home Depot.
Used to be – like 2 years ago, not 20 – you went to Home Depot for date night (yes, it’s true – prior to marrying my husband, I would test potential mates by suggesting a Friday evening at HD, a “yes” got you a 2nd date, one that didn’t involve power tools…) Where was I? Right. HD a couple of years ago. You go in, you not only get walked to the right aisle but the customer service reps would tell you how to build your own wardrobe using components found in aisles 9 and 12 for cheaper.
BTW, my husband & I? Our most recent date was a thrilling trip to HD for enough bags of concrete to make footings for our new garden shed. While there, I imagined a new trellis; he offered a one-of-a-kind Adirondack style chair; I countered with a suggestion for a date to Windsor Plywood where they have exotic ebony and mahogany and something to use for the curio cabinet we have designed. I see many happy date nights ahead ….
I had a similar problem at Rona the last time I was there. Looking for more staples for my dad’s electric staple gun. The guy working there said to me I had to buy the same brand as the gun was, and no other ones would work, so if I didn’t buy it at Rona, I was SOL.
So I went to Canadian Tire where I bought it. The employee who came to help me knew nothing about staple guns, but was willing to open the box of staples, and the box with a new staple gun in it, to match up the correct staples. All for a $2 sale.
Not so impressed with Rona!
When your girls get a bit bigger-Home Depot holds a free workshop the second Saturday every month for kids to build something. It is supposed to be for 6-12 year olds, but my 3 year old is more than capable of making all of the projects. They also get their own little orange apron to wear.