Home Depot’s CEO, Frank Blake, responded to Matt’s complaint about being unlawfully detained by the Washington D.C. Metropolitan police after refusing to show his receipt to a Home Depot employee.
Here’s his response:
Frank Blake, CEO of Home Depot, writes:
Mr [redacted]: I apologize for the bad service you’ve received from us (and for the detention)! But I thank you for taking the time to send this note. We are working hard to try to re-direct our company and deliver the customer service you should expect. – Frank blake
Matt responded:
Mr. Blake,
Thank you for the prompt reply to my e-mail. I wish that my e-mail to you had been more concise and brief, but I was pretty frustrated at the time.
I received a voicemail around lunchtime from Bryan Dennison, the manager of the Washington, DC store. He apologized and invited me to call him back and to come and meet him to discuss the issues.
I did just that; he thanked me for bringing my case to his attention, and told me that he agreed with a lot of the issues I raised. Bryan took over managing the store a few months ago, and has apparently worked to tackle the many problems that have plagued this store for years. I met the various store managers on duty, who all apologized for the store’s poor performance. Apparently, Bryan has brought in several new managers to improve the store.
Since I was planning to go to Lowe’s this evening to look at replacement windows Bryan asked me to give his staff a shot to try and win me back. In the end, I was impressed with the service I received tonight, and wished that all the employees I’d met previously were as friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful as Wayne in the windows/millwork department. By far, Wayne was the most helpful person I’ve ever met at Home Depot. He completely understood what it means to do a project yourself, and related to this being my first time installing replacement windows. After speaking with me and understanding that I’m pretty handy and comfortable with home repairs, he answered all of my questions and explained to me what I needed to do step-by-step. With Wayne, I felt like I was back home in southern Virginia, where people are friendly and the folks at the hardware store are happy to take time to help.
As thanks for me giving his staff another chance, Bryan said that the one window I was going to purchase tonight was on him (I was going to purchase only one tonight, as this is my first time installing windows, and wanted to attempt one first, then buy others if I am successful). Hopefully, I’ll install it with few problems, and can come back for the other 2 that I need at a later time, and eventually for windows for the rest of my house.
As I was leaving, I did ask about the policy of checking for receipts, and Bryan said that it’s an issued he’s raised with his superiors at Home Depot. I told him that I hate being treated like a criminal after buying merchandise, and he seemed to understand. I ask that you seriously consider this policy, as I know personally several people who no longer shop at Home Depot as a result of the receipt checking. In addition, I hope that the staff, security guards, and any Home Depot-paid police officers will be trained to understand that customers cannot be detained for simply not showing a receipt (there must be some suspicion that they have shoplifted), and the checking of receipts is voluntary.
Thank you very much for your time, and I sincerely appreciate your taking these issue into consideration.
Thanks,
Matt
Mr. Blake responded:
Thank you for your note and for giving us another chance…also thanks for calling attention to Wayne. I’ll make sure he gets recognized appropriately. To be honest, I didn’t know about the checking of receipts until I received your note. So your note will have a broader impact as I look into our policy and the associated training.- Frank Blake
Sent from my BlackBerry
We are genuinely impressed with this response. Way to go, Home Depot.
(Photo:IHP)
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Okay, I didnt read all the comments cuz there are far too many of them. Doesn’t anyone have access to a lawyer where we can verify this whole deal once and for all? A lot of people are making guesses as to the legality of this activity but does anyone have any lawbooks they can cite?
It certainly would put an end to this bickering.
@Morgan:
Tempe, AZ check everything on the way out. I got pissed because they wouldn’t accept a return once. I’ll only shop there once in a blue moon now.
–
Kevin
@Kevin Cotter: The one in Tempe sucks (converted from an existing store), go to the location on Thunderbird road (newer built store), much better store layout and selection, and I don’t recall them checking my receipt.
This is an example of what happens if they don’t check your receipt to mark it with a highlighter, punch a hole in it, or mark it in some way:
You buy a package of 50 blank CDRs. You pay, get your receipt and the CDR package is placed a store bag. You don’t show the receipt, it is not marked or highlighted. You then go to your car, remove the package of CDRs, go back into the store with the receipt and bag, put another CDR package in the bag and walk out the door. If you are stopped, you have a receipt.
This is why they want to see the receipt, and mark it in some way. Can you imagine going into a Costco, filling up a cart with $200 worth of stuff, paying and leaving without showing the receipt? You could easily go back in and fill your cart again with the same $200 worth of stuff. With a marked receipt, that can’t happen.
I’m all for the consumer and consumer rights, and I love this website, but sometimes you have to see the other side. I understand that a business might need to do this to keep their prices lower so I’ll want to shop there, and I’m not so sensitive that I feel like I’m treated as a criminal.
I’m also not the kind of person who shops somewhere, and then complains. If I don’t like a store’s policies, I don’t shop there again, period!
No offense but the receits would be checked generally in retail if something was locked in an area that is outside or sometimes inside.
In terms of going into a store with the bag of cdr’s there’s a problem with that…stores put returns right at the front of the store…you cannot walk within the store to returns with items or else the alarms go off.
So no you can’t simply walk in with a receit, grab product off the isles and walk away.
Cameras are in most retail areas as well as the parking lots so license plates can and often do get recorded. Licenses are usually required with returns as returns are recorded by corporations and excessive returns can be terminated by the company…I’ve seen it happen.
more stores are eliminating returns without a receit…no ticki no laundry
How about this, you go buy some cdrs, they mark the receipt. The person you’re with has the keys to the car and they’re still in the store. You go back, it takes 20 minutes to find them. While you were looking around the receipt checker and/or cashiers changed shifts. You try to walk out, and they see your receipt is marked…
There used to be a store called Service Merchandise that didn’t have the items out, you took a ticket and picked them up after you paid.
I mean, there has to be a certain level of trust with your customers, doesn’t there? If they want to be so suspicious, they should have a business model that doesn’t act like one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing (meaning why check out at the register AND check your receipt 15 feet later)
@girly: Service Merchandise’s concept wasn’t about security but about a ‘catalog ordering’ method. I worked there for a few years. It was a system destined for failure at the time it closed but really could have made it once online ordering really took off.
@enine: I used to be a department manager at Wal-Mart, and batteries were always being stolen off of the shelves. What a lot of people don’t realize is that lithium batteries can be used to make meth, so retailers have to be extra careful to watch for excessive purchases of batteries (especially in conjunction with items like cold medicine, drain cleaner, and a whole bunch of other over-the-counter goods.)
@MisterE: Home Depot has those surveys that they spam you with information about on every receipt. The back-room response percentage they DREAM of achieving is a 10% response rate. Most stores only achieve 8-9%…and in the vast majority of stores I’ve worked in (as a contractor) when they put up the survey responses and comments, the positive comments are highlighted and handwritten notes scrawled by them, but the negative ones aren’t emphasized at all. Smacks of one-way blindness, but what do I know?
@girly:
Regarding your comment about walking back into a store with a marked receipt to look for the person with the keys to the car:
When you walk back into these places, you are supposed to tell the person at the door that you are bringing merchandise in, and there’s usually a sign posted to tell you that. Can you blame them if they give you a hard time trying to leave with a receipt that is clearly already marked, when there is a sign at the door saying bags coming in should be checked? And if there is no sign, good judgement should take over by the consumer to let someone know they are bringing in items that were just purchased.
I know for a fact, at my local BJs Wholesale, that the people at the door see everything coming in and out, and if you bring an item in, they note it.
Good judgement is the key here, but I see posts by people who would rather not say anything on the way in, and then start an argument when they are stopped on the way out, just to prove a point, and they are surprised by it.
I seriously dont understand what the big deal is about receipt checking. It helps discurage shoplifting, as well as cashiers from giving friends free stuff. Both of these help to keep prices down and the employees making a halfway livable wage. Also DONT BE RUDE to the reciept checker, that poor person is probably making 8-25k MAX and really dosnt need any shit from you. And you wonder why customer service sucks these days.
WTF??? I some times wear a tinfoil hat and believe in conspiracies. I fervently do believe in standing up for my rights. I am a gun owner and they will never get any of my guns without machine gunning me fist. Having said that stuff I just do NOT get this shit about refusing to show your receipt as you leave a store. WTF?? Get a clue people, stores are getting ripped off left and right and it cost us all in paying for this theft in higher prices. these stores are just trying to keep theft to a minimum. Exactly what right are they violating by asking to check your receipt? Stop being an a$$hat and let these people see your receipt or just don’t shop there…. jeeez
Personally I don’t care if they want to check my receipt. I usually have it in my hand just in case.
@mrrbob
The store has a right to ‘ask’ to see your receipt. But it is completely voluntary, if I choose the deny their request to see my receipt, thats my right.
The part where your rights get violated are when they attempt to illegally detain you and/or assault you
Bottom line is, if you choose to voluntarily show your receipt, then good for you. But don’t complain if I as a matter of choice (and a matter of right) decide NOT to show it.
If you choose not to show your receipt, then the store can ask that you leave and/or not return.
You might find this to be trivial or a waste of time, but I cherish my rights and will not willingly give them up. Its these ‘small’ or ‘trivial’ rights that you have to protect the most. Most people allow their rights to be taken from them incrementally and slowly over time and they don’t even notice.
Yeah, but when there’s six people in front of you and only ONE checker! Notice at sams and costco they just nod at the business folks as they walk thru. I guess if you own a restaurant you are “specialer”
OH yes… something else that’s important.
The single greatest source, and I mean THE single greatest source of shoplifting/theft etc from stores is employee theft. Bar none. A lot more stuff goes out the BACK doors than the front. And I’ve only worked for one place that routinely checked employee bags before they went home for the day. That was Toys ‘R Us.
I’m impressed with Home Depot’s response to this issue, which originally was looking like a PR fiasco. Although they seem to have made Matt happy, it’s important that the company actually takes the time to learn from this mistake, both in order to keep their customers coming back and also to avoid more negative publicity in the future. I really like that the CEO individually responded to the complaint, although I definitely do think that his initial response could have been more substantial.
My car was hit bye an flat bed control bye one of your employees and damaged. Your Rosedale, Maryland store said there nothing they can do about it. The manager said the camera was not clear on it. So what is the point of have a security camera that doesn’t work. My wife and I spend thousands of dollars a year in your store and this is the way you treat a loyal coustomer. The store Motto is SORRY WE LET YOU DOWN.