Reader Jerry has shopped at the Home Depot in Van Nuys for over six years, but this weekend was the first time he feels he’s ever received good service. There was a helpful greeter at the door with a map of the store, and it seemed like everywhere he turned there was an employee willing to help. “It took a few minutes, but it finally dawned on me. Home Depot was trying to provide customer service!” Is this just a fluke or a part of a renewed effort to earn your business during the recession?
Jerry writes:
My family and I dropped by our local Home Depot in Van Nuys, CA this weekend. I was very surprised by my experience. There was a Home Depot employee by the entrance that greeted us with a clipboard in hand. He was nice enough, and offered us help. Of course, I was on auto-pilot by that time and returned a smile and “No-thanks”, assuming that he was going to try to sell my vinyl home siding, or some other service I didn’t want. It wasn’t until we passed him that I noticed that the papers on his clipboard were maps to the store. A few rows down was another employee who greeted us and asked if we needed any help. Still reeling from the first friendly encounter, I smiled and said” No thanks.”
It took a few minutes, but it finally dawned on me. Home Depot was trying to provide customer service! When we couldn’t locate a small toolbox, we asked random a HD employee who was friendly enough where to find small toolboxes. He wasn’t sure and directed us to the tool corral. Within 10 seconds of entering the corral, another employee offered us help. He finally directed us to the front of the store where all of the toolboxes were located.
Four helpful, friendly employees within as many minutes. I noticed this going on all around me, with employees being friendly and helping other customers. By the time we left, it was obvious that there was a whole “push” for friendly, helpful customer service in Home Depot. Let me say that it was great. I appreciate it when someone tries to help me without being over-bearing. And if they can’t help me, they direct me to a person who can. Kudos to Home Depot for this move.
I’ve been going to this store for 6 years to get materials for my weekend warrior work, and I’ve never had such service. It’s unfortunate, however, that we have to have a crumbling economic situation to spur a “big box” store into good customer service. I realized what was going on. Business is bad, let’s help the customer and be friendly. If I didn’t like it so much, I would’ve been offended at the obvious pandering. So, applause to Home Depot. Don’t forget to continue this when the economy improves.
(Photo: dougww)
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Is it me or does this happen once a year?
Its like HD wakes up and says “today we’ll provide customer service”, once a year. You walk in and get all sorts of people asking to help, what are you looking for, etc (in fact it just happened to me yesterday).
Then, just about as fast as it showed up, this new customer service just disappears and you are back to finding stuff on your own.
The best time to shop Home Depot is on a Saturday. My friend that works there has confirmed that every Sat. at her store is “Customer Service” and no one can do anything else, evidently, than wander the floor and look for people to help.
Normally, I would say they should do this every day, but she is a Dept. Manager, and they have a lot on their plates, so to take an entire shift and not do any reports, ordering, or dept maintenance is a pretty big deal.
I recently shopped at Home Depot, at a different store than hers, and got Excellent Service from Several Employees in various departments. They were wonderful, and I saved about $1200 on arou $4k in purchases. On a Saturday.
The same thing happened to me yesterday at WalMart in Pueblo,CO.
I initially stopped by to get some windshield washer fluid and ammo. I noticed the backpacks so I decided to look for a sleeve for a Dell Mini. A very friendly lady must have seen me looking around and asked if she could help.
The store was PACKED and the “associate” already had a couple items in her hand so she may have already been helping someone else.
We almost fell over! I don’t remember ever being helped in WalMart – Especially by someone who appeared to actually want to help.
I have been doing a house restoration over the last year. I have been (back) to HD a LOT in that time.I can say that ,while still not where it was in their earlier days,customer service has improved.
This represents,dear consumers, a win,a victory,a triumph over the ethos that this company had adopted under the now departed (and disgraced) CEO,Robert Nardelli.
It took a near death experience for this company to stop kissing that losers ass long enough to realize that their business was falling apart and customers were shopping elsewhere.A brief history lesson : Nardelli is the overpaid hired gun that HD brought in late in 2000 to take over for the founders. Disaster ensued. Nardelli fired or ran off all of the employees that knew their ass from a hole in the ground and cut the pay and benefits of the ones that remained while helping himself to over $600 million dollars in total compensation. Morale at HD crashed like the Hindenburg and a trip to HD became a grudge match between asshole employees and frustrated customers.
Fast forward to 2007.Even the Board of directors at HD woke up long enough to realize that Nardelli had ruined things and he was sent packing (to Chrysler,where he has been a rousing success-the company is currently not producing any new cars)and HD feels more like a place that actually gives a shit whether you shop there or not.
Savor this moment. Let it linger. You beat Wall Street. Home Depot HAD to get better to stay in business.
Now, on to Best Buy !
The Home Depot near my house in the suburbs of Philadelphia recently got a customer service overhaul. I first noticed it on President’s Day weekend and thought it was tied to that, but subsequent visits have turned out the same.
- Seemingly one employee per aisle
- Lots of registers open
- The workers are genuinely helpful. If they don’t know something, they’ll find someone who does.
- Popcorn for the kiddies (is this my store only?)
Given that this is all taking place relatively early in the fiscal year, it could be a renewed effort to win back any customers that they’ve lost to make for a better fiscal year. Or it could be a last-ditch effort to stave off a bankruptcy filing. When’s their next quarterly filing?
I’ve always hated, hated, HATED, the Van Nuys store. (I assume he’s talking about the one next to Van Nuys Airport.) There have been times when I’ve been there and only 2 of the 15+ checkstands were open. Things have gotten better since they opened the self checkouts, though. There are never any carts and forget about returning something because the line often goes out the door.
The only reason I go there anymore is to get filters for my water filter system since HD is the only place I can find them. Otherwise I go to Lowes in Northridge or OSH if I just need a few small things. There’s also a new Lowes being built in San Fernando just off the 118 at Glenoaks and I suspect I’ll be doing a lot of shopping there once it opens.
This is very true- it is sad that we have been conditioned to expect so little. I have noticed a new attitude at all of the Home Depots in my area- it’s a welcome improvement. My fear is that in this economy most stores will be cutting back on employees, and by extension, customer service.
I actually had a very similar experience this weekend. The employee who was helping me informed me right away that no Home Depot’s carry the item I was looking for and then proceeded to give me complete directions to a local store that does carry the item.
I was amazed that he directed me to a completely different store!
Same story in New Orleans. I was greeted at the door and offered a buggy. I declined, and they asked what I was looking for and pointed me to the correct aisle.
Great service!
Bah! Too little too late. I used to be a HD guy but it’s been downhill so I’m a Lowe’s man. Although there new LOWEST commercials are kinda lame.
Funny, I noticed the same thing at my Home Depot starting about a year back. Customer service was always poor at that place for years and years, and then all of a sudden, it was getting pretty good! Helpful employees!
The Home Depot that I go to is usually very friendly and helpful. And it happened to me at least twice that the greeter at the entrance had handed me a 10% off coupon. So, I don’t usually turn them away. And quite a few times I saw a representative from Scotts in their garden shop helping customers. This guy always has some coupons for Scotts products to give away if you chat with him. That’s why I usually go to HD instead of the Lowes couple miles down the road.
Home Depot in my area (Northwest IN) has always had excellent service and knowledgeable staff, yet I refuse to shop there.
Every Home Depot here has automated checkout which is great and convenient, in theory, yet they never, ever work. Never , ever, so you end up waiting for the one ‘attendant’ that is helping people with the six ‘automated’ check out machines.
So I go to Lowes, not as good in my opinion, but hey, they have real cashiers that are seldom broken.
Our Lowe’s has a greeter in a wheelchair who is awesome. He knows where everything is and I usually hit him up for some info when I go in and he saves me tons of time. Home Depot then also got a friendly wheelchair guy greeter. I went in and asked him where something was. He responded something basically like “derrrrrr”. HD needs to realize you don’t go full handicap with your greeters.
I have never not been able to find someone to help at either Lowes or Home Depot. The thing that buggs me is when you ask where something is, and they say go talk to that guy over there. When you get over to him he is chatting with another associate about whatever. How about saying hey bob, I have a customer that needs X, can you assist him please. Too much pointing not enough retrieving.
After a layoff, I joined HD garden department since it’s one of the few part-time jobs that provides healthcare and allows me to make my real money consulting. So, as a HD employee, I can tell you that this behavior is a real mandate and has been in effect since I was hired last March. Since the change in top level management, they have been trying very hard to make sure customers are the first priority. That means greet and offer to help every customer you pass by. We were told the best thing that could happen would be for a customer to complain that too many people were offering to help.
More recently, they also started implementing ‘power hours’ which are 10-5 weekdays and all day on weekends. During these hours, there will be a greeter, no packdown or facing shelves, no stocking, no nothing except helping customers.
How effectively and seriously all HD have taken this, I don’t know. I do know our store has been visited several times by senior management and passed the test of customer service well.
Honestly, I’ve always gotten good service at Home Depot. If I ask an employee where to find something, he walks me there and helps me find the item, and offers advice to help me make the best choice. They also cut wood to size for free, despite a sign saying there’s a charge after the first cut. Maybe this varies by store? I go to the one on North Avenue in Chicago. Other than receipt-checking, no complaints about that store.
This post made me feel the need to register to share my 2 cents. I’ve been going to a couple of Home Depots for many years, one is a newer location on Clinton and Roosevelt in Chicago near my place, and the other location is on Cicero Ave in Bedford Park, IL near my parents’. Every time I’ve gone and actually needed customer service, they have been absolutely outstanding.
One of my two examples- I was trying to replace a shower head a few months ago and accidentally snapped the pipe that led up from the tub that actually feeds the water into the shower head. I stopped into the Roosevelt/Clinton location and a store manager actually approached me once I reached the tubs/showers section, asking if I needed anything. I explained my situation and he immediately what I needed. Just as I had thought, they only sold these shower tubes/pipes in kits. Also, they only had ONE kit left. The manager asked me if the pipe was the only thing I needed, and I said yes. He proceeded to open the box, search for the one I needed, handed it to me and said “Good luck”. He walked me to the exit just in case someone thought I was trying to steal something. I was floored. I shook his hand and thanked him.
Another example, which actually happened just last night- if anyone is in the Chicago-area, you’re aware there was a ton of flooding yesterday. My mom’s house is near Midway Airport and her basement flooded for the first time in 15 years. Once we had the water down to a manageable level, we realized that one of the reasons this happened is because there was a ton of blockage in her basin. I ran to the Bedford Park Home Depot and went to the plumbing section. As always, there was a worker ready to assist. Up until yesterday, I had no clue what a basin scoop was. I explained to the worker what had happened and what we were trying to do. He led me right to what I needed, grabbed it and started explaining to me in detail how he makes his own, and how I should as well to save the money. Again, I was astounded. There was a worker who was giving me tips on how to DIY it so I didn’t have to purchase something from his store. I listened to the tutorial for future reference, but since I needed this immediately, I just bought it.
I do a lot of shopping, finding myself in many situations where I need customer service, and I also work in customer service for a software company. I can easily say that Home Depot consistently has hands down the best customer service I’ve ever experienced, with extremely knowledgeable and helpful employees. Kudos to them.
WOW. I was at my Home Depot In Orange County, CA a few weeks ago and the EXACT same thing happened. Guy greeted me at the front, I told him i needed a light bulb and he told me isle 4. So on my way to isle 4 I walk past another employee and I overhear on his radio the guy at the door telling him “The gentleman in the black shirt needs a replacement light bulb”. So this guy says you need a bulb, and walks me to the light bulb isle. I was shocked, never have I seen such great service at HD. I will probably be back.
Great NPH riding a unicorn, isn’t this how things are *supposed to be*? The one time, and this was probably 5 years ago, I was in there, I got what is probably great service. I went in looking for wooden lathe strips for winterizing my back porch (there’s only screens, no windows, so I was putting up some plastic so the snow doesn’t blow inside). The guy said they didn’t sell them, but they had small, thin pieces of wood placed between the larger pieces of lumber, and they gave them to me for free. I don’t shop there often, I rather go to a local chain hardware store, but that was a good experience.
I’ve been a customer of the same Van Nuys store for the past 20 years. At first the service was excellent, shelves were neatly stocked, everything was easy to find. Over the years, however, they started slipping to the point where it was almost impossible to find anyone to help with a question, let alone anyone who knows what they’re talking about. I need some light bulbs & furnace filters; think I’ll stop there on the way home tonight & see if things have really turned around.
Now if they would just hire enough checkout clerks, instead of pushing everyone to use those infuriating self-checkout lines.
I had been boycotting HD due to their unwillingness to sell me three major appliances over the phone when I was relocating (they wanted me to drive over 2 hours round trip to hand over my credit card while I was up to my eyeballs in cardboard). But I have to say, their CS has definately undergone some improvements. Sometimes Lowes just doesn’t have what I am looking for – and trust, their peeps can be just as condescending to a female do-it-yourselfer as any wannabe handyman at HD!
@rpm
I’m with you on the whole “leave me the fuck alone I’ll find it myself” vibe, but Home Depot should be in its own category when it comes to help and finding shit. That store is absolutely impossible to navigate. I always need something small, like furniture dowels, or marker flags, and I end up wandering around for 15 minutes before I finally give up and ask someone. More often then not, they will likely ignore me as they talk to co-workers. After a few minutes, they might point me to some other area of the store. I get to that area and wow, I still can’t find what I’m looking for. No employee in that area. Walk around for another 15 minutes. No employees anywhere! Half of the time I end up leaving without getting what I needed because I couldn’t get anyone to help me find it.
The past couple trips to Home Depot have included some very fine customer service. We had questions, the associates answered them correctly and oh-so nicely.
When not excessively busy or empty, i have consistantly experienced attentive staff that was either knowledgeable or had a can-do attitude.
i have yet to be asked for a receipt when leaving.
so overall HD gets a ‘would recommend’ to others status.
I have to say that the Home Depot near me (Mattoon, IL) is full of the nicest, most helpful employees ever. I am always saddened to read the HD horror stories on consumerist. It just makes me sad for people that have to experience that crap.
Nope. I got excellent service from the two home depots I visited for my current project. Good answers to questions, help from customer service and I got a big price match. The people in South Nashua went above and beyond.
Result:
$1100 in materials from HD
$325 from Lowe’s. (They had better tile)
The Lowe’s employees in Amherst NH were real spotty.
Pick up orders gone missing and some guys that really didn’t have it together.
Something to think about [instigatorblog.com] . Muat admit though I have noticed increased staffing on nights and weekends .
My home depot is also improving customer service, and we also have instituted better product knowledge training.
I like that, I had transferable knowledge, but needed the specifics on product line, areas I didn’t actually know in my department, and to be confident – I am advising the right way, so the customer can do their project well. And – I know the department to call if I don’t know or the question really belongs to them.
Transition is never totally smooth, but noticing that customers like it and really respond, they’re the main, and sometimes almost the only – reason I enjoy my job. I feel more supported that I can put that first with much support for it.