The ouster of Home Depot’s Chief Executive, Robert L. Nardelli, and his replacement with Frank Blake, has brought a new sense of customer service and the end of some executive perks, so an article in the NY Times explains.
My own experience with Home Depot is mixed. They are the biggest store around, in many locations, so they are unavoidable when you need lumber, gardening tools, paint, lighting. Or maybe they are not. One could get much better service at OSH, which is friendlier and smaller.
Home Depot has instituted, for the past couple of years, something called, “self-service checkout”. This is a way for the customer to check himself out, by scanning products and acting as the cashier. It is perhaps the biggest time waster I’ve encountered. Idiotically, it still takes a human being on a podium to direct every transaction by telling each customer how to work the incomprehensible scanners. How is this saving Home Depot money? Is it wise for HD to alienate customers with this foolish system?
Aside from the fact that the stores are dusty and ugly, (compared to Lowe’s) there is rarely an employee around to help find things. Practically every visit to the store means hours of wasted time waiting for help and then either standing in line to check-out or the above mentioned self-service torture device.
And there is some racism in the different Home Depot stores. At Roscoe and Woodley, they check your receipt as you leave the store. In whiter Woodland Hills, they do not. Are there no shoplifters in Woodland Hills?
Home Depot, like Ford and Sears, forgot that the customer comes first.
Here in Van Nuys 
I totally understand how Don was upset, but I think that its hardly fair to take your anger out on 1500 stores and considerably more employees over the problem with one store and one employee. As far as the warranty it should have been simple enough to go to the store for a refund, and calling in a report on the situation could possibly remedy the problem with the cashier.
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AVOID the Hollywood, CA Home Depot at all costs! Besides the crappy experience, when I got home I realized the cashier SCAMMED the fuck out of me! For two items, a drill and fridge, I was automatically charged for a warranty that I didn’t request, nor asked of I wanted. Then the stupid bitch charged me for 3 rolls of tape instead of the 2 I actually bought, scamming another $4.09. Fucking Home Depot can burn along with all the employees, watch out for these scam artists!
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The Home Depot in Hollywood is simply incredible. The parking especially is … well, let’s just say that I’m so used to bad parking in Hollywood, I want to go to Home Depot and browse just so I don’t have that stress. Two levels of parking!
Unfortunately, I ran into the same difficulty you did with the self-checkout. It’s not faster at all, and it only makes me resentful of this obvious “cost-cutting” device (if that even is true). There’s rarely a wandering employee to be found (how can the entire garden section be unattended?).
But when it comes to checking your receipt, I think that has to do more with the individual management style of each location than with racism. Hollywood is full of junkies and vagrants and plenty of seedy characters, but I’ve never had my receipt checked at that location. (Then again, I’m a white female, so maybe other people have had a different experience.)
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OSH will not cut lumber for you.
That’s pretty bad customer service.
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I don’t think the comparison of HD and Lowes is a very good one – they target different (though overlapping) markets. HD really caters to the contractor and serious DYI crowd, and all that dust, that’s from the lumber yard side. You can’t carry that much lumber and not create dust. I wouldn’t characterize the stores as dusty and ugly, but utilitarian.
Lowes on the other hand has a much more retail feel. They may have a a better selection on fit and finish type things, but if you had to build a house, HD would probably offer a better selection.
As for the self-checkout, I’ve never had a problem at the HD north of the RR tracks – always quick and easy.
And as for racism – it probably has more to do with relative crime rates. Have you also noticed that every gas station that takes credit cards at the pump in Van Nuys (not many) also asks for zip code verification? It probably has to do with the higher rate of use of stolen credit cards in Van Nuys than other places.
Mike
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The new Burbank location just off the I-5 Fwy is very new, very nice, and seldom has many customers. Been open around 9-10 months. On Flower near Allen.
Much better than the Roscoe unit, which is waaaaay too busy. The one on Van Nuys Blvd. north of the RR tracks/Saticoy is even better.
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