Home Depot Inc. Standing in the way of Customer Service

Who doesn't love Home Depot?  They carry everything you could possibly need for your home, and at great prices.  Well, I guess your local hardware store owner, or nursery proprietor may not be a fan.  But other than the people they have put out of business (hey, it's just business, right?), could you not like the Orange Giant?

It's really not that difficult.  A company can provide all of the best products, with the lowest prices in town.  If their service lacks, all the rest doesn't matter.  The poor service is not even due to the employees with whom you deal.  In fact, in my case, the employees have been very helpful.  The company created a divided organizational structure that has made it extrememly difficult for the left hand to communicate with the right hand, causing all sorts of badness.  Here's my story so far...

For Father's Day, my brother, sister and I decided to buy my Dad a new grill.  His old one is at least a couple of decades old, and clearly over the hill.  It's a cast iron monster, with a natural gas line and a cast iron grilling surface.  We included him in the shopping to ensure that we were buying something to his liking.  His only requirements were a natural gas model and a cast iron grilling surfact.  Turns out those two things are not very common.  Most new barbecues come with propane tanks and stainless steel grills.

We tried Costco and Sam's Club, but most of their models were gargantuan smokers and built in replacements.  We found a great selection at Home Depot, and the prices were good.  No surprise, that is HD's strong point.  We purchase the Weber Genesis Silver B, Natural Gas Model.  The grilling surface is a porcelain coated cast iron, which isn't exactly what my Dad wanted, but we decided to give it a try.  We can always spring for the true cast iron grill if he didn't like it.  We got lucky, they have a 10% off all barbecues Father's Day sale.  They even offer free assembly.  They would put the thing together on Monday, and we could take my Dad's truck Monday evening to pick it up.

We went home, happy with our purchase.

Until I received a call a few hours later.

"I'm sorry, but the item you purchased is not available through the store."  -HD Employee

"That's okay, if you have to order it, we're not in a hurry.  How long will it take, a couple of weeks?"  -Me

"I'm sorry, I wasn't clear.  It is an internet only item.  We can't even order it to be shipped to the store.  You have to go to homedepot.com in order to make the purchase."  -HD Employee

Now, I'm at my parents' house, where no computer resides, let alone internet access.  So, this is something that I will have to do later.  In the meantime...

"Okay, but will I still get my 10% off, and what about the assembly?  Also, do I need to go back into the store to have my previous purchase refunded?"  -Me

Gets a manager to deal with these higher authority questions.

"The 10% offer is only for in store items.  But when you receive the item, bring the paperwork in, and I will do a 'return and repurchase' with a 10% discount.  Also, we cannot provide assembly unless you want to lug the thing from your home to the store and back again.  So, there is a $35 assembly concession that I can refund to you."  -HD Manager

So far this manager is handling things beautifully, although the whole experience is still pretty annoying.  There is a corporate veil that separates the stores and the internet.  The offers are different, the order codes are different, and the inventory is different.  They are like two different companies.  This is not the manager's fault, and he has done everything that he can to make up for the inconvenience.

I go online to order the grill.  One the home page, it says, right up top, "Free Shipping on online orders over $49"  This is a $500 grill, so I figure I'm okay.

I "add to cart" and go to checkout.  The shipping charge of $89.40 does not go away.  I figured it was like Amazon, where I had the wrong shipping option selected or something.  But after a couple of minutes of looking I couldn't find an option.  I called the number on screen, which was the homedepot.com service line.  You can imagine the mess this was.  It asked me options, I pressed buttons, all the while just trying to get a human.  The last thing I know, it says, "blah, blah, blah.  Goodbye."

What the heck?  An automated phone system should never decide when the call is over.  That is ALWAYS the customer's decision!  So, I call again, and receive an automated voice which gives me another number to call for client care, and again, "Goodbye.  [click]"

I call the second number, and upon explaining that it is a homedepot.com related issue he says, "oh, let me give you that number," and gives me the number that I had previously called.  I explain that I just called that number and insist that he gets someone from there on the line for me.  He says, "I'm sorry sir, but it may take up to five minutes to get someone on the line, and I am not authorized to stay on the line with you that long."

Completely unacceptable.  This is another example of a company which has created policies over service.  They have literally made it difficult for their people to provide excellent service.  Have you ever called Southwest?  A person answers.  Every time.  If you ask about Rapid Rewards, flight plans, reservations, lost luggage, it doesn't matter.  They will help you.  Not Home Depot.

So, I discovered that the barbecue does not qualify for free shipping.  I called the Home Depot manager, who agreed to also refund the shipping charge.

The bottom line here is that the employees that I dealt with were all very helpful, but they were constrained by the limiting policies, and divided corporate structure put into place by Home Depot Inc.

Comments

[financial freedumb]

Yeah, I hate how companies treat their online store and their brick and mortars like two completely separate entities. I think some places are getting better at it like best buy and circuit city. Sports authority has some good grills too btw. Glad you got everything straightened out.

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