Ever use Home Depot online purchase?

[_RaT_]

I did and how I wish I had not. I have seen ads here bashing Home Depot for their store service, I have not had that problem at the stores mostly because I never need their help. I ordered a kitchen faucet via a promotion that is the wrong finish (pearl nickel instead of stainless). I immediately called, waited for 27 minutes and gave up. I called again, waited 35 minutes and talked to them, they will have UPS pick it up in 7 days, it's been 2 weeks. I called this morning, same familiar voice "due to extremely high call volume, you can expect to wait between 30 to 40 minutes, we are aware of this problem and are working to correct it" On top of that, they play the Home Depot happy jingle music the whole time your on hold. I no longer care for the song and will never use the mail order at Home Depot again, its just way to hard to get through.

 

[RobertN]

What about Slakey Bros. in Sacramento. They should get anything you want.

 

[_RaT_]

What about Slakey Bros. in Sacramento. They should get anything you want.

Robert, its a simple Delta faucet, no big deal, but I simply got a e-coupon for dollar amount off any purchase or maybe it was a % off thing at Home Depot online, can't remember so I did it. No problem since I could do it all on my computer. But the return requires human interaction and that is where the whole thing falls apart. I don't do well on HOLD.

 

[hazmat]

Some companies just don't get it. My biggest takeaway from the book "Inside the Magic Kindom" (about how the business of Disney works) was a company is compared to every other company that the customer deals with, whether they are a direct competitor or not.

LL Bean & more recently Amazon have been setting the standard for mail order (now ecommerce). I measure everyone else to against them. For example I ordered a bunch of stuff from Performance Bike online. I was reviewing my receipt email w/i 5 minutes of placing the order. Realized I forgot to add a $75 item. Called to get it added to the order so that I wouldn't have to pay shipping again - Service rep said they couldn't edit the order. I actually thought they were kidding. After getting off the phone I realized I should have asked if they could cancel the whole order...

If Amazon carries it, I'll buy it there verses any other store/web site. The couple issues I've had have been resolved in hours via email - no phone call required.

Off soap box now.

 

[gordon21]

They also lie about ship times. Items ordered for 3-4 day delivery were still MIA after 10 days. Check your bill to make sure the freight is what they quoted also.

 

[Bird]

I've spent a fair amount of money at Home Depot, but never ordered anything online, and maybe I won't. One of my brothers ordered a wood burning barbecue from Home Depot in mid-May, expecting to have it for a party Memorial Day. He sent me several e-mails about the problems he had with them, such as getting an e-mail that it had been shipped, but no tracking number, calling them, being on hold "1 hour, 27 minutes, and 39 seconds" once and over 55 minutes another time. And it didn't arrive in time for Memorial Day, but did arrive in time for July 4. He was furious with them, made lots of phone calls and sent e-mails, but eventually got over his mad when they apologized and sent him a $25 gift card.

 

[Licklog]

You guys got me thinking about on-line returns. I prefer Home Depot over Lowe's for store service (there really is no service in Lowe's) but the previous writers are correct about Home Depot on-line. The prices and delivery are top notch but returns are very difficult.

I ordered 6 outdoor ceiling fans on line and when installing there was a bracket broken on one fan. Going back on line I could no longer find the SKU or UPC number. Calling them, they couldn't find it either. The stores wouldn't take it back or exchange it.

The timely solution. Buy one from the store, exchange the part, and ship the remaining fan back to the on line store for a refund. Tedious and exasperating.

It is interesting to me that on eBay or Amazon the sellers get rated on their service and it is rare that you cannot contact somebody quickly and return/exchange a faulty purchase but the Big Box stores don't seem to have learned that they need to have customer service for their online stores.

 

[CurlyDave]

I used them to buy a Generac 15000 Watt generator and am very happy with the service.

Their price was $1995, including free delivery. The least I could find it elsewhere was ~$2400, supposedly with "free delivery", but when you looked at the fine print it was $150 extra for lift gate service and $100 more for delivery in CA or OR.

When I ordered it online, just before I checked out, I opened a new browser window and did a Google search for "Home Depot promotion" and got a code good for 10% off the entire order.

Under $1800 for that generator was a steal. And the delivery came right on time.

 

[_RaT_]

Dave, I wonder if the experience would be the same if you had to return it for some reason. Had the faucet been correct the first time, I would have given them an A maybe A+. It wasn't until I needed to return the item that I become less of an advocate of HD's online ordering. You will wait at least 30 minutes listening to the HD jingle.

 

[CurlyDave]

I wonder if the experience would be the same if you had to return it for some reason.

I doubt it would have been the same and I suspect I would have been not so satisfied.

OTOH, I knew from the start it would be difficult to screw up the color or the finish on a generator.

And, I paid with a credit card. If I got tired of waiting for them to answer the phone I have two alternate choices. 1. Take it back to a real store, with the paperwork -- this is actually more time consuming than waiting for them to answer the phone. 2. Write them a registered letter, save a copy and dispute the charge on my CC bill. This is a much more viable choice than most people think. The CC company is required by law to suspend the charge until it has made a good faith effort to resolve a dispute, and if I worded a letter properly I could easily get them to write back with the correct address & procedure to send back the bad item. If they don't the credit card company can't charge you for the item.

Sure, it would be a PITA, but I ordered something that was high enough value so I would take my chances with the return process.

You will wait at least 30 minutes listening to the HD jingle.

This is why I have both a speaker phone, and a cordless handset. I call up and can do something else while I am on hold. I agree, waiting on hold sucks. But Home Depot is not the only place that knows how to keep you on hold for a long time. As far as I can tell, the CA DMV is unsurpassed in this department. Not having to sit in one place and hold the phone to my ear takes a lot of the frustration out of long hold times.