Home Depot’s Real Problem
Notice: I’ve closed comments on this post as it’s become a Home Depot bash/support contest. If you want to continue to talk about Home Depot, there are a number of sites that focus on them - they’re just a google away.
Lately, much ado has been made about Home Depot’s treatment of its shareholders and its CEO’s compensation. The board was a no-show at the recent shareholders’ meeting; the CEO, Bob Nardelli, is making tons of dinero while the company continues to get hammered (sorry, couldn’t resist) by its competition, including Lowe’s. (Tom Peters actually predicts his pal Nardelli will never recover.)
Sure, the board seems totally clueless; Nardelli’s compensation is ridiculous; and the shareholders have every right to be miffed about the financials. But, I submit that Home Depot’s real problem is its stores. You know, the place where those little people customers give money to the company in return for goods. We don’t care how much the CEO gets paid when we’re looking for Celadon Green #345. And, we don’t want or need to know Nardelli’s “management philosophy” (He’s a big military groupie, hires a lot of Marines and Army types to run HQ and the stores. Now, I love a man in uniform, but that doesn’t help me find that green paint or an employee that can help me. HOOOAH, indeed.)
I recently visited Home Depot so I could use a gift card. Was all primed and ready to spend several hundreds of dollars (in addition to the $50 gift card) on paint, ceiling fans, and the like. Net-net, I didn’t spend a dime at Home Depot. I ended up going to Lowe’s and Samon’s. Why? Well, the Depot was dirty, cramped and cluttered. I couldn’t even find the aisle with the ceiling fans. The paint selection was far smaller than that of other stores. Nobody seemed interested in helping me and I don’t know that I blame them. The employees I did see (huddled around the end of aisles or at the checkout counter) looked terminally depressed. Overall, a dismal shopping experience.
I’d suggest Nardelli (and Wall Street) spend less time looking at numbers and more time looking at what actually makes those numbers. It’s the “simple stuff,” people. It’s the “little” sales that add up to billions. It’s the selection of paint, the looks on employees’ faces and the cleaniness of the stores that attract and keep customers. And such things aren’t handled in the board room or on a spreadsheet.
Me? The only reason I’ll go back to Home Depot is to use up that gift card - maybe I can even find something I need on the next trip!
Tags: Home Depot, marketing, marketing troubleshooting, customer service
View the Blog Roll
June 7th, 2006 at 10:17 am
You betcha - my experience exactly. I used to start at Home Depot, now I start at Lowes.
June 8th, 2006 at 10:30 am
I’ve not quite experienced that at my local Home Depot, but I can appreciate your take, Mary. One bad experience at a store is forgivable. Multiple bad experiences and you are written off. It’s a shame, too. So many companies. So much promise. Per the compensation issue, it is truly criminal what some of these so-called executives are paid. Ego does not make experience. Perks are not equal to product. And compensation does not create customers. The best leaders I’ve observed are those who humbly serve their companies. Great post - one every up-and-coming business should read.
June 11th, 2006 at 8:44 am
I once heard that “HOOOAH” stood for HUA - heard, understood, acknowledged. I wonder if anyone at Home Depot is “hearing”.
Nardelli’s crew seem as responsive as the zombies in my favorite zombie moive, Shaun of the Dead.
Is this because people are only interested in taking money out of the company? As you suggest Mary, that seems to be all some ARE doing.
Always good to read and be part of your conversation. Thanks for thnking out loud.
June 12th, 2006 at 11:17 pm
I’ll trade you a $40 Lowe’s gift card for yours.
June 13th, 2006 at 7:44 am
To tell the truth, I’m not all that thrilled with any of the big chain home improvement stores. I’d much prefer local hardware stores, with people who actually know the stock and can answer questions. However, most of those have been driven out of business by the big boxes. Samon’s - a local smaller chain - is the closest I’ve found in Albuquerque. And, they are very helpful, even though they have a smaller stock of products. Plus, the stock, while smaller, isn’t spread out all over creation and I can find things. (And, I don’t have to worry about being run over by some weekend DIYer with a load of lumber.)
As for the Depot, it’s the same problem that so many big corporations have - the folks at HQ live in a highly artificial environment. They’re cloistered in their offices reading spreadsheets and counting “heads” and “revenue per customer.” All with little thought to the fact those heads and those customers are living, breathing people.
Now, if I can just figure out why my new ceiling fan makes that whacka-whacka noise…
June 14th, 2006 at 10:00 pm
We had three hardware stores before Home Depot. Now we have one. But they survived because they also do auto parts. Go figure. But they’re still here. I miss the old one because they would sell you a single screw or bolt (which at 3:00 on a Saturday afternoon is all you ever needed). I now have a nice collection of different size screws and bolts with one missing from each package.
As for whacka-whacka, one of your blades is not balanced. They make little sticky weights to fix them, but I never did figure out where to put them. They’re now in the box with the screws and bolts.
June 22nd, 2006 at 1:36 pm
The Simple Things…
It’s been awhile since I’ve visited Mary Schmidt’s blog - and thanks to Tom’s post on Escalating Customers, I’m reminded of Ms. Schmidt again (and this time I’ll add her feed!). In a post titled Home Depot’s Real Problem, Mary……
July 13th, 2006 at 10:05 am
I work for Home Depot and the employees are tired of the way that they are being treated from Atlanta. Bob “The Thief” Nardelli has taken away all the bonus programs, the raises average 25 cents a year, yep can you believe that! The aisles are a mess and they keep sending more crap to the stores to help fill Bob’s fat wallet. Employees want to see Nardelli go as much as the next person. Home Depot says they care about their employees, because er are the ones who make the customers happy. Home Depot Corp could care less about the employees or the customers, its just about how much money they can make. Our store is a big mess and its not getting any better, they tell us just find a home for the new product and thats it. I agree with everyone that Lowes is kicking our butt and we deserve it!!!!! Home Depot needs to start by hiring more employees, they tell us they can not afford to, Sorry!!
July 27th, 2006 at 8:50 am
I was a JB hunt driver that delivered for home depot. I along with another hunt driver witnessed a great deal of racism and dishonesty at the Rockford, Il store. When complaints were made about the racism. We were gotten rid of. White store associates refered to Black and Hispanic employees as niggers and spics. This was often done in front managers. This is a company that will get what it deserves as people find out what’s really going on there.
August 7th, 2006 at 7:56 am
Do not contract the Home Depot to do any work. It has been over ten months since I signed my roofing contract. Home Depot has now installed three roofs and did over $1,000.00 to my gutter,siding,screens and ceiling. My ceiling was cracked on3-29-06 and still is not repaired. When Home Depot customers complain the Home Depot does not care. You can visit my web site at http://www.freewebs.com/myroof
Thank you
Don Wenzel
Oxford, Michigan
August 10th, 2006 at 10:12 pm
I used to be a store manager up until last year. I have heard everything that is written here, repeatedly. I finally had enough with this company in 2005. I was running a store that had made sales plan and bonused for 2 consecutive years. We got a new District Manager and he came in and started telling me and my staff that we didn’t know what we were doing. He told me I needed to clean house of some of my higher paid employees, and then I could replace them with lower paid ones. He killed the morale in my store within 30 days, then started blaming me for the store starting to be less than clean, and sales figures dropping, and customer service levels going down. I worked between 60-80 hours a week, every weekend, and he told me I needed to be there more and get it fixed or he would replace me. I dropped my apron and keys on the floor, thanked my team for a great 2 years, and walked out. I still keep in contact with several people that work there and it hasn’t changed. A customer complaint comes in and it is ignore it and see if it goes away, if not, give them a discount and see if they’ll go away, if not, see if someone else can deal with it.
August 18th, 2006 at 9:58 am
To add, has anyone ever tried to return something from Home Depot that was purchased online? Quite literally, it takes an act of god… We have been waiting for nearly a month to have UPS come out to take our items back for return processing.
Then we get a notice in the mail: UPS will not be picking the items up. Rather a no-name shipper and the notice said that the items need to be “Hand Delivered”, along with the shipping forms, to the person picking them up. “No Exceptions” (Really.. it said that…)
“Hand Delivered” .. Ok, so that means I have to take a day off work to meet this person. So.. now I need to schedule a time for them to come out, only when you call the number to a schedule a time, no one answers. No agents are there to take your call.
How flippin’ convenient!.. (For them anyway….)
August 19th, 2006 at 7:20 am
i presently work at home depot ,found out i was infectected with hep-c ,was told to seek employment elsewhere ,went off on medical leave to have welfare pay for my meds. went back after 2 years with cfs and other side effects . the dr. s reccomended and suddgested .and home depot said don’t care unless manulife sez it is true and medicals are void unless manulife again tells them ok to accept. mean while they are forcing me out . any one out there knows how to fight home depot let me know please god bless and thanks ps this is how home depot treats their employees when they have no more blood to bleed orange for them .bye for now
September 1st, 2006 at 7:28 am
I work for Home Depot, and I can attest to the bonuses and merits taken away. I caught an employee stealing and after i asked for the internal reward from my SM, he asked, “You think you should get paid extra for doing your job?”
HD has a program that offers rewards for finding things like this, but I was denied.
Also, Bob took away our Xmas bonus check and gave us a discount coupon.
wow.
Now I see why he has armed security when he does his town halls with the stores.
September 13th, 2006 at 6:22 pm
I have spent thousands of dollars at Home Depot, but will become a Lowes shopper as well. I decided to use a HD online coupon for free shipping and 10% off. I knew down the road I would need carpet tiles and rather than carrying everything myself, this seemed like a good option. As with most of us, our basement project took longer than expected, but we put the carpet down this past weekend. We had two boxes left over and tried to return them to the local HD. Well, that’s a no go. Apparently you can’t return items bought online to the local store (do you know of any other retailers who won’t let you do this???). On top of it, the online return policy turned out to be a maximum of 90 days. After that, no refund, no store credit. Just smack out of luck. This is just unbelievable to me. I have $200 worth of carpet tiles sitting here and won’t be able to get a penny back. What is that about customer service being the backbone of a successful retailer? HD, not so much.
September 18th, 2006 at 10:20 am
[…] My post, Home Depot’s Real Problem, is still getting comments – an indication of the deep unhappiness of both customers and employees. Most recently, the following comment was made just last week – which illustrates why it’s critical that your web site policy and procedures are integrated and consistent with brick and mortar operations. I have spent thousands of dollars at Home Depot, but will become a Lowes shopper as well. I decided to use a HD online coupon for free shipping and 10% off. I knew down the road I would need carpet tiles and rather than carrying everything myself, this seemed like a good option. As with most of us, our basement project took longer than expected, but we put the carpet down this past weekend. We had two boxes left over and tried to return them to the local HD. Well, that’s a no go. Apparently you can’t return items bought online to the local store (do you know of any other retailers who won’t let you do this???). On top of it, the online return policy turned out to be a maximum of 90 days. After that, no refund, no store credit. Just smack out of luck. This is just unbelievable to me. I have $200 worth of carpet tiles sitting here and won’t be able to get a penny back. What is that about customer service being the backbone of a successful retailer? HD, not so much. […]
September 19th, 2006 at 3:53 pm
Yes I am another recovering Home Depot employee. While at the store level, we do not praise pissing off customers, Bob Nardelli and his henchmen make it seem that way. I’ve been with HD since 1992 and it’s been going downhill since. I hope to leave (for the 2nd and final time) in October and I’ll wish them the best.
September 19th, 2006 at 7:13 pm
I’ve worked for two major coporations in the last two years, one being for Citi group, and the other Home Depot. Both places are horrible to work for, but at least Citi Group knows how to appease it’s employees, where Home Depot just keeps cutting benifits and pay. As you said the employees look depressed, and thats because they are. You can’t find one employee that still likes the job. Employee unhappiness=Customer unhappiness. Time for Bob to hit the sidewalk.
September 25th, 2006 at 10:26 am
Your comments on the company and the CEO are right on the mark. I work for THD and I can tell you nobody dislikes the way things are more than the employees. Personally, the only reason I’m still there is I lucked into a full-time position, which are rare around the area I live.
I have never worked for a company that seemed as cluless as Home Depot, both regarding employee relations and customer satisfaction. The folks living in corporate la-la land seem to think the company can rely on it’s past service to keep it going. Just from my experience as a customer before I was an employee, during the time before the advent of Bob Almighty, THD provided some pretty doggone good service.
Morale in the stores is at rock bottom. There was a time when, at least in my store, people really did try to give the customers the service they expect. Granted, there is no excuse for poor service, but if you’re miserable every minute you’re on the clock it’s extremely difficult not to let that affect the job you’re doing. Basically, the attitude any more is “just put in the time until I find something better”. And the first to go were the good ones…departments (at my store, anyway) used to be staffed by folks who knew something about what they were selling. These employees went on to the competition in many cases, who seemed happy to have them. Now, the few new hires that come in (all part-timers who usually don’t stay) spend a week having their heads filled with company propaganda, then spend a whole 2 to 3 hours training for their departments (at a computer terminal, no less, not out on the floor).
The company also appears to have no clue as to what actually sells in their stores. The overhead spaces are full of useless crap, and the aisles are cluttered with displays of products that nobody wants. Of course, you can take advantage of the special order program, but if you’re like me, you need what you need now - and they claim to be providing better service than ever!
Thanks for letting me vent a little.
September 28th, 2006 at 12:45 pm
I have been an employee with Home Depot since 1999 on a part time basis. The real problem with home Depot isn’t the number of employees hired but rather the quality of the employees. I work at the Prodesk and I can honestly say that of the 10 people, 8 are glorified cashiers. Not being a contractor nor a person who once knew much of home renovation. I took it upon myself to learn so that I can answer the questions of real contractors. The contractors desk is supposed to be a place where real contractors come and get quotes, drawings and house packages done. CUrrently, my prodesk has associates who run around all day with the scan guns ringing in customers who are already paying home depot. These assoicates needs to go out and get contractor business. But who can blame them, they know how useless they are. I myself, whould never work full time at home depot, I barely resist from punching all the people three days a week.
October 1st, 2006 at 9:46 pm
It seems most employees and customers have the same opinion. Maybe Nardelli has done some good but in my opinion the damage completely overshadows any progress. It appears he does not visit stores or listen to employee and/or customer feedback. Or maybe he’s just too full of himself to realize there are problems with his leadership or direction.
Contractors and DIY customers were the heart of this company and Nardelli has single handedly destroyed their confidence in the company. Anyone remember Arthur’s Army? For those of you that don’t it was a program that I think every store had. It was a professional/retired contractor that worked M-F in the MORNING so contractors and customers could actually find someone that knew something. These people were well worth their pay but it was too much for Nardelli to stomach. As a current customer you have to know what the hell you’re doing BEFORE you shop at HD because you sure won’t find the answer with any employee. The one that knows is either on stress leave, works over night or is in the training room taking his/her Nardelli mandated computer based training. Or has been promoted to assistant manager and is too busy responding to emails from his dist. mgr. to help.
I was a 13 year employee and an Ops. Mgr. when I decided the abuse and pay wasn’t worth it. This was two years ago and it’s still getting worse. I think most employees have lost confidence as well. Raises are horrible; HD is competing with Wal-Mart for starting pay and experience level. The stock price sucks, management options are used as a selling feature to accept a promotion but don’t hold any financial benefit. Bonuses are a thing of the past, and we’re not allowed to offer pay to attract anyone with knowledge. The management is being force fed Six-Sigma and “Metrics” and still I don’t think any of them can figure out how to get 40 hours of work out of 1 part time associate scheduled for 12 hours a week. But Bobby boy has done the math and says it’s possible. This company is so desperate for management; they’re promoting people that were seconds away from being fired as an hourly supervisor! Outside (management) hires come in thinking it’s a great place to work and are slammed with the sledgehammer of reality weeks after they start. Very few every stay and make a difference.
I could go on for hours but it won’t help. I do hope the company turns around and gives Nardelli the boot. I know there are employees and customers saying the same thing!
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:52 pm
I have worked at Home Depot for 4 years, was promoted to Department Head after six months of full time. I tried to make it a better place to work and shop but was met with resistance. I called Home Depots Alert line and reported the problems. There was a house cleaning, we are on our 3rd District Manager, 2nd Store Manager, 2nd Human Relations Manager and all 4 Assistant Managers have been replaced. The new managers have retaliated against me and are trying to drive me out. That tells me the problem is at the top. Bob Nardelli looks at the reports not the employees or customers. It’s all bean counter stuff.
Employees care and buy into the Home Depot retoric when first hired but soon learn the place is so dysfunctional that it’s not worth the effort. Employees can’t make up for mismanagement. They have even stooped to asking employees to make false statements about each other.
The only way to get Home Depots attention is stop shopping there. Until then Nardelli makes everyone look like a sucker.
October 8th, 2006 at 7:36 am
I have a small woodworking business and my biggest gripe about HD is; one their b/s that they don’t give contractor discounts because their prices are so low that they don’t need to, yeah right, but what really ticks me off the most is their site totally sucks, you can not find anything you need on it, they used to give free cd’s out at the pro desk to contractors to assist in estimating but discontued them saying their site has everything you need, that is a big lie, their site (even the contractor services section) doesn’t have crap the search engine is a total joke and what this means to me is when I need a price on something I have to drive up there costing me time and gas which in return costs my customers extra money. Unfortunately their is 2 home depots in my town and no Lowes so I am pretty much stuck.
Lastly, their lumber selection has gotten worse and worse, it is hard to find good straight boards at any of their stores that I have been to, it is hard to build good quality furniture with the crappy lumber they have.
October 19th, 2006 at 11:55 am
I just came from the local HD. The plants rarely had prices… but this is the big thing for me. Contractors tend to be men, so the male sales clerks are like magnets to the male customers. Females (like me) must be quibbling about there being no price on the African Violets.. so we are virtually invisible to the male clerks. I had a question about where the grow lights (all spectrum bulbs) were. The male clerks quickly turned to the male customers that just showed up, leaving me to have to go find someone that would tolerate my question.
Another thing. I purchased a tv a year ago at HD. The boxed tv was nearby, but a customer in that isle needed something up high. So the aisle was blocked off by a gate while the clerk (with my tv somewhere) went up on the cherry picker to get the next patron’s item. This takes a while. Apparently there was no other clerk to wheel out the tv or get the item for the next customer.
I just want to go in, buy something and go away. Why does it take so blasted long at HP? The clerks have some incentive to be prompt. As I recall, the discount for an employee is quite good. Are there just too few? Why don’t the clerks at the sevice counter call someone to help me rather than stand there and look patronizing? Why are the prices surprisingly higher when I get to the checkout stand?
I don’t like it. No, I just don’t like it.
October 19th, 2006 at 12:26 pm
My appologies to the staff. When I was offered a job years ago, the discount looked good. But after reading more comments, I realize that I was mistaken.
My heartfelt apologies.
As suggested, I can shop elsewhere… and it would be for the good of the clerks as well. Lowe’s is more or less ok so far.
To the Clerks, I’ve been there, working at places comparable. Breath. And save your sanity by finding something else even if you have to move or commute. Your mind is a terrible thing to waste.
November 6th, 2006 at 6:07 pm
I work as a district manager for a vendor servicing company inside the orange walls. I have been around for many years and quite frankly, I am disgusted with what has happened to Home Depot since Bob Nardelli took over.
To start with, he has abosolutely retail experience. His expertise is mainly in the area of cutting operating costs and padding his own wallet. How does he do this? The answer is simple. He cuts back on payroll dollars (which reduces the amount of customer service), he brings in inferior products under a Home Depot owned name (who wants to buy junk?), he takes away the incentives that the sales associates once enjoyed (which kills morale), he starts a program called ISSI (which increases the amount of work on the vendor rep groups), he brings in former military people (because he knows they will follow his orders) and he does whatever he can to get rid of anyone who does not agree with his insanity.
When Bob first came into the Home Depot organization, he was quoted as saying “The days of warehouse shopping are over.” this is very true. They are over because he is killing what was once a leader in the home improvement industry.
As a vendor, I am tired of having to take the blame for the condition of the stores. Vendor groups are breaking their butts trying to keep things looking good. It’s the associates who are letting things go to hell in a hand basket. Because of all the things that Nardelli has done to alienate them, the associates and management just dont care any more. Why should they? They are given pitiful starting wages, pitiful raises and increased workloads due to payroll cuts.
And now that he has killed their morale, he is doing the same thing to the vendor groups.
What Home Depot brass needs to do is get rid of this overpaid, under performing loser and return to “Old School Depot”. Bring back the electricians and plumbers that once worked in the stores. Bring back the retired contractors who knew what they were talking about. Get rid of the poorly trained kids who are just working in the store to get beer money for Friday night. I for one, have no confidence in getting information on how to install a thermostat from a kid who doesn’t even know what a thermostat is.
What Home Depot needs to do is not try to compete with Wal Mart. The average homeowner is walking into the store for home improvement items. They aren’t there to buy exercise equipment, home theater systems, large screen tv’s or pet food.
What Home Depot needs to do is get rid of Bob Nardelli and get someone in who knows what made this company what it once was. Personally, I could do a much better job than Bob has done. And I would do it for a lot less than what he is being paid.
November 28th, 2006 at 1:49 am
I work at the Prodesk and I can honestly say that of the 10 people, 8 are glorified cashiers. Not being a contractor nor a person who once knew much of home renovation. I took it upon myself to learn so that I can answer the questions of real contractors. The contractors desk is supposed to be a place where real contractors come and get quotes, drawings and house packages done.
December 1st, 2006 at 10:27 pm
I am a ISSI rep for home depot. I know all of the pain and troubles everyone has first hand, and I can tell you if I didn’t know what I needed to know, I certainly wouldn’t shop at The Home Depot. The stores are dirty. The staff is young, and untrained. All of the management at this point is either too busy or uncaring to help take care of anything.
I dont mean to sound defensive or anything, but it is NOT our job to help customers, but most of us do it if we can. We cannot operate the machinery, (electric lifts/ladders, reach truck/fork lifts, display machines [like the rug rollers or wire racks, etc.] and we DO have our own jobs to do. At that same point, we can almost always direct you to what you need, or the department at very least where it is… Especially the bathrooms.
Problem is the main store I service, last year this time had 275 people, 2/3s of which were working full time. Now the store is down to 175 (or less, hard to keep track) and they are cutting hours on the part timers from 32 to 24. This is a very common theme. Some departments have whole days with no people on the service floor, and alot of the time when the Department Head is on the floor, he is usually in meetings, of one sort or another. The best I can figure, is the bonuses the management recieve is growing, the profit margin is remaining, and the customers are sufferring.
The employees are miserable. My areas DH has been the DH for over a year and used to love his job, hes been with the company for around 4 years now as well… He and I were talking the other day, and he is at the point, he is thinking about joining the army to get out to THD. Scary thought isn’t it? That’s a true rock and hard-place thought there. Secondary point, as a vendor I make more than he does, and I am one of the lower paid vendors… Some of them grossly get over paid compared to store associates.
The long and the short of it is, we’re all in this together. If I run into you I hope I can help, because I sure do try, even if the people at the store dont.
December 3rd, 2006 at 11:37 am
I haven’t read anything so far, that I haven’t found to be true.
I’ve been a HD employee for just over 6 months. Just about 5 months too long.
When word of upper mgmnt visits arrive, I am reminded of college students rushing to clean up the carnage before the parents arrive for a visit. Doesn’t take a week for the trash, crowded isles and general lethargy to resume. Management is stealth. When customers ask to speak to managers it is rare to actually have them show up. Additionaly, if they must speak to a customer (because they are the only one’s with the authority to grant certain requests) the employee is chastised, often written up because management had to become involved.
Employee morale is horrible. The majority of the long-timers seem to have developed a general apathy. No sense in getting fired up about employee or customer injustice. Just a waste of time and energy.
Recent holiday pay was withheld from eligilbe employees who turned up on a “time variance report”. Policy states that an employee who has worked for 90 days is eligible for holiday pay if they “work their scheduled day before and their scheduled day after the holiday”. People who were late (more than 7 minutes) left early (same), took lunch at a time other then designated on the schedule were docked. We are not allowed overtime pay, if we stay late to help a customer, we must use the time before the end of the week. Gee, that means one might punch in late, leave early, or take a longer lunch. Some people were asked to leave early the day before Thanksgiving. “Business was slow” Guess which eployees didn’t get paid?
The employee route to the breakroom is filthy, the breakroom just as bad.
As far as customer service, those of us who truly want to help, often have as much trouble finding the product or manufacturer information as the customer.
Our description of special order products are sometimes incomplete, thus resulting in unpleasant surprises for all.
I feel bad for customer’s with legitimate complaints, they often don’t get the results they deserve. There doesn’t seem to be a consistant way to resolve customer’s issues. It seems that the louder the complaint, the crazier the request, the more the customer gets. I have seen expensive items replaced and compensation added, just so the customer won’t “go to corporate” with their complaint. I’ve seen obviously defective merchandise returned and full credit not given.
All in all I’d say the pleasure I have received from this job has been to see happy customers. (Many of whom have often thanked me profusly for “taking the time to help”) Funny, I thought that was my job.
Too bad management is able to mentally beat that concept out of most of the people who stay.
I’m not sticking around to see any more.
December 9th, 2006 at 7:31 pm
First for all of you ex employees you should be ashamed of yourselves one your all breaking a legally binding contract to not talk about homedepot inside info including benefits. Second what are you all talking about i am opening a new home depot in southern california and is perfect. While i am still puting in my hours at another store. I am sorry for those of you that have had a bad experience at home depot . Home depot makes everyone go through training and not just normal, heres this, heres that now go to work. But advanced product knowledge for the department they are in. Starting as a cashier you even recieve knowledge you would other wise not need. The customer service that i have recieved at all home depots is quite amazing never has there been better customer service People leave the store i work at smiling… And home depot has a wonderful return policy. Yesturday a customer came to a register with a non scanable upc items and we gave it to him so that he would not feel inconvienced. So maybe if you have a problem instead of just ranting about it write the company fell out serveys. Oh and rasism by any home depot employee including managament positions is automatic termenation
December 10th, 2006 at 9:38 am
Kia,
I’m glad you’re happy in your new position - and I hope it lasts - for y our and your customers’ sake.
Perhaps your experience is different because it’s a new location. Companies typically pull out the stops when they first open a store. As for the other comments (and my posts) - we are speaking to our own experiences. However, based on what also happens at their stockholder meetings and what others tell me, the company has some deep problems.
As for customer service you’ve received - you would seem to be an exception. And, have you indeed gone to all the Home Depot stores? Been to the ones in Albuquerque for example? And, have you gone more than once?
As for racism being “grounds” for automatic termination. We all know that policy is one thing - reality often quite another.
December 13th, 2006 at 8:29 pm
Hello all,
What is really wrong with the home depot. Well, I have been employed in the midwest for home depot for about 9 months now. I am only a lowly sales associate, but I have a pretty broad background in terms of work experience. Home depot is the second fortune 500 company I have worked for. UPS being the first. The experiences are like daylight and dark. No matter what anyone wants to think, competition and ever increasing consumer pressure for a bargain do take their toll on a companies bottom line. But UPS managed that issue with grace, and maintained an acceptable morale for the most part.
The Home Depot is flying blind. Many people are making a big deal of the compensation of the CEO. And I can agree with the original post, that salaries are not a customer concern. That the customer can only judge a business by the personal experiences that they have. And I can even go one better. Home depot is so large that there is no way possible that everyone who goes there can be made happy. That is just reality. But the compensation issue enters the picture because its clear and compelling evidence of an approach that is fundamentally wrong with american business. Bob was not a home depot employee. His other experience is largely irrelevant. CEO types are being traded like athletes. And every team in business is very different. Bob has a specific way of doing things, and it might be great to have a gentleman of his values as your CPA, but the impact his cold and unrefined approach to bean counting rather than leadership is having on the bottom line is mind numbing.
When the HD hires you, they tell you that something like 7 or 8 out of 10 people come to HD first when they need something. Given this statistic, Bob should feel personally responsible for the existence of serious competition. The fact is that if HD does its job well, no one will go anywhere else. But that is impossible when there are not enough employees to deal with the customers. Management ranges from apathetic to outright incompetent. Voicing concerns at the associate level is seen as being “negative”. But the company leaves someone like me little reason to be positive.
HD is the fastest growing retail chain in history. The achieved this by being about the customer. Money was not an object. This policy has been abandoned. You cant run a business that involves customer interaction like the HD by simply counting beans. The real problem at the HD is the CEO compensation. He is a bought accountant. A company of 345000 people should draw upon the talent inside its labor force, and not look elsewhere. How could a bean counter understand what the HD is about?
UPS is a similar company in terms of employee base. The CEO of UPS started his career unloading trucks, just like nearly every manager there. When he comes to a building to meet with employees, no matter what anyone may think of him, he commands that respect. He understands every single aspect of the business intimately. He has talked to customers, delivered packages, dealt with employees from hourly through the board. This breeds a different kind of mentality. This is leadership. The HD needs to find a moral man who can balance the need for financial metrics with the human aspect of doing business. This is not achieved by finding the guy who was payed the most at his last job and asking him to run your business too. Its done by looking inward, finding ambition, and rewarding it.
A man, or woman, who starts at the lot should not feel foolish for dreaming of being the CEO. Its about talent. And talent is found within all the stores of Home Depot. There are people there who really understand what it takes to make a really successful sales franchise. Why are they being choked when they are right?
My store has no lot person. So about 3 to 5 times each day, the sales staff is called outside to collect carts. When that happens, who helps the customers? Management says that they are not aloud to hire anyone else. But there are part time employees there that are getting only 4 hours a week.Tell me, what it not be smarter to give some of them a few more hours and keep the sales team on the floor answering questions?
That is the HD of today. The veterans there lament the name bob, my apologies to other namesakes.
Good day, and thanks for listening
December 13th, 2006 at 10:17 pm
Good evening!
Let’s talk Home Depot…it wont be a rah rah speech for Nardelli. Bob Nardelli is absolutely incapbale of leading any large scale corporation. This was known by the leaders of GE and hence he was not picked to follow in Jack Welch’s foot steps.
I was a mid-level manager in the Home Depot organization. I made an excellent wage, but had a terrible quality of life. Why? Because this is the environment that Nardelli fosters. Leadership begins at the top and the example flows downward. Nardelli has a theory that 90% of his life is dedicated to work. If 90% isnt enough, he cuts away at the 10% personal time. When I was a Manager, I was told they didn’t employ my family–therefore they didn’t care if I saw my family. I was told my priority was work. Unfortunately, we would be “forced” to work 60-100 hours a week and told if we didn’t-hand over our keys and leave! This was the mentality of the District Managers in our area.
Home Depot will continue to flounder and until real LEADERSHIP is hired at the top, improvements at the bottom, where the customers are, will not be observed on a company-wide basis.
Nardelli has now been able to push all of Bernie and Arthur’s (the founders) upper management out of Home Depot. In the mean time, he has hired individuals of questionable motive to fill these positions. Afterall, what happened to his VP of Operations that left his wife for a secretary in the HQ building? Bob helped him get promoted to CEO of one of America’s largest fitness chains. The upper management team employed under Bob’s regime lack the professional and personal traits needed to LEAD Home Depot.
The lack of execution at the store level is a direct mirror performance of the people leading the company. Save Home Depot–terminate Nardelli–find a successor who will work for the customers and the employees, not a multi-million dollar bonus.
Is Home Depot the next K-Mart?
December 15th, 2006 at 2:07 pm
I know a guy who worked for Home Depot, god employee, and they fired him on some trumped up charge. What a bunch of idiots! I didnt realize all this was so widespread.
Up to now I still have tended to favor HD over Lowes. I have been to both and I have preferred the HD because they tend to have better and more selection and lower prices (in my market Salt Lake City) than Lowes. Also this being Utah, people tend to be friendlier and more helpful anyway so I havent noticed a problem with the employees here.
December 18th, 2006 at 11:12 am
Please people, in the future research. The majority of the comments above are deriving from personal issues. Take out your personal feelings when writing and present facts.
Michael Lee, good job making sales plan for 2 consecutive years; however, reducing payroll is a reflection of your SCOP. You should know the drill and state the facts! A new district manager means a fresh set of eyes. Remember, you once had a fresh set of eyes when you first walked in the store!
Mary Schmidt, you should also know the drill. Every company small or large has to deal with a store or store with morale and cleanliness issues. As a journalist, you are incorporating a personal experience and in turn stating those, as a global issue within HD. You stated in your article, “He’s (Nardelli) a big military groupie, hires a lot of Marines and Army types to run HQ and the stores. Now, I love a man in uniform, but that doesn’t help me find that green paint or an employee that can help me. HOOOAH, indeed.†Is this fact or our opinion and if it is, this could also be taken out of text. Are you anti-military? Do you not back our troops and family members’ fighting oversees, because you know this is how journalism starts? Additionally, you stated, “I couldn’t even find the aisle with the ceiling fans.†Come on.
Facts vs. opinions vs. personal experiences vs. hearsay!
I credit you Mary, you sparked interest in a few people and those sparked mine.
That is your job as a journalist.
December 18th, 2006 at 1:15 pm
Bill,
1. This is not “research” - these are comments to a post on my blog.
2. Re “personal feelings” All business is, in fact, personal. And, the feelings of employees (past, present) are a key factor in a company delivering good service. If employees are unhappy, so will the customers be.
3. Re the military personnel staffing stores - the traditional military is hiearchical in nature and so must be (you can’t very well stop and “dialogue” and reach “consensus” when the enemy is coming over the hill.) However, this top-down, order-giving rigidity doesn’t work very well these days in business - particularly if you want motivatived service employees who feel empowered to help the customer without asking permission or filling out a form in triplicate.
And, I’m sorry, but this doesn’t make sense: “Are you anti-military? Do you not back our troops and family members’ fighting oversees, because you know this is how journalism starts?” What are you trying to say?
4. Re my inability to find the ceiling fans. Oh, I’m sure they’re there somewhere, but I have limited time and had other things to do. Not worth it to me to keep walking. I’ll just go to a store in which it’s easy to find things (and employees to help me.)
Lastly, I’m not a “journalist” - I’m a consultant writing on my blog which does include and welcome opinions. This does, however, bring up the ongoing discussion/debate about blogging and citizen journalism. The very nature of communications is changing and I think for the better.
December 19th, 2006 at 9:48 pm
Bill-
I have a military background and was hired through the Home Depot as part of a plan to revitalize a company, Home Depot, that was experiencing reducing quarterly profits, diminishing employee morale and a lack of innovation in an increasingly competitive retail enviorment.
I spent time reporting directly to multiple VP’s in Atlanta, including two Senior VP’s. I personally briefed Nardelli and his Executive staff on issues in the “big Board Room.” I was on the management teams in multiple stores outside of the Atlanta area and lived the life of an SSC person and a Store Manager.
Based on this experience, I find Nardelli’s approach to be ineffective and borderline ludicrous for managing The Home Depot. Additionally, I have relationships with people who have even served with Nardelli on some of President Bush’s committees. They are not “impressed” with his demeanor or ability.
Hiring former military officers is a GREAT idea–if they can adjust to civilian life. Unfortunately, many have not and have a hard time accepting that the employees they manage are not the property of Home Depot. Some have made the transition and provided GREAT leadership to HD. Unfortunately, the environment at HD is not conducive to long-term careers at HD for them-many times because less competent District Managers cannot accept the talent they bring to the company.
Nardelli’s approach would be better served in a process driven company-not a people driven company. His approach his “machine” driven-not people driven. His approach is driven for his bonus-not the people. What happened to profit sharing for employees? Why are there excess programs for Managers to execute when existing programs are not mastered? Who cares about “Orange Juice” and other programs when a clean store with shoppable aisles and friendly associates cannot be attained in the vast majority of stores? Where was Nardelli at the last Store Manager’s meeting?
Customers desire a quick, friendly, clean, effective shopping experience. This lacks in a large number of stores. Finding green paint, ceiling fans, plumbing fittings or even a helpful associate in a timely manner is important to the ever rushed, time-crunched customer. It’s time HD realizes this fact and embraces it.
This current lack of embracement is evident by the news today that Relational Investors desires to help HD fix its “chronic inferior stock performance” as a result of “deficient strategy, operations…governance.” Research this latest development.
Fix the Nardelli and Executive management issue and the problems will begin to be fixed at lower levels. It’s time for change…it’s time the customer has a voice besides “Voice of the Customer!”
December 29th, 2006 at 12:13 pm
Mary, good observations. Here is my personal experience with HD.
We ordered a door and they lost the order. We ordered a bathtub, and they couldn’t find it AFTER it was received. We ordered carpet, and two days AFTER it was suppose to be delivered they called to tell me it had been back ordered. It took 5 phone calls to get them to cancel the order. And they still billed me for the stuff. Then it took another 10 phone calls to get a credit. And we are still not done…they charged me a re-stocking fee even though they promised they wouldn’t!
I’ve called President’s [Nardelli’s] office, no return call. I’ve called The Dalles branch manager [Robert Tilton], no return call.
Buyer beware. Home Depot has gone from a good company to one that is terrible! And I think they deserve whatever the market brings them. For me, I’m out of Home Depot until someone decides to give a damn.
January 2nd, 2007 at 6:31 pm
My husband works for HD - full time - as an IM - his hours are 4am to 1pm M - F. He was told he had to work on New Year’s Day - but the big boss didn’t want to come in early to open up so - y’all don’t have to come in until 7AM. We return home from a family visit early so he can go to work on Monday. Works 7 - 4 Monday - goes in regular time on Tuesday - there’s a big note on the time clock “check your schedules” - he’s been told he’s taking this Thursday off without pay- he’ll still get paid 40 hours but we were counting on 48. No notice, no choice - but the Manager will make his numbers by cutting hours. It stinks. HD has a problem - employee morale is at an all time low - but for right now we’re insurance hostages. They advertise “holiday Pay” but its not holiday pay if you have to work and then they cut your hours. HOME DEPOT SUX
January 2nd, 2007 at 11:02 pm
I have worked part time for Home Depot for 10 years I have seen Home Depot move from a entrepreneurial company to a stock holder driven company. This January for the first time in 10 years my hours (and all of the part time employees) have been cut to zero hours for the last 3 weeks of the fiscal year (coincidence; I think not). We are told that it is comming from corporate and that is a nation wide effort on corporate’s part to cut hours. It appears to be a sinking ship.
January 3rd, 2007 at 6:39 pm
YES!!!!! The day has finally arrived. Bob, you should have been out a long time ago! Maybe now, Home Depot can return to what they once were! I for one, will not lose any sleep or cry over your resignation Bob. You did a lot to ruin a very good company. All in the name of padding your own wallet. Nice departing gifts. Ever think of how many knowledgeable people Home Depot could have hired with your severence package? Oh, I’m sorry. You never cared about the store associates before, why should you care now? I was in one of the stores when the news broke. Like magic, I saw smiles on the faces of those who have had to put up with all the garbage of the last 6 years. Like magic, morale started to climb. Today was a happy day indeed!
January 3rd, 2007 at 10:15 pm
I have been a Home Depot employee for 7 years. I am a Kitchen Designer and I love what I do. However, I tell my customers that I work for THEM, not Home Depot and will do whatever it takes for them to have a pleasant experience with the kitchen remodel. If I do a good job, H/D gets more customers, etc., etc.
My review and raise is due in March. I made $327,000 for Home Depot in 2006 and with luck my hourly rate will go up about $.35 per hour. That is one of the reasons that the associates look so discouraged. Bob Nardeli gets $210 million to leave and I get $.35 an hour to stay!!!!
Ronnie Hatley
January 7th, 2007 at 10:46 am
I guess any career is what you make it. I’ve read all the comments and I have also worked for HD for 13 years and have seen the good and definitely the bad. I am excited for the change sans Nardelli. In Canada, and particularly in our District on Vancouver Island it is different. We respect our employees, we give back to our communities and we try to serve the customer to the best of our abilities. Service overall is declining in all industries. look around. the goal is enjoy your job. if you don’t enjoy it…get out and try something new. Tks for the perspectives mary…quite an interesting site.
January 19th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
On 1/18/07 I went to the paint area to purchase paint. There were two sales assistants working the area. The one assisting me was mute and unable to communicate beyond a few grunts and had difficulty understanding all of my request. When I asked the other assistant Humberto for help he responded that he was “busy cleaning up and could not assist”, I then asked could he not simply answer my question wherein he reponded, while “cleaning” in the exact same area that I was in, that “he could not be in two places at once”. I then asked to speak with a manager and was told that I needed to go to Customer Service. At Customer Service Assistant Manager “Wendy” was paged. After waiting several minutes a person who looked like she might be employed by Home Depot passed by me. After several more minutes this person passed by me again and went to the Customer Service desk and spoke with the person who paged her. She then approached me, and without identifying herself, asked if I needed help. I responded by asking her had she not noticed me standing there when she first passed by. She stated that she had but she wanted to address the person who “said what they said to me before they left and did I still need help?” I told her yes that was why I was at Customer Service and that I would have expected her to acknowledge my presence before speaking to the attendent. She told me that she was now ready to help me. As we turned to walk toward the paint center she abruptly stopped and said “Wait I forgot something” and walked away to assist another customer waiting in Customer Service. At this point I went back to the initial person in Customer Service and stated that I wanted to see a Manager and not an Assistant Manager and was told that Wendy was the only Manager on duty. After another five minutes Wendy came back all smiles and said “I am ready to help you now”. This is my third time at this particular Home Depot and each time the customer service has been dismal.
January 22nd, 2007 at 6:20 pm
I started as a part-timer at a HD in Arizona in late 2000. Bobbie had just taken the helm. Not knowing any better I thought all the employee rumblings were typical frustrations we all experience with our jobs after time. I took it all with a grain of salt. I was there for about 6 months when I decided that my full-time gig was going to have to be good enough lest I fall on my face of exhaustion. There were things I could identify immediately that were operational problems throughout the entire HD network. I had operated my own business for a number of years and have studied business most of my life. Mary, you nailed it when you said the “simple stuff” and “little sales.” There is one common thread that interlaces all businesses regardless of size and that is CUSTOMER SERVICE! You can sell something as simple and common as Ice Cream out of a little retail space in a strip mall and be wildly successful. That is if you offer a good product at a good value with EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE. Customer service is so important that people will pay more for a product or service, go farther out of their way, and do so happily for great customer service. Home Depot was built on principle’s that included customer service, knowledgeable staff to assist the customer, and reasonable quality products at a reasonable price. As with any business, corporation, etc.. that grows to the size HD has will experience some pitfalls. Trying to manage a business with 1500+ retail outlets throughout the world is not a walk in the park. But something seemed to change when the Bobster hit the scene. Skilled and knowledgeable people were employees were becoming harder to find and harder to keep. One of the Bobmeister’s first “adjustments” to HD was to discontinue hiring “Full-Time” employees, or Associates as there are referred to. Not so much for the savings on paid benefits but to reduce the wages paid as well. Hey, even if you have a great amount of experience in a particular area, you’re just a part-timer and therefore must be paid as such. Thusly creating a frequent or higher attrition rate among employees. No overtime was the next disincentive Mr. B imposed. Well sort of no overtime. Managers would not hesitate to ask you to stay over your regular shift to help coverage, but you were ordered to come in late the next day or next several days to “cut” the overtime. Segway… staffing levels … if you do see an employee in HD, you’re lucky, they usually head the other direction in a big hurry as if they are hustling to do something important. Really they are probably trying to get away from you or headed to the “Break-Room” for the 5th or 6th time during their 4 hour shift!.
Next was the order processing. I worked in the “Special Service” department for a time and was overwhelmed at the number of mistakes made by so-called qualified sales associates in the special order process. Add that to the mistakes made at the vendor level, add that to the defective or broken merchandise ….. Holy cabinet doors Batman! Next the systems or methods within the organization itself. Stocking and Ordering of shelf products was a bit lackluster. There were “Over-Night” crews that brought the shipments into the store and used fork lifts to place them as high on the tower style racks as possible so that the day crews could come in, take the shrink-wrapped pallets back down (2 hours later), block off 3 or 4 isles and begin to stock the shelves. Is it just me or can anyone else think of a better way to do this????? How many times have you been in a HD and the very thing you came to get is in one of the several blocked isles. You get to stand there, and stand there, and stand there, and stand there …. ya know what I mean? Another thing a successful business needs is competent, trained, experienced leaders. I’ll tell you, that’s not something HD is overflowing with. There is literally no promotional training program for those interested in becoming supervisors, assistant managers, managers, DM’s or otherwise. At the store level it’s still a popularity contest. Either that or the manager looks for someone that can be easily manipulated or controlled. After these employees are disposable too. If Corporate HD ever made the decision to rectify these issues, even slowly and one by one, that would be the time for the competition to sweat. Home Depot is the most recognized and verbally stated name anywhere when talking about hardware stores. Getting rid of Nardelli is a very positive step in the right direction. The rest? guess we’ll have to wait and see. GBA
January 24th, 2007 at 8:18 am
About 3 years ago, Home Depot started this program called “In Store Service Initiative” or ISSI. This program was designed to raise the level of service that vendor rep groups provide to the stores. Lowes had the same program and after a period of time, they realized it was a failure. Shortly after Lowes stopped it, Home Depot started it. Hmmm, it makes one wonder why Home Depot would try a program that has already been proven to be a failure. The answer to this is a simple one. The almighty dollar.
In the past, manufacturers would pay a rep group to service their products. Under the ISSI program, the manufacturers now send this money to Home Depot. It is my understanding that Home Depot takes a percentage of the money that once went to the rep groups and then sends the rest to the group that was awarded the contract.
Many people lost their jobs because of ISSI. Manufacturers had to let people go. Vendor rep groups were put out of business. Salaries for the reps that were lucky enough to stay were reduced. Benefits such as personal time and holidays were reduced. Starting salaries for new reps were cut drastically.
Before the ISSI program started, manufacturers would pay rep groups to service their products. Servicing would include cleaning the displays, downstocking their items, placing information brochures (pop), providing Home Depot associates with product knowledge, processing defective / returned items so that the store received credit, and assist the customer in their buying decisions.
On average, a rep group would have 30 or so product lines to service. Under the ISSI program, a rep group is responsible for an entire department. Service schedules for each department class were devised and each rep was told how much time they could spend servicing a particular category. Rep groups have been told that this would free up Home Depot associates and allow them to concentrate on selling and customer service. The truth of the matter is that it gave them the opportunity to reduce the amount of associates and enable them to cut back on their payroll. While they will never admit it, Home Depot looked at this as an opportunity to get free work from a rep group and at the same time, get money for it.
I can tell you that no one with an ounce of brains will say that this program is a successful one. Manufacturers do not like the program at all. Their products do not receive the attention that was received before this program started. In fact, several manufacturers have decided to “self rep” again.
I have been in this business for well over ten years and while I looked at the program with open eyes and an open mind, I can say with certainty it does not work. I started my career as a merchandiser and worked my way up the ladder into a territory manager position. The company I work for was awarded the contract for the flooring department. This is one of the hardest, if not the hardest department to service. My company stresses that “set integrity” must be adheared to. This is not an easy thing to do when planograms change almost on a daily basis. If a new item arrives in a store, the overnight packdown team just throws it into a bay.
Additionally, if store management does not like the way a bay is set, they change it. We try to let them know that set integrity must be followed, but their attitude is “no one is going to tell me how to run my store”. So here we have one group that is held responsible for having the bays set properly and another group saying that they will have them set the way they see fit. Is it just me, or is there something really wrong with this picture? Home Depot Corporate has told the rep groups that they are responsible for maintaining these bays and keeping them set to planogram. Then they tell the stores to do whatever they have to do to get the product on the shelves. How on earth can they expect a program to work properly when they have no clear, set way of doing things? I have personally reset bays several times because the store decided they wanted to change it. This is so counter productive!
My company has also told us that we are responsible for not only what we do, but also for what the store does. It’s no wonder that work is not being done properly. We constantly have to go in and re-work bays because the store doesn’t like them and took it upon themselves to go against a planogram.
When we do a bay re-set, there are many times when product is removed and space has to be made for new product. There are countless times when the new merchandise is not available when a re-set is done. But, we are under extreme pressure to get the re-sets done, so we do what we have to do. When this happens, the reps and the store have to find a place to put the old product.
Keeping in mind that set integrity has to be followed and there is not a “home” for the old product, this puts us in a position where we can do one of two things. We can go against planogram and work the product back into the set or we can put it in the overheads where it doesn’t sell. If it is worked back into the set, it has to be re-labeled and it replaces an area where the new merchandise should go. This means that the new item(s) never get ordered and set integrity is compromised. If the items go into the overheads, it obviously becomes “dead stock” and it doesn’t sell.
Home Depot really needs to re-think this program. I have to think that instead of having a program that would pay dividends over a period of time, they wanted one that would pay the dividends immediately. Personally, they did not think about the long term benefits. They created a monster that is destroying the stores from the inside out. The reps in my territory are fed up. They are truly over worked and under paid. They do not have the pride they once had. They no longer feel like they are part of a family. They are held responsible for things that they have absolutely no control over. Everyone of them has told me that they are tired of “jumping through hoops”. Everyone of them has told me that they no longer feel appreciated for what they do. I know that not everyone is going to be happy with everything about their job. However, when everyone is telling me the same thing, I have to believe that there is a real problem. Sadly, when I bring these matters to the attention of my supervisors, they just brush it aside and pretend that everything is good.
I have been with this company for many years. It is a family owned business that once prided themselves on having a family oriented work atmosphere. This atmosphere just doesn’t exist anymore. There is no loyalty anymore. To make matters even worse, I have been told by my supervisors to lie to both my reps and Home Depot. I’m sorry, but I was raised to be a truthful person. I will not lie to anyone.
I can spend the rest of the day detailing how this company is going “down the tubes” just as fast as Home Depot is. But I have better things to do, such as prepare my resume and start looking for a career with a company that has a better work environment. I also know that there are many other people within my company that are doing this as well. It’s a shame that this is happening. Even more shamefull is the fact that all of this could have been avoided if people would have thought outside of the box (sound familliar Kathy?) and carefully considered what the long term affects would be. Instead, both my company and Home Depot have taken a “it is what it is” attitude (once again, sounds very familliar, doesn’t it Kathy?).
Once again, this program has to be looked at very carefully. If it is to work, many changes have to be made. The people who make the decisions have to listen to those who are “on the front lines” on a daily basis. They can not pretend that everything is going well. It isn’t going well at all. It’s time for everyone to take off their blinders and realize this.
February 2nd, 2007 at 10:20 pm
The real Home Depot is returning. I’m impressed by the direction that the new CEO, Frank Blake, is taking. He really understands that taking care of the Home Depot employees will lead to better experiences in the stores for the customers. He has revived the “Value Wheel” that defines the basic principals that Bernie and Arthur built the company on. He says that his job is to serve the associates who serve the customers. Just this week he fired Dennis Donovan the guy that engineered the store labor model for Nardelli that has been a disaster for customer service. He knows where the problems are and he’s moving fast to fix them.
He understands that the stores need refurbishing and has committed to spend money to make the stores cleaner and more shopable. New systems are being planned to improve merchandising and logistics to keep stores in stock through better forecasting and a faster supply chain.
I’ll admit that I’ve had bad shopping experiences at Home Depot but I’ve also had some really great shopping experiences as well. I’ve shopped at Lowes and I’ve been just a disappointed with their service. Things will continue to improve at Home Depot because the new CEO really understands that taking care of the associates and making happy customers is the top priority.
There is a bright future for Home Depot.
February 3rd, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Hmmm….something tells me Home Depot has a blogging strategy. It’d be less suspect if your name and Home Depot’s future weren’t one and the same.
February 6th, 2007 at 9:12 am
Well, the news keeps getting worse and worse for the vendor groups. Home Depot has told many groups to reduce their workforce. I knew from the start of the ISSI program that Home Depot was trying to have control over something without knowing what they were doing. ISSI was and still is a way for Depot to get money for nothing. Now that they realize that it is not going their way, they are asking many manufacturers to drop out of the program and return to the way things once were. This is a real shame because so many rep groups “sold their souls” to have contracts awarded to them. When ISSI first started, many rep groups were literally put out of business. Depot didn’t care then. Why should they care now? By asking manufacturers to return to the way it once was, it will no doubt put many rep groups in a position where they have to restructure themselves and hope that they will still have a business when the dust settles. This will mean that a lot of people will be unemployed. ISSI is a disaster. Store management does not like the program. The service reps do not like the program. It was nothing but an opportunity for Depot to get free work and at the same time, get a percentage of the money that would normally go to the rep groups. When I first started my career as a rep, the starting salary was around 30K annually. This amount has been reduced to about 25K. Managers once started at around 38K annually. This has been reduced to about 31K (if they are lucky). There is no such thing as a decent raise any more. As a Territory Manager, I can no longer give a well deserving rep anything more than a 25 cent per hour raise. This works out to a $10 per week raise. This doesn’t even cover the increase in gas prices! Reps once received a gas allowance, but not any more.
Home Depot has done a lot to ruin things over the years. They have put their nose where it does not belong. They have taken programs that have been total failures for other companies and have tried miserably to make it work for them.
Depot REALLY needs to go back to the way things were done when Bernie and Arthur were in charge. Believe me, I was there when Bernie and Arthur were at the helm and it was a better company back then.
February 7th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
I’ve often wondered why many people seem to have such disdain for Home Depot, but an extremely negative experience we had this past 7 months recently gave us new insight.
We had a dispute with a Home Depot landscape contractor for a project at our home back in June/July 2006, and here in February 2007 we’re still dealing with several isssues related to poor work quality, an ‘overcharge’, and what we consider to be deception on the part of both the contractor & Home Depot.
After filing a complaint with the official Home Depot consumer affairs office in July, we also reported to the FTC in November that we thought Home Depot’s advertising circulars, store employees, and webpage promises of ‘guaranteed customer satisfaction’ were false and misleading advertising. Our experience with their landscape contractor was nothing like the process detailed on the homedepot.com webpage explaining how their customer/ contractor interaction is supposed to work (I have printouts from the homedepot.com webpage showing the specifics, although I discovered in January that most of that language has now been removed from homedepot.com. )
If the work done at our house had been of acceptable quality, we likely would have been more receptive to compromise; but we are extremely upset to have spent thousands of dollars (& more than originally budgeted) and to have been left with such extremely poor quality work and no confidence that it can be fixed by the same people who already have failed to do so for more than 6 months.
I have sincerely attempted to avoid criticism of Home Depot, as my wife & I both have been very satisfied customers for almost 20 years & spent thousands of dollars at their stores. It makes me sad that this has turned into an adversarial relationship; however, with 20 years of trust destroyed in one business transaction & for a small disputed $ amount for Home Depot, it appears there is no longer a choice. There are many other negative experiences we documented with this particular contractor, although we’ve never even mentioned a significant # of those to Home Depot.
With all our very detailed notes (& digital photos of the poor quality work) made from each of our encounters with the contractor & his employees (and our subsequent interaction with our local Home Depot store and their zone managers), we have found there are numerous sites where an unhappy customer can post our still ongoing frustrations in attempting to resolve these issues.
Being retired, I do have lots of time to communicate with anyone who is interested in this company’s issues but really don’t wish to be a 20 year enemy of a company I used to admire; and it seems to me it would be better for both parties if we could come to an amicable resolution of these issues although I’m no longer hopeful that will happen. However, I currently am putting together a webpage which will contain all the specifics of our experience at http://robanders1.googlepages.com/
It will be our hope that any information we decide to publish might save other potential Home Depot customers from similar frustration and make something good come from such a negative experience.
February 9th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
In my opinion, home depot pays thier employees way too much. I am all for taking care of employees, but it would help if they worked for their money.
Experience not required. I really do not need to be snowed over with someone telling me they have been in construction for 20 years and in the next sentence talk about the high school they just graduated from. Looking for good old fashion help has gone out in most retail stores but it is surely missed.
Having registers close when lines are long is just shocking, do they make so much that a little overtime when needed is going to break the store. Does it take more experience for the cashier to run the register than the designer and floor person that is putting together a 50,000.00 kitchen that may or may not be done before the next century. (but they will make commission and be paid on time). Is the word exclusive to home depot (because they get to name it) suppose to impress me because most buyers have the same intelligence as the undereducated employees.
Yes old fashion, “take care of the customer” has really been lost in corporate gains.
February 20th, 2007 at 7:52 am
I have seen Home Depot go from a model of excellence to one of the worse over the last 20 years. Case and point, I was at the Home Depot in Greer, SC a year ago. I purchased $300 of floor covering. As I left the store, an employee followed me all the way to my car. He asked me if I had paid for the items in the cart. I was furious why I was asked in the first place. When I told him I had paid, he wanted to see a receipt. After reviewing the receipt, he walked off without a word. A complaint to the store manager made things worse. He said I had no cause for being upset and that I was overreacting. We have not shopped at any Home Depot since.
February 24th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
I live in a somewhat affluent neighborhood in Woodland Hills California where each block has crews building or improving various parts of homes along the street. We also have a Home Depot within minutes of our area. Theoretically, this store should be packed to the gills with my neighbors and construction workers, however a recent trip to my local HD proved me wrong. My story starts at about 8PM on a Friday night; as I walked into Home Depot I sensed a strange vibe. The store seemed empty while the first employee I saw stared at me with glazed over eyes as I mouthed a tepid hello. I had a fairly sizeable list of small items to buy so I was glad to see the store was open until 10PM. I grabbed a cart and started shopping, within minutes I hit paydirt as I came upon the light bulb section. The prices are fair, so I grabbed my items and continued my trek.
I won’t bore you with the rest of the items I was buying however I was a little frustrated at the lack of signs indicating what each isle contained. Of course they have their giant over head signs telling you this section is “Plumbing”, “Hardware”, etc.. but I wondered why they didn’t copy the major grocery stores way of breaking down the big sections with subsection signs. Without better road marks, shoppers tend to wonder. Do you think HD does this on purpose to create more impulse buys? Anyways, as I said earlier, the store was pretty empty but I did see a couple of employees keeping busy. As a matter of fact one guy actually came up to me and asked if I needed help. He knew where everything I needed was and actually offered his opinon on product value. I asked him why the store was so empty and he indicated it was an ongoing problem. Anyways, I loaded my cart and proceeded to check out. I expected at least a couple of cashiers to be waiting and I thought I’d be done lickity split. Oh well, best laid plans! Not a cashiering station was open, only the self checkout.
Now I understand that firms want to save money on costs and employees are your biggest cost when running a large company, however making us do self checkout versus having a choice is not acceptable. A few people ahead of me had problems with the self checkout machine and dropped their goods and left mumbling four letter words. The worst part was the people with me in line were all complaining and I sensed a mini riot about to happen. While this was going on, a few useless employees stood around with more blank stares. Not one made a move to pacify us or call a manager to help quell the growing disgust from the people waiting to give HD our money. As a matter of fact, I didn’t see anyone who resembled a manager anywhere in site. My guess was he or she was hiding, afraid to fact the small crowd of unhappy shoppers. When it was my turn to check out, another unhappy employee decided to open up a register and beckoned me over her way. I presented my items for check out while the lady behind me started complaining to my cashier. She asked why don’t you hire more people etc… The unbeliveable response from the cashier was, “nobobdy wants to work here!” Our area is filled with schools. I guarantee you that HD could fill as many spots as they wanted to with the available labor pool in our area. As I handed the cashier my card she asked debit or credit, I said, “it’s a debit card”, and she responded are you sure? I wanted to say, “No I’m guessing, but I kept my cool and repeated, yes it’s a debit card.” Anyways, the last straw that made me post to this blog was her comment when she handed me my receipt. It wasn’t thank you, have a good night, or any other pleasantry that customer service people should be taught. It was, here you go! At that point I should have asked for a manager to provide a little consulting on how to improve his stores performance and enable him or her to keep their job. However, from the lack of employee care (except for the guy who helped me in the aisles), to the invisibility of anyone who resembled a manager, I figured this store was in trouble and I’d better get home and enjoy life unlike my friends at the local Home Depot.
To recap; I understand that stores won’t have a full staff on a Friday night, however I do believe that managers need to teach their employees how to take action when they sense problems. We have a local Loews but AMEX doesn’t offer gift cards to Loews, so I’m stuck with this Home Depot and their employees bad attitude.
March 14th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
[…] Here’s what Home Depot wants to do - improve its operations in order to drive better cash flow through its supply chain. But is that Home Depot’s problem? Like I have said before, I have not done a comprehensive survey of customer attitudes to Home Depot. So I do the next best thing i.e. stick my thumb in the air and ascertain the direction of the wind. And which way does that blow? 1. Home Depot’s Real Problem Here’s what she recounted as her Home Depot experience: I recently visited Home Depot so I could use a gift card. Was all primed and ready to spend several hundreds of dollars (in addition to the $50 gift card) on paint, ceiling fans, and the like. Net-net, I didn’t spend a dime at Home Depot. I ended up going to Lowe’s and Samon’s. Why? Well, the Depot was dirty, cramped and cluttered. I couldn’t even find the aisle with the ceiling fans. The paint selection was far smaller than that of other stores. Nobody seemed interested in helping me and I don’t know that I blame them. The employees I did see (huddled around the end of aisles or at the checkout counter) looked terminally depressed. Overall, a dismal shopping experience. […]
March 27th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
Man talk about company bashing. Geesh. Hate to say this folks but I have experienced lousy customer service almost everywhere I go to attempt to alleviate the burden of hard earned Grants and Washingtons weighing down my stride. Costumer service is what people are looking for, do they recieve it? What happens when you have a problem with your PC and call tech support? You get half broken English from Calcutta or somewhere in the Philipines.
I am stay at home papa after 12 years, combined agreement it was my turn to raise a future customer service associate. How about the last time you went to your car insurance provider to see the actuall agent and the gals at the counter tell you they are in meeting and your can hear someone talking about their golf game? In my former life I was a an ASE certified master auto tech and what I did peoples lives relied on it. Customer service is not something that can be taught. It is part empathy, part humility with a smidgen of knowledge and a portion of humanity and a majority of pride. I have seen some of the most atroshish service from contractors.
To them taking your money for service is like they are doing you a favor. I myself take pride in what I do. I have worked for lousy wages, no benies and mega over time. It sucks because the folks with the so called good paying jobs look down on the lil folk. I can name numerous national and global chains that are totally lacking in any type of customer service and the first issue adapted industry wide is the tele-rep auto mation system. When is the last time you got to speak with a warm body other than needing to pay a bill? Even then at times it’s the computer.
Recently I went back to school to earn a BS degree and I can atest to the total lack of mastery of the ability to communicate affectively, even at the University level. This is a problem. If a person them selves can not utter more than a completed mutterance of 2-3 words formatting in a reply customer service will be non-existant regardless of the mastery of other skills. If they can’t speak they are deemed rude. However ignorance is not an excuse. We are all ignorant in our own faults and to various applicalbe ineptitudes.
What type of person would I prefer to speak with at a hardware store? Interesting proposal. One that makes the visit seem to be on a personal level? Or perhaps with one who addresses me as a total incompatent by exasberating me with their limitless knowledge? Returning to school was something I decided in hopeful persiut of a new carrer path. Will that happen? I don’t know. What would a perspective employer be more concerned with? My previous years of automotive knowledge or my 4.0 GPA?
I am trying to change my direction in life and where that direction leads I have no foresight. However after applying, online even, with a fairly new company in our little corner of this marble they called me a short time later. They didn’t center on the recent going on 12 years lack of employment. I have worked for both large companies and small and yes even owned my own place. The common fact is people are smarter today, They know what they want and they want it now and they want for the absolute lowest price going, even if that price was one 3 months back and a sale to boot. They want that price.
At any rate returning to the work force will be a journey and where that journey goes I have no idea. Lousy hours, lousy pay, more work for less money and less time to do it, no benefits dealing with rude arrogant people part of the job. Makes me wonder if they are like that at their place of employment? Now to the best part of all. The place that called me was HD and I welcome the oppurtunity to go back to work. After all who would hire a soon to graduate Magna Cum Laude, former grease monkey, father of three into a good paying rewarding position with a key to the executive head? Remember when you bash customer service think of how you are to the people where you work.
June 6th, 2007 at 7:29 am
[…] No, not mine – Home Depot’s. My past Home Depot posts (here, here and here) really hit a nerve. People hate that place with the heat of a thousand suns – and that’s the employees! […]