“You can do it. We can help!”
As long as you don’t want anything resembling true customer service.
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. – Ann-Marie
And, apparently, Ann-Marie isn’t the only one with this problem.
So, now HD has an unhappy customer who is telling everyone she can find about the problem. And, what do you think their brand is to those people? It sure isn’t a big orange box or “You can do it. We can help!”
It just doesn’t have to be this hard. For example, Home Depot could have cheerfully taken back those tiles. Behind the scenes, the stores could have a standard process where they donate returns on a regular schedule (say, when the amount of inventory reaches X amount of warehouse space) to a local Habitat for Humanity Restore. This would have made for a happy customer, a tax write-off, and some positive local press for the company.
(P.S. If you have one in your area – check out the Restore. I go to the one here on a regular basis – good prices and the employees are both friendly and helpful. And, whenever you buy there, you’re giving back to your community.)
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Home Depot’s return policy is just another example of a lack of common sense. What would it hurt to let a customer return product to a local retail outlet?
Also, with durable goods like carpet tiles, what would it hurt to take them back after 90 days?
Nothing really.
This is a sad example of a company not using its common sense.
Bud Bilanich
The Common Sense Guy
http://www.CommonSenseGuy.com
PS — I also agree that poor customer service is hard to cover up in tis day and age of the blogosphere….
Thanks – yes, it really does come down to common sense.
Just think – if Home Depot (and other Big Clueless Companies) took the money they spent on advertising and spent it building a great company inside and out – it’d be a whole different business world!
But they did build a nice aquarium in Atlanta.
Which I’m sure was greatly appreciated by the sharks and bottom feeders.
But seriously, folks – what if companies took the money they spend on “image” things like aquariums and spent it actually on the people they profess to care about – both employees and customers? Hmmmm…
Quick–name 3 companies that offer legendary customer service. Let’s see, Nordstrom’s, Ritz-Carlton Hotels, Southwest Airlines. Question: Do any of these three have a culture that would allow the above example to happen to them? Answer: Of course not. My point: HD has a product-focus, not a customer-focus. That hurts their bottom line. Somebody should tell them it takes 3-5 times more money to acquire a customer than to retain one.
Hey Home Depot! Do you remember Montgomery Wards? Braniff International Airways? Both were one time market leaders who are now long gone. While their lack of customer-focus was not the only reason they went out of business, focusing on their customers might have made them more agile in the market place and better able to survive a changing world.
[...] I’m still getting comments on Home Depot’s Real Problem. as well as You Can Do It. We Can Help. And, I get e-mails. Somebody needs to tell CEO Nardelli that the peasants are not happy. (There could be ropes and torches in his future. Here’s hoping he’s got better escape routes out of the castle than poor ol’ Dr. Frankenstein.) Here’s part of one e-mail: [...]
Home Depot throws out a multitude of fully functional products on a daily basis. Many of these items could be donated to the multitude of charaties that help build low cost homes.
As a DM for a vendor representative group, I have tried to “get the ball rolling” on this, only to meet up with a giant brick wall. I spoke with HD store managers, district managers and regional veep’s. Not one of them would lift a finger to do the right thing. I was even told that since they already received full credit for these items, they can’t get a tax break. For a company that says it is so dedicated to organizations like Habitat For Humanity, it amazes me that they would rather throw this stuff into the compactor. A lot of manufacturers do not take back merchandise once it has been discontinued. It is too costly for them to pay to have it shipped back, so they give the stores full credit for it and tell them to “destroy in field”. It is a sin to see what is being thrown out. It is a sin to think of all the charaties that could use most of these items, but Home Depot will not let it happen.
If anyone has seen the A&E show Biography that told the story of how Home Depot got to where they are today, you might remember how the first store had hundreds of empty boxes in the overheads. It gave the appearance that they had massive amounts of merchandise in the store, ready to fill the shelves when items sold out. All done for the sake of appearances.
The only time I have seen anything happen for Habitat For Humanity, was when Home Depot was able to get “good press” from it. Here again, all done for the sake of appearances.
Hey Bob, want to make a difference and have it mean something? Stop throwing out perfectly good merchandise and give it to Habitat For Humanity. Give it to any of the local charaties that can put it to good use. Don’t call the press or have a television new team there to bring the Home Depot name into the public eye. Do it because it is the right thing to do!
[...] Righhhttttt, Mr. Nardelli. Those big customers are acting so irrationally! Or, maybe, just maybe they’re pulling back due to the way they’re treated at the one-on-one human level. Based on the ongoing responses (here, here, and here) to my Home Depot posts, the biggest problem was/is lack of respect for people – all types of customers as well as the employees. [...]
[...] 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! [...]
[...] 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! [...]