The Massive Lowes fail, flipped into a Home Depot major success story.

[Hermann]

So yesterday (Sat) Karen and I went to Home Depot, to get the stuff she wanted from Lowes who didn't want her money. We walk in to the lumber area which is near the Pro Dept. A young lady who was supervising the self checkout asked if we needed help. We told her we needed some boards and to have them cut. She said to go half way down the Aisle 27, and she would call someone.

In about 2-3 min we were greeted by a nice young man who said, good afternoon I am helping someone at the moment and will be back in 5 minutes. He was back in 2-3 min. We placed our order and in 15 minutes we had our lumber. Initially we were just going to place an order for later pickup. He said I can have it done in 15 minutes. That gave Karen a chance to pick up other things she needed for her project. The nice young man who cut the wood also took our payment and loaded it in the truck for us.

This occurred at 4pm on a Sat afternoon. Such a refreshing experience. Hey Lowes you can do this.

 

[Owen Lucas]

I don't think your experience reflects a difference Lowes vs Home Depot, it's just chance. An individual store can have a bad manager that ruins employee moral or hires anyone but overall I don't think it reflects the culture of either business.

I've had good and bad service from both stores and I am not 100% loyal to either. I do prefer Lowes because their stores are cleaner with sealed concrete floors and their random clearance items are worth going hunting for when I feel like a stroll. HD is great too but whatever is closer on that days errands route fits the bill.

 

[CKN]

The thread that keeps on giving........

 

[skyactiv]

In reality, I'm surprised stores like Lowes, Home Depot and Menards still cut lumber. Are they using saws that lock up when it hits skin? What does it cost if an employee cuts his/her hand off?

 

[4WD]

In reality, I'm surprised stores like Lowes, Home Depot and Menards still cut lumber. Are they using saws that lock up when it hits skin? What does it cost if an employee cuts his/her hand off?

We know what it costs to prevent theft …

 

[dogememe]

Glad you had a good experience!

 

[97prizm]

I don't think your experience reflects a difference Lowes vs Home Depot, it's just chance. An individual store can have a bad manager that ruins employee moral or hires anyone but overall I don't think it reflects the culture of either business.

I've had good and bad service from both stores and I am not 100% loyal to either. I do prefer Lowes because their stores are cleaner with sealed concrete floors and their random clearance items are worth going hunting for when I feel like a stroll. HD is great too but whatever is closer on that days errands route fits the bill.

This. To this day my dad refuses to shop.at hime depot because my aunt had her kitchen scratched and countertops nicked when home depot hired a third party contractor to install new kitchen cabinets. If home depot and lowes changed their attitude from the top down. It's not just them. Look at Tesla, they used to consider customer service a priority now they have brand new vehicles with major defects and act like its the customers fault. When a steering wheel on a brand new model y falls off while driving and the owner is told "It's not a defect " by the company this is the reason so many companies have issues.

 

[97prizm]

So yesterday (Sat) Karen and I went to Home Depot, to get the stuff she wanted from Lowes who didn't want her money. We walk in to the lumber area which is near the Pro Dept. A young lady who was supervising the self checkout asked if we needed help. We told her we needed some boards and to have them cut. She said to go half way down the Aisle 27, and she would call someone.

In about 2-3 min we were greeted by a nice young man who said, good afternoon I am helping someone at the moment and will be back in 5 minutes. He was back in 2-3 min. We placed our order and in 15 minutes we had our lumber. Initially we were just going to place an order for later pickup. He said I can have it done in 15 minutes. That gave Karen a chance to pick up other things she needed for her project. The nice young man who cut the wood also took our payment and loaded it in the truck for us.

This occurred at 4pm on a Sat afternoon. Such a refreshing experience. Hey Lowes you can do this.

It's weird, I feel like the Lowes and HD near me are the reverse of your experience. When I worked maintenance last year I went to home depot to get a fairly standard connector for a water line to connect a dishwasher. The guy that showed up to help me was 19 didn't know anything about plumbing and was the only guy in the plumbing department that morning. I'm fairly sure that a large percentage of the population would havebeen of better help.

 

[PimTac]

Our Lowe’s and HD are right next to each other so cross shopping is easy. That said, I have had better service at HD for the past few years than at Lowe’s. It used to be the other way around.

 

[Hermann]

BTW the 10 ft 2 x 10's were $7 less expensive than at Lowes 2 days previous. Under $11 each. Every one had at least one flawless side, so they should stain nice.

 

[LDB]

Glad you took care of your needs. I don't shop HD or Target. Luckily the nearby Lowe's is a good one, so far.

 

[Hermann]

Glad you had a good experience!

My nature is to complain when I'm not happy with purchases or services. Am quick to praise when it is deserved.

 

[Kira]

I'm surprised stores like Lowes, Home Depot and Menards still cut lumber.

I suppose they want to sell you everything else to finish that birdhouse.

 

[CKN]

My nature is to complain when I'm not happy with purchases or services. Am quick to praise when it is deserved.

Yes-but "The Internet" seems to be mostly for complaints. But there are so many such threads on here-where if you start to ask "probing questions" things are not what they seem.

 

[Thermo1223]

Yes-but "The Internet" seems to be mostly for complaints. But there are so many such threads on here-where if you start to ask "probing questions" things are not what they seem.

This^^^

No one goes on the internet to say what a good experience they had, that is wholeheartedly still a "word of mouth" thing in my experience.

 

[SaberOne]

I live in a small town, so there’s a few very good independent hardware stores. Some are geared towards farmers, while others are just general purpose hardware stores that generally include hard to find items that you would never find at Home Depot or Lowe’s. I’m going to start visiting these independent places and only use Home Depot and Lowes if I absolutely have to.

 

[LDB]

According to my marketing class ~50 years ago a satisfied person will tell at most 5 others and an unhappy person will complain to at least 13 others.

 

[CKN]

According to my marketing class ~50 years ago a satisfied person will tell at most 5 others and an unhappy person will complain to at least 13 others.

Yea- but we are talking about a single store that had an off day. So the complaint is effective for all those forum members who live near the OPs location. Even then- it was an off day. And the compliant was dramatic because his lady friend couldn't handle the stress of a bad shopping day.

 

[wlk]

A few months ago my wife and I had a similar experience. Went to Lowe's to buy a freezer and waited w several other couples at the counter for help. Had pressed the help button several times and no one came. Left after several minutes and went to Home Depot. We walked in I went to the bathroom beside the appliances and by the time I walked out my wife and the nice gentleman were loading up the freezer on a cart. In and out in 15 minutes.