Home Depot does it again!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

The flooring guys have been installing flooring in our newly remodeled dining room, kitchen, down the hallway to two bedrooms and into the main bathroom. They pulled the toilet this morning as the flooring goes under the toilet.

Before I began reinstalling the toilet, I wanted to replace the foam rubber gasket that sits on the bowl and upon which rests the tank. I have an American Standard Champion 4 toilet with oversized opening. I ran to Home Depot to get said gasket.

They had a generic gasket that said it would fit an American Standard Cadet 3 toilet but no mention of the Champion 4. I went to the aisle where toilets are displayed and sold, an employee approached me asking if he could be of any help. I explained my predicament.

He proceeded to open a new American Standard Champion 4 toilet, pulled out the accessories box and we matched up the gasket I had with the one that comes new. The generic one I have should work.

That HD employee went out of his way to provide good customer service.

[George Bokros]

I usually find more knowledgeable / helpful people at HD than Lowes.

[Paul McGaha]

Glad to hear Ken. I think it comes down to the individual.

PHM

[Matt Day]

I had a good HD experience recently too. I needed a sheet of 1/4" ply cut down into about 8 pieces per a cut diagram I brought with me so it would fit in my car. I had my daughter with me and a nice young-ish employee helped bring the sheet to the panel saw. He was helpful but I could tell he wasn't the expert at cutting. His supervisor came by to help him and showed him how to use a stop block for repetitive cuts and it blew his mind how well it worked. I chuckled a bit to myself but was happy to see the older wiser employee teaching the younger one. I was in and out of there in about 15 minutes.

Now I just wish they'd tune up the panel saw to be more accurate and replace the blade!

[Steve Kinnaird]

I love hearing that they are doing a good job.
I worked for the HD in Palm Bay, FL for 2 years and they have a training system for just about everything.
And customer service is exactly that "SERVICE" , they can't preach that enough.
Now that my Workshop is in place, they will be seeing a lot more of me that usual.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Glad to hear Ken. I think it comes down to the individual.

PHM

I agree Paul.....of course it might be that I look old, lost and in dire need of assistance!

[ryan paulsen]

I like to read these stories, it seems a lot of people prefer to knock the big box stores these days (not without reason). I worked at my local HD for 2 years, and started knowing absolutely nothing about the plumbing department I was working in. But, seeing as I was constantly surrounded by plumbers and paid attention, within a couple of months I could help the average Joe with just about any DIY plumbing situation they could bring in. There are still good people out there, but like mentioned, they have to want to learn.

[Art Mann]

My HD has a couple of guys working in tools and hardware who know their merchandise and carpentry fairly well. I usually get very good service. I have more of a problem with product quality than employee quality. I have had the same experience at Lowes as George (above). I guess it all depends on location.

[Steve Peterson]

Now I just wish they'd tune up the panel saw to be more accurate and replace the blade!

I know what you mean. Getting plywood cut is only helpful to get it to fit in the car. The blade is so dull that you need to cut oversize and trim it up later.

I find that my local Lowes is slightly more helpful than the local HD. HD is staffed with way too many salesmen that walk around hounding you trying to sell you a new furnace or AC.

Steve

[Matt Day]

Agreed Steve. I don't expect anything to be square afterward. I always account for about 2" of waste to remove the horrible tearout from their saw. I wonder how many DIY'ers actually use the cuts right off the saw.

I can't believe those pushers don't recpgnize me by now and don't just walk away when they see me. And I don't want a stupid water test!

[Kent A Bathurst]

I agree Paul.....of course it might be that I look old, lost and in dire need of assistance!

There you go again.....working my side of the street.

I have warned you about that..at least, I think I did...maybe not...I forget...

[David Ragan]

I know the manager @ the HD here in Cumming. He is in the parking lot gathering buggies, etc, etc The grunt work.

We were talking and he said....you know, when I see one of our people picking up trash off the floor (stuff like that), I consider them for promotion.

It's the things that one does when no one is watching that count the most.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I think a BIG mistake a lot of us, including myself, sometimes make is thinking that each of our individual experiences is the general experience everyone, everywhere has and it's not.

In this same HD, I have had good and bad experiences with new hires and experienced people.

The "experienced, expert" guy in the door and window department, in this very HD, lost a serious consideration for his products when he started arguing with me about the year when gas filled, thermo-pane, thermo-break windows were first manufactured and readily available on the consumer market. He was off by nearly 10 years I found out when I researched the subject later. At the time I was in HD, I knew he was wrong because I installed thermo-pane, thermo-break aluminum windows in my home 3 years before the year this guy quoted. I was shopping to replace those windows because 31 years later, they were worn out and failing. His arrogant, argumentative attitude caused me to just thank him for his time and walk out of the store.

I ended up buying the most expensive vinyl windows from the 8 quotes I got from 3 different window/door retailers.

On a plus side? It's been 100º-111º F here for over a week. It was interesting to place my hand on the interior of a window in direct sunlight on the south side of our home and find it cool to the touch when it was over 100ºF outside. I like those vinyl windows. I bought the thermo-pane windows that are argon-filled and have low-E glass.