Horror Depot

How many times over the last decade do I pull into a Home Depot, see a sea of orange around me and yet not one person that can help me? Or peruse among miles of shelving for the one needle in a haystack that they don't stock? I have so much better luck at Frattalones or my neighborhood store and thank God for that.

Yesterday's experience almost raises the inane to a new level. Problem # 1. This spring to replace my dead and sadly missed Pagoda Dogwood, I happened to see a North Star Cherry tree that looked like both a great fit and deal, so I made an impulse buy to fill the hole in the ground. Mind you this was only a month ago. But for some reason, I am guessing bad stock or else poor storage conditions, it started dying back before it really even got a chance to birth. I get this; some times bad things happen to good plants and had my receipt to make an exchange. Now the insanity begins. It was important to replace now, because waiting til later in the year means a lack of stock and thus a whole year of tree growth lost. So I called the Richfield store where I had purchased it where I assumed none were left. However, I was mistaken in thinking that they could direct me to ANY other Metro store that had a single tree on the floor. Most garden stores would have an inventory and and a computer system to direct customers for a replacement. Not Home Depot. Something about different distributors and each store on its own. Do they not keep track of supply and demand so they can note a profit margin and when more stock is needed? I was told I had to manually look up contact information and call each store individually where some poor Joe on a walkie would walk to the back of the garden center and reply they had nothing left. What a chore and lack of customer service there. However, I did find a store in Fridley that did have ONE left and they were kind enough to set it aside if I could pick it up later the same day.

Problem # 2. I also had some small shrubs I got last year (again at a great bargain) that did not make the winter. You get what you pay for! So scrambling out the door I grabbed what product tags I had from last year even though I could not find the receipt. The cherry tree was an easy deal. The other plants - not so much. As I walked in with my dead plants and item tags, no one quite knew which of the lines to direct me to or had the skills to help. Finally I was sent to a manager that could use my credit card to access former purchases. After 15 minutes of "fiddling" we figured out that he was not finding it because I had bought the other items at the St Louis Park store and he told me their system can only locate items bought in house. So I chucked it up to a loss and went ahead with the cherry tree. Until the fabulous checkout help Amini noticed my predicament and said that the other customer service desk can pull up any purchases throughout any store. I left Jeff in line at one end and walked back to the other where, after a very long wait, I was met by a jolly young fellow - the only one at the counter - who told me he didn't have authorization to look up customer receipts. I am still trying to figure what special badge is needed to do this? So he called a supervisor that took another very long 15 minutes to report. Mind you the store is about to close and virtually empty. And lo and behold, who should come up but the same geezer that told me he was not able to search outside transactions per store. Wouldn't it have saved us all a lot of time to have just shut up and done the task for good customer service in the first place???? So although we did no find exact product matches on 1 of the dead items, Amini was great at using the old (and even outdated receipt - it was days past the year guarantee) to give me credit for new replacement plants.

Please remind me never to shop at this chain again. Why do people love it so?