Besides eating, I love home improvement and making my home atmosphere better. Usually when it comes to most of the Home Depot's I have been to, the customer service is helpful and the products are superb. But, recently when visiting a Home Depot in Cranberry, that somewhat changed my mind. If you are not familiar with Home Depot (seriously?) it could be compared to something like Ace Hardware or Lowe's. If that is still not helpful here is a link to help you learn more about
Home Depot.
Credit: Home Depot Website
The bad experience I had may have not been one everyone has experienced before, but for me it kind of showed me two things. First off, employees whom work at the Specialty sections of Home Depot (lumber, stone, carpet, etc) must make a commission off of people they make sales off. Personally I both like and hate this.
I like it because I know that my associate is going to do everything they can to help me.
I don't like it, because some people tend to get left in the cold or be given the cold shoulder when they really have questions, but aren't a definite sale.
The second thing it showed me is that even to Home Depot, we are all just numbers, and not real people. Sales, that's what they want.
A few weeks ago, I visited the Home Depot in Cranberry in search of Black Granite for my kitchen. It was the fourth store I had been to and before asking for help, I searched all over the store myself. Then, I gave up and thought I would ask for help. A female associate (not sure of her name) was busy helping a sale, and when they walked away, I asked her for help.
First, I was ignored, then I was waved away with the reply "over there". Um, Home Depot, is huge. You could get lost in that store. So "over there" is not exactly helpful. I went "over there" (same places I already checked) came back and said I could not find it, she mumbled something, and walked away. Granted I was asking questions, but I too could have been a $5,000 sale. Instead, I bought nothing, walked out of the store with my tail between my legs, and regretted ever asking for help. Definitely not a good reflection on Home Depot or their sales associates when it came to consumers.
