Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Are you a Lowe's or Home Depot Gal?


So, are you a Lowe's or Home Depot Gal? I love Lowe’s. We find what we need along with a multitude of great things that often inspire new ideas. Their  prices are often lower than Home Depot, they excel above Home Depot in good customer service, a nice selection (when that item is actually a product they carry), etc. However, Lowe’s did fail us and Home Depot saved us when looking for:
1.Wood appliques
2. Wood feet for the kitchen island
Typically I have been dissatisfied with Home Depot's customer service and for me, that's a biggie. They say they hire people who actually worked in the field that correlates with the department they are in. Yet, often they are unable to answer, what we think are, the simplest of questions that someone in their field would know. There have been several occasions where they aren't sure what they even stock.
While looking for acrylic one day, we asked one man who said they didn't carry it, followed by a man who over heard our conversation and agreed with the other man. We ran into a female employee and jumped into conversation regarding our disbelief that Home Depot would not carry acrylic. She, however, corrected us that they did, in fact carry acrylic. She took us to the furthest reach of the store, way back in the opposite corner of the store. That is a woman that should be a manager, knowing what they carry and where it is. Yeah for women! Girl power!
That's a point Home Depot. Still a ways to go in order to catch up...
I'll always be a Lowe's girl...unless Home Depot comes a calling :) 



7 comments:

Crystal said...

Lowe's girl all the way! Better customer service in my experiences, better selection for the things I'm searching for, and they'll ask US about our military discount if they see our ID in our wallet... I can walk down seemingly endless aisles at HD, faking a LOST/help look & still no one comes to my aid... at Lowe's we have to make excuses to get AWAY from our new "friends" =)

Unknown said...

To be honest, I could do without either one of them. They both have their good and bad points. Coming from the Midwest, we had "Menards" which was far superior to either of Home Depot or Lowes. They carried a much wider variety of products, customer service was always top notch and stores were always clean, neat and well laid out. Sadly, they are not in the south.

Unknown said...

I do love Menards. I grew up on it in MN. But now that we're a roaming family (military) I prefer Lowes over Home Depot any day.

mizzlizzbeck said...

My experience with Lowes/Home Depot has been the exact opposite. My local Home Depot has a really friendly, helpful and knowledgeable staff that has never failed to help me and sought me out on more than one confused-faced occasion. However, the Lowes in my area has higher prices than the Home Depot, and the barely-legal staff is almost never helpful or courteous. I guess it's all a matter of location.

Bethany C. said...

We always go to Lowe's even though the Home Depot is right around the corner, exactly because of what you mentioned- their bad customer service. We had a particularly terrible experience with them making a key- my husband had to go back 5 times, and when they had finally ground it into nothing they wouldn't give my husband a refund because of some bizarre excuse about inventory, when they completely screwed up an unusable key! Just had to vent...

Michele said...

Definitely Lowe's. I purchased an expensive washing machine that turned out to be a lemon...it needed repairs repeatedly (but I loved it) - their customer service was awesome and they ended up refunding my entire purchase amount 3 years after we bought it when it could no longer be repaired (this was with the extended warranty, which I highly recommend).

jennygranola said...

I live within a mile of Home Depot and Lowes and I routinely go to both depending on which part of town I'm coming from. Lately I've noticed that Home Depot has much better quality wood. I've been building furniture and in our Lowe's, I can never find a straight board or one that's not split. That is, except for the premium lumber that is much, much more expensive. Lowe's does have a better selection for home goods and odds and ends, but really, if I want that stuff I go to Target where the prices are much better. Also, our Home Depot has lower prices than our Lowes and their customer services is fabulous. In fact, I go so much, both managers at both stores know me. (I'm the crazy lady with all the little kids drooling over power tools :) All in, if our Home Depot took returns at the lumber desk so I didn't have to haul it to the other end of the store, I'd give them two thumbs up. Since they don't, I have to hesitate and I'll probably still shop at both stores. It's nice that they are both so close. Oh yah, and the paint guy at Home Deopt knows WAY more about paint than the Lowe's guy. I really do agree it's all about location. Oh, and I miss Menards too :)