Lee,
For the past year my building supply trips have mostly been determined by which box store has annoyed me the least. It doesn't come close to a decision of which is best, it comes down to which is least bad. A garage door order last year at Lowe's came close to your experience with HD carpet. A 1 week target when they took my money ended up being a month and a half before they got the door in. The main problem with both companies is a state of near total anarchy when it comes to organization. You almost never see the same people working in any given department when you go back, and the people you do see don't have a fuzzy clue as to what the current status of past business is. If you get annoyed enough to contact a manager, it's a different manager than the last one you talked to, and he doesn't have a fuzzy clue about previous conversations. No one seems to have the authority to make any kind of independent judgement call, which means nothing gets done when there is a problem.
Both companies could easily send same store sales growth through the roof through better inventory practices, better personnel training, better special order turn around times, better staffing, better organization, better web site design, better inter store transfers and inventory adjustments, etc. The fact that neither company is showing the ability to correct massive short falls in fixing organizational problems makes them fantastically bad investments in my opinion.
I will say I noticed a marked improvement in customer service at the nearest Home Depot on recent trips, but their inventory problems are still severe. Arc fault breakers are now required by code, they were out of stock the last time I checked. Having less than 20 on the shelf under the circumstances is brain dead.
I had to place a special order for oak interior doors. I asked the guy at the counter if there was a drop in demand for oak doors and was told he places a ton of orders for them. Why should customers have to wait 10 days for an item with consistent demand, when two years ago they were able to load the same item on a cart, in one trip, from any number of retailers? Now I'm going to be stuck with trying to figure out how to finish 6 doors AFTER my carpet has been installed!
So far the market is looking for either HD or LOW to come out on top. Personally I don't see it that way. Where their stiffest competition is most likely to come from is smaller local retailers with the ability to more quickly respond to the needs of their customers. Inventory and customer service are they keys to success in retail. If you don't stock what customers came in for, they walk. If you don't follow through with service, customers walk.
At least one regular on this board will probably call you a liar because he doesn't believe the situation could possibly be as bad as you described, but I've seen enough of it at both places that I dread having to place an order for anything from either company. Especially when the items I have to order are items I would expect a real building supply super store to have in stock. |
