The Home Depot — Attraction in Oakville

Total time for curbside pickup: 2 hr 30min

Let me preface this that I’m taking care of my mother who is a senior. She has many health issues. When you read a list of who is susceptible to covid19 she ticks every box. I also have a father that wants to do gardening. My solution to keep them out of stores, and to keep me from transmitting anything to them: curbside pickup. The less people I interact with the safer it is for my parents. It’s wonderful.

My experience at Home Depot was anything but wonderful.

We made two orders to Home Depot and for some reason the order that was placed two days later than the first was ready first. I called up the store and asked if I could potentially pick up both, and was told no. Ok. I also enquired about how curbside pickup works at the store. I was told that I should just show up into the proper parking spot and someone will help me. Ok.

I show up in the proper parking spot. I see the employees walking around, but none come to my vehicle. Eventually I see them helping other cars that have arrived after me. That’s fine. It’s not until the car next to me pulls away that I see the sign in front of his car. I didn’t see the one in front me as I was driving a pickup truck and the sign was below the truck’s grill.

It’s written poorly. Step 1 isn’t step 1. Step 1 appears to be step 0. Anyway. Step 0 is to text a number. I text it and it doesn’t work. My phone gives me a “format error”. The number starts with 1-833-xxx-xxxx. Ok, maybe it doesn’t need the 1, still “format error”. There is only so many permutations you can enter a phone number into a cell phone. After multiple failed attempts I say screw it and call the store.

I’m on hold for a long time. It’s ok. I know everyone is having issues with re-opening the store to the general public on the weekend that just passed. They are busy. I finally get someone on the line and she tells me the same thing. That there are people outside and they will help me. I told her I tried to text the number but it didn’t work. She tells me that’s all changed now. Ok, maybe that’s why it didn’t work. Still doesn’t explain the format but whatever.

Eventually I flag down one of the workers who have been going around from car to car. He puts his head right at the threshold of the passenger side window. So much for the six feet rule. I tell him I’ve been waiting an hour to try and pick up something. He asked if I texted the number? I reply that it doesn’t work, I’m getting an error. He takes my order number down and tells me he will be back.

He never shows up again. Did he see that I ordered 4 concrete deck blocks and noped out of the order?

After waiting a good amount of time, I called the store up again. I didn’t realize the closing time of the store and they had just closed. Great.

I see the last order being picked up, and I move my car over next to it, and flag down the last worker. He thankfully stood away from the truck and respected social distancing. I explained I’ve now been waiting two hours. He took my order number and went and got my order. He was very nice and very understanding. I appreciate that he took the time even though it was probably close to home time for him and was probably tired from lifting stuff all day. I told him to leave the stuff near the back of the truck and I’ll put it in the bed to give his back a rest.

I’m not sure what’s going on over there. Does the person answering the phone not communicate or understand what’s going on with the curbside pick up staff? Does the person answering the phone understand how the curbside pickup operates? Do they know some people can’t text that number?

In these trying times, I’m not here to rip the Depot a new one. Let’s focus on solutions. Have a way for someone to call the store to get entered into the curbside pickup system, instead of relying entirely on people being able to text...

I went to the 2555 Bristol Circle, Oakville store to purchase one PT 2x2 & one 2x4. When the cashier scanned the 2x2, she scanned it twice. The scanner has one beep for when an item is scanned properly and a different beep when it can’t scan it. I was not entirely focused on the cashier's scanning process, but I kind of thought that I heard “the beep" twice on the 2x2 but I thought the cashier knew what they were doing. It was only when I left the store and checked the bill that I found out the 2x2 was scanned twice. I returned to the store immediately and explained that a product had been scanned twice and asked for a credit. I was told that I needed to go to customer service and they'll give me credit. They did not apologize for their mistake. Being totally upset with the situation, I asked the young lady to credit my card as I didn't feel that I needed to go to customer service and stand in line for her error. The cashier went to customer service and a few minutes later she and her senior advisor, named Gail, came back with a very firm attitude telling me, "SIR…YOU HAVE TO GO TO THE CUSTOMER SERVICE, AND YOU'LL BE PROVIDED WITH YOUR CREDIT…SIR". There was no apology for the error on the part of Home Depot's young employee, no apology to smooth things out, nothing. In this case, I just crumpled up their receipt and threw it on the floor, saying “THANK YOU FOR YOUR VERY QUESTIONABLE SCANNING SERVICE AND “PROFESSIONALLY” RESOLVING THE ISSUE”. My reply triggered Gail’s “angry button" and she told me "THIS IS RUDE, GOODBYE …" with barely controlled emotions and facial expressions. Given this, I asked the lady for her name. With all the anger she could muster, she showed me her name on her apron and repeated her name twice as her face turned purple “GAIL! GAIL! GOODBYE!” In that case, I replied that I would like to speak to her manager about the incident. I was not about to waste my time trying to identify who her manager was or to try to call him. Instead, this review should suffice, for what it’s worth. The question remains: why is Home Depot not training their cashiers on how the scanners work? I know it generates one sound if the scan is successful and another sound if it is not. Pretty fundamental training for any cashier in any store unless… WATCH OUT, check the screen before you pay and double-check your receipt before you leave the checkout. Maybe in this case this only applies to this specific...

I went to this store because I saw one product on the company website (Philips 60-Watt Equivalent A19 Ultra Definition Dimmable LED Bulb, Frosted, Soft White WarmGlow) at a price of CAD 5.98. The website confirmed that there was stock of this product at this store. When I arrived there, to my surprise, the price was around CAD 15, almost triple the website price. I complained to an employee, and he confirmed that the product was the one I showed him, and said that unfortunately they had just changed the price of this product, and that there was nothing he could do. I asked then to talk to the Store Manager, and he replied that if I wanted I could go to the Customer Support area and talk to the person there. This new person told me a different story: he told me that the product I was showing was not the same as the one on the website, therefore Home Depot could not sell me for the same price. I argued that the other employee had confirmed the product was the same, but he insisted that I was wrong. I argued again that the picture on the website had the exact same specification of the product I showed him. Again, he said I was wrong, and that they were completely different products. Last, I told him that the website showed that the product was on stock, so I wanted to get that product advertised on the website. Then, he told me that Home Depot did not have the product anymore and that it could not be sold by that price. I asked how the website could show stock and the product not be available. He replied: it must be a mistake because I know this product is not available anymore This is a very shameful and unethical behavior from the Customer Support representative. This is completely unacceptable to me. I used to be a frequent customer of Home Depot, but because of that, I will never return. I got tired of being lied to at Home Depot, and just went to the Canadian Store next door and purchased a similar product by the fair price (and not the 3x price they were trying...