The Home Depot — Attraction in Fruit Cove

[[Wanted to give this place zero stars.]] Just left the Home Depot around 9p.m. in Orange Park off of Wells Road and had the worst customer service in my life. My mother and I asked about price matching and the cashier called over another employee named KAY to see if she could price match an item. KAY looked at the price match ad that I showed her and she laughed as she rolled her eyes...I then asked if they could price match my item and she laughed again and said no. My disabled and retired military mother explained to her that the Home Depot in Fleming Island has always priced matched her items with no problem as long as she had the ad and the sku matched the item. KAY looked at my mother and rolled her eyes once again, then said rudely "Then you should not come back to this location, go back to the Fleming Island location!! All of those employees at Fleming Island break all the rules!!" [[In front of other customers and employees]] My mother then asked why they didn't price match with anyone but Lowes and their own Home Depot website? KAY quickly turned around so her back was now facing towards my mother...rudley and obviously ignoring my mother...then walked away laughing and yelling across the store to another employee. KAY was completely disrespectful and obnoxious the entire time. It was extremely embarassing and uncomfortable...Her attitude, body language, choice of words, lack of consideration for the customer, and facial expressions were completely out of line, ill-mannered, and flat out appalling. My family goes to Home Depot at least 3-4 times a week. We have spent countless amount of hours shopping in Home Depot weekly. We spend thousands in that place every month. We are business owners and always choose Home Depot for all of our business and non business supplies. We have redone multiple homes using Home Depot as our number one place to shop. This was the worst customer service experience in my entire life. I am a disabled Veteran myself and have had some pretty terrible experiences in my life...but when my sweet old disabled mother politely asks a question and you laugh in her face and then ignore her and walk away while she's still talking...that tops every terrible customer service experience I have ever had. I don't understand why this KAY employee felt the need to be so uncivilized...a simple "no" would have sufficed.... I am considering taking KAYS advice and never going back to that Home Depot ever again. I am rethinking my entire business relationship with Home Depot as well. A person that can degrade and treat a lifelong customer in that manner, has absolutely zero business in a CUSTOMER SERVICE BASED ENVIRONMENT and as long as Home Depot is hiring employees of that nature...I can no longer use them for my business or even home projects. I refuse to go through that...

Disappointed in my experience at this store today. Purchased boards for a piece of furniture I'm building. Saw 24"x48" boards, which was what I needed. Got home, made the necessary cuts and placed it in, only to find it's really 23 1/4"x48". Took it back to the store today, and as expected, was told it couldn't be returned because it had been cut, but a manager could talk to me about it to decide if an exception could be made (I had not yet asked to speak with a manager). The manager came out, immediately repeated that it couldn't be returned because it had been cut. I explained the issue with it being labeled as 24"x48", and it wasn't until after I made the cuts that I found it wasn't the advertised size as it didn't fit what I was building. The manager replied that none of the wood is the size it is labeled as. I responded that it's common knowledge that 2x4s, 2x2s, etc. aren't the actual dimensions, but when a board is labeled as 24"x48", the average customer would expect it to be that size. She was very rude and firm in her stance that they would not allow the return. It wasn't until I pushed a bit harder that the signage was incorrect and, as a manager, she has the ability to override their return policy. Additionally, I had additional lumber to purchase, that I would like to purchase from this store, that she finally, in a very unprofessional way, turned to the CSR and said "just do it", then walked away and loudly exclaimed "this is ridiculous". The CSR completed the return. I then went back to lumber and quickly found another board labeled as 24"x48", and was actually that size (most advertised at that size were actually that size)!

As a customer, I expect a level of customer service and courtesy that was not found here. The manager did not enter this situation with the intent of hearing the customer and making a decision based on the circumstances. Instead, she came in with her mind made up, not willing to listen to the customer. We were talking about less than $25. I usually shop from Lowe's as its closer to my house, but in this case, Home Depot had the quality of lumber I needed. From my experiences, Lowe's treats their customers much better than I experienced today.

Gave 2 stars instead of 1 due to the quality of lumber being...

I agree with others who have posted that Home Depot has declined significantly in customer service. I have had several negative experiences at this particular store.

I recently asked one of the younger customer service reps where a particular item was. There were 2 of them standing there doing nothing. He said: "It is either in aisle 12 or aisle 3"! I told him that those 2 aisles are on opposite sides of the entire warehouse, and asked: "Why don't you narrow that down by looking it up, because isn't it your job to help me find the location of items in this store I want to purchase?". He then looked it up in seconds (which he could have done initially) and sure enough, it was in NEITHER aisle he initially told me to go to (it was in Aisle 7).

I have a Pro-X account. I buy from many locations in town and have employees or subs pick up the supplies/items. Occasionally, it will not be the employee listed as the pick-up person. On these occasions they usually just call my mobile number and verify that the person is allowed to pick up the items. In the few years I have the ProX account, I have never had an issue at any location in the Jackosnville area for pick-ups when this occurs (rarely).

The "manager" James Robinson was called in to assist a very rude "Belinda" and he was actually laughing audibly on the phone. I asked him if he was actually laughing at a customer's frustration about not releasing the items to be picked up. He said he found the entire situation "comical."

I remember when the staff in the aisles were actually experienced trades people or craftspeople who were well-versed in their different areas of expertise and were awesome at helping people, whether DIY or professional projects. Prior to 2021, Home Depot even had an employment program for Olympic athletes.

I did not believe it when people told me how awful Home Depot has become, but now I have experienced it personally. I will give...