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Message |
    
papayagirl
Citizen
Username: Papayagirl
Post Number: 96
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Friday, August 1, 2003 - 9:38 pm: |     |
My husband and i stopped at HD a few weekends ago, and we left an hour later (after getting one of the two things we'd made the trip for). My entire body was a knot of frustration and disbelief and amazement and anger at myself for even trying to go there again. We joked that if HD was a significant other, a therapist would advise us not to see him/her anymore, because it wasn't good for our health. Those orange aprons saying "I can help in any department!" are a mockery. The only thing worse than the people on the floor and at the registers are the people at the tool rental counter. Already i'm feeling anxious just thinking about them!
It's unfortunate too, because some HDs are so much better. The one on 22 is a step up. One near my in-laws in Colorado is staffed by retired contractors, and from what i hear, it's a handyman's paradise. I've literally written to the Lowe's website *begging* them to open up a store around here. No encouraging news yet (although they are opening one around Woodbridge, which might be closer than North Bergen or wherever the next closest one is).
In the meantime, here's a tip: McGrath's Hardware in Chatham (http://www.mcgrathshardware.com). I've never actually been there (although it looks big in the online photo). We ordered a lawn mower and wheel barrow from them over the phone, and i can't remember the last time i had a more pleasant, trouble-free purchase and delivery. You can shop online as well.
Oh, one other tip. The code to open up the little prisons where they lock up the high-theft products at HD is the store number. I can't recall what it is anymore, but if you take a minute to look it up before you go, that might save you a good 45 minutes waiting for an orange man to liberate a programmable thermostat for you. |
cody
Citizen
Username: Cody
Post Number: 348
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, August 1, 2003 - 9:45 pm: | |
I really dislike the Union Home Depot - service is sporadic, saleshelp can't answer many of the questions I have and it's a confusing shopping experience. There's one in Cape May that we go to when we're down there, and the experience is much more positive. The sales help seems to actually know how to do the things customers are asking about and the store is clean and checking out runs smoothly. |
Maplewoody
Citizen
Username: Maplewoody
Post Number: 263
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, August 1, 2003 - 10:03 pm: | |
I shop the Garden Center alot at the Bloomfield HD. The selection is much better there. Most of the Vauxhall/Springfield Ave. HD crew are USELESS, but there are a few that are very helpful and know their stuff. The Asian woman in Blinds is nice, and so is the woman (the shorter one) with short blonde hair in Garden products. I also like the woman who wears the funky hats at the front check out registers, she is something else!
You'd think they'd get their act together with all the $$$ they rake in! |
ral
Citizen
Username: Ral
Post Number: 54
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Friday, August 1, 2003 - 10:18 pm: | |
I think a Lowes just opened on Route 10, not far from Home Depot.
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us2innj
Citizen
Username: Us2innj
Post Number: 806
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, August 2, 2003 - 5:37 am: | |
Ral, I think you're confusing the new Target for Lowes. We use the Lowes in Piscataway. It's a half hour drive, but we make up our 'lil shopping list of all the things I would run to HD for in a two week period, and get them in a blink at Lowes. The sales people literally walk you around the store like you have a private shopping representative. We bought a new front door from Lowes, and even though there were some problems in delivery damage, they still looked to maintain customer satifastion, and refunded over $300 of the purchase price as a good will gesture.
According to Lowes Corp HQ, they do not comment on where they're placing stores until they are well into construction. Hopefully, the have thrown a dart at the Union/West Essex part of the map! |
ina
Citizen
Username: Ina
Post Number: 64
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, August 2, 2003 - 10:56 pm: | |
One of the salespeople I talked to at that HD told me they were being pressured to quit their fulltime jobs with benefits and then take part-time jobs with no benefits. Yeah, that'll create a high-quality workforce. |
hello
Citizen
Username: Hello
Post Number: 6
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, August 3, 2003 - 10:51 am: | |
i was in the lawn and garden section yesterday, and asked to see the tillers, and the guy said he didn't know what a tiller was.
and two-thirds of their trees have no label whatsoever, of type of tree or sku code or price.
and, what is this b.s. about having only one price checker in the entire store.
i have a theory about crap like this, and since this is a soapbox i'll tell you what my theory is. lots of black folks shop in our HD, and i believe the redneck republican confederate management of HD allocates customer services in a racially predatory way. the white folks in union county would never be asked to put up with this. |
Mary Gallagher
Citizen
Username: Mary_g
Post Number: 41
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, August 3, 2003 - 11:35 am: | |
Here's another person registering negative experiences at Union Home Depot. Most recently, I was kept waiting at register waiting for price because item had no bar code. The cashier kept saying the manager was coming but no one showed up. After about 10 minutes, I asked cashier where manager was and he pointed to someone a few registers away. When I approached her, she accted like she wsa doing me a favor to help me but did end up getting me price after almost another 10 minutes. It turns out she was so annoyed because she was not the manager (who never showed up!).
If you're pressed for time, often Buncher's Hardware in Millburn will do fine.
Oh how I miss Rickel's, which HD drove out of business. The stores were smaller but I had more luck finding needed items, prices were about the same, maybe a bit lower, and customer service was far better (not great but the HD standarsd is so low). |
Hunting
Citizen
Username: Hunting
Post Number: 16
Registered: 9-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, August 3, 2003 - 2:38 pm: | |
One of my many HD debacles--wanted to buy a rug that was marked $40.00. The cashier rang up $60.00. When I told her of the mistake, she told me that in order to get the rug for $40.00, I would have to return it( wait in a different line) and re-buy it (return to the end of the line I had just waited in for 15 minutes).Why did I have to go through all that,I asked, when she made the mistake--couldn't she just delete and re-ring? After an almost comical back and forth, I had no choice but to wait in the return line to get the charge off my credit card. I left an hour later, with no rug. I refuse to patronize that store. It's a disgrace. My teeth clench whenever I drive by. |
cutter
Citizen
Username: Cutter
Post Number: 203
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, August 3, 2003 - 3:18 pm: | |
I hate Home Depot!!
There's a good hardware store in West Orange on Main St - well stocked, friendly, knowledgable and helpful staff. They sharpen knives and scissors, and carry pretty much everything I need that's hardwarey. For lawnmower stuff there's a good place on Springfield Av, and for gardening I usually go to Dubrows, a little more expensive but the customer service is fantastic. For big appliances I suppose I'll go to Karls, I bought a dishwasher from Home Depot that they installed incorrectly and I had dirty dishes for 6 months until I finally had a rep from GE come and he figured out the problem.
The only reason I go to Home Depot is for lightbulbs, I don't know why I do that. It always turns into an hour-long project. I hate that place so much. |
dytunck
Citizen
Username: Dytunck
Post Number: 127
Registered: 3-2001
| | Posted on Monday, August 4, 2003 - 9:52 am: | |
My favorite Vauxhall Home Depot Experience:
About a year ago, on my way to HD, I asked my neighbor if he needed anything. Turns out, he did. There's a very specific piece of hardware. Some kind of clip or o-ring or "D"-ring. A washer sized piece of metal costing 20 cents or something. It's used for clamping window-well guards against the house.
I found my item immediately, then started my hunt for these clips. I first searched up and down the aisles, looking for the appropriate location. No luck. Then I asked for help. Try hardware. Back wall. I swear, I looked in every little brown box. Hundreds of them. After a half hour, I went back for help again. Look against the back wall. I did! Describe what you're looking for. (I tried my best)
Finally, I was ready to give up, when on a desperation try during checkout, I asked the manager by the cashier if she knew what these thingies were called.
She knew the name of the thingies, the price, the location, and called out the SKU Number off the top of her head.
There must be tens of thousands of SKU numbers in the computer system there. I was amazed. |
Arnomation
Citizen
Username: Arnomation
Post Number: 16
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 4, 2003 - 10:34 am: | |
--While these businesses are more efficient and provide the consumer with better prices and more convenience, they have been killing communities all across the country.--
If you want to read a really eye opening and disturbing book on the subject check out:
How Wal-Mart Is Destroying America
http://urlcut.com/1gt (Amazon link)
They are a ruthless destruction machine. They roll into to town promising cheaper prices, convenience and jobs but then they hire almost no full-time employees, so most employees don't qualify for health benefits, they deliberately target local competition by underselling (and even taking a loss) until they drive the little guy out of business, all the money they make is immediately wired back to their home base so the local banks never get to use any of the money, and after they've driven all the local businesses out, they often close down to move to a larger location leaving a gaping hole of a community.
Read the book. They are incredibly evil.
M
________________
Michael Arnold
arnomation@verizon.net |
Charles A. Moody
Citizen
Username: Chedron
Post Number: 4
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 4, 2003 - 10:36 am: | |
You think Wall Mart is destroying America? Holy ignorance. |
Arnomation
Citizen
Username: Arnomation
Post Number: 17
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 4, 2003 - 11:04 am: | |
What a beautifully presented response. Thanks so much for contributing to the discussion. You've really made it clear to me how Wal-Mart is actually a good thing. How could I have been so wrong???
Thank you.
M
________________
Michael Arnold
arnomation@verizon.net |
Brett
Citizen
Username: Bmalibashksa
Post Number: 26
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 4, 2003 - 11:13 am: | |
Arnomation: There's a show about WalMart also. "When walmart comes to a small town." I don't know if it's based on the book but if you see the listing you should watch it. |
Charles A. Moody
Citizen
Username: Chedron
Post Number: 5
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 4, 2003 - 12:08 pm: | |
Arnomation,
When you make a statement that for the most part is laughable, a response other then the one I gave you above is not required.
Believe Wallmart is the evil of evils if you like, just do yourself a favor, don't tell anyone.
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Nohero
Citizen
Username: Nohero
Post Number: 1899
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, August 4, 2003 - 12:17 pm: | |
Mr. Moody - If we all kept our opinions to ourselves, it wouldn't be much of a discussion board, would it?
WallMart isn't evil, but their way of doing business can have long-term negative effects on the communities where the stores are located. We're in a more crowded part of the country, so we may be seeing less of those effects than in a place where WallMart has displaced long-standing local merchants.
And besides, if every business followed the WallMart model, and wages have been driven down to subsistence level, who the heck is going to be able to buy the products sold in the stores.
Oh, and the Union Home Depot is annoying, pathetic and depressing. |
Arnomation
Citizen
Username: Arnomation
Post Number: 18
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 4, 2003 - 12:19 pm: | |
--There's a show about WalMart also. "When walmart comes to a small town."--
That's a PBS show which I'd like to see. They are a truly evil corporation. Wal-Mart doesn't create jobs, it destroys them. For every two jobs created by a Wal-Mart store, the community loses three. Local businesses are destroyed and community living standards get lowered when Wal-Mart moves into the neighborhood.
An average Wal-Mart employee makes about $11,700 a year (working 30 hour weeks) -nearly $2,000 below the poverty line for a single mother with two children and over 425,000 Wal-Mart employees, most of them women, have no health coverage.
I don't think those unfortunates find it all that laughable.
M
________________
Michael Arnold
arnomation@verizon.net |
Charles A. Moody
Citizen
Username: Chedron
Post Number: 6
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 4, 2003 - 12:24 pm: | |
michael arnold,
Get help now. |
tjohn
Citizen
Username: Tjohn
Post Number: 1616
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Monday, August 4, 2003 - 12:31 pm: | |
Dearest Charles,
WalMart is a particularly visible manifestation of progress in America that is not altogether positive. We have the best transportation system in the world. We have the lowest prices for manufactured goods anywhere in the world. We have a very mobile population.
As a downside, we have the loss of manufacturing jobs in America. We have the destruction of town centers. We have the loss of knowledge that comes from great family-run stores. I would gladly give up some of my material wealth (especially endless plastic toys) to have back some of what we have lost.
So, calling WalMart evil may be a bit over the top, but the "progress" that WalMart represents isn't particularly good for a lot of people and towns. |
Charles A. Moody
Citizen
Username: Chedron
Post Number: 7
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Monday, August 4, 2003 - 12:38 pm: | |
Mr John,
I buy some of your argument. However, being that I'm from the Midwest, I will say shopping a Wallmart was quite helpful for my family because of everything it offered from price to selection to location. Maybe here, where stores are a dime a dozen you can sneeze at a Wallmart. However, where I come from we celebrate the day a Wallmart opens within a half hour drive of our homes. Wallmart also creates jobs and plenty of them. |
ffof
Citizen
Username: Ffof
Post Number: 1330
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, August 4, 2003 - 12:42 pm: | |
Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore! |
tom
Citizen
Username: Tom
Post Number: 1087
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, August 4, 2003 - 1:12 pm: | |
Plenty of dead-end, no-benefit, minimum-wage jobs. Nobody's saying it's not helpful to individual families. It's on a MACRO level that they're destructive. Former small-business OWNERS -- people with real stakes in their community -- are forced to become employees.
So individual families can save a few cents on everyday items. But at the cost of disenfranchising everyone else.
Look at the small and medium-size business driven out by Home Depot just around here. Maplecrest Hardware; Pierson's; Channel and Rickels. Probably a few more I can't think of.
|
jet
Citizen
Username: Jet
Post Number: 233
Registered: 7-2001
| | Posted on Monday, August 4, 2003 - 1:19 pm: | |
Welcome to MOL Charles, & the North East. |
Nohero
Citizen
Username: Nohero
Post Number: 1900
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, August 4, 2003 - 1:21 pm: | |
Tom, to be fair, I think Maplecrest and Pierson's are closed mainly because some members of the respective families wanted to move on to other things.
On the plus side, I believe you can still find a Pierson at Millstone, located behind the old mill building on Valley. Millstone has plants, garden supplies, and a lot of good advice. Anybody who starts on a drive to Home Depot for garden supplies, should drive over to Millstone instead. |
tom
Citizen
Username: Tom
Post Number: 1088
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, August 4, 2003 - 1:30 pm: | |
True that was the reason given ... but I wonder how much that decision was influenced by reading the writing on the wall? Maplecrest closed the very week Home Depot opened. Without them up the street, maybe he could have sold the business instead of closing it? |
bobk
Supporter
Username: Bobk
Post Number: 3262
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, August 4, 2003 - 2:08 pm: | |
I think some of the anti WalMart feelings are just plain upper middle class elitism.
Having spent four long, actually very long, years living in a small town in Indiana WalMart would have been a godsend.
Unless you wanted to drive thirty or forty miles you were stuck buying from local merchants who knew they had a monopoly on most every day necessities from cloths to food to hardware and charged full list for almost everything. Not to mention the selection stunk. I am sure that there is a WalMart in the neighborhood now and that some of the merchants have closed shop. Others have probably adapted to the changed reality, as Buncher’s Hardware in Millburn did, but Maplecrest did not to the “threat” of Home Depot.
I am not going to say that the labor policies of the WalMarts, the Home Depots, etc. are examples of enlightened management. However, there are a lot men and women with high school educations who have worked their way up to manager jobs and are making a decent living and in small town America, a $15,000 part time job for Mom makes life a lot more comfortable for a lot of families.
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bets
Citizen
Username: Bets
Post Number: 361
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Monday, August 4, 2003 - 3:33 pm: | |
I miss Beck's Hardware with the huge hammer sticking out over South Orange Avenue.
That said, I go to Orange Valley Hardware on Freeman Street in Orange. |
mem
Citizen
Username: Mem
Post Number: 1835
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 5, 2003 - 10:00 am: | |
OK guys. I printed out the thread and mailed it to the CEO with a cover letter summarizing this dilemma. Let's see what happens. Maybe we'll have a Home Depot we can be proud of.
Thanks to all for your comments. |
Dave Ross
Supporter
Username: Dave
Post Number: 4967
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 5, 2003 - 10:24 am: | |
Wait wait wait! There's been no poopyhead award yet. |
notehead
Citizen
Username: Notehead
Post Number: 638
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 5, 2003 - 2:12 pm: | |
Bobk - you made some good points. I still regard WM as an evil force in the world, but you've given me more to consider. I hadn't thought much about what it would be like living in a place that didn't have all the choices we do around here.
Home Depot sucks in terms of service. I think the self-check-out lanes are a godsend. |
ajc
Citizen
Username: Ajc
Post Number: 1684
Registered: 9-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 5, 2003 - 2:35 pm: | |
Forget about the poopyhead award, do you think it will hurt our chances of getting them to pay for a driver for the all day jitney?  |
AZ
Citizen
Username: Azaltsman
Post Number: 162
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 5, 2003 - 10:31 pm: | |
Lowe's is just as bad. The superstore business model is designed to provide better pricing at the expense of service. You can't expect these stores to provide quality service in geographic areas that clearly don't have the qualified workforce. People wanted lower prices, this is what they get. That's why Rickel's went out of business. They had everything HD had. And the people there cared. I used to work at Rickel's a VERY long time ago during high school.
HD and Lowe's business model is to sell by volume. Same with Costco, BJ's, etc. You'll never find the help you need there because those are very payroll-sensitive companies.
The question is...if Rickel's were to come back woud people shop there? |
Arnomation
Citizen
Username: Arnomation
Post Number: 22
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 5, 2003 - 11:12 pm: | |
You worked with Don Rickels??? "You hockey puck!!!' I love that!!!
But seriously folks :-) I've been following this thread and but haven't posted because I'm probably the only person in Maplewood that loves this Home Depot :-0
(besides my wife, that is. She loves it too :-)
The one I used to go to in Brooklyn was so crowded all the time that not only could you not find a parking space or a salesperson to help you but you literally could not find a free shopping cart. That's how many people were there. It was open 24 hrs and the only way I could bear to go there was at one o'clock in the morning.
I also think that a Home Depot type store model is geared toward professionals, contractors and people who know what they're doing. They try to cater to the casual Do-It-Your-Selfer but for the most part I think they are not the place if you want pampered service and hand holding. Which is part of the reason they have Self-Check Out so you don't ever have to interact with anybody in the store at all. Go in, get what you need and leave.
I've been there a dozen times since I've been here and it's always been a breeze (and I don't know what the hell I'm doing :-)
M
________________
Michael Arnold
arnomation@verizon.net |
AZ
Citizen
Username: Azaltsman
Post Number: 163
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 6, 2003 - 9:17 am: | |
Arnomation - The Home Depot here is like heaven compared to the one in Brooklyn. I've been to the Brooklyn HD many times and hated every single one of them. I was in the area and needed something so I went there.
Charles - You're kidding, right? We're talking about Rickel Home Centers...nothing to do with Don Rickels. |
mooewe
Citizen
Username: Mooewe
Post Number: 154
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 6, 2003 - 9:26 am: | |
There's a "Home Depot Lite" (my term) in Garwood. Used to be called Villager's Hardware, with "A Home Depot Store" written under the name. They've now changed it to just Home Depot, but it's the same store. Very clean and nice sized, with decent help. Paint & wallpaper, lighting, electric and plumbing supplies, garden center, tools, some appliances. Not a place to buy lumber and PVC, but that's what keeps it homeowner friendly. |
peteglider
Citizen
Username: Peteglider
Post Number: 191
Registered: 8-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 6, 2003 - 10:42 am: | |
I much prefer Lowes over HD any day. In my wildest dreams a Lowes would open across the street from HD and HD would be out of business in 6 months!
(no flames here -- no, I don't want peoples homes knocked down or another big box store on Springfield Ave -- I said its a "dream" ;-)
BTW -- I've written both to the founders of HD with service issues (right after I read their book - about the principles of service, etc.), and to the store manager. NEVER got even so much as a form letter back.
USed to laugh, cringe, and get angry when I saw their commercials about a Dad building a tree house for his son, and getting all the info from the helpful HD guys. Gotta be kidding -- would never happen at ANY HD I've ever been to.
So-- I too hate HD, but as a homeowner -- find myself there all too regularly.
There are, BTW, 2 great small hardware stores in West Orange. Personal service, decent prices, and they have real solutions! Oh -- also in West Orange other great places for plumbing, doors, etc. Quick story -- I had just bought a Kohler faucet at Expo. Had a problem (and of course Expo could not help - their "solution" was for me to ship the gd thing back to Kohler -- right, my kitchen faucet!). Found a place that sells Kohler in West Orange -- in 5 minutes had a solution. (and with a smile)
Pete |
hello
Citizen
Username: Hello
Post Number: 17
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 6, 2003 - 10:53 am: | |
fwiw, the sears hardware in west orange is an easy drive, esp from north maplewood. you can find floor help (they can't hide because the store is small) but the checkout can be slow- the self-serve at horrible despots is wonderful, i must admit (although screw the nazi crap about "unauthorized item in bag area- alarm- alarm- let's blame all our losses on shoplifting")
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