HD and Customer Service

It seems HD Corporate really cannot figure out why customer service is an issue for their stores. Let's look at the likely issues:

1) Poor Scheduling.
A store will routinely have one associate scheduled for a major department. I'm not sure the rules on scheduling, but it seems they're allergic to any predictability in the schedule.

2) Associates who don't know jack.
Sometimes HR prides itself in sticking the most clueless person in a department. For example, frequently, you might find an associate in electrical who does not know even the most basics about electrical wiring.

3) Associate job description.
Associates job description is customer service, but frankly there is more time spent on telling us to clean up the bays. The new motto for HD should be "If you cannot put it back, then we can help." Store Mgmt acts like it cares about customer service, but they are more concerned with a clean store--as the district mangers seem have a thorn in their ass about that. So, frequently, store associates will focus on cleaning as opposed to customers--because that is what they are trained to do.

4)Inventory.
While there are some good deals at HD,there is a lot of crap. Seriously, who is in bed with Ryobi? They must be good, because their products are crap.

5)Moving inventory.
Is it really necessary to move everything in the store around so frequently? Also, how about the simple courtesy of telling the associates. I spent a better part of an hour tracking down fire extinguishers because they moved them from electrical to hardware to seasonal to an end cap to garden. And, not a single associate in any department had a clue.

I have much more to say on each point, but I will leave it for now.