i feel kinda lucky. my wifes cousin owns a small hardware store nearby. nobody works for him, he runs it by himself if the door is unlocked, he is in there. i hate HD. better experiences with lowes, but it is 30 miles away.

 

I prefer lowes better but they have the same 90 day lifetime crap as HD

the nice thing about lowes though is that if there is a bag of ripped insulation or any other damaged thing they will mark it down 75% you just have to ask.
also my friend goes in and orders a few paint colors then walks out. he comes back the next day and they are on the discount cart. lol

 

Indeed. Make note of that when you (all) choose where you spend your money from here on. Restaurants, stores, everything. Once the little shops shrivel up and die, you're left to the deal with the big-box corporate mindset and all that comes with it. And we're the ones to blame. Is it really worth it, to save a few bucks here or there?

 

It's to late all ready, Wal-Mart stores every corner, and stealer ships that are 50 acres or more, and the bigger is better mental outlook just means we ending up paying more.

When home depot was a small store, you could get good service and good prices, then K-Mart bought Builder's Square who were great when they were a small store you had to drive to get there but it was worth it, then K-Mart started going to all the local stores and telling all the owners you can get more for this , your not charging enough for this, I heard this time and time again at my family run ACE, he told them to pound sand, He was making a good living for the whole family with his prices.

Next thing we know there are gone, so K-Mart had to give them
a hell of a deal because Hesaid over and over He would never sell, so he's gone and home depot doubled in size to complete with the builder's square and we were paying more for every thing.

Big company's end up with all the business and if that's not enough then they want to start taking work away from the builder'sbuying from them, we can install it for you and give you a warranty, yea right they will send loser after loser out to fix it cheap, or they pay rate and up the price you could have got out of the phone book.

 

As a home improvement/repair company owner I go to Home depot/Lowes/local Ace multiple times a week, sometimes multiple times a day. I rarely have anything to return but I can speak for the horrible customer service at home depot. I damn near got into a fight with an employee once. I walked up behind a guy straightening some lumber and said "excuse me?", when he didnt answer I said "alright then, nevermind". With about the biggest attitude you can imagine he turns and looks at me and said "WHAT? I AM RIGHT HERE!". I told him #*@& you, I will find it myself. I could have made the situation worse but walked away. I have complained to managers there about the buggys all over the parking lot many times because since I pull a trailer I need 2 spaces front to back and they are all over but blocked by carts and baskets. I would much prefer the small hardware stores but they just dont carry most of the stuff I regularly need. I still go to home depot but for limited things (16' lumber mostly) but lowes is much more geared towards homeowners and weekend do-it-yourselfers.

 

All the big box stores are geared for the home owner, with bring your kids in on saturday for the kid club, then we have the project of the week were they have a class to teach you enough to get in trouble.

You had to plan a little better and go a few places to get all you wanted, now all them places are gone or the big boxes are buying all the local product.

Aluminium I used to get and install for what home depot sold it for and make great money.

 

I have always liked home depot better but all that I buy is is milwakee or dewalt power tools so it really doesn't matter to me. I also like the fact that they started carrying hilti tools.

 

I've read through this looooong thread, and agree that Home Depot is the pits, and Lowe's is marginally better.

Whenever possible, I order stuff (tools, fittings, you name it) from McMaster-Carr Supply. www.mcmaster.com

Their tools are first rate, their shipping charges are exactly what UPS charges them, none of this "$5.95 shipping and handling" crap on a part that will ship in an envelope.

Their delivery speed blows me away. I've ordered stuff online from them at 4:30 in the afternoon and had the UPS man set it on my porch at 11:00 the next morning, and I'm 200 miles away from their warehouse.

Their online catalog is absolutely the best I've ever used from ANY vendor. I actually emailed Home Depot and Lowes and told them to look at McMaster's online catalog to see what a good catalog SHOULD look like. You want to return an item? No problem, no "Return Material Authorization" required, just send it back, and they'll credit your account.

Guess you can tell by now, I LOVE these guys. I have no connection with them except as an EXTREMELY satisfied customer.

 

Update on this situation. I e-mailed corporate and informed them of the service and the policy on the husky site. I was told that I will have a resolution no later then tomorrow.

 

That means a $100 HD gift card for you buddy, or at least it should lol