Bleeping Home Depot's recorded 'hours of operation' messages - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

cmac2012 · #16 08-18-2010, 10:11 PM

That's a good idea. Losing one's temper is really one's own fault, but I don't need any extra help with pushing me that direction. I felt like crap today and that might have been part of it.

For several years, the HD receipts have a "leave feedback for a chance to win a $5000 gift card!!" or some such crap on the bottom the receipt. Make the receipt twice as long. I've done it once or twice, I will do it on this one and then go further just for good measure.

4x4_Welder · #17 08-18-2010, 11:15 PM

HD has everything run by corporate, I have been told that corporate even runs their heating and cooling systems.

Hatterasguy · #18 08-18-2010, 11:22 PM

This is why I hardly ever darken the door of big box stores except for the oddball item or lights. I buy everything from professional warehouses. Homeowners can't buy from the places I buy from, you have to be a contactor and the service reflects it. The people at the counter know what they are talking about, they offer interest free credit, etc. They also don't suffer fools so the odd homeowner that calls or walks in gets turned right around.

These big box stores also lack boom trucks, which sucks getting 14 square of shingles to the roof isn't fun without one.

cmac2012 · #19 08-18-2010, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

This is why I hardly ever darken the door of big box stores except for the oddball item or lights. I buy everything from professional warehouses. Homeowners can't buy from the places I buy from, you have to be a contractor and the service reflects it. The people at the counter know what they are talking about, they offer interest free credit, etc. They also don't suffer fools so the odd homeowner that calls or walks in gets turned right around.

These big box stores also lack boom trucks, which sucks getting 14 square of shingles to the roof isn't fun without one.

Good points, I hate it at HD when I need to ask some simple ass question about where something is and every associate is being hogged by some home owner who is looking for a tutorial on this or that from the beginning.

You doing roofing these days? I put comp. shingles on one side (the sun side) of a small garage yesterday, getting those squares up top is what you call hard work. I had a helper, I had to. Won't have to go to the gym for a while.

10fords · #20 08-19-2010, 12:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

This is why I hardly ever darken the door of big box stores except for the oddball item or lights. I buy everything from professional warehouses. Homeowners can't buy from the places I buy from, you have to be a contactor and the service reflects it. The people at the counter know what they are talking about, they offer interest free credit, etc. They also don't suffer fools so the odd homeowner that calls or walks in gets turned right around.

These big box stores also lack boom trucks, which sucks getting 14 square of shingles to the roof isn't fun without one.

X2 on all of the above. I can make a call from a jobsite to someone I know personally and have everything delivered for free and not have to pay for it for 30 days with no interest. If you don't already have one get a utility bed truck and keep it stocked with parts so you don't have to constantly go on parts runs. The initial cost is somewhat large but pays off bigtime in the short term. The only things you can get at the deep homo that are cheaper than a supply house are the fast moving loss leaders- 12-2 romex, 1/2' plywood, 8 foot 2x4's etc. In my field of electrical I have noticed that while you can get the romex cheaper than my supply house, but just about everything else is 50% to 500% more! Just last weekend I needed 1600 feet of # 2 copper to hook up a well service, and just for the hell of it I called deep homo because I wanted to get it done before Monday. Their price was about 1.50 a foot= $2400, and my supply house was 1.03 a foot=$1648!! Needless to say, I waited until Monday and had the wire delivered on reels to the jobsite. It's just a better way to run a business.

mgburg · #21 08-19-2010, 01:20 AM

Those phone messages are either being done one of two ways...

#1.) Corporate: Some peon in the home office is SUPPOSE to update and correct existing messages. Said peon is either on vacation or lost the access code and is too embarrassed to ask someone for it...

#2.) In-Store: Some peon in the store itself lost the access code to get into the VM-Box to change the message, or doesn't know how to access and download an MP3 or .wav file to insert into said KSU memory slot/card of the system itself.

Either way, just bang on the <0> key to get results.

Then, as Hattie said, ask for the MOD and get to a big dog...

BTW: Does MOD stand for Manager On Duty?

cmbdiesel · #22 08-19-2010, 01:27 AM

Well, not to be a smart as5 or anything, but your first mistake was going to homer's trash bin in the first place. $10 says you will be replacing what you just installed before the year is out, and on top of that they got to aggravate you as well.
Shut it down, figure it out, get real parts the next day at a real plumbing supply house. Your customer will be happier in the long run if you fix it correctly, instead of half-as5ing it with a pile of crap from home cheapo.

cmac2012 · #23 08-19-2010, 01:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 10fords

X2 on all of the above. I can make a call from a jobsite to someone I know personally and have everything delivered for free and not have to pay for it for 30 days with no interest. If you don't already have one get a utility bed truck and keep it stocked with parts so you don't have to constantly go on parts runs. The initial cost is somewhat large but pays off bigtime in the short term. The only things you can get at the deep homo that are cheaper than a supply house are the fast moving loss leaders- 12-2 romex, 1/2' plywood, 8 foot 2x4's etc.

I much prefer going to real lumber yards, plumbing supply houses, etc. I wish I'd apprenticed as a plumber years ago but oh well, I didn't. I can do about 3/4ths of what a plumber can do but I don't do enough of the work to merit the utility truck complete with parts. I save parts I didn't use on this job or that and I rarely need exactly that part again, or at least can't find it when I do need it. Having a large selection of supply lines or angle stops might be a good idea. But then there's the issue of storage in my rig. For example, I can't remember when I last needed a one inch ball valve. If you had 8 different valves on hand, that would be about $120 in inventory, not a huge amount, but then you have to keep some kind of track of what the current price is, as that's what you'll pay to replace it. And you have to keep it from getting beat up, dinged up.

I have a buddy who's a real plumber and I've collaborated with him on jobs that needed an inspection and a licensed plumber. He's got 3 trucks, does a sort of lease/cooperation thing with 2 of them to other plumbers. Guy makes bank.

SwampYankee · #24 08-19-2010, 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

This is why I hardly ever darken the door of big box stores except for the oddball item or lights. I buy everything from professional warehouses. Homeowners can't buy from the places I buy from, you have to be a contactor and the service reflects it. The people at the counter know what they are talking about, they offer interest free credit, etc. They also don't suffer fools so the odd homeowner that calls or walks in gets turned right around.

These big box stores also lack boom trucks, which sucks getting 14 square of shingles to the roof isn't fun without one.

Yup! Their attitudes towards customers is definitely having an effect. We're getting more and more lawn care business as a result of them (HD/Lowe's) not knowing their @$$e$ from their elbows when it comes to fertilizer, lawn seed and pesticides. As is their SOP, prices start out low when they first open the stores and gradually creep upwards over the years. Unbeknownst to most of their customers as they've been "trained." On a wholesale/commercial basis, we're really not that far apart price-wise. Sure, there may be a $1 or $3/bag savings and there will always be a contractor that is a price-only shopper. That's not who we're looking for and we're more than happy to let the big boxes deal with them. But for customer service and knowledge they can't compete, if I may say so myself.

We're essentially contractor-only but unlike most, if a homeowner finds their way in we're happy to separate them from their money at bust-out retail for an additional 40% GPM over wholesale price. And more and more homeowners are willing to pay that for quality and expertise. Homeowners do take more time to deal with and their purchases never equal the LCO's. But they (generally) turn into repeat customers who (eventually) learn what you teach them, the extra profit margin usually covers the extra time it takes and they fill in the time between the wholesale customers (contractors always get preference when they come through the door, even if we're with a retail customer at the time).

Hatterasguy · #25 08-19-2010, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmac2012

Good points, I hate it at HD when I need to ask some simple ass question about where something is and every associate is being hogged by some home owner who is looking for a tutorial on this or that from the beginning.

You doing roofing these days? I put comp. shingles on one side (the sun side) of a small garage yesterday, getting those squares up top is what you call hard work. I had a helper, I had to. Won't have to go to the gym for a while.

Yep, plus I find their products inferior. For example bathroom faucets you get from Lowes have plastic drains, which can crack. The exact same faucet I get from the plumbing supply house has a metal drain.

Nah I don't do any work, the contractors do it. But I have to pay the roofers more if I want them to hump the shingles up. Its cheaper to boom them up.

Hatterasguy · #26 08-19-2010, 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SwampYankee

Yup! Their attitudes towards customers is definitely having an effect. We're getting more and more lawn care business as a result of them (HD/Lowe's) not knowing their @$$e$ from their elbows when it comes to fertilizer, lawn seed and pesticides. As is their SOP, prices start out low when they first open the stores and gradually creep upwards over the years. Unbeknownst to most of their customers as they've been "trained." On a wholesale/commercial basis, we're really not that far apart price-wise. Sure, there may be a $1 or $3/bag savings and there will always be a contractor that is a price-only shopper. That's not who we're looking for and we're more than happy to let the big boxes deal with them. But for customer service and knowledge they can't compete, if I may say so myself.

We're essentially contractor-only but unlike most, if a homeowner finds their way in we're happy to separate them from their money at bust-out retail for an additional 40% GPM over wholesale price. And more and more homeowners are willing to pay that for quality and expertise. Homeowners do take more time to deal with and their purchases never equal the LCO's. But they (generally) turn into repeat customers who (eventually) learn what you teach them, the extra profit margin usually covers the extra time it takes and they fill in the time between the wholesale customers (contractors always get preference when they come through the door, even if we're with a retail customer at the time).

I wish you guys were closer I would buy from you. We go to Derby Feed and this place in Stratford I forget the name. Lately Lowes is way, way high on grass seed.

SwampYankee · #27 08-19-2010, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

I wish you guys were closer I would buy from you. We go to Derby Feed and this place in Stratford I forget the name. Lately Lowes is way, way high on grass seed.

Thanks for the tip, time to raise prices a bit.

That's my point. Most folks assume the big boxes are going to be cheaper because that's the impression they give out. Don't get me wrong, we're not cheapest on anything nor do we aspire to be. But often the difference isn't as much as assumed.

Just for curiosity sake, what quantities do you usually buy in? If it's by the bag or two, UPS shipping would kill any savings if, in fact, there were any. But if it's 500lbs.+ delivery via common carrier or even our trucks is a possibility.

Heck I could even use it as an excuse to visit my FIL in Derby and get my gas paid for.

Hatterasguy · #28 08-19-2010, 12:52 PM

We buy per project, so usualy only 2-3 bags at a time. Most of the yards we do in Milford are very small. Right now I own 4 lots and the largest one is 60x100.

When the economy gets better I plan on building in other towns with much larger yards, than we can talk about 500 pounds.

SwampYankee · #29 08-19-2010, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

We buy per project, so usualy only 2-3 bags at a time. Most of the yards we do in Milford are very small. Right now I own 4 lots and the largest one is 60x100.

When the economy gets better I plan on building in other towns with much larger yards, than we can talk about 500 pounds.

Don't forget me when you hit the big-time!

cmbdiesel · #30 08-19-2010, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SwampYankee

Don't forget me when you hit the big-time!

Well, with the heat and incredible crabgrass infestation this year, I may be back in the fall for a few bags....if I get the gumption to rototill half of my yard...