Please help me understand... customer service misery.
Today, after work, I had a few errands to run, and was clear on the other side of town at Home Depot. I decided to have a gallon of paint mixed there, using the sample I had with me. I choose a satin outdoor paint and left the paint chip for color matching. It was a simple, creamy beige color I use for our backyard fences... No biggy. I picked up a few other items and headed back to the paint counter. There were two gallons sitting there. The girl working the counter said that the first color she mixed came out "peachy" and she would sell me that paint for 1/2 off. Huh? "First", I said, "Show me both colors-- dried". She rolls her eyes. She was right. One gallon had a peach hue. The other, while a little off, was acceptable. I told her that I had no use for the peachy gallon, and picked up the paint I was going to purchase. "No"- she said, I had to take both. Huh? Why? Because I "ordered" them. Huh? Again, she said she would sell it to me at 1/2 off. I asked her why I should pay 50% for a job that was 100% wrong. Store Policy. Huh? Squabble , squabble... cat fight.. cat fight... Manager called. He said, that while it was store policy for the requesting customer to take all paint mixed for that order-- with a discount applied to the paint that wasn't to the customers satisfaction, he would make an exception in this case. Exception my a@@. I left my cart sitting there, and walked out without purchasing anything. 
I drove all the way across town and had my paint mixed by the people I trust. The people that give me 110 % customer service everytime I frequent their business. I bought everything on my list there. While a teeny more pricey, it was WELL worth it. Oh, and I checked the distance. For me-- ALL THE WAY across town is 2 miles.  |
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Thats ridiculous...What every other paint store in existance does is put that "mismixed" paint out for anybody to buy at a very low price...I know, because thats how I could afford all the weird and wacky colors Ive used over the years in my various art studios!   Including one place that was a HUGE ugly warehouse...we left it VERY colorful when we moved out!  |
ravenmoonart wrote: Thats ridiculous...What every other paint store in existance does is put that "mismixed" paint out for anybody to buy at a very low price...I know, because thats how I could afford all the weird and wacky colors Ive used over the years in my various art studios!
Including one place that was a HUGE ugly warehouse...we left it VERY colorful when we moved out! Yeah-- and my sister tells me that it isn't store policy... They had paint mixed last week and the same thing happened. The guy mixed it 3 times before he got it right, with NO mention of her purchasing the mixed up paints. I am calling back in there tomorrow... sounds shady to me. I feel like Harriet the Spy  |
Abuckie wrote: ravenmoonart wrote: Thats ridiculous...What every other paint store in existance does is put that "mismixed" paint out for anybody to buy at a very low price...I know, because thats how I could afford all the weird and wacky colors Ive used over the years in my various art studios! Including one place that was a HUGE ugly warehouse...we left it VERY colorful when we moved out! Yeah-- and my sister tells me that it isn't store policy... They had paint mixed last week and the same thing happened. The guy mixed it 3 times before he got it right, with NO mention of her purchasing the mixed up paints. I am calling back in there tomorrow... sounds shady to me. I feel like Harriet the Spy Definitely. That paint should end up on the sale rack-- it's not your responsibility to buy their mistakes! I've bought many a gallon of paint off the cheap rack. I love mistakes! |
| Unbelievable! My PET PEEVE is poor customer service! Home Depot is ONE place that many times has made me feel that THEY are doing ME a big favor by allowing me to purchase something from them!!
Over the last year it has been interesting to watch the steady decline and eventual demise of some of the other stores that operated on the same principle. |
| I'm so glad you left without buying the 'discounted' paint. |
Two miles?  I guess it is relative. Only things within two miles of me are the vets and the gas station. Anything else is a haul. I agree re: the Big Box places..........if you need customer service or a special item, they are not the place.
Ace and True Value are 14 miles away, across the street from one another. My favorite street corner! |
| I try and buy local too.
I do have to say though that one food chain here (Wegmans) has gone out of there way to have help when at the checking out. They see my arm and right away there is a person to take my food ect out to the van, put it in and help me. on the other hand our morgage cpy (not a bank) is rude hard to deal with and even hung up on me and told me 4 months ago when we were having car problems that I was not telling the truth.Where then do you go to complain. You just can't walk away.  |
ravenmoonart wrote: Thats ridiculous...What every other paint store in existance does is put that "mismixed" paint out for anybody to buy at a very low price...I know, because thats how I could afford all the weird and wacky colors Ive used over the years in my various art studios!
Including one place that was a HUGE ugly warehouse...we left it VERY colorful when we moved out! That's exactly what the two Home Depots I know do -- sell "Oops" paint for very cheap. I never heard of them making the customer buy their mistake. Crazy! I am glad you walked out of there. |
Valerie wrote: ravenmoonart wrote: Thats ridiculous...What every other paint store in existance does is put that "mismixed" paint out for anybody to buy at a very low price...I know, because thats how I could afford all the weird and wacky colors Ive used over the years in my various art studios! Including one place that was a HUGE ugly warehouse...we left it VERY colorful when we moved out! That's exactly what the two Home Depots I know do -- sell "Oops" paint for very cheap. I never heard of them making the customer buy their mistake. Crazy! I am glad you walked out of there. I know you're not allowed to return paint once it's been purchased, but I've never heard of having to purchase incorrectly mixed paint. |
| Send corporate an email. Let them know you have discussed this on the Web and found their policies to be a$$inine and how much better one receives customer service at independent dealers. Hopefully they will pick up on the Web discussion and will want to squash further public discussion.
Of course if they send you a gift certificate or some such I'd tell them where to stick it.............  in a paper shredder.  |
SheepieBoss wrote: Of course if they send you a gift certificate or some such I'd tell them where to stick it.............
in a paper shredder. My method for the gift cards that are sent to try to make amends - donate them. That way, someone who needs them gets to use them, I don't have to go back to the store, and the offending outlet still pays. Wal-Mart sent me a $200 gift card after something unbelievably atrocious happened there and that's what I did. The YWCA women's shelter got to use it and I never went back.  |
| Hi,
Oh I was so mad when I read your post and it didn't even happen to me! I can understand why you were irked and good on you for walking out - I would have done the same thing! I never heard of such a thing either and that policy SUCKS! No way should a customer ever have to pay for their mistake. I think that store needs to revisit their service policy and customer service as they will lose business that way. Other stores like members said, often sell their "mistakes" for discount to other customers that may have been looking exactly for a brand of peachy color or whatever but never ask the client whose paint order they messed up to pay for their(the stores) mistake. Egads! That's so wrong! I'd send them this post and all our answers or contact head office if you want to take it further. PS Thanks for the chuckle regarding your statement "all the way across town" of 2 miles...
Marianne |
| First, they should have informed you of their store policy on custom tinted paint before they started mixing it.
Unfortunately, their policy is probably the result of a 'few bad apples spoiling the bunch'. It is not uncommon for a customer to have a paint custom tinted and then say they to not like it. Then the same customer comes back a couple of days later and buys the same paint on the 50% off opps shelf. So the customer gets the paint they actually wanted for 50% off. It is one of those policies that make life difficult for honest people. However, if the paint is obviously the wrong shade, it should just be considered an error and placed on the oops shelf. |
| I would say especially since you didn't order that PEACHY shade and then just changed your mind once you looked at it.... you shouldn't have to buy it.
Glad you didn't spend your money there. |
| customer services you really have to wonder.... we had to make a last minutes run to our hardware store 1/2hour before closing wanting to purchase pvc water piping. All I asked was how long are the lenghs (we needed 30 feet unknown to her) She said in one sentence, 10 feet and we can not cut it now because we close in 1/2 hour its policy... ahhhh, I will pick up three of them no cutting needed and if I needed to cut them, I would do it my and if I had to.No where else to buy it in town(so they can do what they want) and I spent $2000.00 in that place in the last 2 months THEN the day before David was in the city getting plumping stuff that was not in town and went to home depot , usually you can find no one and they were all over him. (Rona had opened there 2 days before) He had no problems having help in Home Depot, Rona, Totem, And Home Hardware.( we are trying to rig up plumping for my new sink for my salon that I ordered and it was made in China and now up to americian stanard in there plumping so a total redo and headache but do able) |
| yeah, i get it. When i Korea looking for things to bring back to the neighborhood kids............ what did i find? Fans "made in China"......... I gave up.
I remember my mom saying things like "we're selling ourselves off" back when i was still in single digits............ I hadn't a clue what she was talking about back then. now, i do. It seems like everything we see in the store or ??/ says "made in china"....... I know she is rolling over in her grave about everything else going on from the past electiion to everything else going on in this world today. I went to Home Depot to replace my screen doors. Gee seems like a OES head hitting them tends to not only rip out the screen which can be replaced, but puts dents into the metal/aluminum part too after a while. They weren't that busy but I asked 3 different people for help............ each one passed me on to another, then no one ever answered the page. i finally gave up and came home. Guess they didn't want my money that much. |
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