Home Depot or Lowe's

[Z~44]

Which do you prefer Home Depot, Lowe's, or do you prefer another chain or private store, and why.

I live about a mile away from both a Lowe's and Home Depot, but I find myself spending more time at Home Depot. I can never seem to find everything I want at Lowe's. By my Father's house there is a Lowe's and Home Depot right next to each other. He says he prefers Lowe's because it cleaner. So what do you think?

[MandarynLemon]

I guess it's not fair of me to vote for other, since it's not really the same kind of store....but I try to get all I can at the hardware store where my father works (not the same one he used to work at). It's really easy to get them to order me stuff, and usually if I'm nice they give me a discount. ;) I've never actually been to home depot, i'm not sure if we have one (probably do), but I've been to Lowes a lot, and it seems ok. %)

[Z~44]

It's allowed, that is why I added other. I figured there are some people who prefer local stores due to relationships, specialized merchandise, or some people just don't like the massive chains driving out the old Mom and Pop stores. It's just that I've noticed over the past couple years they have been putting up the two main chains right next to each other.

[Cheri]

Like I said I love Home Depot. It is just easier for me. I love the smell of wood.

[NeverSeenBlue]

This is a really perfect question for me because I had a really horrible experience with Home Depot and their installation department. I ordered carpet and laminate flooring to be installed. The charge for $5,000 was done over the phone, however, after repeated requests they never faxed nor mailed me a copy of the receipt. When they came to install the carpet they brought the wrong one. This of course wasn't realized until after they ripped up the old carpet and I was stuck with a dirty concrete slab for 2 weeks. They didn't have the laminate ready in time so I had to reschedule my installation for 3 weeks later. When they finally got their act together and came to deliver they forget 8 of the items so they were supposed to come back 2 days later to deliver them. I waited and waited and waited and they never showed. I called the store to see what was up and they put me on hold for 25 minutes until I called back only to be put on hold another 20 minutes when I hung up because the store was closed by now (so I guess techincally I would have been on hold all night). I called the next day to get another delivery and was told by their wonderfully pleasant crackhead associate that I had to come pick up the stuff myself or she would charge me another delivery fee (???). I relaly thought this made no sense since they screwed up so I mentioned that instead they should probably reimburse me the delivery fee since they made me miss a day of work for nothing. She then accused me of making the whole story up to try to get something for free (???). In addition, I still didnt' have a receipt (2 months of being charged) so I decided the store was filled with a bunch of idiots and I called the customer service line instead. This is a joke because all they do is set you up on a 3-way call with the store that gave you problems in the first place. They told me they would fax me a receipt immediatelyand I called every day for one week waiting for it. At this point they viewed me as a "nag" instead of themselves as idiots for being so unbelievable incompetant as to be unable to send a simple fax. On the 7th day they told me that they couldn't give me a recipt because more than 30 days had passed since the purchase date (um, why didn't they say this a week ago?). This store also refused to accept the New Jersey ST-8 form which eliminates all NJ residents from paying tax on the labor of capital improvements (which is illegal). I spoke to the NJ Dept. of taxation and now I have to fill out another form so that they can be audited and I will get a refund. The only problem is I have no receipt, so therefore I have no idea how much money I'm supposed to get back. Aside from this rant, I am taking a 2 week break from all this crap and then I;m gonna follow up with my credit card company etc. Basically, shop at Home Depot for simple stuff, but don't do anything that requires them to have to do any kind of thinking or planning cause they just don't give a shit. Whew the end :D

[Z~44]

That reminds me the SAME thing happened to my Sister. They delivered the wrong carpet. I think they caught it early and didn't get stuck with the slab for a couple of weeks but still. They also have had problems with special ordering windows. So you probably are right, I would stay away from using Home Depot for things like that. But I have also found the Home Depot is the only store in my area that carries the correct kind of circuit breaker for my house, so they are good for something (of coarse they charge an arm and a leg for them though)

[whirlygirl]

I use the local Ace Hardware whenever possible. It's locally owned and really well run.

I hate going to Home Depot or Menard's (we don't have Lowe's here). Within 2 minutes of walking in the door I get really tired, can't stop yawning, and my eyes water like crazy. That keeps up as long as I'm in there. My mother-in-law thinks they must have some high-frequency noise (maybe from a security system) that does that to me.

[Z~44]

Originally posted by whirlygirl
I hate going to Home Depot or Menard's (we don't have Lowe's here). Within 2 minutes of walking in the door I get really tired, can't stop yawning, and my eyes water like crazy

This usually happens to me to not so much with Home Depot but whenever I go to the mall... I think its due to the lighting and air conditioning... But then again it could all be psyco-sematic (sp?) because I hate the mall anyway.

[jezebel36]

i heard that some of the wood home depot sells is from the rainforest, so I won't shop there.

I usually go to a local store or if I have to, Menards.

jeni

[AndyKat]

Whirlygirl, that happens to me, too, but it's just because I'm usually bored stiff! I normally only go when my Husband wants to go and we are already out. The only time I go by myself is in the summer to shop the garden section.

NSB--That is absolutely ridiciulous! There's no excuse for that kind of BS. You should try writing a nasty letter to headquarters. Maybe they'll send you free stuff. :D

I like to go to the small Sears hardware store that's just up the street. It's not too big, like I find Home Depot and Lowe's to be. There's like two cash registers and maybe five to seven employees in the whole store at any given time. Perfect size. Plus I can use my Sears card.