Is Home Depot Scamming People With Fake Comments?

by Ben Yoskovitz

While looking at some contemporary rugs on the Home Depot website I came across a few comments that looked suspicious.

Let me preface this quickly — having communication features like comments and reviews on e-commerce sites is great. I often look at the reviews and ratings before digging into product details, because there may be some wisdom in the crowds worth picking up on. If 400 people say one wireless router is better than another, there has to be some value there. Same holds true for all kinds of products, including books. Amazon.com gets lots of people leaving detailed, valuable reviews. So what about rugs?

Well, here are the 3 comments that stood out for me, and you can decide:

Rug #1
“I was looking everywhere for a multi-coloured rug for a small budget–and saw this one online, went to home depot the next day to look at it and it is better in real life–love the fact that there is matching smaller rugs too.” - Sudbury gal, January 12, 2007

Rug #2
“My husband and I were searching for a new area rug, and we could not find anything we liked for a smaller budget. But then I found this rug online. I went to the Home Depot the next day to see it, and it was better than the picture! This rug is nice and dark, with lots of great patterns. We get compliments on it all the time! To find an area rug this size for this price is extremly hard, but we could not be happier with our purchase!” - Great rug, great price!, November 28, 2006 / By Small town gal from Saskatchewan

Rug #3
“My husband and I were searching for a new area rug, and we could not find anything we liked for a smaller budget. But then I found this rug online. I went to the Home Depot the next day to see it, and it was better than the picture! This rug is nice and dark, with lots of great patterns. We get compliments on it all the time! To find an area rug this size for this price is extremly hard, but we could not be happier with our purchase!” - Great Rug! Great Price!, January 5, 2007 / By Sally from Toronto

I suppose it could be the same person who made all three comments. It’s not uncommon for people to move three times in the span of three months right? So she was in Saskatchewan, then hopped over to Toronto, decided that wasn’t for her and moved to Sudbury…And of course she only identified herself as “Sally” while living in Toronto.

Something is amiss.

My first reaction was, “Someone at Home Depot is putting in bogus comments.” Is that possible? Would they bother?

I noticed very few comments in the rugs section; maybe someone at Home Depot decided to fill in a few holes and make the site look less dead.

My next thought was that it was an overzealous manufacturer trying to pimp their own carpets - but all three of the carpets are made by different companies.

So I’m back to wondering about Home Depot and whether they’d try and scam people by posting fake comments. Maybe its a coincidence or someone being stupid, but it’s definitely a mystery, and something smells distinctly fishy.

What do you guys think?


March 19th, 2007
More in Business
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  • I concur, something very odd going on with those three comments. The last two in particular are very odd -- they're basically duplicates. I'm leaning towards Home Depot sticking in the positive reviews but wouldn't rule out a middle distributor sticking in the comments. All 3 rugs came from different companies but Home Depot could be buying all 3 of them from a single distributor. Either way online product reviews aren't what they used to be. Average consumers still do write honest reviews (I still do it sometimes) but sadly, more often than not, the review are "plants" by someone with a vested interest in selling more product.
  • I saw a job posting about a month ago for a "Web publicist." Basically what the firm wanted people to do was go to forums, review sites, etc, and post good reviews of the firm's client's products.

    In an even more sinister twist, this same firm hires models (usually beautiful 19 year old girls) to go to malls and hang around in front of certain stores, or going into the stores and trying on clothes, making nice comments etc.

    Welcome to the wonderful new world of viral marketing!
  • After re-reading my last comment, I have a great marketing idea for Home Depot. Hire a bunch of "handyman-looking" guys, and have them walk around the store making appreciative comments.

    "Man, with THAT drill I could fix anything!"

    ;)
  • Joe in St. Paul
    Sounds fishy to me.

    By the way, great blog. It's one of the best written most insightful site on the Internet. Way to go!
  • I think they are inpired writing. Fictional comments by fictional people no question - whoever wrote them was clearly thinking, "Now what would I love one of our customers to say"

    Scott - I did something similar to that in the UK when I was doing the PR for a book ... had selections of very good looking people reading it on the subway system etc ...
  • This highlights one of the reasons I support commercial reviews on blogs with correct disclosure.
    The examples are definitely plants, it is like fake testimonials on sales letters.

    If something like this was ever officially investigated, would a site like Hone Depot be able to cover up evidence by deleting comments before an investigation could take place?
    Would they be smart enough to use proxys to make the comments anonymous?
  • Mat
    The web, and by extension the blogosphere, is inherently unreliable. Until a robust and open identity management solution is massively rolled-out (plenty of ppl working on this, including Vancouver-based sxip.com) we'll not have any way of knowing, or trusting, the validity of any commenter (in this comment, for instance, I could just as easily said my name was Julien Smith, and linked to his blog) or any blogger, for that matter.

    Anonymity is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it's what gives the Internet such power as a platform for free-speech. On the other hand, it makes it extremely difficult to establish a trusted communication link with an unknown party. (See famous cartoon here: http://www.unc.edu/depts/jomc/academics/dri/ido...). Eventually, these problems will be worked out - but until then, the Web is a bit like the Wild West, a deception-laced free-for-all where many will cheat and defraud any way they can, to turn a quit buck.

    Incidentally, Ben, did you pay Joe to say that? ;)
  • Mat - Who is to say that I'm not Joe? *smile*

    Thanks for the comments so far, very much appreciated - and truly extending the conversation intelligently.
  • I was just going to log on and post as Steve from San Diego, but "Joe" beat me to it.

    So should I presume that you're against people planting comments in their own blogs as well? I would never leave myself a positive comment (mostly because I don't think they have any weight), but I might ask myself a question as another person (and then answer my own comment) on a new blog that wasn't getting any comments to try to encourage others to comment.
  • Meh, I don't think this is anything serious. I'm a web developer, and I've seen thing like these creep in from testing to production all time time. Basically a tester enters "fake" comments to test out some functionality, and in the rush to push to production, the comments stay in there, other bigger fish come up, and no one bothers to remove the "fake" comment. I think their developers should get a slap on the wrist for this, but not much more.
  • Nate - that could very well be the case - I guess with the variety of scandals out there about companies like Home Depot and a general sense that they really don't "get it" when it comes to online stuff, community building, etc. the suspicion immediately kicked in.

    Maybe it was just a developer faux pas. I wonder if anyone at Home Depot will take notice and let us know?
  • I keep hearing about how unreliable the internet is and how suspect blogging in general is as though scams and cons are something brand new and only came on the scene in the digital age.

    Truth has a way of being found out. And here in the digital age the scammers inevitably leave a trail of ones and zeros around the globe. We've got a whole planet full of folks willing to dig deep enough and invest the time it takes to flush out these frauds.

    Good on ya Ben for pointing out some Home Depot weirdness.

    But could rest of us get off the "It's the wild west out there" theme and stop pretending that people have suddenly gotten more sneaky and deceptive than they were before this technology was available to us?
  • "But could rest of us get off the “It’s the wild west out there” theme and stop pretending that people have suddenly gotten more sneaky and deceptive than they were before this technology was available to us?"

    Chris,

    I have this great wooden horse statue that I want you to see. What was your address again?

    ;)
  • Scott, just roll it inside my gate for me, if you will. I'll take a look at it later. :roll:
  • Brian - regarding your question about planting comments - I don't have a problem with commenting on your own blog, but I don't think you should do it as a fake person. Why not just ask the question as an extension of the conversation, as yourself? And then answer it, or hopefully have others answer it, and then you can follow-up, perhaps even with a new blog post.
  • Sadly many stores do this. Newegg.com does it too but not so obviouse
  • Dee
    You missed one possibility as to the duplicate postings...

    Homedepot.ca is currently running a contest where customers are entered in a weekly draw to win a $500 gift card, each time they write a review on the site.

    (See the contest info here: http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/servl...)

    From what I see, there's nothing to prevent "Sudbury Gal" or "Sally" from copying the review from "Small town gal from Saskatchewan" to try to get entries into that contest.

    So the real story here may be that web-trolls are copying reviews to try to scam Home Depot.
  • Dee - that's definitely an interesting possibility. I didn't know Home Depot was running such a contest. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
  • Mat
    Chris:

    But it IS like the "wild west", in that the laws/structures that our modern society has established to root out the fraudulent element within its ranks are more easily subverted on the 'Net, which is predicated on the sort of freedoms that have not been around since the days of gun slingin' card sharks.

    The webosphere is still very new, and we are still very much in an acclimatization period (one that, arguably, may never end as the evolution is constant and rapid) that keeps things very interesting indeed.
  • Tom
    Something like this is done a little differently, if you think about it, in TV. Some live comedy sets have a select audience who claps or laughs based on a que card, or audience "moderator".
  • Mat
    Dee's suggestion seems like a plausible explanation...
  • It's definitely fishy, whether it's Home Depot or contest-entry fanatics.

    But I think fake "reviews" are common on any site that offers them. Companies trying to push products, competitors trying to discourage sales. It's all out there and there's no way to know what's real and what isn't.

    I once bought a book on Amazon.com after reading rave reviews from a handful of reviewers. The book was the WORST I ever read. I'm convinced the author got a bunch of friends to say nice things about it. And I was one of many suckers who fell for it. Now I pretty much disregard reviews I see online.
  • AlmostAlive
    But who says "smaller budget" in real life -- real people say "cheap" or at least "inexpensive" and advertising writers say "smaller budget"
  • Strager things have been done. It is certainly possible that Home Depot made them up or paid someone to sit and write them.

    Most liely they had a lower wage employee just key them in. Sorry, when it come to big corporations I'm a tad cynical.

    s
  • Ben,

    Just wanted to drop a note and let you know that we do not post reviews on our own site to promote a product or encourage our vendors to do this. We work hard to create an open environment for people to gather and share information – either negative or positive – as we believe that consumer’s interactions can provide additional insight into the product that we or our vendors cannot provide.

    Thanks for bringing this up and let me know if you have any other questions.

    Thanks,

    Simon
    homedepot.ca
  • Nora
    My husband and I were searching for a new area rug, and we could not find anything we liked for a smaller budget. But then I found this rug online. I went to the Home Depot the next day to see it, and it was better than the picture! This rug is nice and dark, with lots of great patterns. We get compliments on it all the time! To find an area rug this size for this price is extremly hard, but we could not be happier with our purchase!
  • kato420
    A true handyman knows his equipment and won't rely on HD for advice, HD has been going down the tank the last few years,. I think they are waiting for someone to buy them out,. Their prices suck.
  • Barry
    I agree with Dee. If more people fessed up to cheating the system, versus the system cheating them, this wouldn't be such a parnoid country.
  • Had a similar experience with HD and their paid search listings:

    http://www.badslacks.com/home-depot-you-can-do-...
  • Maybe the commenter happens to work as an advertising writer? ;-)

    But yeah, we need at least 3 kinds of identity: totally anonymous, pseudonyms, certified person.

    [quote]AlmostAlive wrote:
    But who says "smaller budget" in real life — real people say "cheap" or at least "inexpensive" and advertising writers say "smaller budget".[/quote]
  • Self promotion, just one of the indispensable spokes in the wheel that is capitalism.
  • Bobby
    Three possibilities:

    1) Home Depot is writing these.

    Comment above from directly from Home Depot suggests they are not, and I believe it. Think about it...for this tactic to make any meaningful impact it would have to be so wide spread across categories that this wouldn't be the first posting about this. And how many corporate employees do you know would have the kind of time or incentive to do this? Let alone, take the job risk (i'm sure they can check IP address).

    2) Supplier is writing these

    Noted in the post...unlikely since these rugs are from different manufacturers

    3) Users are writing these.

    My theory is that another user without much creativity grabbed the review from another person to get a review in the system. Therefore it is not necessarily a 'fraudulent' review (in the intent of that definition) but rather spam. And if this is the first and only mention of this, probably in the vast minority of honest reviews.
  • Mat, I'm curious how you propose to solve the problem you see with the 'Net. From what you said I get the feeling that you believe there should be much more government interference regulation with the internet.

    Personally I'm of the opinion that any government involvement would be far less effective and far more costly than the millions of Ben's out there keeping their eyes on everything and shouting out whenever they see something fishy.

    Neither freedom, nor an absence of laws equates to lawlessness as you implied. It can lead to it, but I don't see the web as the anarchistic frontier where the few powerful "gunslingers" are praying on the poor helpless masses.

    The very freedom you seem to fear, and the unprecedented access to information we have right now, is exactly what allows folks like Ben to do what they do so well, call out the fishiness they see.
  • mooo
    I think you have too much time on your hands.
  • Jim
    Hell yeah. I was a department head at Hell Depot for three years and we all left bogus comments on the HD website. Not only to make our depts look good but because our store manager asked us to, so it would make the store look good.
  • Simon - thank you for the response from Home Depot. Would you assume that these comments were made by customers then, either being lazy, silly, stupid or trying to game your contest right now?
  • Ben - The interesting piece to this is that these review fall outside of the contest dates. These are from the first few months of when we had reviews online so it may be a tester, as it was mentioned earlier, or someone trying reviews out for the first time. We also did an IP check and they are from three different IP addresses so it might lend to this hypothesis.

    I do appreciate you bringing this to our attention and as a customer centric organization we do value the voice of the customer as part of our greater community on homedepot.ca. When we added reviews we felt that this authentic word of mouth advertising and community building aspect of our website would continue to make us a leading destination for online shopping in Canada and help our customers in making decisions with this powerful user generated content. As many of your readers have pointed out it is important to ensure that the level of trust is maintained or the whole project would be a failure. To ensure this not only do we not post our own reviews on the site or condone over vendors in doing the same but the overall review acceptance process is handled by a third party to ensure our biases are not reflected in the process.

    The conversation this post has generated is a great look at the issues we all have as marketers and consumers in the new user generated content world. I think the response shows the value in true user generated content in consumers' eyes and the need to work hard to maintain this trust.

    Thanks,

    Simon Rodrigue
    Homedepot.ca
  • Jim
    Simon - You stated...

    "the overall review acceptance process is handled by a third party to ensure our biases are not reflected in the process."

    This is true, and that third party also guarantees that HD cannot obtain any individual customer information such as IP addresses. How exactly did you do an IP address check? Sounds like a little corporate BS to me.

    At one time HD was a very customer centric organization, but during their growth stage of the last several years much of that has changed to where they currently have the worst customer service in the industry.




    Anyway it's not like HD would scam customers on purpose.

    http://www.nbc4.tv/homedepotinvestigation/index...
  • First, Ben - great eyes!

    Second, I agree - something stinks. The question remains, though: who stinks? This could be interesting from both points of view. If HD did this, they're going to look bad for obvious reasons, and they'll deserve it.

    But they're also likely to look bad if they didn't do it, and that's quite a problem, too. Shoot - everyone overlooked the obvious explanation here: Lowes planted the comments and then slipped Ben a few bucks to blow the whistle.

    Just kidding, Ben. ;-)

    I think when all is said and done, the effect of this sort of thing is going to be to erode the credibility of anonymous comments for product reviews. You're looking at the next "five out of six dentists surveyed..."
  • Simon - Thank you for the continued response. I assume then, if you have a 3rd party vendor that reviews and manages comments that they could tell you (and by extension us) what the story is with those comments? Maybe no one noticed the similarities, or in fact it was testers or some other explanation.

    D. Lambert - Lowes definitely didn't slip me anything, I don't think we even have Lowes up in Canada, at least not in Quebec - but that's the good conspirator in you thinking hard! *smile*
  • JPL
  • JPL - that link didn't work for me. Can you tell us what we should be seeing there?
  • I've heard of seeding message boards and forums but not familiar with the practice of spamming your own site. (If that is what they were doing.) Your would think they would at least be smart enough to change up the story a little though!

    Good insight even though its sad to have online marketing going in that direction.
  • Cool!

    This article is an eye opener for me.

    I, myself when I shop for things I always try to make it a point to read the reviews of the products before deciding to buy them.

    Now, I won't believe those reviews right away. Who knows if it's really true or not.
  • JPL
    Ben,

    Home Depot Canada is running a contest:

    From now until March 31, 2007, for every review you write, you'll be automatically entered into a weekly draw to win a $500 Home Depot Gift Card.*

    People are probably writing multiple bull&^% reviews to get the numbers up.

    JPL
  • Ben – it was in fact our partner that ran the IP lookup for us that ID’d it was not the same user each time; they also believe that it could have been someone testing the system out to see how it works.

    As mentioned in my earlier post it is very important for both homedepot.ca, and our 3rd party provider, that the user generated content is trusted and valued and as such we do not create reviews or condone this behaviour from our vendor community. We believe that it is the extended homedepot.ca community and the content that this community generates that will be one the keys that will continue to allow us be one of Canada’s leading online retailers.

    In the coming months we are looking forward to expanding our user generated content on homedepot.ca and it will be interesting to see what you and your readers think about the enhancements and new features.

    Thanks for the great discussion on this topic, it truly shows the importance of user generated content on a site and we are glad that consumers like yourself took the time to highlight this important issue as community based interactions continue to take a greater importance in the overall online, marketing and customer service strategies.

    Thanks,

    Simon Rodrigue
    Homedepot.ca
  • I'm real
    How do we know that every single comment on YOUR blog isn't fake? I mean you obviously know how to not make rookie mistakes now.
  • Rob
    This looks very much like a vendor posting reviews about their own product. I am sure Home Depot doesn't encourage it, but it's impossible to prevent. The fact that you noticed these reviews and exposed them is a testament to the ability for wise users to ferret out this kind of stuff.

    The fact that Home Depot took the time to comment on your blog is very professional. Most companies are completely ignorant of what is written about them in the blogosphere.
  • Davidlow
    Nobody says, "I'm going to THE Home Depot". Ask anybody. They'll tell you they're going to Home Depot, without the THE. Only Home Depot employees, and perhaps even only the corporate and marketing people, say the name like it's written in those comments.
  • I want to thank everyone for their comments.

    Simon - Your comments are appreciated. It was a pleasant surprise to have someone from Home Depot step up and respond to this post. The first point of success with anything like this is for people to know that companies are listening.
  • Awesome find, dude! I would say it is either home depot or the manufacturer doing this... a customer isn't going to be that concerned about emphasizing they got it at "home depot" over and over...
  • Danielle Vargas
    Well after reading several people's comments I just had to speak up...I have bought several things from Home Depo ranging from fans to chainsaw and never had any trouble returing anything that was broke and I can say the guys in the Lumber and Commercial service dept have helped me alot with details on building my own retirement home. since doing this myself and being a woman which regardless what women say its hard for anyone to do I have been very happy with the service, products and overall knowlege that these people at my home depo have. sorry everyone isnt as happy.
    satisfied in Houston TX.
  • I'd like to think that a big corporation would be smarter than that, but I guess one can never tell.
  • Danielle Vargas
    oh for crying out loud...are you serious? you got the right name of instigator. now i am wondering if your not just talking out your tail regarding the problems you received at home depo.
  • Danielle it is quite possible Sarakastic didn't read all the comments, and maybe you also missed the multiple comments left by Simon Rodrigue of Home Depot, and replies by Ben.

    Ben noted a potential problem, Simon investigated and provided lots of information on how things like this are handled.

    I think there was great professionalism on both sides. Whilst it is true that Ben has a "good eye for a story", I have never known him to be malicious or unprofessional.
    Having a "good eye for a story" just makes his content unique, and his blog successful.
  • Danielle Vargas
    oh I agree that he sure stired up comments and yes that does make for a sucessful blog. just be aware that when people post something possitive and then get called a fake because of their happy experiences..you better be prepaired for the back lash that might follow...dont dish out what you cant take.

    Satisfied customer in houston tx.
  • Hi Danielle - thanks for the comments and continuing the discussion.

    I should point out that I'm not an unsatisfied Home Depot customer. I also don't hate Home Depot. I noticed something odd on their site and posted about it.

    An employee of Home Depot found the post and responded - and I thanked that person several times (here and in email) for paying attention and responding professionally.

    We didn't draw any horrid conclusions, and in fact the most likely answer is that testers/programmers were experimenting and didn't delete the comments, although I'm still not a full believer in that explanation.

    This type of post can go sour - if they're presented unfairly or rudely. I don't think I did that. And although there are some mediocre comments, the bulk of them are well thought out and interesting...
  • Bopp
    This is interesting i stumbled upon this searching through google, I am currently doing a marketing project on this growing issue. I buy on-line probably more than at typical bricks and mortor stores and i have been seeing this for quite some time. Travel sites are notorious for this behavior but it seems that the bad commerce practice is spreading. As had been previously posted by Scott there are even jobs offered such as “Web publicist.” payperpost.com, is a company i came across that sets up random people with on-line companies needing their products positively commented on. scary, but i don't think it will last too long: http://www.bizreport.com/2007/02/flogs_to_be_ba...
  • Bopp
    Also, an interesting point of view. Basically claiming where would the laws end..

    http://www.intuitive.com/blog/eu_makes_fake_blo...
  • Sounds a little Stepford to me if you know what I mean. I purchased a mop bucket from home depot based on the "comments". Might wanna think twice next time...glad I stumbled upon your blog today!
  • Although made by different companies the 3 rugs could all be from the same whole-saler which is supplying homebase and it could be this company which is trying to boost the sales on their products?

    That kind of thing annoys me not because of the sneakiness of trying to falsify reviews, but because they can't even put any effort in. How hard would it have been to make up 3 different stories. A new one for each rug.

    Any project/plan can fail if you don't pay attention to the details...including the under-handed ones it seems :)
  • In light of this article there also appears to be some negative publicity regarding Home Depot in my neighborhood involving building supplies.

    With the recent housing market plummeting and 50% drop in earning for the 1st quarter, I would say they are in a bit of trouble now..
  • Mike Used To Be Home Depot
    I agree 100% that the comments are probably from an "imaginary' source. But I doubt anyone in Home Depot from a management level up did it. I suggest that a store associate might have done it, to make their department look better (at least in their mind). I don't think a vendor rep would devote the time it takes to do it. But if someone has that kind of time...as you say, it looks fishy, but for better or worse, it caught your attention. And, shifting subjects, Cindy, whose post I am reading, is right too - when you go in a Depot now, see how they have diversified and are selling clothing, candies, sodas (other than from a machine)to keep people coming in. Many sales there are based on the ability of the individuals to create trust and familiarity with their local market, but with the bread and butter housing industry slowed, they are hurting, but with over 350,000 employees and a fortune 15 position, they sure aren't going to tell you. Plus they own many of the brands they sell, and other brand name products are watered down versions of the manufactured originals. Okay, posted a lot, but whatareyougonnado? They are a big company, and like a celebrity, will always attract positive and negative attention.
  • Jim Ward
    As a contractor in the Pottstown, Pa area I must speak up about the Home depot there. I took my clients to the store to pick out kitchen cabinets, Big mistake!!!!!! When the cabinet arrived they were the wrong sizes, missing part, broken cabinets that were glued and sent out to the project. After all of the problem we ask to have one of their managers come out to the project, He did and stated to the owner mother and the other contractor that were there that we will take care of the home owner and we will also take care of the contractor., Well to make it short I'm out $4,000.00 because I believed the Manager his name by the way is Cory in Kitchens and Bath. So If you ever have the chance to do business with that store BE CAREFILL OF WHO YOU ARE TALKING TO AND IF THEY MAKE ANY KIND OF PROMISS GET IT IN WRITTING
  • David
    I work for The Home Depot, and you may like to know that if I were to get cought sending in dummy customer comments, trying to make us, (The Home Depot) "look good" I could very well be out of a job. I see every week the letters written to my store, and the ones you have posted at the top of this page would fit in quite nicely. Some one just pulled a boner picking ones that were so much alike.
  • With home depot posting poor results, with a poor outlook for 2008, you would think they would work harder on improving their pofile, at present it is falling like a stone
  • Jamie
    I have been to Home Depot many times and wonder sometimes why I keep going. No one there to help. Once I did get some help and I purchased blinds from them. We had the installer come back 3 times and each time he made a miss of things by not doing what the manager had instructed him to do. In the end after the last muff up, I asked him to leave my home. He refused. I placed his tools on the front step and asked him again to please leave my home. He refused. I made me sign his work order where I quickly recounted he mistakes and he refusal to leave at which point he finally left. The department manager then come in and reinstalled the blinds and repaired the damage but still to this day... two years later... they still are too long for the space... they do not work properly and are in fact had to be removed a few weeks ago and were returned to the manufacturer for repair. At the moment I have no privacy in my home because those $1,200 blinds are not in the window and in for repair.
    I have also had bad experiences in with other items purchases or when trying to purchase from the Home Depot. I know shop Rona and speciality shops... much the wiser in Toronto.
  • I just have to ask after reading these boards. I feel sorry for the employees of home depot. The pay sound to be a tad on the low side. But once you get into decent pay you have to work 55 plus hours. I guess you cannot have a family, life, hobbies or anything else when you have to work that many hours. Do you know that the USA work there employees more hours then ANY country in the "free" world". That is a fact just research it. I do not understand why someone would want to throw away the best part of there life working so many hours. Have you guys looked into unions? I am not pushing a union or saying it is the best thing. I do know and it is a fact that unuion people tend to make an average of 34% more money. Just something to think about. And no a company cannot fire you for trying to get a unuion. If they do you will become very rich because it is against the law for any company to try to stop you from joining a unuion.. Do as you want it if your future and you only live once. Enjoy it with better wages and benifits.

    Click here: Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU)
  • Very true, Mike. I knew a guy who had worked in Home Depot for years throughout school and eventually decided that he wanted to keep working there in higher positions (as opposed to pursuing the "rat race"). He ended up leaving and going to an office job because they required 10-20 fewer hours every week than the Home Depot job, plus the pay was better.
  • Gary
    I have worked at Home Depot for a little over a year now. I went there because I had always heard it was a good place to work and they pay better than the competition. I soon came to realize that it probably was that way 'in the beginning' but it certainly isn't true now.

    From what I can gather it appears things took a turn for the worse when the founder retired turning over the reins to others who are interested ONLY in the bottom line and their wallets. They really do not give a rat's patoot about the assiciates who are in the trenches. They, like many other retailers, have cut their staff and expect those who remain to take up the slack with no additional compensation. This is the main reason why a customer may go there and not find anyone to help them. If they do find help then quite often that associate is not fully knowledgable about the product or service.

    Please don't jump to the conclusion that the associate doesn't care. THD makes big promises in terms of 'making a career.' Take training for example. They tout excellent training. But it's all web-based with cartoon characters talking smack. There is no real-world, hands-on training. You view the tedious session and take a multiple choice quiz then that's it! You're thrown to the wolves! They expect you to help cover multiple departments. I work in the hardware department. I quickly found out I had a great deal to learn there and even after 14 months I still find myself stumped. Next door is plumbing where at least 50% of the time there is no or at least inadequate coverage for numerous reasons (someone called in sick, someone quit or was fired and nobody has been hired to replace them, they worked overtime sometime in the past week so they had to leave early to 'cut' that overtime, etc etc) so, because of my close proximity to that department, I get asked for help in plumbing; "Excuse me sir, can you help me over here in plumbing"? My stock answer is, "Well, I'm willing to try but I really don't know much about it". The worst is someone with the stem out of a faucet that they want to replace. What a sad joke. There are so many variations on things like that and THD can't begin to stock them all. Add the fact that I have no experience in repairing faucets and you have an extremely frustrating exercise in futility, for both the customer and the associate. Are there people out there with that knowledge who THD could hire? You bet there are. But they didn't gain that knowledge overnight, it took years. And are they going to share that knowledge and experience while putting up with the corporate mindset and resulting frustrations for $9 an hour? Not for long.

    Sorry, just venting. But try to keep all this in mind when you shop anywhere, not just at Home Depot. Working retail is no picnic.
  • [...]resource[...]
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  • Avy
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  • Cheryl
    Home depot sucks! I ordered window coverings in Dec '08 and I still don't have them. I called March 17th to get a refund. I got a call saying it is too late they are being shipped. Every month they call and tell me that they are delayed. The customer service rep told me "well I left a message." Whoooppeee! A jr. high kid can do that! She never apologized or offered any solutions. I talked to a friend who got their window coverings from Sears and they got them in three weeks. Jerks took my money and screwed me over. F***ers!!
  • henry golden
    Home Depots could care less about the customer. All they want is credit cards and extended warranties. They're profits centers that are sold to a third party. Citigroup takes the credit cards and the extented warranties go to the highest bidder. The same holds true for home improvements - the customer thinks it's Home Depot, but in reality the jobs go to a third party and Home Depot gets a percentage. It's not Home Depot doing the work, it's a third party!!!!!
    Shop around, in this economy there are lots of deals out there, in fact you'll probable get a BETTER job.
  • Norman
    I noticed the same thing from the Lowes website when I was looking up the Electrolux vacuums. I look online at reviews all the time and know most people write the way they speak, but many of these five star comments seam more like stories in a book rather than a person talking. It's as if a professional writer was hired to place these comments. I even wrote a comment on their website, but they screen all the comments so it wasn't posted.

    This is what I wrote:

    “The five star comments appear to be staged. I have no opinion on this product because I have never used it. I am a college student and I have taken many English courses, so I am aware of certain styles of argumentative writing. They usually start with a first sentence that grabs your attention, sentences that support the first sentence, and a final strong statement that sums it all up, which all of these comments have. The comments are all well written as if done by an English major, which most of us are not. If you look at the other higher priced Electrolux vacuums, then you will notice the same writing style at similar dates; for example, the CAPS LOCK in the early part of the year. They seam fake and I just want others to take a second thought before getting to excited about these claims.”
  • strat
    Two weeks ago I created an account at Home Depot and entered two negative reviews. I just checked back to ensure that the reviews were in fact posted by Home Depot to their web site. To my surprise, not on were the negative reviews not posted, but my account was deleted as well.

    My take on this is that Home Depot does NOT want negative reviews.

    FYI - I posted on a Honeywell humidifier and a Ridgid sump pump.
  • Michelle
    Knowing someone who works at THD, I know if they are to post a comment , good, bad, or otherwise, they are tracked and that person is terminated. Is losing a job worth posting comments for a product ? I think not.
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