Home Depot Tool Rental Review
I had a bad experience with Home Depot Tool Rental. I attempted to rent a tool and ended up sacrificing about 4 hours of my life. Perhaps this short post will give me some perspective.
The Problem
Monday’s post was about fixing a jammed floor nailer. Just before that, I decided to rent a nailer from Home Depot. I only had a small area left and I really wanted to finish. So I called the local HD Tool Rental and sure enough, they had a cleat nailer. I was there bright an early, picked it up, and was on my way.
At home, I connected it to my compressor and began working. But the nailer didn’t work. Everything was connected correctly but the nailer didn’t load cleats properly. I called HD Tool Rental. They asked me to bring it back. I was already frustrated and they offered me a 10% discount for my wasted time.
They worked hard to get the nailer functioning. At one point it was completely disassembled. HD didn’t have any other cleat nailers, so I waited. They never got it working despite a thorough effort. They refunded my money. And then things got a little strange.
The Solution
I asked how my discount would work. The tool rental supervisor seemed confused. I reiterated that she had promised me a discount for my wasted morning. I don’t think she counted on me holding her to that promise. She offered to discount a tool rental, but they didn’t have anything I needed (like another cleat nailer). I asked if the discount could be applied to a future purchase in HD. That was fine. All I had to do was “find her when I make my next purchase”. This seemed a bit shady so I asked to get something in writing. At this point, she let me know that: 1) she couldn’t give me anything in writing, 2) she couldn’t give me any kind of coupon, 3) she couldn’t give me any kind of store credit, and 4) she wouldn’t give me her full name. But she did provide the Home Depot Customer Care phone number (1-800-553-3199).
I called the Customer Care line from the Tool Rental Department. I spent some time on the phone explaining what had happened. They were sympathetic and sent me a gift card in lieu of the promised discount. Do I feel compensated? Sure. I’d rather the whole thing never happened.
Leason Learned
The real frustration lies in my expectations. I’m OK with spending some money to rent a tool. I’m even OK with that tool failing. But what I’m not OK with is that Home Depot doesn’t have a mechanism to deal with these situations. Instead, I get vague promises and passed along to their Customer Care line. Maybe I’ll try ABC Rental next time.
What do you think? Was I unreasonable?
Image courtesy of Zach Klein
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13 Responses to Home Depot Tool Rental Review
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August 27th, 2008 8:00 am
Not at all, the problem you had is representative of the box stores in general. Typically their employees have little to know training, lack of knowledge and an overall lack of customer service. Don’t get me wrong, I shop there occasionally, but only for specials and when I can’t find something at the local hardware store. I have a serious love hate relationship with box stores and the customer service issues are at the root of it all!
August 27th, 2008 8:16 am
That’s too bad! We’ve rented a few things from there (luckily with a positive experience) and a few things at the local Rental Station, which is MUCH further from my house. What I don’t like about HD is that they won’t reserve somethingfor you… if you call to make sure it’s there, they won’t hold it until you get there. Luckily we live 10 blocks away, so we’ve never had a problem (also why we go there a lot).
August 27th, 2008 11:41 am
This is a classic example of botched customer service at the employee level, the customer-facing employee level who was even a manager.
Companies via their employees, focus too much on making it hard on customers. They make it hard to get a fair deal, they make it hard to return bad goods. And by doing so, they make the consumer less inclined to be a repeat customer.
I had a similary bad experience with Z Gallerie home furnishings. After waiting 4 months for a mirror to get delivered, it wasn’t even in good condition. My wife got a decent % discount on the price prior to delivery (did I mention they charge you immediately upon taking your sale, not when the good is delivered!) but they refused to give us a coupon or gift certificate when we returned the scratched mirror. It was like they wanted to piss us off and have us never come back.
I find your story to be atypical for Home Depot though. I find they are pretty good in general, and even better when they know you by face (making relationships with the main people in paints and lumber is key, lumber guys will cut your wood for free and give you stuff at greatly reduced prices).
August 27th, 2008 12:30 pm
I’ve never rented from a Home Depot (there’s a local rental place much closer, with better selection and service), but I’ve had enough negative experiences with HD that I’m not surprised by your experience. Not all HDs are created equal; unfortunately the one nearest to us is on the low end of the scale.
I still shop there when closer stores don’t have what I need, but sometimes I wonder why. This morning was another example. I wasn’t in a huge rush, but it was early (~8am), so most of the people there were contractors buying lumber or other larger items. So what did they have open for registers? One plus the self-checkout. You can’t use self-checkout for lumber, so there was a line of 8 or so contractors all waiting at one register. Some time later they opened a second register, but not before they’d raised more than a few blood pressures.
August 27th, 2008 5:42 pm
One of the big questions a situation like this raises is what obligation does a company have to you for wasting your time? I think that the courts would generally rule that your wasted time has no monetary value, especially if the company was operating with “reasonable care.” In this case, HD probably didn’t know the tool was broken, and they did their best to make it right for you. Basically, the penalty the big box pays for this isn’t direct compensation to you; rather, it pays in lost future business and a negative review (like this one).
I’m sure that in Home Depot’s situation above, the tool rental customer service representative didn’t actually have the authority to issue you a 10%-off discount, at least not on a future purchase, and possibly not even “on the spot” as she probably meant to imply. She was likely going to use some kind of discount they had available (e.g., a coupon in the desk) to give you a 10% discount for your troubles. When they couldn’t fix the problem that day, she couldn’t give you a voucher because she wasn’t really supposed to be giving you *anything*…
In reality, she should have been honest and said that she didn’t have the authority to issue any type of discount, and that you should call customer service to register a complaint.
Just another way to look at it, I suppose. The clerk in this case didn’t follow a good procedure for making things right. It would have been better to be honest, direct you to HD’s customer service line, and then let it go. HD customer service did issue you a credit for your next purchase in the form of a gift card. Had the path for you to obtain some type of compensation been clearer and more direct, perhaps the situation would have been perceived a little differently.
August 27th, 2008 6:54 pm
Good comments all. @Fred, You raise a good point about HD’s obligation. Point taken. I completely agree except that the employee offered the discount. If she had the authority or not, I’m not sure. It never came up and it was never questioned by customer care (as far as I know). But she offered the discount and even said I could apply it toward a future purchase. I simply held her to that. Hopefully, it’s a situation I won’t ever experience again.
August 27th, 2008 8:16 pm
I have had a recent, nearly identical situation with the HD tool rental for a wet saw. However, Natalie and I just ate the wasted time and vowed never to return. ABC rental has been a great experience for us since then.
August 27th, 2008 9:04 pm
This is exactly why it is better to deal with places that specialize in whatever the service or materials you are looking for, whether it is tool rentals, lumber, plumbing parts, or any other resource you are in need of, I always try to use a supplier that deals specifically in that service or goods. I know this isn’t always possible as most plumbing, electrical, fence, and other suppliers won’t sell to the public, but if possible, it is worth it to avoid the “big box” (as Todd and many others refer to them).
Keith
September 29th, 2008 11:11 pm
[...] was reading Home Depot Tool Rental Review today and a comment from one of the readers reminded me of something I’ve wanted to blog [...]
January 1st, 2009 7:28 pm
My most recent negative experience with HD Tool rentals the only two times I’ve rented from there, at least at one store in Vancouver, Canada, is a very sly policy of tacking on an extra $2 to each rental as tool insurance. This is basicly to insure if you drop equipment, run over it etc, etc. Being a careful person I don’t usually go for this option. The first time renting, being new, I look over the papers the fellow prepared for a rental of a carpet cleaner…I saw this charge included. When I asked if this was optionial, he says it is but it would take about 10 minutes to re-do the paperwork, blah blah. Somewhat annoyed at this pure negative billing approach, I paid the stupid charge. And made a mental note to next time ask upfront not to be charged this fee. A few months later, I go to rent a similar machine from a different staff member and state up front I don’t want the charge and specifically don’t initial the contract clause. He gives me a invoice with the charge included , and when I point it out he say..oh we don’t charge anything now only when you bring it back. So when I bring it back to another employee…they go ahead and process the invoice with the charge included!! and then its 15 minute and mutilple customer representatives required to remove the charge from the credit card… To me this represents a sneaky negative billing approach in which customers are being compelled through inconvience to pay an extra needless fee…which is basically pure profit into the pockets of HD. Sure its only a couple of bucks…but I’m damn sure they do it everyone who walks through the door. A policy for this should be as soon as I, customer, ask to rent something, they should ask ,’do you want extra insurance? I should respond yes or no …and that should be the end of it full stop.
Kyle
May 17th, 2009 10:25 am
I happen to work for this company and in the department mentioned. This is in no way a blanket statement for the company as a whole or an official response from this company. This is my opinion and experience only.
First- Your time is worth something of course. However there is very little anyone can do to compensate you for it. The person in the rental area most likely meant to give you the discount on another rental. Which they have the ability to do with no problem. No coupons or store credits exist for a discount on merchandise for this situation. It sounds like they did the best they could to fix the situation. If you were really upset at the experience then ask for the manager on duty. That is what they are there for.
Second- some advice in general. READ WHAT YOU ARE SIGNING. Ask questions. The associate should have no problems answering them.
BE PATIENT. We are almost always under staffed and over worked. And EVERY customer is in a hurry.
Understand the rules- Yes there are cleaning fees, feul surcharges, and if you break the tool- repair charges. Check your other local rental centers. They have them too. They have to.
Realize that there is only so much we can do. Complaining to us about company policies is complaining to the wrong end of the chain.
In the second situation the customer got poor service in my opinion. I would have handled it VERY differently. Not knowing the entire stiution, that’s all i’ll say about that.
I realize that there is a great deal of frustration with “big box” stores in general. Some of it well deserved. However, we usually have the best rates, and the newest and best maintained tools, in the area we are in. We are also open longer and more days than other rental centers. I have a steady stream of repeat customers that are both homeowners and contractors. Many of whom drive past other stores and rental centers to come rent from us.
Not every customer’s experience is going to be as great as I would prefer, but we are working on it.
July 4th, 2009 6:38 am
Like Kyle above, I had “optional” damage protection added without my knowledge when I rented a floor stapler. It was 10% of the rental subtotal, which for a 1 week rental ended up being $14 tacked on to the total. My bad, I should’ve read the rental agreement before signing on the dotted line. But a lesson to be learned for others.
July 21st, 2009 4:20 pm
just looking at the whole picture, it sounds like you wanted something for nothing. you rented a tool, took it back and got your money back. then you proceed to want more money back? i’ll take that deal all day long.
once again, with an open mind and putting myself in the rental stores shoes, who’s to say you didn’t take the tool home, finish the little bit you had left and intensionally break it, only to get your money back?
now we can see from both sides of the fence.