"BJ Conner" wrote in message
ups.com...

Home Depot is consistently in the ten worst lists for lousy customer
service.

http://www.crmlowdown.com/2006/11/the_10_best_and.html

Our good local hardware store was wiped out by Home Depot. The old
guys who could walk back and get you a 5/16" Whitworth left handed
HHCS are gone. Now if you can get someone to talk to you they don't
know NC from NF.

Home Depot arrived here about ten or fifteen years ago and started popping
up a new store every week or so.....or so it seemed. For the first couple
of years the service was outstanding, and it has since gone into the toilet.
No surprise. It was also no surprise that they went head to head against a
regional chain, Menard's, and started opening new stores wherever the
competition was. What IS surprising is that Menard's took up the gauntlet
and started building new stores across the street wherever Home Depot was
and they didn't already have one of their own. Don't know the numbers, but
Menard's looks VERY healthy. Then came Lowe's.....just in the last couple
of years. Same story.

Of course, a lot of small neighborhood hardware stores have gone tits up.
But I've seen that happen for many many years......and long before the big
players entered the market. Meanwhile, a lot of small neighborhood hardware
stores have NOT died. We've got one a mile and a half from here, Blair's.
Home Depot is about a mile from them. Blair's has a loyal customer base
comprising people who don't need someone to tell them the difference between
lumber and lawn litter and who appreciate access to a staff who know the
difference between a saw-set and a set of saws.

I go to Menard's (and sometimes Home Depot or Lowe's) when I need a couple
thousand dollars worth of treated lumber for a deck project or when I need
items that I can find in stock and know I would have to special order at
Blair's. Otherwise......well, the folks at Blair's know me on sight.....and
by name.

Wolfgang
who hasn't seen a whitworth thread (let alone left handed) in
decades......but still has the gauges.