We purchased quite a few items from these major tool and home improvement sources over the past month, and thought to put together a brief Secret Shopper-type report. Opinions are formed from both in-store and online purchase experiences, and ignores things like tool selection, brand availability, and pricing.
Lowe’s
Shopping in-store at Lowes is fairly enjoyable. A wrench set we purchased for $25 dropped to $15, and customer service had no problems adjusting the price for us. Returning an order that was purchased online and shipped to us should have been easy, but we got stuck with a less than steller associate that we’ve had issues with several times before. We’ve heard other Lowes associates describe him in less kinder ways. But that’s a complaint about this individual associate at one store; overall our experiences have been great.
It’s also a pleasure to shop at Lowes.com. We ordered an item for in-store pickup, and although it was shown as in-stock, I received a phone call 22 minutes later telling me that it was actually out of stock. We understand that these things happen, and it’s great to know that someone at Lowe’s gets to work on your online order as soon as it’s placed. There’s great integration between Lowes.com and Lowes stores, but we did find that price changes are sometimes reflected sooner in-store than online. Just ask, and they will honor the lowest of the two.
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Lowes Stores: A
Lowes.com: A
Lowes Customer Experience Grade: A!
Home Depot
Most of our Home Depot shopping is done in-store, but we placed a few orders were placed online. HD now has a free in-store pickup option for eligible items, but we haven’t tried it out yet. We have no complaints about the in-store shopping experience, everything usually goes quite smoothly.
Home Depot.com, though, could stand a little improvement. Most of the errors we’ve seen were pricing mistakes, usually in favor of the customer. The search engine could also stand to be improved, but the same can be said about Sears.com and Lowes.com. One thing we didn’t like is how little care was put into packaging a shipped order. We ordered a 4-pack promo set of Stanley tape measures, and it arrived with the product packaging banged up and mangled a bit. The products themselves were fine, as tape measures are robust tools, but we would like to see delicate tools or gift items better protected during shipped.
Home Depot Stores: A
Home Depot.com: B
Home Depot Customer Experience Grade: A-
Sears
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Shopping in-store is a relative breeze. Our local store hired extra staff that are friendly and helpful, and we can usually find what we’re looking for with ease. Ordering online for in-store pickup produced a few snags.
3/4 of the items we ordered on Black Friday were reported as unavailable and not-in-stock, but were found them in abundant supply when we checked the store that Sunday. Without hesitation, the cashier honored the online prices. We picked up 3 orders – one on a Saturday afternoon, one on a Sunday evening, and one on a Monday morning. All three took over 5-minutes, netting us 3X $5 off $5+ coupons..
Price-matching in-store or online is quick and easy, but there’s a 14-day window. Beyond that, you’ll have to do a “return-rebuy” if the difference is worth the hassle to you.
Sears.com, on the other hand, is still frustrating to shop through on occasion. One example – a Craftsman tool box was priced as $21.50 via a mobile device browser window, but $24.99 in a full browser windows. After placing an order, a quick price guarantee form fixed things, but should not have been necessary. A bigger issue – we used a $10 off $100 coupon code on an order. The $10 was deducted from a Craftsman Club sales item (anti-fatigue mat). We were shown one price (with incorrect tax estimate) at checkout, but later the order confirmation showed a higher total. Sears.com customer service got back to us and said that they cannot make the adjustment, so we’ll probably end up having to dispute the $14 unautorized additional charge via the credit card company. We’ve also heard of a few other technical glitches from several readers.
One thing that we didn’t care for were the many, many receipts that print out in-store. When buying tools, do we need coupons off of oil changes and clothing? Does it look like we need $10 off $40+ womens’ fashion boots? But on the other hand, a very welcome $15 off $100 tools coupon printed out after purchasing a pillow. We also like how you can now opt for receipts to be emailed to you – a great way to keep records on big-ticket items.
Another nuissance – we started automatically receiving Kmart emails after browsing at Sears.com. “We noticed you browsing, here are some deals you might like…” A couple of days and repeated settings changes later and the emails still continue.
With Sears.com, our experiences this month have ranged from excellent to downright blood-boiling. As we discussed in a recent post, great prices and selection keep us coming back for more. Also worth noting is that there are so many frequent sales and coupons that we almost never pay full price.
Sears stores: A
Sears.com: C (we’re being generous here)
Sears Customer Experience Grade: B-
Summary
As you can see, our in-store experiences have been positive across the board. Perhaps not perfect, but definitely close. So why shop online? With Sears, we’re drawn in with lower prices and better selection, but ease of use and consistency issues with the website drag the score way down. Home Depot.com also offers the occasional coupon code, and we’ve also noticed a subtle but gradual expansion of their online selection. And with Lowes, it’s mainly about convenience since prices and selection seem to be consistent across the board.
We shop at all three retailers for different reasons outside of just the customer experiences they provide. Of the three retailers, we shop at and spend the most at Sears, followed by Lowe’s, and then Home Depot. But if those other factors, such as price and product selection were to be held constant across all three stores, Lowe’s and Home Depot would gain a much larger chunk of my business.
NCDixon
We do not have a HD in our area, thus can’t comment on same. We do have a Lowes and a Sears; I find that shopping at Lowes is pretty good all things considered. Sears on the other hand can be less than enjoyable. I NEVER find any stellar deals on tools. You will find numerous goofy multi function tools….. that only appeal to the uninformed. Our local Sears still does not carry the newest fine tooth ratchets, and they have been available for what……… a year? There was a time when I enjoyed going to Sears, not today.
Tuff
Wait, whats this about Lowes adjusting the price on the wrench set? I bought the same set for $25 before they dropped to $15. Are you saying they will refund the extra $10?
Stuart
Tuff, it depends on when you bought it, but I had absolutely no problems getting my set price-adjusted. I walked in with wrench set and receipt in-hand, said that I paid $25 but saw that the price dropped to $15, and they processed the adjustment as a return-rebuy. I was refunded $25 plus tax and then repurchased the set for $15 plus tax on the spot.
Lowes.com states a 90-day satisfaction guaranteed return/exchange window for most items. Kobalt also has a hassle-free guarantee that might extend that return window with manager approval.
fred
I haxe found that Lowes internet purchases seem to proceed better than those at Home Depot. We sometimes like to have stuff shipped to a store near a jobsite so we can pick up everything at once rather than carting from our yards or shops. I notice that pricing varies a lot and that Home Depot will not ship everything to every (sometimes not to any) store. A case in point was a job where we thought that a Paslode cordless stapler (9000078NT also known as IM200-S16) would fit the needs of the job and could be paid off immediately. Lowes wanted about $468 for the tool and would ship to a local store, Home Depot wanted $434 but would not ship to a store, Amazon wanted $403- but also had an alternative buying choice at $370 plus modest shipping and no sales tax – guess what we did.
Tuff
Well, I did it. I took my receipt in to the customer service desk and asked for a refund. I thought I might have to talk them into it, but the lady didn’t even blink. I walked out with cash in my pocket. Lowe’s is my favorite store. Thanks Stuart!
Errol Wentworth
You are indeed kind to give Sears a “C”.
Perhaps they deserved a C several years ago, but to have allowed this horrible site to continue with its dysfunctional ways–or perhaps get even worse, makes my grade a D at best.
As for Lowes, mostly I agree. But the in-store pickup is really hit or miss. Sometimes the item is ready. Other times, they have to call for help to pull the item from the shelf. This can be true whether the order was placed 30 minutes before or 2 days. The process also seems incredibly inefficient for the Lowes employees with regard to all the computer steps/printouts they process during pickup.
Errol
Bob A.
I would have to agree with all three ratings. Lowes is on the top of my list for their great returns procedure which couldn’t be easier. It is nice to know if I ever get the wrong recip blades or too many pipe fittings I can always just bring them back in and get credit with just the receipt and no card swipe. Plus their new 5% discount on their store card has saved me a few hundred this year. Their website is also more helpful since they added the in-stock check for items – that way I can check all four stores in my area to see who has the part I am looking for instead of going in and finding the shelf empty. OK now I sound like a commercial.
mark
Sears.com is not a C. Try F. I have ordered 3 items. One was a tool box, a chest marked down from almost 600$ to 274. Local store had 3. I put it on lay away on line until I could get in there with a truck to pick it up. I ordered 2 other items that were on clearance. I kept wondering where my 2 items were. I went into sears.com to see and couldn’t find anything about any of the 3. I called them, and 90 minutes into the call, the operator said that the items were cancelled, all 3, with no communication what so ever. They had credited the card I used and didn’t even tell me. Why? who knows. I know the store had 3 of those tool chests, and it printed a lay away contract out. I had intended to keep it there a few weeks and then go get it. That would have been a fiasco, me there to pick it up and I am sure no one would have figured it out. I recently ordered 2 tool “bags”. Both cancelled, no communication. Thats after waiting 2 weeks for them to get delivered and then after hearing nothing, doing some research. This time I looked at my card transactions first rather than call sears to see if there was a credit–there was. I didn’t bother to call. I wont be back.
mark
When I say 3 items, I mean 3 seperate orders. the box, the two tools, and the bags. Its actually 5 items–thought I woudl clarify.
David Cavallaro
I give Home Depot a grade of below F for ther online order returns. I returned 2 items. One day apart from each other. The first was credited 15 days after receipt. The second item which I returned un-opened on 07/17/2012. It is now 08/29/2012 and I have yet to receive a credit. The first 4 emails say they are going to refund me. The other 6 which I sent proof of delivery have not been responded to. One phone call was typical call center. I may have to bring them to small claims court to get back my $108.70
Stuart
If in your shoes I would try disputing the charge with the credit company. If that doesn’t work, BBB complaint. If that fails to yield a positive resolution, small claims court might not be a bad option.