UnbeLIEVABLE!!! Home Depot blew it in PA!

[kren]

This is in Allentown Morning Call, front page of the Friday paper:

 

Bargain hunter outrage: Where's my TV?

 

By Sam Kennedy

Of The Morning Call

Josh Mertz was flabbergasted. The TVs he had seen advertised in the newspaper were all gone. How could it be?

The 26-year-old Danielsville resident had gotten up before dawn on Black Friday to get the fifth spot in line at Home Depot. He had been waiting an hour and a half when, at 6 a.m., the Whitehall store’s doors parted.

Mertz and the customers in front of him rushed inside to get their hands on the 32-inch LCD-screen high-definition televisions they had seen pictured in a circular with a price tag of $478.

They went directly to the center of the store, where the deeply discounted TVs were supposed to be, only to find that all had been claimed.

When Mertz and the others made their way to the front of the store, they were astonished to see people checking out with TVs in their carts. Confronted by angry customers, a store manager said employees had been given first dibs.

“I was just absolutely disgusted that they would pull something like this,” Mertz said.

Initially, Mertz’s account was met with disbelief by Home Depot. “No. Not true,” Don Harrison, who works at Home Depot’s corporate headquarters in Atlanta, said on Tuesday. “The man is not being truthful with you.”

But two days later, on Thursday night, Home Depot confirmed that workers bought TVs before customers had the chance. Additionally, the company promised to donate $4,000 — the retail cost of the TVs that the employees got — to a local charity to be determined later.

The admission came after several store employees, who said they did not want to be named because they feared for their jobs, spoke to The Morning Call.

According to the employees: Of the 10 TVs Home Depot had in stock, nine were snatched up by their co-workers, or in one case by a co-worker’s daughter, who were allowed into the store before its opening.

[Guest RealLivePrinces]

Man! That's gonna spoil BF for all retail employees! Thanks a lot, Home Depot.

[scarface]

Wow, that home depot was a couple stores away from the Bestbuy i was at on bf. I wonder if the employees at BB did the same thing with the laptops.

[rae662000]

What gets me is that they LIED to cover up and save face....I just don't get it.

[MusicMama]

And gee, isn't that what happened last year with the WM laptops? (At least at the store I was at) - of the 15 they had, 4 went to employees who walked out the door even before the sale started. We watched them. They're the reason my sister and I just missed out - we were 13 and 14 in line.

 

I know that (some) retail employees work hard during the year and work even harder during BF, but come on - to let them have ALL of the miniscule stock quantity available?! Really.

 

And $4000 to charity? Lame, so lame. It wasn't charities that were buying the tv's. Tax write-offs do not cover up store mistakes and lost good will.

[AndreaInNC]

am I the only one amazed that he only waited 1 1/2 hours in line and he was nbr 5?

[lindabacker]

That's just wrong, they should have to do more than just donate to charity. What good is that going to do for all those people who were out there standing in line to buy one? Just plain wrong and BAD BUSINESS!!!

[Cannon1]

$4K for the charity is at least an effort, albiet dumb one in some folks eyes. But there's store practices over the season that push this to the limit = free enterprise for the employee? I would've honored the price for the qty of sets in that particular store to the first customers AND the charity effort. ALL inside that particular store knew EXACTLY what was transpiring that morning before the doors opened.

Oh and by the way, this IS common practice (WM), and although I'm bummed, I flat out make it a point to report this lowballing to all: duty mgr; store mgr; district mgr; regional mgr; and finally corporate. HD lost my business years ago, and I always perk my ears up at an HD story that friends experience, commonly bad ones. Hey? who got the HD Rigid Vac on BF? Betcha the majority of those got 'scarfed up inappropriately as well.

It's ok to make mistakes, but here on east coast (I travel alot, etc..) the HD practice of bait & switch for even a contractor is a common practice. Hey, while we're at it, as a good (fool) hearty gesture, HD should offer every member of g_d_ that reduced price! (lol)

[musicmax]

am I the only one amazed that he only waited 1 1/2 hours in line and he was nbr 5?

<shrug> - It's a smaller city and HD isn't a big BF draw.

[elena_398]

This is the retail store I used to work at. They always let us shop before the store was opened to the public. When clearances were coming, they would let us know what items were being marked down next to nothing and (Im guilty too) we would buy it all. Rarely did the customers see the low clearance stuff (I mean GOOD items). In my defense, I didn't see the great stuff as managers always bought it. I'd see them leaving with all this stuff. They would show me their receipt and brag about getting the deals. Yet another reason Im so glad to be out of that place. (miss the deals though :))