Where Do I Shop Now?

I am about to checkout Lowe's and stop going to Home Depot. First reason, is because every time I have been in the store this year, I can't confirm other visits, it has been hard or impossible to get down some of their isles due to their own junk. It looks like stuff someone may be storing, or prepping to put out on the shelf but, there is no one near the stuff. Never in my shopping, or for that matter my brief retail career, have I seen such junk and clutter in isles. The first thing I thought of was look at all the fire hazards. When I was in the office they would have a fit if we left anything in the isles. The reason was fire hazards. Even other customers were complaining about the mess and lack of maneuverability in the store.

The next reason, the employees do not know what kind of store they are working in nor do they care. I tried to ask an employee who was busied talking gossip with another employee, for an item and they said perhaps I should go to a hardware store. So I asked what kind of store is this?!?! Should have known a Home Depot, not a hardware store, would sell the carriage bolts but not the square tee nuts that go with the carriage bolts or explain why.

Lastly, bait and switch. I have come to the conclusion that places like Home Depot and Walmart do not tend to have shoppers with lawyers on hand ready to sick one just because they feel like it or lawyers themselves shopping because, neither place nor its employees seem to know anything about bait and switch or what it is. For example, on a sale to get people into the store, not only do they not stock enough on the shelves for the sale, they leave the display model on the sales floor and due to contracts with the distributor they cannot sell the display model. Then they proceed to not offer rainchecks, nor has anyone offered to sell a better item for the same price, nor call the nearest associated store to see if any are in stock, nor allow anyone to purchase an item at one store and pick it up at another store.

Come to think of it Best Buy has the same contract with their distributors. Come to think of it, they have lost some of my business as well. Mostly, because of their customer service or lack thereof.

(sigh...... I miss the old days when if the display model was all their was, that was all their was to sell and it was usually sold. Of course, if you broke it, you also bought it.)

Now, I have worked in a store that was well versed in bait and switch and well versed their employees. It was put into my head that it was a state law and thats why they offered things like rainchecks. I also happened to be accompanied by an individual who also has been well versed on what a store can and cannot do when it comes to bait and switch, as they themselves have worked in a store that verses their employees too.

So, I guess people with lawyers or lawyers tend to shop at places like Rite-Aid and Sears rather than Walmart and Home Depot. (I can understand, but that's an assumption, please correct me if I am wrong.)

I guess this is also a great example of innocence until proven guilty. Until someone brings up the case in a court of law they will keep on doing what they are doing as if nothing is wrong.

On the upside, this is a capitalistic society and someone I know had a rather pleasant experience at Lowe's. They were out of stock of an item, appologized, and offered a better product for the same price. Granted the better product didn't fit the bill at the time, but I think I might just take my bill to Lowe's next time.



I have already been avoiding Walmart for over 10 years.