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I find it sadly ironic that I received a customer satisfaction survey from the Home Depot today, when I have been trying for several weeks to get a response from them about a wrong door that they delivered to my house.

In November 2008, we ordered a flat/smooth/slab/whatchamacallit door at the Home Depot for the entry from the garage into our house. The employee at the counter took down our order, and even gave us a printout to confirm the type of door we wanted. We wanted a door without panelling. If you know me at all, you know that I am a modernist and would never, ever go for a panelled door. Our house has only nonpanelled doors. The employee mentioned that it was a special order, as the standard is panelled doors. We said fine.

Then we waited for a call from an installer, which never came. We finally went back to the Home Depot to ask about our order. They could not find it anywhere in their system. Moreover, they had my phone number listed for another party, so at least one other person was not receiving their phone calls either. Frustrated, we gave up and said we’d find a different supplier. Which we didn’t do.

Finally, in February, we returned to the path of least resistance and tried again with the Home Depot. Sometimes when enough time passes by I get perhaps unreasonably optimistic that it will go better next time. The counter person took down our information and pointed out that a nonpanelled door in the size we wanted would take about 6 weeks as it was a custom order. We agreed to that.

About a week later, the call from the installation coordinator came, a man named Larry. Larry came by to look at everything and measure it. We may or may not have mentioned the word “slab” door, but we are not sure. However, since we discussed our requirement for a nonpanelled door at great length twice before with Home Depot employees, we felt quite sure that requirement had been recorded multiple times. Larry said he would send out an installer but it would take a while because of the special order door.

An installer came in March and brought in the new door. It was wrapped when I saw it on his truck. Then I got busy working while he installed it for several hours. At some point, when he was almost finished, I walked by and found myself staring at a multi-panelled door. “This is not the door we ordered,” I said. He assured me that the Home Depot would most likely agree it was their fault and replace the door, and that I should call Larry.

So, we called Larry and explained the situation to him. But apparently on Larry’s work order, it didn’t say “slab door”, but it said “sm. door” which seems to mean “smooth”. Larry said that “slab” was the proper term, which we as non-construction people did not know, and “smooth” was just a general word for the type of finish. He did agree to submit this complaint to the Home Depot on our behalf. That was in late March.

Meanwhile, the Home Depot has charged our credit card without our permission for the remainder of the installation, and has not yet responded to our complaint. However, they do take the time to send out surveys to compile statistics about their brand perception.

What do you think I’ll write on their customer survey?

At the risk of sounding conceited, most graphic designers I know are brilliant people. They have to be all of the following: more »

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