As a veteran I must say that LOWES has it over HD! Lowes offers to the veteran (retired or otherwise) an across the board 10% discount on every purchase. If your buying appliances, flooring, etc, that adds up to a lot. As a nice gesture they allocate six parking spaces in front for Veterans and of course, when you check out the sales staff always say, "thank you for your service".

For Home Depot however, I found getting a veterans discount required going through channels, lots of red tape and nice try! I was not successful.........

Lowes is smart to offer the veteran this additional incentive, that's why I never shop HD anymore unless I absolutely need to. It was their attitude I did not care for. Perhaps other vets had similar or more successful experiences with HD, BUT my choice.....Lowes.

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I have to say...that of all the big box home improvement stores, Home Depot is the easiest to get help with any question.
The other stores, they avoid you.

You have got to be kidding. If and only if the aisle specialist happens to be working his/her aisle, you are SOL AFA getting any help. At least this is true locally. Lowe's is worse than any HD, but one thing I can count on is that no matter when I go, Lowe's will have half of the shoppers as HD. Last time I was in HD, 2-3 weeks ago, you could have turned on a fire hose in the main aisle and no one would have gotten wet.

Walked right up to the checkout midday with no line. Lowe's is a ghost town.

I used to have to go in these places before 7 am to avoid spending a lot of time in line. And as often as I can, I check out through the garden center when there a little later. No one buying plants at 8 am. Sometimes they don't open the garden checkout until 9.

^^^
I was in my local HD yesterday for a half hour while waiting for my Honda to be serviced.(next door)
By the time I left the store, I was tired of the continual 'can I help you find something'?

Yours may be different...but around here they are top-notch.

Must be nice. Around here Lowes and Home Depot are neck and neck in a competition for bottom-notch.

We also have Menards vying for the lead.
Competition brings out the best.

Home Depot seems to have 3 people per aisle to help you out,,,,,,,,,,lowes has 3 people per store.

Nifty! I tend to use my hand dolly and/or a small area carpet to move them around. Rachet strap the appliance to your dolly, of course. I have Mexican tile floor throughout so that helps.

I've had very good service at my HD. No hassles returning things, help loading cement sacks into the back of my Tahoe, returning pallets. Many times the helpers are very knowledgeable. E.g in the plumbing dept. there is a guy there that used to work for OSH, he has seen a lot of products come and go and knows what works. I do notice that my HD seems a bit messy compared to the HD near my son's house, 7 miles away, but still they seem to be friendly and helpful.

I think that it varies widely by physical location. I've been in HDs in the suburbs in the Midwest where parking was a breeze, there were plenty of employees ready to help, etc. The nearest HD to me, (Hollywood), is the busiest HD in the country. Just an absolute zoo. I've heard of people getting in fights over parking spaces, that sort of thing. I've never had a problem shopping there but I don't look forward to it, either.

The employees are very helpful once you buttonhole one of them but they are not exactly free roaming in the aisles looking for people to help like in suburban Minnesota. On the bright side, it can be a real beauty pageant. Even the dykes are beautiful in Hollywood. :)

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I use unilifts for moving appliances. One under each side gives instant wheels. And leap frog ¼" plywood in front. A full refrigerator is heavy and the wheels can part the fresh adhesive under the floor I just installed. That, and I don't take chances of scuffing the new flooring. When sliding a heavy stove or old wheel less fridge home into its hole I'll put down a couple of beads of dish soap lined up with the small metal feet. I don't do this in front of the customer though ha ha

We bought a new speed Queen dryer from a reputable independent appliance dealer. They installed it, ran it and signed off on invoice that unit was installed and working. They left and about a week later the dryer t’stat crapped out. I was looking things over and noticed the installer hadn’t put a strain relief on the dryer cord. It was lying on the sharp edge of the electrical access opening. 230volts, 30 amp circuit. Could have rubbed through, shorted an possibly killed somebody. I bought and installed a strain relief for the cord. So much for “experienced” independent dealer installers.

That depends on the store. When I lived "back east" the HD had knowledgeable people in every department willing to help. The nearest HD to me now has clueless placeholders in orange aprons. Neither the (now) local Lowes nor the local HD has decent customer service.
Fortunately we have a local 5 store chain that is really good. Good prices, decent inventory, and people who care that you chose to shop there.

We have one HD and two Lowe’s in our small town I’m surprised they survive but that’s another story. Anyway, they are both dead and parking lots with few cars.

I go to the Lowe’s, because it’s closer. There are no registers open. It’s all self checkout with one attendant. Times have really changed in the past year.

There's a Depot, a Lowe's and a Menards in my town. Menards sells cheap garbage and has no sales staff that know anything, Lowe's has OK stuff but zero help.

Depot has choices, better quality stuff and helpful staff. Lately HD seems to be trying harder.

All three are killing the mom 'n pops, which is a sad thing.

Our 21yr old pulls a few shifts a week at HD, he's in college living with us. He doesn't complain or rant much, but I'd have to say, 90% of the time, he says the morons are his co-workers. The other 10% are customers whose elevator doesn't go to the top floor. The customers are not causing a problem, they just don't "get it".

I only go to HD when I have to. For big stuff, like sheet rock and lumber. He will bring home the small goods after his shift, like the hand dolly we wanted to use to install the new Speed Queen washing machine last week. I often snap a picture of the item, SKU, or other and send him a text, done.

We also have a Tractor Supply Store, and an independent hardware store, and a huge farm supply/western wear place. I've bought from two of them when HD didn't have what I was looking for.

Lowes is 20 minutes away, and could shop them too, but I usually forget on my way home.

SmileWavy

He didn't know you had to come from 182 miles away

The dryer should had one included in the shipping box. It wasn't good that the installer ignored the bushing just because it was missing. But as many have suggested, these guys work cheap and start every day with a truckload of appliances. During that day they will park on hills, drag units through side yards filled with dog crap and put up with impossible people.

Just the variances in dryer vent locations and configurations I've seen would frustrate me to no end.