April 21, 2007
My shopping experience at Home Depot
We were on a mission to find a certain type of shrub for our yard. After visiting several other suppliers with no success, we went to our local Home Depot in Pueblo Colorado this evening. We were able to find what we were looking for and proceeded to continue shopping for more items.
As we were in the Home Depot we heard a “canned advertisement” over the load speaker. While this is not unusual for retail stores, what got my attention was the language. It was an ad in Spanish. Yes we are all getting used to hearing the occasional Spanish ad in several stores so this was not that big a deal. A few moments later I heard another Spanish ad. In less than 20 minutes in Home Depot we heard four Spanish speaking advertisements. In the same 20-minute period I heard ZERO English advertisements.
Upon hearing the fourth ad I told Stacey we were done shopping. We headed towards the check-out with our shrubs in hand (we put everything else back on the shelf). As well were starting to check out we heard our fifth Spanish advertisement. This was too much to take so I stopped the cashier from proceeding. I asked her to pass on to management my displeasure of hearing five Spanish ads and not one English ad in the 20-minute period in Home Depot. She told me she would pass the message on to management, she also told me she hears this complaint a lot.
I started to leave and thought to myself that maybe I should speak to the manager myself. I returned to her check out and asked to speak to the manager. She proceeded to call the manager. After several minutes a gentleman came to speak to me, not the manager since he was busy. I proceeded to explain my view and asked when it was ok for English speaking or Non-Spanish speaking shoppers were welcome in Home Depot. He told me the “correct” answers from a customer service point of view. He explained all overhead ads come from corporate headquarters in Atlanta. He also said they have no control which ads are run and when they are run. I asked him to pass on my issues with his manager and his corporate headquarters. I also told him I would not come back until non-Spanish speaking customers were appreciated as much as the Spanish speaking customers. If I had been thinking, I would have asked if the American dollar was still accepted of if they just took Peso’s now.
I left Home Depot with out my shrubs, in fact I left the cart full of shrubs right next to the check out to remind them of the sale they just lost. Sure it was not the day’s record sale – this time. But if we start showing the big retailers we are tired of not understanding the ads played in their stores. We do this by not shopping their stores anymore, and letting them know why we are not shopping their stores. Maybe we can start taking back our country.
Please don’t misunderstand me, I welcome new citizens into The United States of America, but they need to conform to OUR country. We don’t need to conform to theirs.
Please help me and ask Home Depot to rethink how they advertise, to whom they advertise, and in what ratio their ad density. You can contact them at 1-800-553-3199 And yes you have to press 1 for English.
Thank-you
John D
This is the Home Depot's response:
Dear Mr. Duston,
Thank you for contacting The Home Depot Customer Care.
We apologize for the inconvenience caused to you.
We appreciate receiving feedback from our customers and want to thank
you for taking the time to forward your concerns regarding the spanish
advertisement.
We apologize you feel this way, however, at The Home Depot we believe
that diversity is the catalyst for innovative thinking, entrepreneurial
spirit and new ways of building our communities. The greater the
diversity of our people, the greater our ability to serve our customers
and communities.
This partnership will help further The Home Depot's ongoing commitment
to create a high-performing, diverse workforce that meets the growing
needs of its customers, partners and neighbors in communities across the
country.
If you would like to speak with a Customer Care professional, please
call us at 1-800-HOMEDEPOT (1-800-466-3337) and select option 3. We
would be happy to assist you.
Sincerely,
Atul
Customer Care
We have been offered a phone number to call, please call and voice your opinion to Home Depot!
Explain that diversity is more than Spanish, how about German's, Italians, French, Indians, Canadians, or Hawaiians?
That is true diversity!!
Thanks to everyone who has e-mailed me in support of this cause! Join the Forum to continue to support or discuss other serious and not so serious issues!
I received a call from Frank Blake's (Home Depot CEO) office concerning this issue. I was told this may have been a "technical issue" (read the last paragraph of my letter to Mr. Blake) and they would look into fixing the problem. I offered to post this information in fairness if they provided a letter of explanation. I have not received this letter.
May 14, 2007
I was speaking with a friend today (one that shopped at Home Depot this past weekend) she told me that while at Home Depot on Saturday May 12, 2007 she and her husband heard at least SIX Spanish-speaking ads and they don't remember hearing any in English!
I guess Home Depot has not gotten the message yet! Let's get after them!
She also mentioned SEAR'S is doing the same advertising, I haven't heard of this but if someone will check it out and let me know - I will put Sear's on the "HOT list" as well