One day in November 2009, my wife came to me and said she saw a TV commercial from Home Depot advertising they would take back old Christmas lights that no longer worked and offer $3 toward the purchase of LED Christmas lights. I drove over to Home Depot a few days later and noticed that the LED lights used only 4 amps of current while our old Christmas light strings used a lot more power. We were trying to cut our energy costs and thought this offer was just too good to pass up. I called the store a few days later to find out that the deal had expired, two days prior. We had just heard of this offer and now it had expired. I fired off an e-mail to the Home Depot people as follows:

Comments: My wife viewed an advertisement where your stores would take back old Christmas lights for credit on energy savings units. I called the store in my area and they said that program ended on the 15th. I am most sorry you did not provide a wider window to participate.

In a few days I got this response:

Thank you for contacting The Home Depot Customer Care. We appreciate receiving feedback from you and want to thank you for taking the time to forward your concerns. We apologize for not meeting your expectations.

Please know that your feedback is provided to our stores and Corporate Offices, so that we can make necessary business improvements.

Thank you, again, for sharing your comments and bringing this to our attention.

We look forward to your continued patronage and assisting you with all of your home improvement needs.

Sincerely,

Nayeem
Customer Care Research Team

I thought that was the end of it but I get a phone call from the store manager in Fullerton, California. She said she had looked over my e-mail and would extend the offer to me. I said I was most surprised and thought her offer was very nice. She said Home Depot wanted to properly serve its customers to the best of their ability. She notified me that I could call the store, if I arrived late for any sale offer, and ask that the offer be extended.  She went on to tell me that she thought this was the second year that Home Depot offered this special offer.  I told her that I was most sorry to be late to the sale and once again thanked her for her generous offer.

The very next day, my wife and I drove to the Fullerton Home Depot and turned in 7 Christmas light strings. We purchased the same number of LED strings costing around $40 total. With the credit we received from the old lights, we only paid about $20.

I am most impressed with Home Depot’s attitude toward its customers.

The story did not end. I get an e-mail from a customer care department. I will share part of that message next:

Recently, you contacted The Home Depot with a concern or question regarding our company, operations or products. We are very interested to learn about your recent experience with our Customer Care department. We have commissioned NetReflector, an independent marketing firm, to conduct the survey to obtain your valuable and candid feedback. Your feedback will help us ensure that we are consistently providing you with the highest levels of personal service. Please take a few minutes to answer some brief questions about your recent experience with The Home Depot.

I then am directed to answer a survey on line. The questions in the survey were all toward measuring my satisfaction in this issue being resolved to MY satisfaction. This is most impressive!