The Home Depot
Return Denied Over Retail Equation Database Despite Valid Receipt

Just in case you were not aware, Home Depot has been using "The Retail Equation" to analyze its returns and thus reject anyone their system statistically finds to be unworthy. I found this out the hard way, and here is how.

Today (January 4th) I decided to return some items to Home Depot that I did not need. They were left over from a large project and I *did* have the receipt. After the cashier rang them up, I was told that they could not take them back. I asked why, and they said "your DL# is restricted" and "TRE has blocked you." So despite having a valid receipt, I was rejected. I asked for the manager. He was polite at first, saying he would see what he could do. He then printed a receipt, said "call them" (pointing to the TRE number), and brushed me off. Great customer service here (sarcasm implied). So I called TRE and talked to a customer service representative who took my DL# and pulled up my record. He told me I was blocked because there were too many returns. I asked how I could get it removed and he said "there is no way." I discussed the obvious flaw (we will get to this in a second) and he agreed, either just to be a pacifist or in actual agreement. Either way, he was just the paid ear on the other end of the phone. It was a polite conversation.

Mind you, in all of my purchases I was never told that Home Depot could deny my receipted return (within the 90 day policy window that adorns their signs and receipt). I was not once told on a return that my DL# was going into a NATIONWIDE database, including all information on the DL#. I was always told it was just to verify identity. Had I known this was going into a database, I would have severed ties with Home Depot a long time back.

Now, before I go on, I will give a little preface information. I have a license to do business in NV, which I used (note the past tense) Home Depot for on numerous occasions, sometimes as much as 3 times a day. I have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars there and never had a problem. But now a loyal customer is essentially getting told his business is no longer appreciated. Sometimes you buy things that do not fit or are the wrong size, or you buy more than one size to prevent having to make a quick return trip, so returns are to be expected. Why is this so bad? I understand the need to counter fraud and the like, but shunning good customers is not the way to go about it.

The Retail Equation and the fundamental flaws it brings is the one-sided analysis. One major, and I will repeat MAJOR, flaw is that it does not track purchases. As a customer, I can spend $10,000 in the store and return $100 worth of merchandise, but to the TRE and their analysis I am not a good customer, despite only returning 1% of the merchandise purchased. So at what point does customer service outweigh potential fraud? They have lost my business and the business of my company to Lowes.

Congrats, Home Depot corporate, you just lost another customer. Keep up the good work, your shareholders thank you. You may not think one customer is important, but collectively they add up. Over time, you will fail just like other companies that had the same outlook (Circuit City comes to mind).

Now I would like to end this with some suggestions directly to Home Depot on how they can improve their customer service:
- Recognize that TRE is a huge privacy invasion without notice to their customers. Put up PROPER signage letting all customers know this so that they can make an informed decision.
- Allow managers the ability to override the "denial" for the sake of customer service. If someone is returning without a receipt, go for it, deny it. But rejecting a valid receipted return screams for better manager control.
- Consider moving away from TRE to a more robust purchase/return tracking system that, much like grocery store loyalty cards, tracks a specific CARD and not personal data. Your competitor has this (Lowes). This is quality data.

By the way, if you Google "Home Depot The Retail Equation," you are going to get a lot of reading material.

Company: The Home Depot
Country: USA
State: Nevada
City: Las Vegas
Address: 6025 S Pecos Rd
Phone: 7024341948
Site: homedepot.com

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