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 PFB Investigates: Flying The American Flag At Home Depot
Posted Tue July 7, 2009 12:00 pm, by
On Sunday, July 5, a letter was sent through Planetfeedback regarding an American flag in disrepair being flown at a Home Depot.
This letter generated quite a bit of discussion which revolved around several issues about what a business should do in such cases. Part of the conversation concerned Home Depot's policies on flying American flags at their stores.
So I called Home Depot's customer care line to find out.
I had a nice conversation with a CSR who offered to put us in touch with that particular store director to answer our questions. Four hours later, I got a call from the store director. Unfortunately, it was a store director from another Home Depot several states away. The CSR had likely transposed the store numbers when sending the email to the store.
No biggie...I was happy that someone called back so fast and this guy was happy to talk about Home Depot's stance on this situation in general.
Here, then, is some additional information to supplant the ongoing discussion:
1. Home Depot flies the American flag 24/7/365...not just on holidays.
2. He was not aware of a specific policy for monitoring the condition of the flags nor are they replaced on a regular basis. It's up to the individual stores to ensure their flags fly in good condition.
3. Stores do order these particular flags from a supplier and are not allowed to break into retail inventory to replace them.
4. They use a company to actually replace the flag as there are special mounting issues involved. There is no restriction on the store that forces them to fly a flag in disrepair rather than fly no flag at all. I described the situation and he said, yes, the flag(s) should have been removed until new ones arrived.
Here is an interesting side note - the store director I talked to didn't know I was from PFB until we were actually on the phone and I identified myself as such. Before that, all he knew was a customer had called the customer care line and complained about the condition of his flags (even though it turned out not to be his flags at all). Before I told him about my PFB connection, he'd already apologized and assured me that, while he wasn't at the store, he'd already called his assistant manager, had him go and check the flags and he would take action once he got to the store.
In other words, he took this feedback very seriously as he should have. For him, it was not a mountain made out of a molehill nor was it the kind of situation which could only be handled in a "perfect" customer service world.
This is the kind of thing a store director and his management team are paid to not only handle but handle properly. I was truly impressed with this store director's commitment to great customer service - it rang through as true and genuine during every part of our conversation. He understood the validity of this feedback and the need to ensure something was done about it beyond "we ordered the flag already...there's nothing more we can do".
It was my impression he ended up being happy that it wasn't his store, not because he was afraid of getting fired or something but, instead, because he took great pride in managing all areas of his business well and this would have been a sign of a breakdown in his management processes.
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by PepperElf Posted Thu July 9, 2009 @ 11:55 PM
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I can respect that.
=)
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I work at Home Depot and would like to clarify. We proudly fly the
American flag at all of our US stores. We have a program in place to
check the condition and care of each flag on a regular schedule. The
manager you spoke with was likely referring to a recent improvement to
this program, which provides each store with a replacement flag for
safe keeping so they have one on hand and can request the change more
quickly. The flags are replaced by a third-party vendor who has the
proper equipment and ensures their proper disposal.
Frankly, our store associates are usually the first to notice when one
of our flags begin to show wear, or a simple nod from a customer like
you can help us realize when a flag was missed in the last rotation. I
appreciate the heads up and will follow up with our store in Blaine to
make sure we get a new flag on display there quickly.
Michael
Customer Care
The Home Depot
Atlanta, GA 30339
Information@homedepot.com
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by Nate! Posted Tue July 7, 2009 @ 9:39 PM
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Good information
Seeing as to how there is no policy that they are required to be
flown, nor is there a policy to inspect them, a change could be made
rather quickly.
Hopefully the headquarters can send a memo of some sort to have store
personnel inspect the condition of flags.
Based on the fact that the OP of the original letter stated he called
the manager a liar, not to speculate, but he likely was irate compared
to how Greg was on the phone. I think the presentation of your concern
can affect your overall results.
I still think that the response given at the time was adequate - they
were aware of the problem and a replacement was on order.
We can always go back with our PFB retrospective determinism and
"what-ifs" and "should-haves", but the manager was trying to rectify
the situation and please the customer by reassuring him that a
replacement was on the way. He could have offered to take the flags
down, but as you state "They use a company to actually replace the
flag". Possibly it is easier to do it all in one shot? Would it be
necessary to have the company come once then come back a week later?
To be absolutely perfect, yes, of course! But for practical purposes,
this may have been a factor as well. While only you heard the
discussion, I somewhat wonder if his response about them being taken
down was tailored to your position as his response would be publicly
posted about his company... just a thought.
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If a store/business is flying the American Flag then it should be
cared for as needed and protocol followed.
As I stated in a previous comment, many of our local VFW members keep
watch as far as conditions on flags flown over buildings, stand alone
poles and even private homes. They usually will leave a note first
then send a letter...if that does not work (which is rare) they will
contact a local tv station and someone will come out asking when the
flag will be replaced. (From what my friend at the VFW says if its a
private home they never call the media but instead will offer a flag
to replace the one that is tattered or worn if they can. They will
remove it, raise a new flag and dispose of the worn one.)
Anyone can just look up and if a flag is being displayed make note if
the flag may need to be changed. Its the least we can do to make sure
those who protected our freedom are never forgotten and they flags
flown in their honor is always proudly waving.
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by Just Jeffrey Posted Tue July 7, 2009 @ 8:59 PM
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...treat "real" media and websites/blogs are very different things.
For right or for wrong, "I'm from the New York Times" is going to
trigger more "we'd better get legal/PR on this" than "I'm from
planetfeedback.com."
Some day, that'll change, I'm sure.
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by Batman Posted Wed July 8, 2009 @ 12:54 PM
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Thanks to Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and the likes, one complaint on a
tiny blog can suddenly be seen by millions.
A good example could be YouTube. How many people had ever heard of
Britain's Got Talent? My guess is, most Americans hadnt even watched
America's Got Talent, much less even knew about Britain's Got Talent.
Now, I'll bet the person who posted the first Susan Boyle audition,
was someone nobody ever heard of; ie, not a big famous poster. But,
once word got around about her, it became an overnight sensation, and
that poster had 12 million hits in just a couple days.
The point? One can no longer dismiss someone just because it's "just
some dumpy little website". It just isnt good to ignore the impact of
the internet. One bad post from some no name website can escalate to
Susan Boyle fame over night. Whereas just because the NY Times reports
something, no longer means it will be the biggest story. Just depends
on how things take off.
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