Van Chocstraw wrote:
Percival P. Cassidy wrote:
Our old wooden garage door is not in good shape. Saturday we went and
had a look at the Clopay doors at the local HD and got a price
including installation. In the course of conversation I said, "Why
Home Depot? You're not the only people who sell Clopay. According to
the Clopay Web site, company name here sells their doors too." HD
guy says, "If you buy from us, they're the people that do our
installations anyway."

Today I went to the other store and got a significantly lower price
(including installation) for what is in all material respects the same
door but with a different model number -- and they don't use (because
they don't recommend) the EZ-Set spring system that can be adjusted
with a power drill.

So two conclusions:

1. Buying from HD -- and the same quite likely applies to Lowe's as
well -- doesn't necessarily mean that you get some dumb-ass
lowest-bidder installer rather than somebody who knows what (s)he is
doing.

2. Buying from HD -- and the same quite likely applies to Lowe's as
well -- doesn't necessarily mean that you get the best price.

Perce

I notice a great price difference between two HD's 20 miles apart in
different towns. The same goes for the availability of low priced items
which are absent in the higher priced store.

A recent experience I had is I needed to replace the circulator on my
wood boiler. Went to HD in local town, nothing under $100.00.
Went to next town to Loews, nothing under $100.00 there either. But the
HD in the same town as Loews had a model for $80.00 and another for
$65.00. It they were quality pump makers.

I think the local managers can do pretty much what they want at HD.


Or just go to the real place and pay $50. My neighbor's heating system
went down and he asked me about it. The circulator had failed. This guy
is a total believer that big box is his buddy just like the marketing
tells him so he immediately wants to drive 10 miles to hd. I asked him
to check how much his friends at hd will sell it to him and he called
and they wanted $70 for a Taco cartridge pump. We have a great mom & pop
place that is 1/3 of the distance away. I called them and they wanted
$49 for the same model.