The Home Depot

This is actually a two-​part review, because I’ve had very different experiences from the store depending on what I buy.
For straightforward home improvement goods, Home Depot is a pretty good store. If I need screws, tools, paint, lumber, or other simple materials, I can find what I need in their wide assortment. The size of the store makes it hard to find help sometimes, and also can add lots of «search» time to your shopping trip if you don’t know exactly where drawer pulls happen to be in the store. I’ll rate that side of the store at 3 – 4 stars.
I have gone to Home Depot looking for appliances twice. First, we needed a washer and dryer when we moved into our new home. Second, we needed a new over-​the-​range microwave when ours broke down. The first experience was unimpressive — we had to look over the available models ourselves, then physically search for a salesperson to sell us what we’d chosen. Her attitude was very disinterested, but we did buy the machines and had them delivered/​installed. (They managed to install the hot/​cold water hoses backwards, which confused me quite a lot for a couple weeks.)
When we went looking for a microwave, we were again alone in the appliance department for 20 minutes, looking at models by ourselves. After making a decision, we found the salesperson (the same who had sold us the washer and dryer). This time, she was not only disinterested but downright unhelpful — she stated the model on display was not actually available for sale, unless we paid a $ 65 «special order» charge for the $ 250 microwave. (This was whether it was delivered to our house, OR to the Home Depot store for us to pick up. Incidentally, it’s also the delivery price if you buy the microwave from the
website. If I’d wanted to buy my microwave online, I wouldn’t have walked into the store.) Throughout the few minutes of discussion, the employee’s attitude was very bored — she showed no interest in actually convincing us to buy the microwave, and acted like our desire to give the store money was a huge inconvenience for her. We certainly didn’t want to make her more miserable by actually buying anything!
My advice is to completely avoid this Home Depot for appliance purchases of ANY kind. And considering the availability of standard home repair goods at the many other hardware stores in the area, I’m not going to bother anything from Home Depot. Bad customer service isn’t worth my money, and it won’t get them a good Unilocal review either.