New Home Depot CEO Offers Apology for Poor Customer Satisfaction

New Home Depot CEO Frank Blake has responded to a highly-publicized slew of complaints about poor customer service by offering a public apology.

The latest in a recent string of mea culpas from CEO’s of high-profile companies (see “Starbucks memo urges renewed focus on customer satisfaction” and “JetBlue CEO uses YouTube to address customer satisfaction nightmare“) Home Depot’s was a response to a column by MSN-Money columnist Scott Burns titled “Is Home Depot shafting shoppers?” His column sparked a fire among readers, hundreds of whom responded with their own horror stories about long waits, understaffing, a lack of knowledgeable employees, etc.

The apology by Blake, who was named to head the Atlanta-based company in January, was published in the Web-based MSN Money. In it, he said:

“I’m Frank Blake, the new CEO for The Home Depot. I’ve read a number of the postings on the MSN message board (unfortunately, there were a lot of them), and we’ve dispatched a dedicated task force — working directly with me — that is ready and willing to address each and every issue raised on this board. Please give us the chance.

There’s no way I can express how sorry I am for all of the stories you shared. I recognize that many of you were loyal and dedicated shoppers of The Home Depot . . . and we let you down. That’s unacceptable. Customers are our company’s lifeblood – and the sole reason we have been able to build such a successful company is because of your support. The only way we’re going to continue to be successful is by regaining your trust and confidence . . . and we will do that.”

The bottom line: This is a nice apology. The tone (if not the punctuation) is good. Blake is contrite. He admits the problem and takes ownership of the resolution. He even invites further comments and complaints via wehearyou@homedepot.com. Will it work? Only time will tell. If it doesn’t, through the magic of electronic communication, we’ll certainly know.