On New Year’s day, 2012, I made a resolution to go a whole year without a drop of alcohol. No beer, no wine – none of it. Like all great ideas, it quickly became a bet, and when the bet money got too big (32 people have so far come in with a $100), I had to make it a fundraiser for one of my favorite charities. Yes, I’ll still pay out every $100 if I have even a sip of Sam Summer Ale at the beach next weekend, but no, I can’t keep that kind of loot if I win. People raise less for running marathons for sick kids, for heavens’ sake. So what does this have to do with retail?

Quite a bit actually, because since I’m a single guy who lives alone and now rarely goes out, I’ve had to find something to occupy my time and mind. And that something has become an endless array of woodworking projects and jobs around the home. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I’ve gotten done – nor how many trips to Home Depot I’ve made. But in looking at my credit card statement, I can tell you that my new hobby has me averaging at least 3 trips a week. And for expensive purchases, too: furniture grade lumber, a pair of new DeWalt drills, more handtools, sandpaper, and oil stains than I ever even knew existed.

But I won’t be going back any more, and here’s why. Home Depot has committed the most egregious cross-channel, out-of-stock error I’ve experienced as a shopper.

Five memorial days ago, Lowe’s forever lost my business when their online inventory told me a grill was available in store, I fought holiday traffic to go get it, and not only was it not-in-stock, but no one seemed even remotely interested in helping. I haven’t set foot in a Lowe’s since, and it was a mistake that has profited Home Depot tremendously. In those years of my Home Depot loyalty, I’ve seen a lot of negative things in-store. I saw an employee – customer interaction one time that, had I been the customer, I would have escalated to a manger, if not an attorney. I’ve seen employees bickering with one another in a way that no customer should ever see.

And most recently, I’ve watched an out-of-stock item with patience – for months. It’s been a very hot summer here in Boston, and during my frequent visits, I’ve been making a point to swing by the air conditioner section to see if they’ve been replenished. They have not. But I’m willing to abide all of this. Employees can act up. And with the global nature of supply chains, popular items can sometimes take a very long time to replenish. The whole area is sold out – I get it.

A week or so ago, I asked an employee when they’d have more. He told me to go online; that if I ordered from the company’s website, a full array of AC units would be available. What’s more, they’d deliver to my door – next day – free-of-charge. Now this employee was excellent: friendly, eager to help, but knowing what I know about distribution centers and fulfillment, what he was talking about sounded a little too good to be true for a region that was experiencing record humidity and wide-scale out-of-stocks. I decided to give my local store another week.

So yesterday, when the heat became too much to bear, I followed the advice of my local Home Depot employee and went to homedepot.com. He was wrong. The retailer was really pushing “pick up in store ” more than anything, but not that it mattered – every even remotely interesting AC unit was sold out. Not online – not in stores. Again, this was in no-way loyalty shaking for me. These things happen, right? Until I was just about to sign out, and noticed one AC unit I hadn’t looked at. It was an LG, the BTUs weren’t quite right, but it was in stock! I had found an air conditioner – I’d get a decent night’s sleep tonight! What’s more, it was available for buy online/pickup in store at a store not too far away from me! (If you can’t tell, I was excited). A

And so I bought it. They took my credit card. They took my phone number to text me when it was ready, which they said wouldn’t be more than an hour or two. A few hours later, still no text. But not to worry, I needed a new respirator for some lacquering that I’d be doing later this week one of my woodworking projects, so even if the online order wasn’t ready when I got there, I could putter around and find some more things I “need “. It was to be another weeknight of spending money at my local Home Depot, so I walked to my car.

However, when I got there, I noticed a voicemail from an unknown number that I had just missed. Here’s a few choice words of what it said: “This is concerning your online order… just wanted to let you know, that unfortunately, we don’t have, we are unable to ummm… to fulfill this order for you, so we’ll have to cancel it. We don’t have any in stock, so hopefully you can find one somewhere else. Sorry for the inconvenience. ”

No follow up – no backorder – no suggestion on how to keep me as a customer. Just “find one somewhere else. ”

And so I have to find an alternative to Home Depot now. I do not think of myself as a fussy consumer in any way; I’ve put up with a lot from this one particular retailer already without a hint of loyalty abandonment. But if you tell me something is there, that it’s mine, and I already start to plan my time around it and then can’t fulfill that promise, that is where I draw the line. And I imagine many of us draw a similar line in the exact same place. So here I type, sweaty and pissed-off, without even the option of having a cold beer to cool me down. Looks like I just became a loyal Ace Hardware customer.