NEVER again Home Depot

[Rob Littleton]

Oh boy, since March I have waited for ( and paid nearly 6K for) my new doors. They have installed 2 but they were so dirty, after we cleaned them we found defects. Interesting that the defect in the main slider door was INSIDE the double pane glass. How on earth did QC miss that? Anyways, after MANY complaints to the store and the main complaints number in Atlanta, I am still waiting. They have sent me 3 replacement doors (the same kind 3 times) and each time, I have refused them coz of damage. This last refusal, they sent the SAME door as the first time but with different glass. I think they thought we wouldnt see the crack in the frame (in the same place and the same size)

I have written to BBB and have left a message to the Atlanta big boys a (haha) and I am DEMANDING money back. It has been very rough/hard working with them and I will NEVER work with them again.

They have been so unresponsive and the managers at the brance have been full of it and have sent me back and forth. LIES ...... I am sick of them. I will find out on Monday what the big guy says but God help them if it is anything other than, "certainly sir, here's your refund"......

These guys are liars and I am sick of the way I have been treated by them. Please travel if you have to but DONT special order anything door related thru them. They are pathetic. Hopefully the BBB will kick some butt too.....

RANT RANT RANT !!!!!!!!!!!!

[John Miliunas]

When will these bozo's figure out that most people like to read about "feel good" stories, not rants and complaints reflecting poor Customer Service??? It almost seems as though their mentallity on stuff like this is, "Hey, you're getting a product for so much less than the specialty store down the road, you shouldn't complain."

If their top dog doesn't give you satisfaction on Monday, is there any way you can stop payment or dispute the charge with your financial institution? I know...Pain in the butt, however, that may be your most expediant resolution at this point. Good luck Rob and thanks for the warning.

[Frank Hagan]

The BBB is a completely voluntary organization, so there really isn't much recourse there. They simply keep the complaint on file. You may have better luck with your state's Attorney General's office, as most states have a consumer protection division that will help you. Start there. For Arizona, try the info at http://www.azag.gov/consumer/ There's a link on the right for a complaint form.

Laws differ from state to state. You may have recourse from a state law requiring a refund after so many attempts to fix the problem. In most of the states I'm aware of, you have between 30 and 90 days to fix the consumers problem, then refunds are required. (I'm a service manager for a manufacturer.) I'm not sure about Arizona's laws, but usually this kind of run-around is exactly the kind the AGs office loves to get their hands on.

[John Shuk]

Truthfully I have found that the specialty stores prices are usually in line with HD or Lowes. I think that when they clearance stuff out you can do well. When it comes to most things their prices are like anybody elses.

[Phil Phelps]

I feel your pain. Where did that sayin' come from Seriously, keep us posted on this. You have run into maladroit management and HD top brass should cooperate to make you a happy customer, again. If it were me, I'd appolgize and give you your doors at cost. But, it's not me and I hope you get satisfaction. If not, I would sue. I wouldn't let anyone get away with it. Good luck.

[Ken Garlock]

Sorry to hear about your problems with HD. It may be too late now, but if you want some excellent patio doors, go over to your Marvin Windows Design Center. We have all Marvin windows in our house, and the patio door is the best I have ever seen.

I limit my buys at HD to crooked lumber, bowed plywood, and packages of 3 bolts and 2 nuts.

[Lee DeRaud]

I've either been really lucky or my HD is a lot better than average. (Maybe both .)

Two major jobs done through them (new roof and new carpet) were about as stress-free as operations like that can get...way better service than some of the small contractors I've dealt with over the years.

There are some things I avoid going there for: it's certainly not the right place to buy 100-count boxes of nuts/bolts/etc or specialized tools or wood finishes. But the general run of stuff? No problem.

(I have no affiliation with HD beyond living about a mile from what I suspect is the largest HD in the country.)

[Vaughn McMillan]

There is a plan underway in my community to build a new Home Depot about a mile from my house. The proposed site was previously a K-Mart, but it closed a year or so ago. We have an overabundance of home improvement stores in the area (OSH, Do-It Center, and a couple Ace Hardwares all within 5 miles, and two HDs and a Lowe's within 10 miles), and a lack of general merchandise stores (Target, K-Mart, Sears, etc. are all 10 or more miles away). Tujunga is a relatively low-rent little town on the northern edge of LA (a fair number of immigrants, bikers, longhaired rednecks, and film/TV/music industry working folks live here), and we could use the general merchandise store much more than another home improvement center.

As a result of the imbalance, there's a pretty big movement here to keep HD from putting in the new store. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, having a HD within a mile or so would be handy. On the other hand, the Do-It Center (a regional chain) and OSH are small enough that the employees know me, I know where to find anything in either store, and there's simply more personal service. If I need something only the borgs sell, I have my choice of three within 20 minutes of the house. Of the three, I prefer Lowe's because in my area they have a higher percentage of English-speaking employees, and my Spanish and Armenian are not up to par. (I don't care one bit what country you or your parents come from, but when I ask for "masking tape", I expect you to be able to tell me where it is.)

- Vaughn

[Rob Littleton]

QUOTE If their top dog doesn't give you satisfaction on Monday, is there any way you can stop payment or dispute the charge with your financial institution?

Hey John, since this was paid for in full in March, I dont think I got much recourse with the credit card. I am interested in the other link and will be looking into getting in touch with them.

The guy came this morning and installed the bedroom door. I have yet to see it as I have been working all day but Im interested.............the problem is, the installers are not HD, they cant be, they are nice guys :-)

Ill keep y'all posted.....

[Rob Russell]

QUOTE If their top dog doesn't give you satisfaction on Monday, is there any way you can stop payment or dispute the charge with your financial institution?

Hey John, since this was paid for in full in March, I dont think I got much recourse with the credit card. I am interested in the other link and will be looking into getting in touch with them.

Don't assume that. Call the credit card company tonight - there is a window for reporting problems. See if you're past it.

[Steve Schoene]

Interestingly enough, the guys who are backing their opinion with real money apparently do not believe there are too many home improvement stores.

[Andrew Ault]

I just had our water heater replaced. The old one wasn't leaking and still worked, but not really well. I checked it and it was twenty years old and I put it on my list of things to replace.

Home Depot said they would replace it the same day and the price was Ok, so I contracted with them to do it. This way, they handled the permit fee and hauled off the old water heater, which in San Diego means getting it recycled - another fee.

Well, we never heard from them, so I called late in the day. I was referred to the contractor. The rep told me that since I contracted for it near the deadline (an hour before) that they wouldn't get to it that day, Saturday. That was frustrating because we had been waiting for them, as we said we would be. I made an apppointment to get it installed "first thing Monday morning".

I took Monday off, which required some dancing on my part. I waited and I finally called in the afternoon. I was medium miffed, but in control. The lady fed me a couple of pretty obvious lies and said that maybe they could get here by nine PM. As we had plans that evening, I told her to set it up for the following morning. I then went to Home Depot and tracked down the manager and related my experience. I've simplified this quite a bit. There were more phone calls to the store, Home Depot 800 number and the contractor. At this point I pretty much (diplomatically, using calm reasoning) lit a fire under the local manager's hind quarters.

Tuesday (off from work again, more dancing and pointing out that I rarely in ten years have taken any time off) the guy showed up at the crack of o nine hundred. The plumber was a good, hard working recent imigrant from the former Eastern Block and all around good guy. Talking to him, I got that he was paid piecemeal by the contractor in a pretty sorry sort of setup. He did a pretty good job and was not connected to the shady contractor in any direct way.

I went back to the local store and asked for a discount, which they gave (10%). I learned that if you get this done, do NOT use the 800 number or special phone next to the water heaters. Instead, go through the service desk. These guys were pretty good and trying to get good service for the customer.

Of course, after this, the contractor did not send the promised paperwork needed for the rebate and warranty. This required many phone calls, promises, broken promises, wrong documents, etc. Finally got what we needed.

I'd say that whether you get good service or not is pretty much a craps shoot. It depends on the contractor they use at the time.

[Matt Meiser]

Contractors for both Lowes and HD are separate everywhere from what I've seen. We had Lowes do our carpet and they did a good job pretty much on time. My brother had them do a tile floor. They did it very late, and the guy was literally there until 4AM before my brother told him he'd have to come back to finish another day. Now the tile (that "Edge" stuff, which is apparently being recalled.) is failing and it all has to be removed. Lowes has agreed to reimburse them their entire purchase and install cost, but they are fighting to have it restored to the way it was (older, but perfectly usable linoleum.) They are going that route because Lowes balked at removing and disposing of the defective stuff which will probably be a significant cost.

We are doing windows and a sliding door right now. I chose a local contractor who had me order the windows through Home Depot since they beat the contractor's normal Anderson supplier by over $100/window. Hopefully I will have better luck than Rob!

[Dennis Peacock]

Ok folks....I don't like HD any more than you do and have had some not so pleasant experiences with them in the past and present. Please, let's watch what we say and let's ease up a bit on the comments about HD.

[Phil Phelps]

Ok folks....I don't like HD any more than you do and have had some not so pleasant experiences with them in the past and present. Please, let's watch what we say and let's ease up a bit on the comments about HD.

both good and bad from these places. No need to sugar coat a bad experience. There is no excuse for not showing up on a job when you take off your job to be there. No excuse.