Home Depot Windows and Doors Consumer Reviews - Page 5

WASHINGTON CROSSING, PENNSYLVANIA -- Do not ever waste your money on a Home Depot deck. Two weeks ago Home Depot finalized the installation of my new deck and it is horrible. I had them back with my complaints, but they just say that "wood is wood" and that knots only are bad if they go all the way through the wood and that wood is going to split, that is the nature of the material, etc. They replaced some of their modules, but the new ones are just as bad. Home Depot was the most expensive estimate, almost 1/3 to 1/2 more than the rest, but I was promised extremely high quality. The claim was that their modular system guaranteed higher quality. This is just not true. Just the opposite is true.

The installers come to the job with the exact number of pieces of wood, no extra. If a piece splits or breaks or is of poor quality, they cannot change it for another. The modules sit higher than the frame, leading to stubbed toes. The ends of the wood of the "modules" look like they were cut with a dull saw blade; they are all rough and splintery. Since they sit higher than the frame, splinters are unavoidable. The knots are large, extensive, and some are "hidden" on the sides of the planks. The surface of many of the planks already have large layers of wood lifting up, curling, and separating.

I have sanded and used a razor knife to try to limit the splinters but to no avail. More just keep coming. Today I spent two hours with wood putty and more sanding and now my "new" deck looks like a disaster. After two weeks in the sun the deck looks like it is over twenty years old. DO NOT ever use Home Depot for your deck. Your children and pets will get horrible splinters and you will be wasting your money. If anyone wants to see what a horrible job they do, just contact me and I'll invite you over. Be certain to wear shoes, however! No bare feet.

KNIGHTDALE, NORTH CAROLINA -- We purchased a 2 storm doors for our home. My husband install one, and Home Depot was paid to install the other. Well, well the installer shows up at our home 1 hour and 15 mins. later than schedule time without the parts to install the storm door, he later returned to the store to picked up parts. Now it's 1 hour and a half passed by. We called the store and was told he went to do another job, because they thought we have left to go out of town (SOMEONE MUST BE AT HOME). We kept getting all kind of excuses down to: "We didn't have you schedule." Our conclusion: we received the most sleazy services and will not use this company for anything else.

On Sunday, July 9th, I placed an order with HomeDepot.com for two retractable screen doors. My wife then changed her mind so within 15 minutes of placing the order I called Home Depot to cancel. I was on hold for over an hour but finally reached a customer service agent who assured me the order was cancelled.

The following day, Monday, July 10th I received an email confirming my order. This concerned me so I attempted to call again. After being on hold for well over an hour my cell phone battery finally died.

On Wednesday, July 11th I called again. Once again I was put on hold, this time for 45 minutes. I then spoke with a gentlemen named Cliff who informed me that my cancellation was showing up in the system but that sometimes the warehouse didn't get the information in time. He said he would put in another cancellation just to be safe.

On Thursday, July 12th, I received an email confirming that the product had shipped (despite my two cancellations). The email said that the screens had shipped UPS but the tracking number is not a UPS number. I called (long hold again 40+ minutes) and spoke with Katrina. She acknowledged that the tracking number was not UPS.

After several discussions with her supervisor they finally decided it was a FedEx number. She then told me that the order had shipped and that I needed to be home when it arrived and to refuse the order. She tells me that FedEx will then return the order to Home Depot and I will receive a credit. She also informed me that once I refuse the order I must call them again to tell them I've done so. No doubt with another hour spent on hold.

I have done extensive on-line shopping since the whole concept came into being and this is by far the worst experience I've had to date. So - If I try to buy something in one of their stores, chances are they won't have the right color or size. If they do, then I have to figure out how to purchase it via their self-serve scanners because they are too cheap to hire cashiers. Ever try putting a stack of 10' 2x12's on the scanner scale!

If they don't have what I want/need then I have to either special order it, pay the full amount in advance with no assurance I'll ever get my order, or purchase online. Seems to me like it would be a whole lot easier to simply shop somewhere else.

MASON, OHIO -- I am writing this email because I am furious with Home Depot and I thought everyone in my email address book should know why. The week of 7/29 I attempted to order an arch window blind for my new home. Sound easy enough? Read on. The woman at the store told me I needed a template even though I knew the measurements. I said "OK, I will go to the front of the store and measure 47 1/2 by 24 on a piece of newspaper and bring it back to you". She said she would not accept it because she would know I did not go home to make it. (I am not kidding.)

I talked to the store manager. He went to talk to her and came back to tell me I was welcome to GO HOME and make a template and bring it back in (again, not kidding). I talked to another store manager the next day and I brought in a template that I used a ruler on a piece of newspaper and measured 47 1/2 across by 24. I was told it would take 10 days to come in. A MONTH LATER I called the store. They told me that the company lost the template! Why didn't they call and tell me? (Because Home Depot does NOT CARE). We made another template using the same method as before.

We were called 2 weeks later to be told (I swear to God I am not making this up) that the company returned the template because it was not cut out. Now, 2 months after I fought and got the stupid thing ordered, I am being told my order is ON HOLD. The measurement on the template does not match what I verbally told them. The VERY RUDE employee who called said "All I need from you is to know which is right." She proceeded to get irate and hang up on me. I called the manager. When I told her that I will no longer make purchases from Home Depot, she said "OK" and hung up. Why? Because Home Depot does not care.

I still do not have my stupid arch blind! We probably have a thousand dollars or more on our Home Depot credit card. We bought $400.00 dollars worth of blinds during this time we were trying to get the arch. NEVER AGAIN. I also did a search on the internet and found websites devoted to Home Depot Customer Service horror stories. Please. If practical, do not buy anything from Home Depot. If for no other reason you could end up in Home Depot Customer Service hell just like me.

Please pass this message on... P.S. After I originally sent this email, Home Depot called and said they would not order my arch until I brought in ANOTHER template. I swear, how incompetent can one store be?

WINCHESTER, VIRGINIA -- Bought a special order pine pre-hung stain grade door from Home Depot 5/2002. Installed it on November 2002. Noticed a crack that can be seen through on the door 1/2004. Called Home Depot. They said to bring it in and the warranty will cover it. I had to bring in the invoice, which I did. Talked with the salespeople a sales area, and they thought it was strange that the door cracked but thought nothing since I was applying for replacement.

6 weeks afterwards, after multiple calls, I finally talked with Masonite rep (when calls to Linda at Winchester, VA Home Depot got nowhere she gave me the Masonite people) who states that the warranty was only for 12 months and that it has expired. They can't do anything about it. He (Randy **) stated that he had told Linda this last week.

I call Home Depot back and talked with Linda and then the assistant manager Henry who both say that since the warranty has expired that there is nothing to do. Henry says that it is like buying a car, and when warranty expires that's it. But, I said at least I know what warranty I have when I bought a car. There is no warranty information on anything on the receipt when I bought it. I have the original receipt still.

Later after calling the national Home Depot customer rep Rosa she had the store manager, Otto, call. He basically said that I did not follow the recommendations on the door. That I caused the crack on the door (which his salespeople say should not occur even though it was a door for the bathroom) and that he stands by the 12 month guarantee only. What a nice thing to know when you buy a door from Home Depot, even if it is special order. It is your fault for installing it yourself (great DIY stores). I will stand by my door for 12 months, then too bad.

A lot of people fall for the pitch for "Expert Installation" when shopping for their new door, cabinets, roof or whatever. It's really convenient to let HD handle everything for you, but you'll probably regret it. My experience has been that it almost always turns out to be a complete nightmare for the unsuspecting homeowner. Most of the employees at Home Depot don't have a clue what they are talking about when it comes to the actual work itself. I know, I've been in construction all my life and have heard many HD horror stories.

I myself have been through unbelievable ** just from trying to special order something. What you are doing in effect is paying Home Depot a fee to hire a contractor to work on your house. You don't get to talk to the contractor first to get a feel for what type of person they are. And when you have a problem you have to deal with HD and not him. I would recommend you asking friends and co-workers for suggestions on a contractor instead. Good luck.

ILLINOIS -- We recently spent about 3 hours at our local Home Depot picking out a new door for the side of our house. The reason it took so long was because they had accidentally deleted our original quote from the system. Anyway, that was just the beginning of our problems. We picked out a door that cost $126. Standard installation of the door was $285. We thought this was high, but just in case it takes a few extra hours labor, we can see why they might mark the price up.

So we scheduled an appointment for a measurement. We had already measured our door and brought the dimensions in with us. The door measured out to be a 32x80 inch door. Well the contractor who came out to measure spent about 5 minutes here said he would submit the details to HD and we'd be contacted regarding the scheduling of the installation. Well HD calls us the next day...tells us the contractor said we needed a bigger door, and that door would have to be cut down to fit our house. This new door would cost us almost $500. And he also said there would be additional labor to make it fit, so the total cost of getting our door installed was now $900!

I am currently having a different company come out and do the installation. If the new company measures and installs the original door we ordered (32x80), you can bet HD will be hearing from our lawyers. We will be seeking our $30 measurement fee back, as well as time wasted at their store and on the phone with them. My advice, be wary of their installation services and contractors...

RENO, NEVADA -- I should have listened to a distraught woman at the Pro Desk of Home Depot when she told me about her horror story on granite installation, ordering and rugs. I didn't! Most of you won't. I ordered 2 sets of French doors. After having 3 shipments come to my home, none on time, I was forced to accept doors that did not open the way they were ordered. I was even asked to help unload a truck driven by a woman! No helpers! This process took 6 months!

I was just plain tired of dealing with incompetence, absolute and constant lying about delivery dates, manufacturing problems, installer who don't know what to do when encountering problems, manufacturers reps who can't confirm if the orders were entered correctly or on time, store managers that won't help or return calls, employees that say I would have gone some place else to order. Again my issues revolved around warped doors, doors that opened incorrectly or on wrong side, very, very poor communications and deceit.

After writing letters to the President of Home Depot I could get no satisfaction or sympathy. They know how to keep you away from the upper management. The only thing I can suggest is to write to anyone and everyone on the board of directors or internal management staff you can locate of the WWW. I don't go to Home Depot unless I have to buy something I can install or something someone else doesn't have. I did get some monetary return from them but the frustrations are unbelievable, constant, bitter and have left a taste in me that says tell your friends about them and suggest they go some place else for any installation.

ROBBINSVILLE, NEW JERSEY -- Had Home Depot Installed Services install siding and a set of sliding patio doors approximately 8 months ago. They were and still are a nightmare to deal with. The salesperson who came to the house was a super friendly guy but I see now he was all BS. We went over in detail what was going to be done (of course all in contract). Convinced us to buy the most expensive and state of the art siding, which is solid core and has the insulation bonded to the back. He kept saying how nice our house was and that HD would do a top notch job with the work.

WELL! several months later when the work began, they assigned some subcontractor out, he was horrible!! Although this is their best siding, and it does seem to be an excellent product, the installer installed every piece of it over nails from the old siding that were not removed, only bent down so therefore just about every sheet of new siding has lumps and waves. They actually NAILED into the face of the siding along the top, so you see all the nail heads in the finished product. They sided right over damaged and rotten wood although we asked they replace it and we would pay extra for it. Every patio door they installed leaks because they were not installed correctly.

HD didn't assign a supervisor to monitor the job, so the installer crew just slapped everything together. Needless to say $35,000 later and the house looks no better than before. Unfortunately now we are consulting with a consumer protection lawyer from Long Island to intercede for us. I will never use them again to even build a dog house!

ARVADA, COLORADO -- Ordered 1 bay window and 1 patio door September 20 from home consultant sent by Home Depot. I have had four scheduled installations and four times they have been canceled. Two times I was not notified. It is now the last of December and still no windows. Reasons for cancellations? 1) Oct 28 - It is a big window and we don't have 3 man crew. 2) Nov 13 - The window is heavy and we don't have installers to do it. 3) Dec 5 - The weather is bad. 4) Dec 21- The installer quit. My response: The window is the same size as the day that I ordered it and paid $6300 up front. Do not ever order home improvement installations from Home Depot!!!