Home Depot Consumer Reviews - Page 8

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA -- By all means use Home Depot for a remodel if:

1. You like ease of choice of cupboards, sinks, appliances, and various ancillary products required (they are all there in the kitchen center).

2. You want to use of Home Depot Credit card, with six months no interest (you'll want this as all monies have to be paid upfront, including all labor, even if the job takes longer than you anticipate).

3. A "one stop shop" type sales pitch.

4. You don't mind absolutely terrible communication between your "project manager" and the various contractors that Home Depot use.

5. You don't mind having to call Home Depot and the various contractors repeatedly to clarify, cajole, and beg for the work to be done to satisfaction (and your messages invariably won't be returned, you'll have to keep holding until you get the required human, i.e., your project manager - as everyone else usually gives you the brush off). (Advice: get his/her direct line, there's no point calling the general phone line.) There is little or no coordination between appliance delivery, plumbing, and countertop installation, despite that illusion.

6. You don't mind taking repeated half and full days off work to meet the various contractors who come to do the work, including workers with little or no English, who often have been given no specific instructions, and who are invariably late (two-three hours usually), and rarely call ahead despite promising to do so. This includes granite countertop providers, even if they have apparently glossy stores and sales pitches. (Note - there are often significant extra charges for granite countertops due to poor measurements and calculations upfront).

7. You don't mind repeatedly poor, careless work at first cut, that has to be repeatedly fixed to your satisfaction. Again, including the countertop people.

8. You don't mind that stuff delivered to your house often contains either the wrong size, the wrong color, or the wrong finish, that has to be reordered (see above, 5, repeated phone calls!).

9. You don't mind that the timeline provided up front by Home Depot is merely a very rough guide, and that the time you think you won't have a functional kitchen should be doubled from the estimate (remember, the sink is one of the last things to be hooked up, and that's really central to your kitchen activities).

10. You'll incur extra expense you didn't bargain for when you have to repair the walls that the cabinet installer has damaged in the "destruction" process of removing your original cabinets and sinks (e.g. not cutting the original caulk, and thus ripping the layers of paint off the walls in excess, requiring more than just repainting).

11. You don't mind listening to sarcastic comments from the other people you get in (painters, electricians, plumbers) as part of the remodel, about Home Depot's reliability and their contractors (e.g. "They wouldn't be working for Home Depot if they were any good"!). And knowing that they are so right! Despite having spent a lot of money on this project.

Bottom line: Strongly suggest using a local trustworthy, recommended by friends contractor.

HARRIS, MINNESOTA -- We purchased an LG washer and dryer. They couldn't seem to get our phone number entered correctly in the computer--but that's a WHOLE other story. Product arrived last week, Friday. The only day they deliver in my area. The driver's partner was allergic to cats, I am a cat breeder. They left, saying someone else would be back on Tues. I said "I didn't think you delivered on Tues in my area." "Oh, that's right--make that Wed." H.D. called and said only day they deliver is Friday (I knew that, but the driver was insistent they would come on Wed.) Leaving our home--they put huge ruts in our front lawn.

Now keep in mind they never even pulled in my driveway--they just pulled onto our front lawn. OK, so I get a call. They will be out first thing on Wed. (So I guess they do deliver on Wed.) They showed up and the driver came inside. He decided it was too "catty" and called the delivery company and said both the driver and his sidekick didn't want to bring the appliances in. Note: the sidekick NEVER even came in the house.

So they were at least going to put the stuff together and leave it in the garage. My husband said to cancel the order. I did. I told them to pack it up and leave. Well guess what!!?? Once again we have a driver that can't seem to navigate the truck and he drove off of the driveway and yup, you guessed it--onto the front lawn-and gets stuck, but continues to spin his tires. So I was offered $150 from the first driver's inability to drive--wonder what I get offered this time.

What a fiasco. I breed cats. The litter boxes are clean--bedding is clean (yes I was getting backed up on my laundry thanks to them!) Floors and kennels are scrubbed in bleach. I pass numerous health inspections, to keep my cattery licensed, my opinion is these are a bunch of PRIMA DONNA's too lazy to do the job.

I had opened windows even though it was only 45 degrees out. I have air cleaners in the cat room plus a whole house air filtration system. If I smoked it would smell like cigarettes, if I was a baker, it would smell like cookies, I breed cats--it smells like cats!!! I wasn't asking them to move in with us, just walk over the threshold with the appliances and set them down. This is NOT the first problem we have had with Home Depot--but it will be the last. We will buy our appliances from a local retailer who assured us they WILL DELIVER AND SET UP!!!

Home Depot--please realize until you have your own delivery company you will continue to hire lazy worthless pieces of cat dung. They don't care if the product gets delivered-they still get paid. You whine and complain because business is down and sales are slowas my 4 yr old grandson would say "THINK ABOUT IT".

ATLANTA, GEORGIA -- EDIT(3/11/08): after having this article posted for 3 days a letter showed up in our break room addressing confidentiality and reminding all of us that we signed a paper when we started working there saying we wouldn't give out any confidential information, or details as to how the store runs in an outside environment. I found that kind of funny.

I work for Home Depot, and all morning I've been reading these complaints. There's so many people that think all the associates there are bad people, or just suck at their jobs in general, or that we're out to get you??? YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND 90% of the time the reason for our bad customer service is related to lack of people on the floor. The way Home Depot works, as well as hundreds of other large corporations I'm sure, is off of graphs... That's right, your customer service depends on graphs. Depending on the sales from previous dates, months, weeks, last year, etc. a computer makes a decision as to what the customer flow will be on this week.

The district managers sends out sales plans to all the managers in his/her districts, and the managers take those daily/weekly plans and divvies the dollars up between departments to form something called a Forecast then the scheduler has a graph on his computer that is representative of how many hours we can schedule due to the amount of dollars we are supposed to make.

What this amounts to is about 15 departments (including pro desk, service desk, receiving, and cashiers) that are only being covered by anywhere from 4 to 7 people, plus an Assistant Manager or some sort of key carrier (this person isn't there to take care of customers though). There is NEVER EVER EVER 1 person per department, or nearly enough people to make sure that you will get the service you need.

The fact of the matter is, Home Depot is putting itself into a self-cyclical down spiral. They're not putting enough people on the floor to service customers, so therefore we don't make as much money as we need to. Then we schedule even less people because we're making even less money, and the cycle goes on and on. At some point the higher-ups are going to have to make that investment to fill the stores with associates so that even if there's only 1 person in the store, that person will get taken care of.

I love working at Home Depot when it is fully staffed, and I LOVE providing great customer service to people when they come into the store I work at, but I cannot help but be frustrated, and sometimes even give attitude to customers. For example, when we are ridiculously understaffed, and I'm trying to do my job, but have customers coming up to me asking me to order windows for them at 6:10 in the morning.

So I would kindly say "well I'm not experienced with ordering windows, but I'm sure someone at our Millwork desk can take care of you" (I HAVE NO CLUE HOW TO ORDER WINDOWS AS IT'S NOT MY JOB AND I DON'T EVEN WORK IN THAT DEPARTMENT) so I would walk them over to the Millwork desk but guess what, no one is scheduled in Millwork for 3 hrs, so I'm out of luck. So I would say to the customer "I apologize, there's no one here now, maybe somebody up at the Pro Desk can help you."

Then I would walk them up to the Pro Desk. But wait, we don't have anyone at our Pro Desks until 7 or 8 in the morning. So guess what? There's actually nobody in the store that has the knowledge, or EVEN the access to the computer program that allows you to sit down with somebody, ask them about their specific house and practice the trained skill of being able to sell windows to them. So then after I realize I can't help this customer I would probably say something like "Again, I apologize, this is really ridiculous that we have no one here to help you, I'm sorry about that, if you come back later our Millwork associate will be here and I'm sure he can help you."

This is where customers get ticked, AND RIGHTFULLY SO!! I know I would be ticked off if I had to deal with this type of crap, but the thing is there's nothing as associates that we can do about it, but we're the ones who then get flipped out on by the customer. And let me tell you, I've had some absolutely brutal customers, that take all their anger from home, work, and whatever else is going on in their lives and just open the flood gates on you. I'm a grown man and I've been talked down to by people to the point where I almost want to cry, or start a fight with them (and obviously never have or would because it's really unprofessional).

I can joke about it after, but it sucks at the time it happens. And the thing is, once you have to deal with someone like that so early in the morning, you get aggravated, and it ruins your day, and sometimes affects the way you act to your peers and other customers.

At Home Depot, I'm an inventory Manager. You know those several associates that walk around with the mobile cart workstations in the early hours. My job is to make the shelves full by creating lists for the departments to work and get things down stocked. I also order merchandise (TO AN EXTENT) and also do all the price tagging for my specific departments, which are "kitchens and bath" and "plumbing." This brings me to my next point.

WE AREN'T trying to rip you off by having the wrong prices on things, or by not giving you coupons, or rebates, or informing you of specials. Also we don't just NOT order things and leave the shelves empty on purpose, or because we're lazy. As far as price tags go, every day when I get on my machine it says if I have price changes to do or ads that are starting or ending so I will walk the aisles and change the prices. As I put through these changes they are updated at the registers so everything is in sync.

The thing is, there are many mornings where the ads or price changes that come up are "Overdue." When a price change is overdue that means the company or vendor of that product wanted/needed the price changed so badly that they had our people in Atlanta change the price in our system before we got to change the price on the shelf, or it CAN mean someone was lazy and didn't do the price change by the date it was supposed to be done.

An example would be, Kohler realizes their sales have been down all year and want to spend the last 3 weeks of the year making up for it.. Therefore to make up in the loss of sales they send a price change to the stores immediately to up the price on every toilet we sell by 13 cents or whatever they need to make up for that loss of sales. We try to get these price changes done before the store opens or at least in the very early morning hours but mistakes happen or sometimes there are just MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO (safety checklists, cleaning the store, doing whatever the heck the manager on duty wants you to do before I can do things I need to do).

It causes problems for the customers who technically ARE being lied to, but also problems for us because we AREN'T the ones lying. Now as far as coupons and things of that nature, half the time associates aren't even fully aware of events or specials or advertisements being promoted on the radio or television. Why? You ask, because it usually just isn't made aware by anyone... Yes I know when we're having major clearance events or if EVERY appliance is 10 percent off, but when there's small things like rebates or whatever, no one ever comes up to me and says, "oh just for your information, Honeywell Thermostat Model# YCBJ8Y has a $25 mail in rebate."

It just doesn't happen like that and as far as telling customers about these things, WE DO NOT PRACTICE HIDING ANY TYPE OF DISCOUNTS OR COUPONS ON PRODUCTS because that just wouldn't make sense. If there is something big going on having to do with a discount, it is gone over at the morning meeting and we are highly encouraged to help our customers save money as a tool to heighten sales. Never are we told to try to hide rebates or coupons.

Now as far as Out of stocks in the stores people are always complaining we're out of stock on this, out of stock on that. In most cases there's nothing we can do to get a product in any quicker than it's scheduled and many times don't even order the products ourselves. There's 2 types of ordering essentially. 1 is "regular," where any time I can pull up a vendor order for any product sold by that vendor in my department, and order what I want but the majority of things ordered, especially high dollars things, are controlled by the buying office and are under an order type known as CAR -Circulatory Auto Replenish.

I have no control. My store manager doesn't have much control. (He can speak with a District manager if he has issues with certain products being out of stock for long periods but besides that, it's a waiting game.) Some people come in EVERY day asking if the product they want came in, even though we said it wouldn't be here for 10 days.

People think that because we're such a big company, we order things and they are there the next day and it's so far from the truth. The thing is sometimes I go out of stock on something and the company that makes it doesn't manufacture it fast enough to replenish all our stores... So as the product is made the buying office and buying captains team up and distribute this stuff to where they think it will sell the best, resulting in not having some products for 15-60 days, and I've seen longer.

There's many other things I'd love to explain, but I can't think of them all at once. I guess my point is please don't think all of the people who work at these stores are lazy or always in a bad mood. We're actually thrown into really crappy situations a lot of times with already angry customers and don't have the tools we need to solve the problems. I understand some people spend tens of thousands of dollars at Home Depot and in return they get a ridiculously low grade job or product in return and that is just plain wrong and I have nothing to defend it.

Also, so many people come to these sites to complain about things with our company, which is understandable because it is a third party company, but there is a service provided by Home Depot to leave your opinions and suggestions about. It's homedepotopinions.com...

Every single week we get pages and pages of the comments customers have from excellent to absolutely poor terrible service. These are placed right on our break room tables for everyone to read. People are written up if there are bad things said about them and the store manager does his best to change what he can. The manager will even call people and try to resolve issues if he has the power to.

HARLINGEN, TEXAS -- On November 27, I ordered formica from the Home Depot store in Harlingen, Tx. I paid for the order and was told it would take 5 - 10 working days. On December 6th, I decided to call and see if special order was in. I was told that the order had not even been placed. This was because Home Depot told me that the product was available in 4 x 10 sheets when in fact it was not. The order was put on hold until I told them it was okay to order a 5 x 12 sheet.

Why did it take 10 days for Home Depot to call me to ask me this question?? WAIT A MINUTE - Home Depot didn't call me, I called them. I ask to speak to a manager to ask why Home Depot had not contacted me. I was transferred and told the manager was not available. I was told that 10 days was not up yet, I have no reason to be upset, and promised that the formica would be there on December 11. December 10th, I call Home Depot to check status.

I am told that formica is not there and they don't know when it will be there. I am told that someone will call on December 11. December 11, nobody calls by late afternoon so I call. I am told formica is not there and nobody knows when it will be there. Home Depot will call me on December 12. December 12, nobody calls from Home Depot. I call Home Depot. I am told that formica was ordered but nobody knows where it is. This time I decide to call one of your customer care specialists on the 800 number.

I tell her the story and she tells me she will call store and find out where my formica is and when it will be there. Guess what?? She is told that formica is not there and nobody seems to know where it is. She tells me that someone will call formica dealer first thing in the morning and then call me first thing in the morning with an update. December 13, nobody from Home Depot calls me first thing in the morning so I call them at 11:00 am. I am told that they called and are waiting for formica manufacturer to call them back. I ask if I can call formica manufacturer and get an update. Home Depot says sure and gives me phone number and P.O.

The phone number is wrong. However, Home Depot calls me (FIRST TIME Home Depot ever makes initial call) and tells me that formica is on UPS truck and will be at store on December 14. I ask for tracking number. He gives it to me. I contact UPS and tracking number does not exist. It is now December 14th and no formica. Today I emailed Home Depot corporate customer specialists and they replied that their "Escalation Team" was working on it and someone would get back to me soon. I am still waiting.

ALHAMBRA, CALIFORNIA -- I was in Home Depot Alhambra Sunday night to have a countertop installed. So I paid the downpayment for a 1200 contract. On our way out, we saw a heater; we put it in a cart, paid it through the self-serve cashier. My card has been demagnetized so I brought to the cashier so he can ring it up. He did, I signed the approval section on the machine sign pad. I asked for the receipt, the cashier said there was no ink on his printer but we were told we're OK since we signed the machine pad.

We took it to our car which is a Mustang, and the heater didn'€™t fit into any of the seats. So I told my cousin to drive home and get the Honda instead while I wait for him outside the Home Depot Store. It a bit chilly and I suddenly have to go the restroom. I went into the returns department and asked the blonde older woman there if I could leave my item there so I could go the restroom. She asked me where my receipt is, I told her, "€œOh, the cashier printer printed out empty but I used a Home Depot Card and I signed for it."€ She said, "OK." So I went to the bathroom.

When I came back, there were around four people waiting for me, one of them a Store Manager - A Chinese woman named Stella. She has her arms on her waist and everyone was looking down at me as if I'€™m a common thief. I was several questions, why don'€™t I have a receipt which I answered again and again. Who helped me when I purchased it, etc.? I showed Stella my contract on the countertop, I said, "here my card number is probably written on there, you can check the purchase on my card. I left my card in the Mustang.

She raised her voice to me and said something like, "we need your receipt. What is this, who helped you?" So I screamed back said€œ "I don'€™t know, why don't you take a look at the contract first so you would find out yourselves and stop looking at me as if I stole this stupid 100 dollar heater." She became indignant and shouted "€œDon'€™t scream at me." Unbelievable. I was being humiliated and screamed at like a common thief and I can'€™t even respond evenly?

Then they asked me for my social security number. "Why do you want my social security number" I said, "you can do a search on my name and number on the contract cannot you?"€ I said, "I don'€™t understand why you are asking for a receipt, the lady there knows I was already outside waiting for our car and I just asked her to watch it for me. IT IS ALREADY MY PROPERTY." So I have to give my social security number. My cousin came and I explained to him that the stupid 100 dollar heater is being hijacked because everyone thought I stole it. Finally, they came back with their "€œinvestigation"€ and we were told we can go.

THERE WAS NO APOLOGY and one of them even escorted us out the door. I have never been so mad in my life.
When I got home, I called the store so I can speak to the store manager, Stella's manager. The customer service Rep instead gave my call to Stella who I learned is the Asst Store Manager. UNBELIEVABLE. You gave a store management position to an imbecile who does not anything about customer service??? When she answered the phone, I wasn'€™t expecting her but was expecting another manager. She began screaming at me. So I screamed back and she hanged up the phone.

At this point I am really boiling mad and so I called the countertop installation department and cancelled my order. If you were in my shoes, the store didn'€™t give you a receipt, you were treated like a common thief, there was no apology and instead even screamed at, what would be your reaction?

ORLANDO, FLORIDA -- We are very concerned about the recent unscrupulous business practices that we have experienced at Home Depot. On April 15, 2007, we purchased a black LG 6810 dishwasher from the Home Depot store # 6367 in Orlando. Because the dishwasher was for a new home construction, we asked the salesperson to set the delivery date for July 13. We called the store in mid-June, to request that the delivery date be moved up, as we were now ready for the dishwasher.

We were first told that the dishwasher would be delivered on June 23. Then we got a call saying that it would be delivered on June 30. June 30 came and went, and no dishwasher was forthcoming. We called Home Depot again, and we were then told that it would be delivered on July 15. When we called to check on this, we were told that it was possible the dishwasher would be delivered in September, but that Home Depot really had no idea.

At this point, our house was completed and our final inspection was being delayed because of the non-arrival of our paid-for-in-April dishwasher. We finally went to another appliance store, and were told what Home Depot MUST have known: LG was no longer making this model of dishwasher. When we called the Home Depot store again, armed with this information, they admitted that this was indeed the case. Home Depot had taken our money back in April, and was trying to put us off until September (and probably then later and later and later) but had NO intention of delivering to us the dishwasher that we'd paid for.

This is the stuff scams are made of: one company taking a customer's money with no intention of ever delivering the product to the customer. That money could have been accruing interest for the past 3 months. Instead, Home Depot "borrowed" $685 from us, interest-free. Our sales associate at the Orlando branch told us what had actually happened. Home Depot had sold OUR paid-in-full dishwasher to someone else, and was just trying to see how long they could put us off, without actually delivering an appliance to us.

Of note is that this product is still advertised as being for sale in stores and online, and it is not listed as being back ordered on the online store. Presumably other customers are lending their money, interest-free, to Home Depot.

When we finally wised up and realized the truth that no dishwasher would be delivered to us, we called the Home Depot and asked whether they would be willing to do an exchange for the new model of LG dishwasher in black that had replaced our model, the 6810. We were told that for this model, also, there were no black dishwashers, so we requested a full refund.

We are concerned, though, about these unscrupulous business practices. We feel that Home Depot accepted our money under false pretenses. We regret the 3 months that Home Depot kept our money, money that could have been earning interest in our own account. And we are very concerned that Home Depot is pulling the same scam on other customers that they pulled on us.

WOODBRIDGE, NEW JERSEY -- I am very disappointed in the non-service I received today in the Woodbridge store. My wife and I wanted to purchase a $400.00 door but could not find the one we wanted in a left-hand model. After 2 calls to the customer service desk up front and speaking with the manager on duty, and waiting over 30 minutes (yes I did keep track of the time) we could not locate someone to order our door. We are long-time good local customers of your store. I bought a similar door today at Lowe's in Woodbridge. I will make small purchases at Home Depot only because it is closer. All major purchases will be made elsewhere.

"Thank you for contacting The Home Depot Customer Care. We appreciate receiving feedback from our customers and want to thank you for taking the time to forward your concerns regarding associate availability at the Woodbridge Home Depot store. We strive to hire and retain adequate, knowledgeable associates who can exceed our customer's expectations. We are always looking for ways to better serve our Customers and we apologize we did not meet your expectations.

Please know that the feedback you provided is shared with Home Depot management at every level and is taken very seriously. We want to thank you for taking your time to reach out to us with this feedback. By doing this, you are giving us an opportunity to improve. We would like to offer you a $10 Home Depot Gift Card in the hope that your next shopping experience will be a more pleasurable one. In addition, it's a way for us to say thanks for taking the time to provide us with this feedback.

Please provide us with your physical address that UPS can deliver to, so that we can get this Gift Card out to you as soon as possible. If you would like to speak with a Customer Care professional, please call us at 1-800-HOMEDEPOT (1-800-466-3337) and select option 3. We would be happy to assist you."

V: I appreciate the offer of a gift certificate, but that misses my point to you completely. I would like to know why there was only one person capable of ordering a door on a busy Sunday afternoon. According the manager I spoke with, there was no one else in the store that could handle that task. I find it hard to believe that in a store of that size, with such a large staff, that only one person could complete that task.

That tells me that you either have a very lazy or incompetent manager. What if only one person could correct and over-ring, if only person knew how to call 911 in an emergency, if only one person knew how to do payroll? Just to remind you, I was not impatient, I had an associate from another department ask to have someone paged. I waited and no one appeared. While waiting at the counter for the mystery person, I called the store on my cell phone and spoke with a person that identified themselves as a manager and assured me that the mystery person was on the way. An associate did show up and informed that the mystery person had been paged.

On the way out of the store I stopped at the courtesy counter to see a manager. He was polite, but I still could not get my door ordered. This process did take over 30 minutes. Shame on Home Depot Stores. Instead of offering a $10.00 certificate, how about assuring me that the manager has been properly instructed on how to handle customer needs and a mystery person who has time to sit at home and contemplate on what to do the next time he/she paged?

WEST LONG BRANCH, NEW JERSEY -- Concern. Isn't that a leap of faith, to assume that someone may actually be concerned, because that would imply that someone actually cared. But what the heck, stranger things have happened. I'd like to buy a BBQ Grill, you sell them, one would think this should be simple. But obviously it hasn't been or I wouldn't be writing this letter. Here is my story. Earlier in April I bought a Grill from K-mart. When I went to assemble it I realized I wanted no part in putting together all of those parts, so I returned it and went shopping again.

My wife and I went to the Home Depot in Lakewood, NJ on Monday 23 April 07. We found 2 grills we were very interested in. These grills had been on display outside the store so we went in to find someone who could help us. I had also been approved over the phone for a Home Depot Credit Card, so we went to the Customer Service Desk to have the card "€œturned on" and get help for the grills. The person at the desk sent us to the cashier overseeing the self-checkout area, telling us she would have the key to unlock the grills. The cashier's response was to mockingly ask us why we would ask her.

Now I have to admit that asking a cashier for a key to grills instead of someone in seasonal seemed a bit strange but that is what we were told to do. Once we told her the Service Desk sent us to her she lost the mocking tone and did try to help us. She paged a person from seasonal 4 different times asking them to call her on her line. Each time she did this the Service desk echoed her request so really the announcement went out 8 times. After waiting about 15 minutes we gave up and left. We told the cashier she could tell the person from seasonal that "€œthey had won. They didn't have to help anyone today".

From there we went across the street to Lowe's. They had one person in seasonal that could tell us about grills and there were at least 3 people in line in front of us, we went home. On Tuesday 24 April 07, I decided to give you, Home Depot, another chance. I took my lunch hour and shot over to the Home Depot in West Long Branch, NJ. I looked at the grills outside. Found 2 I was interested in. I went inside to the Service Desk and ask them to find me someone who could help me. In less than 5 minutes a young man named Chris showed up. He was excellent. He knew what he was talking about, and he was HAPPY to help me.

In less than 15 minutes I decided on a Blue Ember, 3 Burner model with Rotisserie set (SKU 312-354) for $449.00. I bought the delivery service for $65.00, with Tax my total bill was $545.43. Now I realize $500.00+ sale is no big deal to you, but a $500.00+ purchase IS a big deal to me. Chris sent me to the Contractor Desk (aka Pro Desk), why I would be sent to the Pro Desk to activate my HD Credit Card, set up delivery and pay for the BBQ grill instead of seasonal. I didn't understand. But I am a cooperative person so I went.

I was in a good mood. I was a bit confused by the Pro Desk angle but OK with it. I had been helped by a guy who knew what he was talking about and was HAPPY to help me. I was going to be able to activate the CC, pay for the grill, and set up delivery all in one stop. Again Good Customer Service. The West Long Branch Store was kicking the Lakewood Store's butt when it came to Customer Service. The language barrier at the Pro Desk was a bit trying but we got by. I left the store and went back to work. All seemed right with my world. I was a little concerned that I had signed for the grill to be dropped off even if I wasn't home.

I signed because the guy at the Pro Desk assured me they would bring the grill into my backyard. But when I read what I signed, I saw that I had agreed to have them leave it at the end of my driveway. I pointed out to him, that what I had signed and what he said were two different things. Again he assured me they would put it in my backyard. Because of his difficulty with English I wasn't sure he understood my concern and I had even less confidence he could read what I had just signed. My concern was that if the grill was dropped at the bottom of my driveway at 8 am by the time I got home at 5:30 pm it would be in someone else's backyard.

So I took the day off from work and waited for the delivery. It would have been nice to have been able to work half a day at least. But that would mean someone would have had to tell me if I had a morning or afternoon drop off, but all anyone would say was "anytime between 8 am and 5 pm". So home I stayed. Sometime after 2:00 pm on Wednesday 25 April 07, I called the store. I worked my way through the phone menu and selected "Deliveries". I sat on hold for more than 12 minutes waiting for someone to answer the phone. I gave up and called back.

This time I hit "œ0" and got the Service Desk. They put me on hold and within a few minutes someone picked up. He told me that he was waiting for the Delivery Truck. I have to tell you this was a revelation for me. I had no idea Home Depot contracted out this service. It was obvious that he was quite bothered to be talking to me but I did manage to learn that the truck should be at Home Depot any minute. The Truck was expected at 2:30 and it was now about 2:35 and when the truck left to make its delivery run my grill was going to be on it, no problem. I should see them before 5:00. Between 4:30 and 5:15 I placed 3 calls.

1st Call on hold 13 minutes NO ONE picks up. 2nd call I'm on 6+ minutes and NO ONE picks up. 3rd Call someone picks up in few minutes. I am irritated and aggravated by now but I am still calm. I once worked in a call center doing Customer Service. I know my only hope at a positive solution is to get the employee to give a damn about me and try and get their help. I know I have to kiss their butt, I understand this. I understand that being nice to them gives me a much better shot than screaming at them. I explain to the person who I am, why I am calling and that I want to know if the delivery has even left the store.

He put me on hold telling he needed to check on something and he'd be right back. 15 minutes later I hung up and called back. Now I'm angry but still hold my cool. I have lost a day's pay, spent something like an hour total on hold with this store, I don't have a grill and I still don't know what is going on. I call the store back and get a person named Mike. Mike answered the phone he barely got out of his mouth that Home Depot installs windows and doors when I started talking.

I started off with "DO NOT Transfer me and DO NOT put me on hold. My name is Steve ** and I should have had a grill delivered today. I have called the store 3 times in the last 45 minutes only to spend most of that time on hold and I still don't have any answers. Put the manager on the ** phone."€

Mike hung up on me. After an entire afternoon of being ignored or lied too, I finally snapped and used one of George Carlin's 7 Dirty words you can't say on TV. I would like to point out I did not call Mike any names nor did I call the manager any names. I used the foul language in reference to the phone.

Apparently your company has a policy to hang up on customers, who become irate and use foul language. Might I suggest here that you create a company policy encouraging the employees to treat the customer with some respect so we don't become irate in the first place (just a thought). So I started pulling myself together to drive the half hour to the store with the expectation I was going to get arrested. Since a grown man had never heard the ** word before and was so deeply offended by it that he had to hang up on me to protect his sensitive ears, I felt it was my duty as a man to go and enlighten him.

My intent was to go and stand on his desk while I gave him a full demonstration of what in means to "€œCurse like a Sailor". I had been driven so far around the bend that the idea of being arrested and charged with assault seemed like a good plan. Fortunately for me and whoever would have been behind the desk at the store, my wife spun me down and I stayed home. She called back and got Mike again, actually this is when we learned his name was Mike. He almost hung up on her just because she was my wife, thank God he didn't. He explained that he had just come back from lunch and I was his first call.

It wasn't his fault. He hadn't spoken to me before, and I had no right to be mad at him. What the idiot didn't seem to understand, I wasn't mad at him. I was mad at Home Depo. And when he answered the phone, he became Home Depot. Mike sent her to a "€œManager" named John. She barely got the words "€œwaiting all day for a delivery"€ when he put her on hold. Now do you understand why the first words out of my mouth to Mike were "€œDo Not put me on hold"€. It seems to be a favorite past time there. In a few minutes another "Manager" named Steve picked up. It turns out the truck was still not there. He should be there any minute.

Steve told my wife that they have been having a lot of problems with this company. My response was a very angry "€œnot my ** problem. Put the damn grill on one of the Home Depot trucks and have someone drive it to me". He told my wife that if we had paid for delivery he would waive the charge but since "€œfree delivery" was included there wasn't anything he could do. Apparently there was/is a promo going on that if I had spent enough money I would get free delivery. And apparently I had spent enough money, which is why Steve thought I got free delivery. So which company policy is that?

"Caveat emptor" any buyer that does not know to ask for promo doesn't get it? Oddly enough I'm not all that upset by this. I understand that your purpose is to separate me from as much of my money as possible every chance you get. It seems a bit "€œUsed Car Salesman" but we customers shouldn't have any higher expectations than that. Steve tells my wife that if the delivery company doesn't get there in 20 minutes he'll load it up on a Home Depot Truck and send someone to us (Yeah Right) and he was refunding the delivery charge. We called back in about 30 minutes. The mystery truck had arrived. Our grill was on it and it was on its way to us.

The driver had 4 deliveries to make but we would be first. We called back about an hour later letting him know we still hadn't seen the truck. Steve asked that we call when the truck got there. He was going to "€œdo something" for us (yeah right). We called Steve back every 45 minutes or so to make sure he knew we still didn't have the grill. At one point he asked what more we wanted him to do. My wife explained that we wanted him to call the driver and find out where he was. Steve said he couldn't do that. The driver didn't have a cell phone. Sure. The illegal alien delivering my grill is the only one in the country that doesn't have a cell phone.

If I had not been so absolutely torqued I would have asked him how the driver was going to call me from the road 30 minutes before he arrived if he didn't have a cell phone. At about 9:30 pm my wife called the store for a last time. She told Steve to cancel the order and refund our money. He said he would. I asked him (through my wife) what I should do when the grill showed up. He said I should refuse delivery. I explained that I was not going to be home the next day to "€œrefuse" delivery. He told my wife the driver was going to be there some time that night.

My response was to laugh and tell him I would not be responsible for that Grill when it showed up the next day and sat at the end of my driveway. So the next morning, Thursday 26 April 07 at about 8:00 am, I get a phone call from Carlos. He is on his cell phone (imagine that). He wants to know if he can drop off the grill at about 8:30. I kid you not, here is his phone number **. I told him I canceled my order when he never showed up. His response: "But why, didn'€™t Home Depot call you and re-schedule? My truck broke down yesterday. I had to rent a new one." I said, "no they didn't. I was told you where going to deliver the grill last night, no matter how late."€

Carlos: "€œBut I didn't pick them until 5:30. It was too late to do the delivery." I told Carlos I had canceled the order and been refunded my money and he should take the grill back to the store. You realize if my job started at 8:00 am instead of 9:00 am, my wife would have found a grill in our driveway when she got home. Assuming of course, that no one else had stolen the grill. At lunchtime my wife went to the West Long Branch store to get the receipt for the refund. She spoke to the "€œStore Manager" or at least some young guy that said he was.

She explained what had happened, and that we would be cutting up out Home Depot Credit Card when it came. The "€œStore Manager's"€ response was "€œOK"€. So my wife left. Do not tell me the delivery company failed you so it is not Home Depot's fault. I did not contract with "€œOne Truck Carlos" delivery service. I contracted with a Multi-Million Dollar, International Corporation, the largest Home Center retailer in the Country. You contracted with a rinky-dink one truck delivery company who are so new to the country they are still wiping the Rio Grand off their ass. What could you have done different?

Here is a short list. Do your own deliveries. Contract with a delivery company that has more the one truck. If Carlos' one truck breaks down, loan or rent him one of yours. Tell the customer the truth. If someone had called me in the morning to tell me the delivery had to be canceled, I would have been mad, but at least I could have gone to work for half a day. With a little stroking and some give backs I could have been saved as a customer. Pick up the phone when I call. This was the part the really TICKED ME OFF. Sitting on hold listening to your ads tell me how wonderful your customer service is for 10 and 15 minutes at a time really wears on one's nerves.

Train your people that when they get an irate caller maybe they should try and figure out why they are irate instead of hanging up on the call at the first excuse and inflaming the situation even more. Mike hanging up on me was the last insult and indignation I was prepared to take. Acting as if I had no reason to be irate after losing a day's pay and spending the afternoon being lied to or ignored. I couldn't have been more offended or insulted if I had been slapped or spit on. Your customers are not simply Credit Card Cash Cows being lead to slaughter. We are people that have an expectation of being treated with at least a minimal level of respect and dignity.

BEE CAVES, TEXAS -- A one to two day Home Depot tile installation job consumed three weeks of our lives and caused a litany of financial and personal problems. Virtually everything that they could do wrong they did. Therefore, virtually every act of incompetence and poor customer service one can imagine they ultimately delivered with perfection. I lost business and thousands of dollars in income (far in excess of what the tile and install would cost) and had to settle for a tile color we did not want- in order to get our house put back together and get back to work. Basically, they installed some of the correct color, some of a different color.

Ultimately, they had to rip it all up as they did not have enough of the correct tile to complete the job. Unless I could shop for tile all over again and find a new contractor I was held hostage to selecting a different "in stock" Home Depot tile than originally selected. We selected a tile that we could live with although we do not partically like it and most certainly would have never selected or paid to install it. This was such a nightmare of a customer service experience that I took the time to write a very detailed letter to the senior officials of Home Depot.

I thought they would call to seek information/clarification in the interest of continuous improvement and to offer their sincere apologies, etc. For, it was a very detailed letter that included a chronology with names, dates and specifics of the aburdity that had transpired. A corp. representative did finally call with wrong information, and once I told her it was not about our carpet install in another state, she proceeded to treat me rudely.

One telling statement was when she said, "I do not understand why are you trying so hard to explain this situation" further, that they do understand none of it was our fault, all theirs, but that they were not going to do anything for us... other than to say they are sorry. She went on to explain that they had obsorbed the costs associated with all their mistakes and that we received a tile that cost a bit more than the one we had originally picked out. Of course, she did not know that price difference and it may have been a few cents more at best. It was an "in stock" plain beige tile.

She made it sound as if it does not matter what we endured as we got a tile that she was claiming cost a bit more. Net-net, she said the store was not going to do anything for us nor the Home Depot corporation. Nothing would be done to make the situation right... for, they had incurred expenses when they had to rip everything up and re-do the job and put in a tile we did not want. Somehow we do not feel grateful, I guess that is the kind of unappreciative consumers we are. She did say she was the asst to the CEO and would send me something in writing reiterating their position.

I took the time to bring this matter to their attention because I had never seen a more extreme case of total incompetence and customer disregard and thought they would want to know to ensure it does not happen again. There was no such interest in learning or in correcting the harm caused. I do however, take some solace in the clarity of now knowing the practices, incompetence and attitudes at the store level go all the way to the top. Despite spending approximately $50,000 with Home Depot in the last couple of years; we will ensure that Lowe's and other such companies get our business going forward and ensure we sell our HD stock.

Sadly, they care less about losing us as a customer. We do not know if they care about any of their other customers but thought it important to speak up about how they have processed our customer complaint. It appears even bad press does not seem to alter their business approach. Trying to resolve problems directly and outside of the courts as well as the Consumer Protection Agency did not work for us. Good luck to the rest of you that choose to cross paths with this retailer.

I moved over the summer and purchased furniture (dresser, tv stand and nightstand) from homedepot.com (I live in Manhattan). The furniture appeared to be beautiful when I received it and was very nice. Within 2 months, random screws started falling out and the drawers kept falling off the tracks.

I called Home Depot and said I wanted to return the furniture since the quality was so poor. Surprisingly customer service was very helpful and said it wouldn't be a problem to return the goods. The only thing that was inconvenient was that I would have to take the furniture apart and box it up for return. Within several days, I received bill of lading information and return paperwork.

The furniture was picked up on Oct. 21, 2006. I called to ensure that Home Depot indeed received the goods from the trucking company several days later and all was confirmed. Furthermore I was told I would receive my refund by check within 2 weeks as they could not credit my credit card due to the large amount of the purchase and this was their policy.

After not receiving the check, I called online customer service again to ask what the status was for my check of $850. I was told that the information I was given several weeks earlier was incorrect and refunds take approximately 6 weeks and I should expect the check then. I was upset but waited patiently for the refund. When 6 weeks had passed and I had not received the check, I called again and was told the check was "in process."

After 3 more customer service calls telling me the check was in process, the manager explained that the refunds department had moved to customer service and they were working vigorously to enter refund claims for over 700 customers that were in my similar situation. And he has been on the phone with customers just as upset as I was all day trying to resolve issues.

Finally I was told that all claims should put into the computer by week's end (around Dec. 15th at the latest). I called the following week to find out the status and was told the check was processed and I would receive it within a few days.

After not receiving the check I called again the first week of January and was told that the check was mailed around the holidays and I should allow extra time due to this and the President Ford holiday, but really I should receive the check no later than Jan. 11.

I still have not received the check, I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and called the customer service line again. Upon further review the check was never mailed and I was told they don't know why. I was placed on hold for a manager who never came to the phone.

I called customer complaints hotline and was told that they couldn't do anything for me and the woman was extremely rude and said she would transfer me back to customer care and acted like I hadn't already tried speaking with them.

Finally I spoke to the manager who said, he didn't have an explanation, but his days were filled talking to people like me and he RECOMMENDS that I take legal action and filed complaints because that's the only he thinks I will get my issue resolved. He was calling corporate again to ask about my case. But he and all the other people I spoke with basically told me that no refunds were being given to anyone even though merchandise was accepted as returned. He said he would call corporate himself and call me back.

He never called me back and after several phone calls, was told it was going to take another 2 weeks to "process" the check. No one will give me any names of people to talk to above and beyond the manager and I kept getting random voice mails of people that never call me back. I still have not received a refund even though the furniture was returned.