Home Depot
Reviews and Complaints

I went to store 0206 and was mistreated AGAIN. I have left the store frustrated with your lack of service many times before. Your store is very close to my home and for 25 or more years, I have shopped there for big items (A. C. units, ceiling fans, bathroom and kitchen appliances, fencing roofing materials, paint, floor and bathroom tiles etc.) and small items (like a drill, a saw, screw drivers, nails etc). I am attaching a receipt for the last big item, a gasoline-powered generator.

Your lack of interest in serving customers TURNS THEM AWAY AND THE RESULT IS THAT YOU LOOSE MONEY. Yesterday, I arrived at the store around 8:10AM and went to check out the double doors. I then went to the area that has several types of generators. I asked one of your employees for information and was told to go to “Hardware” and find help there. That person recommended that I ask someone at the desk by the area next to the generators to call for help. I then waited by the generators for almost 9 minutes and walked over to ask the lady to call again. She did, and as I was getting tired of waiting (for about 10 minutes this time) I asked someone else and, he told me that I should go to another desk, by the store’s entrance.

There was no one sitting at the desk, but there was a young woman inflating balloons and I asked her to call someone. I looked at my watch and it was almost 10 min to 9. I waited a few minutes and I asked her to call again. Finally, a young man, (whom I had seen pass by before) sat at the desk and he said something like “what do you need” in a tone that I did not like. I told him that I had waited so long that it would have been nice if he had looked at me and said something like “I will be with you as soon and I can” when he passed by before. His answer was “What do you need” as if he was annoyed. I decided to ignore the negative attitude and told him what I wanted. He then said that the person in charge of that item was at a meeting and gave me a telephone number. I left the store at 9:05AM without the information.

This morning I called the number and was REFERRED TO THE STORE. I called back, and asked to talk about a complaint and was given ANOTHER number. Although the person I spoke to seemed to care about my frustration, and offered me a coupon, I decided to write you and tell you that you can keep it as I am going to do my best not to visit your store anymore and tell my friends why. Between Tru Value, Everglades Lumber and a Door Store I can do my shopping. THE SERVICE AT HOME DEPOT HAS GOTTEN SO BAD THAT THE COMMENTS I HEAR ARE ALL NEGATIVE. YOU ARE SHOWING YOUR LACK OF APPRECIATION FOR CUSTOMERS THAT (IN MY CASE) SPEND THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS AT YOUR STORE. YOU DO NOT DESERVE MY HARD EARNED MONEY. Livia Garcia, Miami, Florida

Dispute with Home Depot regarding payment for Defective Merchandise. Sub: Request for Cancellation of PO. I do believe that only a few bad apples among many Home Depot employees are the causes of many poor service complaints.

The Asst. Store Manager at a store created a problem for me. But the “Customer Care Center of Atlanta” could not prevail on him. That was their JOB.

Chronology of events:

I placed an order for an out –of –stock (they call it a special order) toilet system at Home Depot in Paramus on 3/22/2007. I picked up those items from Home Depot at Paramus on 4/02/2007.

As my bathroom remodeled was to come for work the week of 4/23/2007, I partially opened the toilet bowl box on 22nd April ( Sunday) and found a broken chip. On 23rd April I took that box to the store to get a replacement. They opened the whole box there and saw a bigger broken piece. The bowl is unusable. The Asst Store Manager Mr. Gautam Wadha first said that any return for special orders had to be within 48 hours. I was not aware of any such rules. [Maybe, he made it up.] Finally, he said that he could re-order the item but I could not pick it up at the store. I have to have it delivered to my house and any further breakage I will have to deal with the shipper. He said I had to pay $ 50 for the delivery. I protested , then agreed. The clerk while processing the order said the delivery charge would be $ 65 per the computer program. I balked to pay for delivery for an item which costs $ 143 and which I could pick up. But Mr. Wadha was insistent on that $ 65. I wanted to talk with the store manager, also wanted to know the name of the district/regional manager. He said he was the BOSS. Finally, he gave me the Atlanta’s Customer Care Center number .

I called Atlanta at [protected] the same day at 2.15 pm . Got John (X 78340). He said that he would take care of it and asked me to call him back at 5 pm. I did call that extension twice and left a message. After several calls to that extension on 24th morning and leaving messages, I called the customer care number and started the process again. This time I got Jacquice (X 78318). She said Carl was working on it and the case no was 4409725. Nothing was resolved. She would get back to me definitely. She did call me back in the afternoon. She did talk with the store manager Mr. Steve Whitman. Store’s position did not change. Atlanta office could not do anything. She said that I have to deal with the store manager directly.

I took all three packages back to the store but was unable to meet the real store manager Mr. Whitman. The same Mr. Wadha met me. I told him as I could not use the system, so I wanted to return the set. This time he said I have to pay re-stocking charges for the other two items and he would not take the broken item back nor would he give me any credit.

That exhausted my patience. I told him that

[ 1 ] I am not going to pay for a defective merchandise.
[ 2 ] I am going to stop payment with my credit card
[ 3 ] I am going to buy a similar product from a different store.
[ 4 ] I am not going to come back to this store.
[ 5 ] He should arrange to pick up the items from my house. I am not going to that store anymore.

P.S. I have put a stop on my credit card. I have already purchased a toilet bowl system from another store and installed it.

I purchased a silver birch just under a year ago. I left the tag on the tree so as that it could be identified just in case it didnt grow. Unfortunately it didnt survive. I tried to get a replacement this week May 2007 but was refused because I didnt have the receipt. I would like to point out on the huge signs in the stores it states" All live plants guaranteed for up to one year."Not a mention nor an inkling about keeping the receipt. Not only have they lost a 10,000 dollar a year customer but I will tell this story to everyone I meet.This IS Misrepresentation and False Advertising!

This is a copy of the letter I sent to Home Depot:

To whom it may Concern,

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 “turned on” and get help for the Grills. The person at the Desk sent us to the cashier over seeing the self-checkout area, telling us she would have the key to un-lock 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 “they had won; they didn’t have to help anyone today”.

From there we went across the street to Lowes, 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 then 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 kick’n 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 back yard. 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 8am by the time I got home at 5:30pm 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 “any time between 8am and 5pm”. 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 then 12 minutes waiting for some one to answer the phone. I gave up and called back. This time I hit “0” and got the Service Desk, they put me on hold and with in 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 then 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 Mansfield 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 F##King 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 “F” 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 “Curse 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 Depot and when he answered the phone, he became Home Depot. Mike sent her to a “Manager” named John, she barely got the words “waiting 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 “Do 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 “not my F###ing 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 wave the charge but since “free 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 “Used Car Salesman” but we customers shouldn’t have any higher expectations then 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 “do 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 “refuse” 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 201-481-XXXX. 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: “But I didn’t pick them up 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 “Store 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 “Store Manager’s” response was “OK”. 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 “One 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 ###.
What could you have done different? Here is a short list.

1. Do your own deliveries
2. Contract with a delivery company that has more the one truck
3. If Carlos’ one truck breaks down, loan or rent him one of yours
4. 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.
5. Pick up the phone when I call. This was the part the really TICKED ME OFF. Sitting on hold listing to your ads tell me how wonderful you customer service is for 10 and 15 minutes at a time really wears on ones nerves.
6. Train your people that when they get an irate caller maybe the 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.

Respectfully
Steve Mansfield

Home Depot in Prescott, Arizona sent us a defective LG brand washer and dryer. The set was returned to the store approximately one month later when it was determined that there was no knowledgeable repair person in the Prescott area. This purchase was made on a 12 month deferred interest plan and approximately 10 months later, we were billed for the washer/dryer interest as if the merchandise were still in our possession, but not paid in full. Numerous attempts to have the erroneous finance charges removed did not work - one customer service representative after another seemed not to comprehend or care. Finally I asked to have my account closed and was told that to close the account, I would have to pay the erroneous amount. After paying the amount, I was then $52.45 overpaid on this account. In January, I found a representative who agreed that the account was overpaid and that I would be issued a check for the over payment. Today, I inquired a to why I still had no refund and was told that the customer service representative had checked with her supervisor and was told that Home Depot will not refund interest charges that are charged regardless of whether the charges are in error. I have asked for this policy in writing as I would like to have an attorney check the legality of such a policy. What do you think about what is clearly deceptive practice? By the way, after all this, they still have not closed the account as I requested.

I placed an online order and was charged $50.81 for a 7 lb. box shipping via UPS ground. According to ups.com, the shipping charges should have around $8.00. When I tried to call homedepot.com's customer service 800 number, I went through their voicemail "tree" twice and both times the line was disconnected when I reached the "Please hold for customer service" message. This is not the first time I've had problems with homedepot.com but I can guarantee with absolute certainty that it will be the last. I am the purchasing agent for a company with 12 million dollars in annual sales and this company will NEVER give Home Depot another penny. I have asked all of our installers that buy from Home Depot to start going to Lowe's instead. If I can't get customer service from their online store, it reflects badly on their entire corporate structure and we will not be contributing any revenue to Home Depot in the future. I will also be certain to tell all of our customers and vendors of my bad experiences.

I paid $35.00 for Home Depot to come out and measure my porch door to install a fiberglass door. After taking my money and measuring the opening I am told that they do not have a fiberglass door that fits but they can put up a $1700.00 wood door. I told them I do not want a wood door and was not able to afford a $1700 door. Also the wood door is not even finished. I have to paint or varnish it. I requested my $35.00 returned because they could not perform the service. I was told it is non-refundable. That is such a bad customer service tactic and I feel a real scam. Take your money and not be able to furnish the product. I will never go to Home Depot again and take my word for it - Loew's is more reasonable in their prices and very consumer oriented. Home Depot is a rip off.

I ordered a replacement french door from the Home Depot on Elston in Chicago, IL through my contractor. The door was poorly made and didn't fit. When I tried to return the door because it was defective, the manager refused to waive the restocking fee unless I ordered another door. My contractor went back a few days later to reorder the door. The employee entering the order put the measurements in as inches rather than feet! My 6'2" high door was now a little over 5 feet! The door was in a box so my contractor didn't realize the mistake until he hauled it to my condo unit--the top floor of a walk-up 4 story. When I called the manager he refused to answer the phone. The operator told me I would probably have to come to the store and hunt the manager down since he regularly avoids talking to disgruntled customers on the phone. The guy in millworks and the manager (once I finally got a hold of him after dozens of calls) were emphatic that I had ordered a 5' door and I would have to pay the restocking fee and order yet another door. Neither the millworks employee or the manager could explain to my why anyone would order a french door that most people couldn't walk through! The mistake was obvious, particularly in light of the fact that the previously ordered door's specs were correct (even though the door wasn't made to spec) and that the measurements of the second door were clearly in feet and inches, not inches as the millwork employee had entered. So much for "you can do it, we can help!" The multiple mistakes cost me several hundred dollars and a lot of time that I will never get back. Never again! I will drive clear across the city to go to another hardware store in order to avoid Home Depot.

I special ordered a black brick on 4/27/06 both in the traditional square and bullnose. I arrived to pick up on Saturday 5/13/2006. I paid and loaded one pallet and took to the job site. Ditto for 2nd pallet. Upon returning to load the third pallet I noticed no bullnose. I could not complete the job and made the decision to use red brick. The gentleman at the pro desk stated he would pick up the black brick from the job site so I could use my truck to load red brick and because I had workers at the site waiting for brick to build platforms. The gentleman gave me a full refund for the brick on 5/13/2006 due to their errors. He stated he would be out to the site that day to pick up the brick. He did not go to the site until Monday 5/15/06 and unfortunately they were gone. They than recharged my account on 5/16/06 for the two pallets.It says RECHARGE TO CUSTOMER on the receipt where a customer would sign. I contacted Citibank who is Home Depots creditor and they reversed the charges due to the facts. I then was recharged 1/17/2007. I contacted corporate APRIL who merely contacts the store and says it stands behind its managers decisions. That being that the employee was doing me a favor to pick up the brick and I was responsible to protect and I should of called Home Depot when he didnt show up. I say Home Depot should tell its customers its doing them a favor before committing to do something and where was the phone call from Home Depot to say Im not coming! I contacted Citibank and they state its between me and Home depot even though they are the ones that have to collect. Corporations with no responsibility!

It's one thing when the disconnect between a retailer's e-commerce engine and its shipping company results in a Christmas present going astray. But it's quite another when the product is one that you need to have in hand before winter comes in earnest. That's certainly how one reader felt when a series of mix-ups between Home Depot and HomeDirectUSA threatened to leave him snowbound.
"I live in southern California and recently purchased a house in the mountains," the reader wrote. "I've been trying to get it ready for habitation, and one of the things needed was a snowthrower for the wintertime. As you can imagine, there are very few snowthrowers available in hardware stores in southern California. So, I hop online, and see what Home Depot has available. They had a decent snowthrower available for about $500, and it was apparently in stock, so I ordered one."

"I received a confirmation e-mail almost immediately, and my credit card was also charged almost immediately," the reader wrote. "Two days later, I received an e-mail confirming that the item had been shipped and supplying the name of the shipping company (HomeDirectUSA), along with a tracking number. I clicked on the tracking information to see if it was in the shipping company's system, and, not unexpectedly, it wasn't. I figured I'd try the next day, as Home Depot had probably jumped the gun on the shipping information."

When the reader checked the next day, the tracking information was still not available on HomeDirectUSA's system. "Checking the day after, it still wasn't there. No problem, I figured -- I'd ordered things in the past through online retailers, and sometimes they show up before the tracking information is updated. After a week had passed with no information, I spent about an hour trying every online method I could find to track the item, to no avail. So, I called HomeDirectUSA to see where my item was. They did not have any record of that tracking number, no record of my phone number, my name, or my order. The person I spoke to said that Home Depot often made mistakes like this, listing HomeDirectUSA as the shipping company when in fact they had shipped by some other vendor."

"So, I called Home Depot, and waded through the morass of phone menus to reach a customer service person," the reader wrote. "They started off by telling me the exact information that I had from the Internet. When I explained that HomeDirectUSA had absolutely no knowledge of the order, they started looking further. After about an hour on the phone they admitted that they had no idea where it was, and would put out a tracer on the unit, and someone would call me back in two days. Life is hectic, and it wasn't until a week later that I realized that I still hadn't heard back from them. I re-checked online, found no new information, and called them again. After an extremely similar routine, I was AGAIN told that it would be necessary to send out a tracer, but since this was the second one, they would 'make sure' that it was sent out that afternoon, and assured me that I would be called back no later than 48 hours from the phone call. See any pattern yet?"

Yes, soon another week had gone by with winter storms looming but no snowthrower. "I'd had no phone call or e-mail with any news. I called Home Depot once again, and told them in no uncertain terms that before I got off the phone they would either give me full information as to where the unit was, or refund my money. It took quite a while, but they eventually gave me another tracking number for the same shipper, and absolutely assured me that it was enroute, and would be delivered within two days. Interestingly enough, the tracking number format did not even remotely represent the original HomeDirectUSA tracking number I'd had, having a different amount of digits, etc."

"The following day, I attempted to log on to HomeDirectUSA's website, and entered the tracking number. No luck. So I entered my phone number, and voila, it appeared! Success at last, I think (ha, ha). It was showing that the unit was supposed to be delivered the following day. Time passes, two days pass, and no unit. I call them, and they tell me that the final delivery didn't occur because the eventual final trucking firm did not have my phone number to schedule the delivery. (Remember, the only way I was even able to log on to find and track the item on HomeDirectUSA's website was with my phone number). They gave me the phone number of the local shipper, and I gave them a call. After some back-and-forth, they located my order and told me that they would call the following day to schedule the delivery. Don't know why they couldn't simply schedule it then, but ..."

Finally the trucking firm called the reader back and scheduled the delivery for the following Monday. "Monday morning I get a phone call confirming the delivery, and telling me that it's on the way," the reader wrote. "The trucking company is about a half hour from my house. No problem, I'm thinking this is finally over. The truck pulls up, and I go outside to get the unit and put it in my van. They open the back of the truck, and what do I see? The snowthrower, which weighs over 100 pounds, is in a cardboard carton that is marked very clearly with 'this end up' and 'fragile' indicators -- both in words and graphics -- which was important, since only one of the two delivery guys spoke any English. It's sitting on the pallet completely upside down. Did I mention that I had ordered a snowthrower? Did you know that the top piece of a snowthrower is a big plastic chute that is used to throw the snow in various directions? Did you know that gas-powered items that are shipped by special carrier are often shipped full of oil in the engine? I now know all of these things."

The reader knew however that the blizzards were still on their way. "By this point, I was completely exasperated, but I needed the snowthrower so badly (as it turned out, the snow season started about three days later) that I elected to take it as is -- you know, covered with oil, with the box destroyed by the oil -- with the caveat that if there were any problems, they were going to come back, pack it up, and take it away themselves. I was happy to learn that the manufacturer used strong enough plastic on the chute that it was able to support the weight of the snowthrower without breaking, but it was a mess trying to clean things up and get it working. I called both HomeDirectUSA and Home Depot to register complaints -- and make sure they knew that the unit might be coming back, at their expense, to them -- but have not heard a single word from either of them since. No apology, no 'customer service' follow-up, no anything. On the positive side, the unit appears to work -- but I will NEVER buy anything online from Home Depot again, nor will I buy from a vendor who uses HomeDirectUSA as a shipper."

August 7, 2006 at Home Depot in Durango Colorado I ordered carpet for two rooms. I was asked to pay $100.00 and that I would be contacted later about the carpet installation. A man came to measure the rooms but I never heard from Home Depot thereafter about the delivery or installation. I called Home Depot and was told I had been "overlooked" and that I would be contacted later by an Expeditor, which never happened either. About three weeks later I called Home Depot again no one knew what was going on, so I asked to cancel my order. The man told me that It would take three weeks to get my $100.00 refunded. Presently it will be four months since I paid the @100. and no refund has been sent. My name is Linda Taylor, 4517 County Road 22, Cortez, Co. I am deaf so I cannot call normally, but through teletypewriter at [protected]. My email is ltaylor#fone.net Home Depot number in Durango Colorado is [protected]. Their address is 1301 South Camino Del Rio, Durango Colorado 81303 I do not have names of the people I spoke with. I did connect with the Home Depot manager, a woman, who assured me I was to receive my refund in 10 days. The other calls were made to a man in the flooring Dept.

I had fallen behind on a couple payments for my home depot credit card. Once i was back on my feet i called home depot to make payment arrangements with them they accepted my payments and agreed on other future payment arrangements. I was recently sent collection notice . when i contacted home depot they told me they were not allowed to speak with me anymore about my account. I have been lied to many times by their customer service representatives in the Texas area i am not pleased with this company at all. I am caught up with my payments and am still receiving threating phone calls from their collection agency requesting full credit balance. has any one else experienced this with home depot.

The people at Home Depot - Sauve Street, Montreal, Quebec are rude and incompetent. Especially the manager and this useless fellow whose attitude borders on racism called nicola. i tried calling their office to tell them about the incident that infuriated me, and after 15 minutes of being forced to listen to their commercials. the line goes dead and they ask you to call again. they'll never see me there again.

I purchased 4 appliances from Home Depot in Biloxi Mississippi to repair our Hurricane Katrina damaged home in Long Beach Mississippi. I bought some of them on clearance. I paid for them and when I came to pick them up a week later Home Depot had sold them again to somebody else. They then offered me lesser appliances for the price of the reduced ones. Instead I returned all of the Items and I will never shop there again.

I am writing to inform you of the absolute worst experience I have ever had in any retail store in my entire life. At approximately 2:00 pm on 9/17/2006 my partner and I visited the Home Depot store located at 1232 W. North Avenue in Chicago, IL with the sole purpose of purchasing a simple flow diverter for our shower stall. After finding a flow diverter and some teflon tape I approached the self-checkout aisle to check out. After about 5 minutes of attempting to get the unSKU'ed diverter to come up on the register, I saw an empty checkout aisle (at the time I thought I saw the light on as being "available") with three people standing in front of the register, so I said, "The hell with self checkout, I'll just go to a cashier." My partner remained standing at the self checkout, then moved behind the cashier's stand I spotted. As I approached the cashier I thought was open, I set down the items on the belt. At that point, one of the cashier's pointed out the register was closed... So I said, "Sorry... I saw three people at this register, so I figured someone was working here". I then grabbed the items and moved to a cashier directly behind this register.

Shortly thereafter, I heard my partner get into an arguement with one of the women at the register I just approached, and no sooner than this happened, he asked for the manager to come over. The cashier was an African-American named Kim. Well, apparently when I made my comment about thinking the register was open and turned my back, she said, loud enough for my partner to hear (since he was standing at the end of the register, and not in Kim's line of sight)... she said, "You smart mouth mother-f*cker!". As I mentioned before, I did not hear her, so I continued to try to purchase the diverter whilst my partner requested to speak to the manager. He did this after confronting Kim about what she said, and she replied, "I wasn't talking to him. I was talking to her." To which he replied, "It's not about who you were talking to, It's about what you said. Get me your manager." Kim then proceeded to get on the phone and make gestures that could only lead an observer to think that she was vividly describing her point of view on the situation to sway any prejudgement that the manager would make. The manager aggresively walked toward my partner and asked what the problem was. The manager's name (or the person who was identified as the manager) was named Chris. My partner explained the situation, obviously agitated. The manager then put his finger in my partner's face and in an attempt to intimidate him said, "FIRST of all..." That was all that it took for my partner to know that dealing with these people would not help the situation. He then asked for the number to Home Depot's corporate office, so that he could effetively lodge a complaint. He was then denied that request, but if he wanted to he could wait for the manager to run and get the "Customer Care" number. I ended up not purchasing anything not just because I learned of the staff insulting me behind my back, and unknowingly in front of my parter, but also because it was taking entirely too long to ring up the diverter - what should have been a 5 minute purchase turned into total fiasco. We left the store, got in our car and travelled a few extra miles to visit an independently owned Ace Hardware, where we were greeted with smiles and hellos upon entering the store. We asked the salesman where we might find a diverter, he walked right over and picked one out right off the peg. The whole pleasent experience took us all of three minutes.

This letter is to alert you of some severe personnel problems at this store. The manager's problem resolution skills suck, and the attitude towards customers who require assistance, not insults, also sucks. The cashier Kim should be summarily fired for insulting a customer. There is absolutely no excuse for that type of behaviour and obviously if her job makes her so miserable she has to take it out on customers, she would be better off somewhere other than representing Home Depot. Chris, the manager, handled the situation entirely wrong. As opposed to listening and resolving the problem, he chose to aggravate the situation and my partner by instanteously confronting him before knowing all the details of the situation. As a gay man, I get a fair amount of grief from friends for even giving Home Depot any business at all. It is common knowledge in our community that Home Depot hates gays. I think the manager's attitude towards my partner (who is pretty easily identitifed as "a gay man") proved this point. At one particular point as I mentioned above, I was under the impression he was trying to physically intimidate my partner by his aggressive body language and tone - solely because he appeared gay. I don't think "bullying" a customer whose point was to make him aware of a severe problem with one of his cashiers is called for, whomever they may be. Certainly the point of the manager is to manage and operate the store, and resolve problems. I resolved the problem myself, by walking out with no purchase in hand, and after wasting a considerable amount of time doing so.

I did manage to get a good laugh at a housewarming party that day after seeing one of their advertisements on TV... They had some commercial showing helpful Home Depot staff assisting clients on TV with some do-it-yourself clinics. I had joked out loud to about 10 other people, "Yeah, what you don't see is when they customer asks a question like, 'What kind of bit do I need for my router?", the Home Depot employee smiles and says, 'Oh, you need a quarter-inch carbide bit'. Then when the customer is 5 feet away they say, 'Carbide... you stupid mother-f*cker!'"
-- that was the only good thing I took away from my experience at that store -- a joke at Home Depot's expense. I've been pretty loyal customer to Home Depot... I think buying about $2000 worth of power tools (and home furnishing) in the past two years would determine that. To date, Home Depot has offered a $20.00 for my grief and experience, I believe this to be insulting... the problem they need to solve is better train their managers (and probably overall staff), and fire the employee(s) who choose to greet their customers with obscenities, attitude and insults.

On April 2, 2005, we spent $850.00 on new countertops for our kitchen. (Along with a new $432.00 dishwasher and $1399 in new flooring - which we installed ouselves).

When the installer, who was subcontracted by Home Depot, was finishing the installation, I noticed that the countertops were cut too short. (They had been measured by a Home Depot employee.) There was too much of a gap between my stove and the countertop.

I immediately went to Home Depot and told the kitchen department employees about it, and they advised me not to sign the form that I was satisfied. I returned home, and told the installer that I would not sign and he went ballistic! He called him employer and made a huge deal in my house, actually making me really anxious, as my 10-year old son and I were alone with this guy.

This guy was really angry and finally left. My husband immediately got involved. Home Depot sent out three people from the store who admitted that it was not right! They admitted it! Then Home Depot sent out someone from the subcontracted company and this guy would not admit anything - he just tried to say it was not cut too short.

In the end, after emails, letters, phone calls, etc., Home Depot gave us a $100.00 gift card - that's it! I know that they think we have gone away, but we haven't yet.

Buyer beware at Home Depot! And to top it off, the dishwasher is in the process of breaking - the door hinge gets stuck and it must be pried open.

What a mess - I'll never go back to Home Depot - I tell everyone that I know about this experience.