Home Depot

Ok, here goes. This is the complete background and issues regarding the service experience I have received so far from the home depot #0366, 3750 millhaven rd, monroe, la, 71203.

Background. My in-laws don't have much money, both are retired and receive very modest pensions from the state. They rarely ever let us help financially. They do however let me do handyman work around their house to keep things running as smooth as possible. Usually when my wife and I visit, they have several things in need of attention. As I was taught by watching how my father treated not only his direct family but also his in-laws, it is my responsibility to take care of my family (which includes the in-laws). So, I happily try to fix everything I can so they do not have to hire someone they cannot afford to do these tasks.

Well, my father-in-law passed away a few weeks ago. I took this event as an opportunity to convince my mother-in-law to let my wife and I replace some of her aging home appliances. I have had to fix both the washer and dryer on a few occasions, and no [censored] most of their refrigerator is help together with electrical tape and duct tape. So, to say these were overdue for replacement is an understatement.

Saturday june 5, 2021
Mother-in-law gave the go ahead, so the wife and I set out to find her some new appliances. Well, we thought we had found them at the home depot in monroe, la. So much so that I paid $1725.85 to the home depot in monroe, la on saturday june 5, 2021. We set up the delivery for saturday june 12, 2021, this was the first available time. We took pictures of the appliances so that mother-in-law could see what she would be getting. Everyone was excited, the wife and I would not have to worry about these appliances breaking anytime soon, mother-in-law was happy to have something new. I know that price tag seems relatively low, but you need to understand mother-in-law prefers the most simple, easiest to use, fewest options kind of machines. If they made a washer and dryer with just one switch for it to run a load of laundry that is her type of machine. So yes, these are not the newest and most expensive appliances around (more on this later).

So, I make plans for the arrival of these new appliances. My wife and I need to drive back 6 hours to our own house for us to get ready to start working again after spending time with mother-in-law after she lost her husband of 40-something years, and my wife losing her father. We planned to leave on saturday june 12, 2021. We get brother-in-law to drive 3 hours from his house to mother-in-law's house to help receive the delivery and hook up the appliances for mother-in-law if the delivery comes after wife and I leave. As the home depot people told me the delivery person will only drop off the appliances to the door and will not bring them inside. This is fine as we have a plan in place for this.

Thursday june 10, 2021
Now this is where thing start to fall apart! I receive an email at 4:35pm stating that my delivery will be arriving tomorrow june 12, 2021, between the hours of 6am-8pm.
I was thinking: ok, wow that is a large time window. It seems kind of strange that it says it will be tomorrow (which is june 11th) but still states june 12, 2021, as the delivery date. While it seemed strange, it still had that it would be delivered on june 12, 2021. So I assumed (yes, I have a very small part it this colossal f*$ (up by the home depot in monroe) everything was still going to be delivered on saturday june 12, 2021.

Friday june 11th, 2021
While I was still sleeping, as mother-in-law happily gets the kids in the morning and lets me and the wife sleep in, I received several calls to my cell phone (which is in quiet mode, no noise, no vibration). At 8:22am and 8:24am I receive two calls from an unknown 318 area code number…. Which is the area code for monroe, la. I also receive two calls from the home depot monroe, la at 8:38am and 8:50am. The call at 8:38am, a home depot employee, (jay-bar-e) left a message stating that I had 10minutes to return the call or the delivery would not be made today and need to be rescheduled.

I am not sure when my wife and I actually woke up, likely somewhere in the 9 o'clock hour. We had a few errands to run that day, it was not until we were leaving the house that I checked my phone and saw the missed calls and heard the voice mail around 10:15am. My wife called the home depot in monroe, la at 10:23 so we could figure out what was going on. After several attempts with the woman that answered the call to figure out what was going on, we asked to talk to (jay-bar-e) since he left the message. The woman stated he was at lunch and would call us back when he returned to work. (as of the time of this writing 11:40pm saturday june 12, 2021, he still has not called, but that's ok).

At 11:40am, while out on our errands we stop by the home depot in monroe, la and speak to a manager, I believe his name is ray. I discuss this issue that the delivery was tried a day early and since I was not expecting it, so I did not answer the phone or return the call in time for it to be made today. He looked it up on the computer and saw that it was still scheduled to be delivered on saturday june 12, 2021, between 6am and 8pm. He stated, that if room permits and they are going to be in the area sooner, they will try delivering it early (as mother-in-law lives about an hour away…and before anyone asks, this is the closest home depot to her house…. She lives in the middle of nowhere). Ray assured me that the delivery would be made on the 12th. Satisfied with this, my wife and I left to continue our errands and our day.

Saturday june 12, 2021
So today, everything completely goes off the rails. It gets to be about time to leave mother-in-law's house and head home. Brother-in-law is there, so when the delivery gets there, he can get the appliances inside and hook them up. It is about 11:10 when we leave. We drive for a little while then stop for lunch before getting on with the rest of our long journey home. When we are done eating my wife decides to call the home depot in monroe, la to see if we can get an estimated time for the delivery, this is at 1:24pm. The woman on the phone could not tell us, so she left a message for someone to get back to us.

I start to get a bad feeling that something is up, and there is a problem. Since we still had to pass by the home depot in monroe, la on our way home I decided to stop to get an update. After standing in line at the customer service desk for 15-20 minutes, a nice lady had the unpleasant experience of trying to help me. When I asked to get an update on the delivery she stated "they tried calling twice yesterday with no response. No, it was not out for delivery. The delivery will have to be rescheduled." I was not happy at this point, raising my voice telling her that it was "[censored], and it better be on a f#^&ing truck on the way to be delivered". Rightly so, she told me that she would not be talked to in that manner as she did not have anything to do with this, she just read what was on the computer". I apologized and agreed that my anger was misdirected at her. I told her"your right, it was the manager that I needed to talk to, tell the f^$@ing manager to get up here and explain this to me". I did lose my cool and that woman should not have been talked to that way, but when I spend $1725.85 somewhere I expect a little better treatment than I was receiving too. While this does not excuse my behavior, I only like getting [protected]@$*ed when I am a willing participant.

So, now to ray. He gets up there and proceeds to diffuse the situation, and I have had a little time to compose myself better. I clearly discuss my displeasure at the situation as ray had promised me the day before, everything was still on schedule. He looked up the order on the computer again, and again saw it should be delivered today. Another employee stated that no deliveries were being made today because the driver was at a funeral. At this point ray has an oh-sh! T look on his face. Somehow, he forgot about this detail. Realizing that he knew this yesterday but forgot, as this was the reason the delivery was tried early.

I inquired as to what could be done about this situation now. I explained the dilemma I was in now because of this. I had held up my end of this bargain, I paid for the appliances, scheduled the delivery according to home depot's in monroe, la availability, and made arrangements to deal with the appliances once they were delivered to the doorstep. The only thing ray offered for not holding up home depot's in monroe, la part of the bargain was to reschedule the delivery at home depot's in monroe, la convenience. I realized at this point I was being screwed with the benefit of lube. So, I did the only thing left to do, reschedule the delivery for saturday june 19, 2021, from 6am-8pm, and write this extremely long complaint and post it everywhere I can find on the internet to try and shame home depot into doing the right thing for failing on their end of the bargin reached with me.

Further context and possible repercussions.
Normally I would have just loaded up the truck and hauled these things myself. But we rarely take the truck when we go out of town since we have young kids. It is easier and more comfortable to take the sport utility for trips such as these. Had I known all the issues that would arise I would have just rented a truck an drove the appliances myself. Renting a truck could still have been an option had ray let me know the delivery would not be happening, as he did know this information, but slipped his mind at the time when I talked to him on friday.

A simple phone call on thursday june 10, 2021, stating the dilemma home depot was in could have avoided much of this trouble. Instead, they decided to send a confusing and contradictory email. Please in the future, communicate with your customers better.

Another possible solution would have been ray putting my stuff on the truck on monday and getting it delivered. Even if it meant the driver had to work a little longer than his typical day.

An even better solution that ray did not offer, use one of those vehicles they rent and drive them down there himself (or another employee), and make this delivery today when promised. I checked online, while they did not have any trucks in stock for this at the end of business june 12, 2021. Not sure if there was on available earlier in the day. In either case they do currently have a cargo van available.

A solution that will fully satisfy me at this point needs to include some one not only delivering the appliances inside the house but also connecting them and taking the old ones outside to the porch for later disposal.

There are several possible solutions to this situation. I will give the home depot company, and the home depot in monroe, la some time to bring this problem to a satisfactory conclusion. If they should decide not to seek a resolution to this, I hope they understand that they will have lost a customer for life. Not only will I never step foot in another home depot, but I will actively advocate to anyone that asks (maybe even those that don't) to never used the home depot for anything since they cannot be trusted to stay true to their word, or care about customer relations.

I look forward to hearing from the home depot.