In this day and time things are vastly different than they were say 10 years ago when it comes to retail business. We often don't make the connection until we are in a situation with the retailer where we are so shocked and dismayed at what the retailer is doing (or isn't doing) that we can hardly conceive that it is actually happening. But, it all too painfully is. What to do, what to do.

I came down to Texas to help family get a business up and running. Anyone who knows the state of Texas knows that it gets hot here. It competes with Hell in the outrageous temperatures. This makes AC a necessity in Texas. Especially during the grueling summer months.

The building that was acquired had no AC. So, on May 20th of this year I went online to see who had the best prices for AC's. As it turns out, that company was Home Depot. Little did I know that I would be entering into what could only be described as the twilight zone.

I placed an order online for a thirty three k btu and a twelve k btu system. These were items that Home Depot did not normally stock and it would have to be ordered online through their manufacturer. Okay, no big deal I thought. The total came up to over three thousand dollars for both units. I placed the order.

Now things are going to get weird.

One of the manufacturers for Home Depot is Ramsond in Detroit, MI. You place your order online through Home Depot and they forward that to the manufacturer. The manufacturer fills it and gets it on the trucks to be delivered either to you personally or to a store. I wanted them delivered to my shop.

Because UPS has a weight limit for the items that they can handle, Ramsond went ahead and used a company called Central Transport, there in Detroit. You think you know about couriers - until they show their true colors.

Central Transport was nothing but a headache from day one. Once a tracking # was issued by Home Depot/Ramsond, trying to get that information to come up on CT's page was a nightmare. I had to call CT and have them give me their issued tracking #. Wow! No one told me about this minor glitch.

Once I got that information, I was able to track the order - sort of.

Trying to talk to CT in Odessa, TX to see when my order would be delivered was like trying to talk to the head of the CIA. They weren't getting up off of any information. I got alot of "yeah, yeah, yeah's". The guy told me that it would be on a truck that could handle the AC's being offloaded. Three days I waited. Different excuse everyday. Finally, when the truck did in fact show up, it was at the end of the day, the very last delivery and it only had the large unit on it, and it was less than fifty pounds in weight and the box was clearly damaged and not all there. The little unit wasn't even on the truck and the driver was totally ignorant and this was his last stop, so there was no other items to confuse things.

Later that night I was checking the reviews for CT and come to find out that company deals in theivery. Many, many people have reported lost shipments and damaged items, empty boxes delivered, etc., by CT and CT basically ignores the customers. Like, what's that idiot customer gonna do? So, CT feels that they can do whatever they want, whenever they want and all they do when you call is "yeah, yeah, yeah" you.

I refused the shipment when it arrived at the end of the day. Home Depot tried to break bad on me and tell me that it was my fault for refusing the shipment and I was forced to explain to them that accepting a partial, damaged order isn't to my benefit, if Home Depot cannot make sure that I get what I paid for, then I'm going to hold them responsible for not fulfilling their part of the transaction.

So, after a month of this madness, the Resolution team agrees to refund my money. Once they did that and I had the money back, I placed the order once more and had the order deliver to the store just to make sure that the order would in fact deliver. No, it didn't quite work out that way.

June 21, I placed the order a second time and waited.

The one thing that I can say about Home Depot from personal experience is that they do not communicate with their customers. I had to do the calling, chase down the people who were supposed to know. And guess what? They were not easy to get in touch with and when I did manage to catch one, they didn't know nothing. They would check and get back with me. Right. They never did. I have yet to hear from anyone at Home Depot.

So, another month passes, it's over 120 degrees here in TEXAS. The shop is even hotter.

I finally call Ramsond and talk with Gary. He's their only customer service person. He stated that he personally saw the units leave the dock. The big one went out with CT and the little one went UPS. He saw it.

After no arrival, no word from anyone, no nothing, I call Ramsond back and talk to Gary. It seems that the smaller unit came back damaged. UPS never said it received that package. A label had been created weeks ago, but UPS never took possession of it - but it came back damaged. Had Gary been in touch with me? Not even close! But, he said he would see that another unit would be shipped out. The big one that CT had did in fact make it undamaged to the Del Rio store. Just took 3 weeks to arrive at the Del Rio store on August 3. The small unit arrived there on August 8th.

I finally met with the store manager there in Del Rio on the 8th when I came to pick up the smaller unit. It was a very unfortunate meeting. The manager basically explained to me that the store itself knows nothing about orders that go through them directly to the manufacturer to be delivered. The store knows nothing and can't help the customer because they are essentially "out of the loop". How stupid is that? You order through Home Depot, but they aren't involved? Everyone gets their money immediately, but the customer may or may not get what they paid for. What kind of society are we living in here? Retail didn't use to be that way.

The best the manager could do was offer me one hundred and sixty dollar credit toward my next in store purchase. I pay thirty five hundred dollars for 2 AC units and go through three months (ninety days) of trying to get what I paid for and he offers me one hundred and sixty dollar credit? Yeah, whatever dude!

And for anyone who is interested - if you want to take Home Depot to Small Claims court - good luck with that. It seems that Home Depot spends so much time in Small Claims court that their lawyers don't even bother showing up for cases. They live in court. Why? Because of their less than honest business practices! Going to court solves nothing and if by chance the customer does win, Home Depot fights to have the judgment questioned for years. The customer ends up with nothing in the end. You don't have to look far to see all of this on the net.

What a sad world we live in.

My kitchen cabinets were resurfaced in June, 2021 by Home Depot Installation Services
In Lombard, IL.
The Good
It took three trips but the subcontractors did a great job – the quality of work is not the
Issue!
The Bad
After the installation, I was left with 22 pieces of molding and 9-8' pieces of laminate.
Approximately 60' of molding and at most two sheets of laminate were used. There is
Enough overage to do almost four more kitchens of this size!
The Ugly
I mentioned this to the Installation Coordinator on the phone and a 7/21 email. She said
She had to bring this up to her manager - I heard nothing. On 10/6, I emailed Home Depot
Customer Care. Finally, on 10/12 there were several emails between the manager and
Myself.
He stated "I can assure you there was no charge for the additional material." He also
Stated "Our software will not allow us to order additional material. All measurements and
Requested material is automatically calculated to prevent overage or short shipments."
This job was performed under contract including charges for all materials.
For an installer, it is better to have excess material. For over thirty years I installed home
Audio systems - I understand bringing extra material to a job. The question here is how
Much overage is acceptable. I paid for enough to do four additional kitchens - this not
Acceptable! The value of the overage is difficult to determine as this material is not sold
In Home Depot stores. I stated that it is valued at over $1000.
This was going nowhere so I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and
Communicated with a Resolution Expeditor from Home Depot corporate in Atlanta.
She states "this was extra material brought from The Home Depot warehouse." While
Everything passes through various warehouses including cabinet doors, the question is
Whether this was from the Home Depot's inventory or ordered specifically for my job.
These materials are only available through Home Depot Home Services – they are not
Available through Home Depot retail stores or their website. A shipping label from the
Manufacturer, Elias Woodwork, with my name was attached to the cardboard protecting
The laminate. Clearly, this was not from the Home Depot Home Services' inventory!
She also stated "it is important to understand that our system automatically orders all
Material. It will not allow us to order extra material." The installation took three trips, the
Installer left the material so it could be used in later visits to complete the job.
She also said "Any additional charge that does not align with the measurements outlined
During the audit process automatically gets credited back to the customers original source
Of payment at the time of order. This process was put into place by corporate to prevent
Extra material from being ordered." Additionally, she mentioned "all orders are audited
Twice prior to being ordered. The measure tech self-audits the order to confirm what was
Measured matched what was sold. Then, a different measure tech audits the same order
Again to confirm alignment. All material is ordered once the final audit is approved."
The Downright Ugly
I was curious why an audit system was implemented by Home Depot. The answer could
Be from a 2007 case filed in United States District Court, California Western Division.
Andrea SPIEGLER v. HOME DEPOT ( SPIEGLER v. HOME DEPOT U. | 552 F. Supp. 2d
1036 (2008) | 2d******* | Leagle.com).
This case concerns overcharging on cabinet refacing. "Plaintiffs allege that defendants
Based their pricing to plaintiffs on an initial calculation made by one of defendants' sales
Representatives, while unbeknownst to plaintiffs, defendants based the commission they
Paid to their sales representatives on a subsequent lower, and allegedly more accurate
Calculation, made by one of defendants' 'Measurement Technicians' … Plaintiffs contend
That this dual pricing practice, which defendants routinely employ for all of their customers
Whose jobs are priced at their homes, results in an overcharge because they should have
Been charged a lower price based on the second calculation.'"
The case was eventually dismissed but was possibly why a Home Depot representative
Mentioned that an audit system was implemented. Cases of excess materials for
Customer jobs go far back to at least 2007. In 2017 someone commented on that site that
The same happened to them. The same happened to me in 2021 - I have enough excess
Material to do four kitchens of this size - if there is an audit system, it is not working!
Could this be a salesman looking for a higher commission?
Could the ordering system automatically order excess material?
Could this be Home Depot looking for higher profits?
Could this be happening on all Home Depot Home Services projects?
Conclusion
I have enough molding and laminate to do four kitchens of this size ordered specifically
For my job and did not come from Home Depot inventory. If there is an automatic audit,
This should have triggered a red flag that should have been caught. It has a label from
The manufacturer with my name on it and I complained about this several times finally
Receiving an answer after complaining to Home Depot corporate and the BBB. If these is
An auditing process that automatically credits the customer, why have I not received the
Credit that I am requesting?
This is not good business, I do not recommend doing business with Home Depot Home
Services.

Don't use home depot's reccomended installation contractors as they charge twice as much as others!

HATE THIS PLACE, SELL JUNK MOSTLY, LIE, BOWED, TWISTED LUMBER, WILL NOT STAND BEHIND THE WARRENTY THEY CLAIM

Our experience with this HD was a nightmare and we ended up canceling our flooring job a month and a half into it. The people in the flooring department do not know how to process there orders and installs correctly and wasted a lot of our time. We got a measurement done and I received a 22 page. Pdf estimate that only stated, let me know if you have any questions. I waiting 2 days thinking they would call and go over the 22 pages they sent but no call, so I called HD and talked to Sasha, the lady who helped us originally. She said she didn't know why I got that and that we had to come in and go over it and pay for the order. My landlord and I went in the next day and it took an hour to pay for it because neither Sasha or the customer service ladies knew how to process a payment correctly for $6300! Isn't this what they do every day! We were then told they had to order the flooring and they would call us when it was to be delivered. We were told the install would take a day, that we could leave the product in the garage once it was delivered and the we only needed the threshold delivery for this reason. We were also told that the installers would move 6 items per room. (this is random but important later). We were then ghosted for a month until they told us the trim we wanted wasn't available so we had to pick a new color out. It took them a month to tell us this! My wife went to the closest store where the flooring associate was rude to her to the point that she left and went to the next closest store. They picked out the new item and the associate called the Truxel store to let them know. The Truxel store never even added that item to our order after my wife wasted 2 hours doing what they asked. I tried following up with the flooring department 3 times, the first time customer service bounced my call around for 20 minutes, the second time I was on hold for 30 minutes then the last time I was on hold for 10 minutes before I gave up.

I called corporate on a Friday to see if they could help because we were having nothing but problems. The man took my info and said someone would call me back in 30 minutes. The next day I called again as I didn't hear anything back and I was told they had no record of my call, but that she would enter my info and have someone call me back on Monday. Tuesday I one again called cooperate and was told the lady from Monday did not process my call correctly and that it would still be another 24 to 48 hours before I received a call back. We then finally got a call for delivery and set it for Monday June 28th and the Install was set for July 14th. The installers stated we had to keep the product in the house, that it would take 3 days to do the install and that they would only move 2 items per room. This was a major issue because it contradicted what we had been told and my wife and I both work and cannot just take 3 days off to babysit the installers. Also, if my wife was home in the morning when they came, as we had planned for the one day, she would not be able to move all the items out by herself as we were told 6 would be moved per room. At this time I was still waiting for a call back from cooperate hoping we could resolve some of these issues but still had heard nothing back. I received an email on Sunday stating we had our set delivery for the next day and that it was a threshold delivery and it defined a threshold delivery, to the outside of the house. Again this was a problem because I work mornings and only my wife is home and she is not responsible to bring all of this in the house. I called the Truxel store and asked for a manager. I spoke to Butch and explained everything in detail also stating that we don't even have a delivery time, we had a 14 hour window and that was not going to work. He worked everything out for a set time on Monday and we also discussed compensation for all of this hassle. I asked for half of the install to be completed, about $1500 or I wanted the order canceled because this had been a nightmare. He stated he would only comp up to $500 and that he would have to get with his manager and get back to me.

Monday comes around, ready for delivery and they only delivered part of the order. I didn't call HD at this point because I was just tired of dealing with this and it wasn't worth it at this point. Shawn called me back later on Monday and said all they can do is $500 off my order. I told him they didn't even deliver the whole order and he said we had the rest coming on Tuesday. I explained to him that I knew nothing about this and if that was the case they could have just delivered it all on Tuesday instead of coming twice! He didn't seem to be bothered at all by the incompetence of his employees. I told him $500 was not close to being worth it and at this point I wasn't dealing with HD and wanted to cancel the order. They set an apt for Tuesday (the next day) to pick up the flooring. He was supposed to get back to me on how the refund would be processed, if we needed to go in or if it would go back onto the card automatically. Thursday rolls around and still no call back from Shawn so one again I CALLED HOME DEPOT and asked him how the refund would be processed. He then told me they already issued the refund and emailed me a receipt. In this whole process I must say that the only thing that went according to schedule with no hassle at all was canceling the appointment and having the flooring picked up. They were professional and even called to tell me they would be a little late. I don't know if anyone will actually read this or even care but I care. This should not have happened. I have been a loyal HD customer my whole life, I have spent thousands of dollars there and with the refinance on the house, planned on spending thousands more fixing things up. After this experience, I will never shop at a HD again. My hard earned money will not go to a company that treats their customers this way and are so unprofessional. I now drive the extra 10 minutes to Lowe's and will be going there tomorrow to get the process started on our flooring along with the bathroom remodels.

Originally I tried to post this review on the HD website but it was denied saying it did not meet their ‘guideline' requirements. After reading the requirements, that was a load of bull and nothing I said was on their list of things not to say. They don't even want honest feedback from their customers!

I purchased 85@ 20' lengths of rebar at 5:38 pm. I got out of the store 70 minutes later. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh crapppppppppppp

Always prefer...

Always good.

Always great

Nice experience