Home Depot 0349
Tax Refund on Export Purchases Promised, Then Denied, Kenner LA

Tax refund problem on June 23. Receipts # 00019-71548 and #00012-99270.

On the morning of June 23, I entered the Home Depot store in Kenner, LA, and went directly to the Customer Service desk to ask about a tax refund on items that would be exported to Honduras by Dip Shipping, also in Kenner, LA. I explained to the clerk that we had been dealing with the Lowes store in Tampa, FL, for items exported to Honduras and wanted to find a store closer to our home in Texas. I also explained that since the delivery by Lowes was to an export shipper and addressed to Honduras, we were not charged tax at the time of the sale. In addition, I explained that on the few times we picked up items ourselves and took them to Jackson Shipping, we were not charged sales tax due to our established business on file and because we had out-of-state identification.

The clerk was unsure what to do. After talking to a couple of employees, she saw someone walking by and asked how to handle tax on export items. This employee, whom I believe was a supervisor of another department, informed us that all we had to do was bring the Bill of Lading from the shipper, showing that the items were being exported out of the country, and the original sales receipt back to the Customer Service desk, and the tax would be refunded. Since this person answered our question without hesitation and seemed to be knowledgeable, we decided to start doing business at this Home Depot for our Honduras needs.

On the morning of June 24, we returned to the Service Desk with the required documents (I have a scanned copy) and were told that the sales tax could not be refunded. After talking to a few employees, I asked to speak to a manager. Sherrie Grillot was called to the Service Desk, and I explained to her what had happened up to this point. I told her that I did not catch the supervisor's name who gave me the tax refund information, but that he appeared to be very confident in the policy. Sherrie tried to contact the person she thought may have helped me, but found out he was off. I also told her that I felt it was poor customer service to say one thing before a purchase and something else after the purchase.

Company: Home Depot 0349
Country: USA
State: Louisiana
City: Kenner
Site: homedepot.com

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