I am growing weary of the total disregard the management of the Hawthorne, New York Home Depot has for its customers. Last May, I bought thirty rolls of Yankee Sod from the Home Depot that was, according to the employees at the store, infested with grubs. Since laying down the sod, my entire lawn has been destroyed and has not recovered despite my best efforts of treating and reseeding. Last July, I submitted two letters to customer service via Measured Up, and my problem has still not been resolved. I have become so frustrated that I have contacted an attorney and am considering a class action suit alleging that Home Depot knowingly sold a product to the public that was infested with insects.
Following my second letter, I was contacted by Mike Sabatino, an employee in the garden center at the Hawthorne Home Depot. He informed me that he had been authorized by his store manager, Eric Morero, to personally resolve the issue of the grub-laden sod by replacing all thirty rolls. He then asked me to have my soil tested, which I did, so that he could come to my home, survey the damage, apply whatever amendments were needed, and then lay new sod. He then gave me his personal cell phone number so that I could contact him any time I needed to. He has been diligently working to resolve this problem for me and is genuinely concerned with repairing the damage caused by the sod. Mr. Sabatino has done everything he has promised to do thus far. He has been to my home, surveyed the damage, and personally applied soil amendments in preparation for the new sod. All that is needed is for Mr. Morero to order the replacement sod.
Mr. Sabatino finished treating my lawn in late August. He asked that I contact Mr. Morero to ask him to place the order for the new sod. I called Mr. Morero at the store four times. Each time I was told he was unavailable or not in the store, or I was left on hold and he never picked up. Finally, I went to the store on a Saturday morning to speak to him personally. Unfortunately, Saturday is his day off. I asked to speak to the assistant manager, Corey Boucher, instead. When the associate at the customer service desk called Mr. Boucher and told him a customer wanted to speak with him, his response was, "What's this about?" He seemed reluctant to speak to me until I mentioned that I had been in contact with Atlanta. When he finally came to the front of the store, he approached me with arms crossed, clearly annoyed that I had asked to speak to him. I explained the situation to him, and he asked for "documentation from Atlanta." I of course did not have any, because Mr. Morero promised to replace the sod, not Atlanta. He took my name and phone number down and promised to pass my message on to Mr. Morero and to call me that Wednesday. I never heard from him.
I waited two weeks and spoke again to Mr. Sabatino. He explained that his hands were tied because all orders had to go through the store manager and be initiated by the customer. He apologized for the delay and voiced his concern about the lateness of the season. The following morning, my husband went to the store again to talk to Mr. Morero. Again, he was not there. My husband left a note for Mr. Morero. Another week went by, and we did not hear from him. I then called Mr. Morero and was told that my husband's note was displayed on his bulletin board, but he had gone on vacation without attending to the situation. Fortunately for me, Mr. Morero was back from vacation, but he of course was in a meeting. I was told he would get back to me. He didn't. I called again and left another message because Mr. Morero was again in a meeting. This time Mr. Boucher returned my call. He told me that he really did not know the status of my problem, again asked for documentation, and told me there was nothing he could do because he was leaving on vacation, but he would talk to Mr. Morero and they would contact me the next day, Thursday October 7. I never heard from anyone.
I have been trying to resolve this problem since last July, when the sod was first killed by the grubs and the Garden Center manager told me to "roll it up and bring it back" after it had taken hold in my yard. I do not understand why it is my responsibility to compel the store manager to order sod he promised to replace in the first place. I have spent countless hours on the phone and visiting the store, only to receive the runaround and be treated as a nuisance. It is now October 9. If the sod is not ordered soon, it will be too late to install this fall. I will then be left with a yard full of dirt in the spring. After this experience, I will never buy anything from the Home Depot again. The management clearly puts profits before customer satisfaction and does not stand behind their products. If you could tell me what I need to do in order to get Mr. Morero to do his job and order the sod that he promised to replace, I would greatly appreciate it.
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