In Feb. 2011 we bought 6 cases of TrafficMaster carpet tile through the Home Depot online store and installed them in our dining room, with the thought that if one got stained, we would be able to swap it out. It looked good initially, but started to show wear really fast, and then the corners of the tiles started coming up when vacuuming. Also, whenever we had a spill, that section of tile would no longer stay stuck down. We had extra tiles, so we swapped out about 12 tiles, but after a bit of time even these tiles started coming up.
Here is a link to what the flooring looks like as of yesterday: http://tinyurl.com/7j3vrcv
I contacted Home Depot through their online web form in October and received a response that I needed to contact the manufacturer for warranty service. They gave me this link: http://tmflooring.com/carpet/warranty.html, which was a dead link, so I tried contacting TrafficMaster through their website form but received no response. A surgery with complications kept me from further home improvement work for a couple of months. In January, my wife and I went by the local store and looked at other flooring options. We spoke with one of the associates in flooring and told them we were having problems with this product, that Home Depot was not helping because of how long it had been since purchase, and that we could not get a response from TrafficMaster. The associate indicated that Home Depot did not sell those carpet tiles anymore and that we should contact Home Depot's customer care line (1-800-HomeDepot), and that they had the latitude to do what it took to "make it right" while the store did not.
Fast forward to yesterday, when I finally got off work early for a change and decided to try to get this resolved. I called the 1-800 number, and the associate said they could not help me because it had been over 90 days, but to take my original order confirmation and the remaining product to the store, and that they had the latitude to help me resolve this. I went to the store, East Asheville, and spoke to the young guy at the customer service desk. He made a call and got the SKUs of the product and told me they could take it back for store credit, which was fine with me, as I just need to get something else that works on this floor. He told me he could not process the return until I brought all the tiles back, so I headed home, my wife and I moved the furniture and tore up the tiles, and I went back to the store.
When I got back, the same associate told me he actually could not take them back and handed me a 1-800 number to call. I was not very happy at this point. I called and told the woman on the other end the whole sordid tale, and she said she could help get this resolved. She put me on hold for a long time and came back and said the store manager refused to take them back, even after the store associate told me I needed to tear them up and bring them back! I actually spotted the manager, Charles, on the phone, and he saw me on the phone but never came over to talk to me until after the woman on the phone told me this and I walked over and asked him why he refused to help me with this. All he said was, "I'm not taking those back, you got them online and 90 days has passed. I have no way to take them back in our system."
I told the lady on the phone this, and she said actually he has complete latitude to make it right but has decided he does not want to help me. He never apologized. He never admitted any wrongdoing by his associate telling me to tear up the tiles. He did nothing for me. Nothing. The woman on the phone said this sort of rudeness is not tolerated and that the manager was completely out of bounds. She assured me that she would report this incident to the corporate office, confirmed my address and phone number, and said someone would be in contact with me the next day (which is today). So far I have not heard anything.
I now have a bare, adhesive-residue-covered subfloor in my dining room pending resolution of this matter. It just amazes me that, after the thousands and thousands of dollars I have spent at Home Depot over the years, Home Depot is, by the actions of this manager, willing to throw me under the bus over $300 worth of carpet tile that will not stay stuck down. All I want is credit toward flooring that actually works, and an apology from Charles.
0 comments