Home Depot
Garden Center Receipt Search Left Disabled Customer in the Cold

Re: Store located at 20131 I-45 N, Spring, TX 77388

This evening my husband and I visited the store referenced above to purchase a pond pump and filter as an emergency replacement for a pump on our koi pond that failed this week. We parked our truck near the entrance to the garden area, because we have noticed that pond supplies are generally co-located near the garden center in most Home Depot stores. As soon as we parked our truck and exited the vehicle, the person driving the store's "security golf cart" made an explicit dash towards us and closely scrutinized us as we walked into the garden center. My husband and I both thought this was odd, but we laughed it off.

We proceeded to enter the garden center and picked up the pond pump, a replacement filter, several packages of caladium bulbs, five packets of zinnia seeds and an HGTV magazine. My husband thoughtfully suggested that we take our purchases to a cashier stand located inside the store for checkout, so that I did not have to stand outside in 50 degree weather wearing a formal skirt suit at an outdoor cashier stand in the garden area. It is also noteworthy that I am disabled, and I suffer from a disorder that makes me extremely sensitive to cold. Thus, it would have been physically painful and difficult for me to stand outside in the cold, windy weather at an outdoor cashier stand in the garden center.

My husband and I proceeded to a cashier stand inside the store and purchased our merchandise, totaling almost $200. After that, we walked back through the inside of the store so that we could exit from the garden center, again trying to reduce the amount of time that I would have to spend outdoors in the cold and wind, which is extremely painful for me. As we were leaving the garden center, one of the garden center employees (Sherry) yelled at us to stop and show her our receipt. Please note that all of our purchases were in Home Depot bags, and no buzzers went off to suggest that any items in our bags had not been paid for appropriately. Again we thought this was odd, but we stopped and handed our receipt to the employee. Sherry then proceeded to dig through each and every one of our bags, and she compared every item in each bag to our receipt. Meanwhile I was standing in the cold and wind, suffering extreme pain and discomfort.

I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed my husband and I are at the way we were treated at Home Depot this evening. I do not know if this particular store is experiencing problems, but I can tell you that we do not fit the profile of folks who are trying to commit a crime. Aside from the fact that I am disabled, we are both gainfully employed. We are conservative, educated, and very ethical. For the life of me, I cannot understand why the employees of this store decided to target us. We definitely do NOT fit the profile of folks who deserve to be frisked at the exit door.

My husband and I have been loyal Home Depot customers for many years, and this WAS our store of choice for our MANY home improvement projects. We have never experienced anything like this before, and after this incident it is extremely unlikely that we will EVER shop at Home Depot again. We will visit Lowe's for any future home improvement projects.

Company: Home Depot
Country: USA

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