Home Depot
Installation rip-off attempt and special orders never ready

Warning! Beware of Home Depot's in-home installation services. Please do not just take my word for it. I found these videos when I was going through a terrible experience with them, when they tried to rip me off on a couple of installations and my elderly mom, who is 82 years old.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFtspAIsOqs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lEHsspqIfk

If an average handyman or contractor tried to do to me what Home Depot tried to do, that contractor would most likely lose their license and possibly be charged with contractor fraud. Unfortunately, Home Depot has a lot of protection because of its name and shady policies that keep it leaning over the line without crossing it as far as a court of law may be concerned. But be very careful with them. Luckily, they did not succeed in ripping me off, but they came close, and if I did not know better about building and materials, I would have been a victim.

Shame on them. If you are a contractor, boycott them, because now they are a competitor. If you are just doing work around your house, boycott them for ripping off innocent people. They may try to sell you a roof if you don't need one. They may try the bait-and-switch tactic, getting you in on one price and then charging you heavily for any prep work. They will try to get you to pay for prep work when in fact you don't need the work done. They avoid taking responsibility for these fraudulent actions by saying that they use subcontractors. But really, the subcontractors are hired through Home Depot, paid by Home Depot, and trained by Home Depot, so they are there just so the company doesn't have to take responsibility.

My advice to anyone is to forget about using the kitchen designers to plan your kitchen cabinets. There is a good chance they will get the dimensions wrong and/or mess up your order at least once, if you are lucky. The quality of the materials and merchandise Home Depot sells now has slowly but consistently gotten worse. Good luck finding someone who is actually knowledgeable in the department where they work. There are a few, but just a few. Do not rely on the website or on calling the store beforehand to check whether an item is in stock. The inventory is constantly wrong. There is a good chance that if you ask an employee to physically go and check the items on the shelf, they will lie to you and say the item is there, when really all they do is look on the computer. The only time you will get any satisfactory customer service is when the district managers are in town. There is at least one condescending, arrogant know-it-all in each department whose knowledge is mediocre at best.

Also, if you buy something on special order and go to pick it up, they tell you to call two hours before arriving so they can get the order together. Never once have they had the order ready when I got there. Most times the order was combined with somebody else's order or had items missing.

Company: Home Depot
Country: USA

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