Home Depot
Pre-assembled grills forced a $19.99 truck rental

I visited Home Depot to buy a barbecue grill. At checkout I learned that every grill is sold pre-assembled under the store's "free assembly" promotion, and an assembled grill would not fit in my SUV. That left me no choice but to rent the store's truck for $19.99 to haul it home. I also asked the customer service employee to phone other stores to see whether any still had the grill in its box.

She responded with an attitude and rude remarks, but she did call around, and every other store turned out to assemble all of its grills too. Then I examined the 10 floor models. Most had no instruction booklet, a few contained spare hardware inside them, and others were badly scratched (the hoods and knobs are stainless steel).

A free service is a nice idea, but I call it a scam when it forces you to spend more money. Now I can only hope the assembler got it right and that nothing is missing. I overheard that he quit, and he probably assembled himself out of a job by building every grill in the store. Thanks, Home Depot, for the "free" service that cost me extra.

Company: Home Depot
Country: USA
State: California
City: Valencia
Address: 28033 newhall ranch road
Site: homedepot.com

  <     >