The next house I build will NOT have any doors!!!
Believe it or not, the saga has continued…
Last week was another series of calls with two more broken-door pick-up requests and verification numbers being issued by Home Depot online. At week’s end I was called by the shipper to plan Saturday delivery of the replacement door. I asked about the door pick-up and nope, he had no records of any requests to get it. Home Depot then said they’d expedite the pick-up request, but advised, it takes 72 hours to process a request. I reminded them the first request was made over TWO WEEKS AGO. Never-the-less, the shipper asked that I stay home between noon and 5pm for the door delivery and, no, they could not offer a 30-minute-in-advance courtesy call.
So on Saturday I got busy in the morning. The car passed it’s DEQ (Dept. of Environmental Quality) air pollution inspection and I waded through a 20-person-deep line at the Dept. of Motor Vehicles to renew my registration (had to go in person with my address change). I returned Home Depot bathroom tile I had purchased because I was so unhappy with the company and rebought the tile from a small local store. Incidentally, the local store was a LOT cheaper. Then I raced home to wait for my door.
At 5:30pm the delivery mini-van arrived. Yes, they had a five-hour window and didn’t make it–unbelievable. The driver hops out of the van and first apologizes because the van was too small for the door so he stripped off all protective wrappings from my steel french door before cramming into the van between a bath vanity and several other large items he had to deliver. He pulled it out and I noticed that though scuffed and scraped, it was not broken. I asked him if he would take the broken door and he said he had no orders to do that. I shared the latest tracking number and he shrugged, got back in his van and left.
Back on the phone I spoke with Bev at the local brick-and-mortar HD about what happened. She was disgusted and gave me an internal customer service number to call and said I should request a discount on the door. Later I called Home Depot online support and talked with Susan. By the end of the call she sounded irritated with me–she had not earned that right. The best they could do? They still couldn’t credit me the funds for the door they’d failed to pick up for the past two weeks but she would issue ANOTHER pick up request. And for the scraped up door? She could offer 15% off or a store voucher for a can of paint to repaint it. I told her the paint was more appropriate provided they also provide the professional painter. After all, I paid for a new, professional product, and want it to look new and professional. She said the local brick-and-mortar store would have to pay for the painter, so they couldn’t do that. With that I ended up with 15% refunded, a scuffed up door and deep irritation about the whole matter… oh yes, and they’re still holding my money for the broken door.
Today I received a call from the shipper. They say they plan to pick up the door tomorrow between 12 and 1pm. I advised them that at 1:10 I will be back at work. Think they’ll make their window? Susan at Home Depot online got headquarters permission so that the moment they pick up the door, the refund can be authorized, rather than waiting for it to reach their warehouse first.
So my apologies to you all. This part of the blog has not been very fun–courtesy Home Depot online. My hope is that in no longer dealing with them, the project will be more enjoyable for everyone.
More Saving. More Doing. Less Irritation….. avoid Home Depot online.
Will I shop their brick-and-mortar? I can’t say. I’m far too irritated with that company as a whole.
