Our Home Depot Nightmare
While our experience pales in comparison with others who have posted their home improvement debacles, we thought we should let fellow consumers know that one can experience problems wherever they go for home improvements. We contracted with the Matthews North Carolina Home Depot [HD] store [No. 3602] to remodel our master bathroom on February 23, 2008. We thought that HD was reputable and that we would not encounter any hassles or have to do very much to get our remodel completed. While we didn’t know it at the time, we were lied to from the beginning by one of the associates and did not receive adequate information from another. Our project included a new: vanity, countertop, mirrors, tile floor and a tiled shower. The project totaled in the $12,000 range — we did some of the tear out and had other companies perform work that HD contractors would not. When our tile was delivered, there were three different die lot numbers for the tile, the bull nose and the border. Obviously, the colors of the tile varied and would not look proper if used. The associate told us that we would get the die lot number that we had seen in the store — obviously a fabrication. After considerable complaining and a visit to the store, we received consistent die lot numbers. There were many other problems [far too many to discuss here] that we encountered during the entire project the major issue is discussed below. When the tile installation started our problems began. [as we understand, all HD stores in/around Charlotte NC use the same tile company] — don’t know if this is the case elsewhere. It is our understanding that this tile company then contracts with self-employed installers. The installer that was sent to us was supposed to be the best this company had to offer. Oh boy, was that an illusion on the part of the owner. After complaining to the Customer Care Line, a manager from the company came to look at the job, along with the HD Area Services Manager Some of the problems we encountered were: the tile on the shower walls was not level — the company manager said our tile was level but we had to show him that he was evaluating plumb and not level. Surprisingly, the HD Area Services Manager who was also on-site did not know the difference either. the tile was not tall enough to allow for the shower head to be within the tile the front riser was not level the tile pan was not level the grout lines did not match from wall to wall – the installer built one wall and then built the other. He should have built both walls simultaneously and used spacers to assure all grout lines were equal there were also problems with other parts of the tile work around the garden tub. After the tile company manager and the HD Area Services Manager visited, the owner and another manager came to our house. The owner could readily see that our concerns were valid. Ironically, while they were in our bathroom walking around, floor tiles began to come up. What a day it was for us — he could not weasel out of the situation even if he wanted to at this point. Ultimately, the owner realized the job was so bad that all of the tile was removed and other installers redid the job. Before and during the tile installation, we were not given adequate information by one associate concerning plumbing products. We had Moen plumbing trim that was installed by the builder. We purchased Kohler trim which is incompatible with Moen rough-ins. Had we received adequate advice from the HD associate when we purchased the trim, we would have purchased the proper Kohler rough-ins, hence saving much time and frustration. In summary, I advise you not to place your faith in Home Depot just because it is a huge company. After talking to folk from Texas, Canada, and even within the company itself, Home Depot has major problems with its home improvement departments. If you want to get the run around, sub-standard service, being called a liar, ignored: just contract with Home Depot. A word of advice if you encounter major problems, don’t settle for their standard $500 gift card —hold out for real dollars as we did. We finally settled with Home Depot on July 8, 2008, but only then after threatening a
lawsuit.
