In a nutshell, Home Depot damaged a kitchen cabinet I ordered...twice, then lost the 3rd one, as well as sent me a wrong cabinet and sold me a damaged/used window - now they refuse to expedite the delivery of the replacements. 35 days after placing the order, it'll still be about a week before I have everything...assuming nothing else is damaged or lost. Here is a copy of the letter I mailed to them with updates below it:
Home Depot Customer Service
2455 Paces Ferry Rd
Atlanta, GA 30339
July 11, 2018
To Whom It May Concern -
A copy of this is being sent to every Home Depot mailing address I can find because I am at my wits' end dealing with your incompetent & uncaring company.
On June 7th I placed a large order for kitchen cabinets - Order# W928138967
June 18th: I was told that 1 of the cabinets arrived damaged at the store & another one was ordered. The info on this cabinet is:
Shaker Assembled 36x34.5x24 in. Pots and Pans Drawer Base Kitchen Cabinet in Satin White - Store Sku # 1002352712 Internet # 301358150
June 23rd: I scheduled to rent a Penske truck from you so that I could pick up all the cabinets on June 28th.
June 26th: I was told that the replacement cabinet arrived damaged at the store & yet another one was ordered. The due date for the 2nd replacement cabinet was by July 6th.
June 28th: When I arrived at the Hamburg #1286 store to rent the truck & pick up the cabinets, I was told that the truck I was to get was not at the store because no one bothered to bring it over from another store. I rescheduled the rental and pickup for the next day.
June 29th: The truck was there & I was told that my orders (this one, as well as Order #'s W928285386, W928769478, and W931015827) were all on 4 shrink wrapped pallets. Seeing as I was told I had to sign for the order before I saw it, I signed each with "SWP UTC" which means "Shrink Wrapped Pallets - Unable To Count". The order was brought out on pallets & we did break them down for loading into the rental truck. The piece count was correct.
July 7th: I checked the status of the order online & it still showed "On its way to store" with a "Ready For Pickup" date by July 6th. I then called 1-800-HOME-DEPOT to see where the cabinet was & I was told that the cabinet was delivered to the Hamburg #1286 store on Monday July 2nd. So I called the Hamburg #1286 store (716-825-0872) to see if they knew where the cabinet was. She told me that she had no record of the cabinet being delivered to them on July 2nd & that it might have been delivered on July 6th & not checked into the system, but seeing as it's Saturday, no one is in the receiving department to verify this & that I'd have to call back on Monday at 7 AM when they got back in. At this time, I typed up a long email to HomeDepot@orders.homedepot.com & Customer_Care@homedepot.com. I thought it'd be easier for someone to read over this mess, look into it, find a solution & then call me because I was getting sick of explaining everything to a different person each time I called. I received a canned copy/paste reply the next morning saying how sorry you were for my inconvenience, how "Offering great customer service is our top priority...", and that I should contact the Online Customer Service Team via text/chat or phone. It's hard enough explaining this to someone over the phone and you suggest I text all this?? Wouldn't it be easier for all parties for Home Depot to investigate this mess & call me back with a solution? (see The Home Depot Case: 11763670)
July 8th: I called 1-800-HOME-DEPOT again because, based on my years in the transportation industry, if the trucking company said the shipment was delivered on Monday July 2nd, this the cabinet was missing. They contacted the Hamburg #1286 store and told me that someone named Jeanie was going to go physically look in the receiving area for the cabinet & that she would call me. She never called.
July 9th Part 1: I called the Hamburg #1286 store at 9 AM & I was told that someone was going to go look for it in receiving & they would call me back. No one called by 11:30, so I called again & this time, I was told someone would call me back by 1. No one called by 2:30 so I called for a 3rd time & spoke to Katie, who said she was going to look into it & did actually call me back and like I guessed, the cabinet is missing. She said she was going to credit me with 10% of the cost (which means nothing to me) & that she ordered another - 4th - cabinet. She didn't know the due date, but based on the website, it's July 13 - July 18
July 9th Part 2: I had scheduled my contractor to install the cabinets on July 9th as well. I informed him about the missing floor cabinet, so he started to work on installing the wall cabinets. That's when I found a new problem with this order: 1 of the other cabinets I ordered - Model # KWD2436-SSW - was missing from when I picked them up. Instead, I have 1 Model # KW2436-SW. The missing cabinet is the 1 diagonal/corner cabinet we have for the walls. That meant he would not be able to install any of the cabinets until the missing ones were here.
July 9th Part 3: The contractor was also going to remove the existing window, widen the opening, and install a new window in the kitchen. The window I ordered from you (Order# W928285386) had a 1.5" crack/separation on the bottom corner and there was some kitchen caulk in the area that was broken. I doubt that the window maker uses kitchen caulk for any reason, so it is my opinion that you sold me a damaged window that another customer returned to you. I looked to see if you or any other Home Depot stores had that size window in stock, but there are none in a 75 mile radius & if I ordered one, the soonest it would be here is in about 30 days. So now I have a 4'x3' hole in my kitchen wall. Needless to say, I had to pay the contractor & his crew for the day, as well as tell them that I had no work for them the next day because I knew neither of the missing cabinets were going to be here the next day.
July 9th Part 4: I once again sent a long detailed email to HomeDepot@orders.homedepot.com & Customer_Care@homedepot.com and I made sure I started it out by stating: "I'm going to start by saying that I've already called 1-800-HOME-DEPOT 3 or 4 times, as well as spoken to the local Hamburg #1286 store at least 6 times in the past 3 days & I'm getting sick of explaining this mess to a new person each time, so I'd like for someone to read this over & call me..."
July 10th Part 1: I received yet another canned copy/paste reply that once again told me to call or text the Online Customer Service Team. So I bit the bullet & called to explain all this to someone for the 10th time? I've seriously lost count. I spoke to Keith, who was very sympathetic to my problems. I told him I needed the 2 missing cabinets ASAP & that I'd like for Home Depot to have them sent to my house via overnight delivery so that I had work for the contractors I had scheduled for the entire week. He put me on hold & when he came back, told me that, while there are circumstances where Home Depot will overnight a shipment to a customer, this is not one of them. I don't remember my exact words, but my reply was along the lines of "How bad does Home Depot have to screw up before they'll overnight a shipment to a customer?!" We then spoke about the incorrect cabinet that I received & he told me that I'd have to place a new order for the missing cabinet (see Order# C932562719) and that I'd get a refund on the original cost of the missing cabinet when I returned the incorrect one that you sent me. Keith was great, but his hands were tied, so I asked who I could complain to about all this & he transferred me to Antonia in Customer Care. I explained this mess to her & she transferred me to Brittney, who told me is was basically impossible for Home Depot to overnight the cabinet to me because it was already picked up from the warehouse. Like I said, I've worked in the transportation industry & it is not uncommon for an item that's already been shipped to be stopped & rerouted for an expedited/overnight delivery - it happens all the time. I tried my best to explain to her how this is done, but I don't think she had any idea how the transportation industry works. I gave up on getting either of these cabinets
July 10th Part 2: I informed my contractor that the cabinets might be here Monday the 16th, Tuesday the 17th, Wednesday the 18th, or Thursday the 19th. So he's scrambling around to find work for this week & getting ready to possibly move the work he has scheduled for next week so that he can install my cabinets. He is not happy & I wouldn't blame him if he told me to find someone else.
July 11th (Today): So not only do I have no kitchen, I have a hole in the wall where a window should be. I have to wait another 5-8 days for 2 of the cabinets that I ordered 35 days ago to come in. I have to arrange to pick up those 2 cabinets, as well as return the damaged window & the incorrect cabinet you sent me. I also have to pay the contractor & his crew to do nothing for at least 2 days, maybe more unless I somehow got lucky for the 1st time in this mess & he found other work.
We just purchased this house & will be doing a lot of remodeling. 1st the kitchen, then the upstairs bath, then converting the downstairs bath from a half to a full, then our bedroom, plus we need a new fence. Between the online & instore purchases that were put on our Home Depot credit card (acct ending in 4351 & has my email attached to it) I'm at almost $7,000 spent at Home Depot since we moved in. I was planning on using Home Depot for all these projects, so not only have you lost $10-15,000 in future business, you've basically given that money to Lowe's because I cut up our Home Depot credit card.
I feel that I have given Home Depot every opportunity to make this right. I am sending a copy of this letter & the attachments via US mail to every Home Depot address I can find, posting everything on my website at greenguy89.com/HomeDepot and I will be sharing it on every website & social media platform I can find. I am also extremely close to calling my credit card company an issuing a charge back for the full amount of $4252.10 for Order# W928138967 & we all know they will side with me, reverse the money & then we can all go from there.
Sincerely,
Mark Jenkins
If You Agree That My Complaints Are Justified
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July 11th: Googled "Hampton Bay kitchen cabinets" & found 2 customer service email addy's: HBDesignerSeries@rsipcs.com & Kitchens@rsihomeproducts.com - sent them a copy of the above letter (no reply as of July 24th)
July 13th: Found the name RSI Home Products on the boxes, so I filled out their contact form asking for assistance as it was 7 AM their time. They replied a little after 6 my time, but apparently can't help.
July 13th: Got a survey request from Home Depot in regards to this email I sent. I'm amazed I didn't curse in the comments section.
July 13th: Called 1-800-HOME-DEPOT at 9:12 AM to track the cabinets & all they can tell me is that they're due for delivery by Thursday July 19th (43 days after the order was placed). I sent a text to the contractor stating that we might as well write next week off because I can't afford to pay him & his crew to stand here all next week just incase the cabinets come in & I don't want him to lose out on work. Then, just over 2 hours after I spoke to Home Depot, one of the cabinets magically appeared on the dock at the local store. Of course, as luck would have it, my contractor found work for most of next week.
July 20th: Looked online at the order status for the corner wall cabinet (Order# C932562719) that was due into the local store by yesterday & it's still showing "On it's way to store" & has no tracking info. Called 1-800-HOME-DEPOT and spoke to Ariel who said she showed the cabinet being delivered to the Hamburg #1286 store on Monday July 16th. Called 716-825-0872 & spoke to Jessica who was very helpful. She took both order numbers & was going to make sure the cabinets were there before I drove over to pick them up. While I was waiting, my contractor showed up & since we had to go pick up the 1 cabinet we knew was there, we packed up the incorrect cabinet & the damaged window & headed over to Home Depot. When we walked in, both of my cabinets were waiting on a cart for me! It then took about 45 minutes for 3 very helpful customer service people (Gerry, Jud, and Jennifer) to sort out the mess with the incorrect cabinet (see July 10th Part 1 above) because even they were confused as to why I had to place a new order & pay for the replacement cabinet & then get a refund on the original order when I brought back the incorrect one, but they eventually sorted it out. But, had I not called, how long would the 2nd cabinet, that's been there for 5 days (since Monday), sat on the dock before I was told it was there??
July 21st: Checked my credit card to see if I was refunded for the window, the replacement for the incorrect cabinet, and one other cabinet I ordered in error. $600.65 total. Hasn't posted as of this morning. At least I have receipts!
July 23rd: $600.65 has not been refunded to my credit card as of 5:00 PM EDT
July 24th: Credit was finally posted to my account.
