NEVER ordering anything big from Home Depot again! (Updated)

[dr.girlfriend]

Ugh, such a never-ending frustration!  I ordered patio furniture from Home Depot, and a big reason I ordered it was because it was in stock.  I placed the order on the phone with a customer service rep who confirmed it was in stock.  That was in mid MARCH.  It was supposed to arrive April 12th.

I've been waiting, and waiting.  I've called 4 separate times and spent close to 4 hours on the phone listening to their horrible repeating hold message.  Every time, the most they can tell me is, "It's on its way to you, but we don't know when.  There's nothing we can do, call back in a week if you haven't gotten any more info."  Two WEEKS ago I got a message that it had "shipped," saying I would get an update in three days.  I waited a full week and then called.  The update was that it was on some freighter truck between California and Pennsylvania, and they wouldn't have an ETA until it arrived and was unloaded at the local shipper.  That was a full week ago, and apparently they are taking a very scenic route, because it still apparently hasn't even made it to the local shipper.  90% of the good weather for the year has probably already passed, and our priority for getting it was for outdoor entertaining due to COVID, but everyone (thankfully) is going to be fully vaccinated and immune by the time it actually arrives.  

[RockNVoll]

Ugh, that's so frustrating, I'm sorry! I also hope that 90% of your good weather isn't really already behind you and that you're just exaggerating because you're (understandably!) annoyed

I've had a similar experience with Lowe's and I swear the worst part is dealing with the stupid phone tree and getting anyone to give you an answer. Maybe just dispute with your credit card company at this point?

[dr.girlfriend]

May 10, 2021 20:59:45 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

Ugh, that's so frustrating, I'm sorry! I also hope that 90% of your good weather isn't really already behind you and that you're just exaggerating because you're (understandably!) annoyed

I've had a similar experience with Lowe's and I swear the worst part is dealing with the stupid phone tree and getting anyone to give you an answer. Maybe just dispute with your credit card company at this point?

It depends how soon and bad the cicadas and mosquitos get, but the bulk of the outdoor entertaining we had planned would have been in April and May.  My husband is very bug-phobic so as soon as it's mosquito weather he is done with the outdoors.  :-P

[RockNVoll]

May 10, 2021 21:54:58 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

May 10, 2021 20:59:45 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

Ugh, that's so frustrating, I'm sorry! I also hope that 90% of your good weather isn't really already behind you and that you're just exaggerating because you're (understandably!) annoyed

I've had a similar experience with Lowe's and I swear the worst part is dealing with the stupid phone tree and getting anyone to give you an answer. Maybe just dispute with your credit card company at this point?

It depends how soon and bad the cicadas and mosquitos get, but the bulk of the outdoor entertaining we had planned would have been in April and May.  My husband is very bug-phobic so as soon as it's mosquito weather he is done with the outdoors.  :-P

Gotcha. I can't fault him for that; I've always been a mosquito magnet and growing up it led me to avoid being outdoors, too.  I'm sorry you didn't get to experiment with your patio though and see if you'd enjoy it! 

[ellipses84]

It’s so frustrating. We had major issues between the manufacturer and shipping company for another store this year. Like, the delivery date you emailed me a confirmation for and called and left a robo call message for the night before was not a real delivery date and the furniture is still at the factory?

[ellipses84]

It’s so frustrating. We had major issues between the manufacturer and shipping company for another store this year. Like, the delivery date you emailed me a confirmation for and called and left a robo call message for the night before was not a real delivery date and the furniture is still at the factory?

[Susie]

That sounds super frustrating.  The shitty communication piece and the inability to communicate clearly about stock is on HD, but the underlying delay... that's everybody right now.  Appliances, building materials, all of it, thanks covid, and nobody is setup to deal with delays and mishaps on this order of magnitude.  

We're running into it with supplies for projects we wanted to do before move-in, that just may not be possible.  We have a one-time, one-month opportunity to do projects when no one lives there, and we are not able to make great use.  I'm trying hard to maintain perspective.  In the grand scheme of covid-related losses, we're doing ok.

[CrazyLucky]

May 10, 2021 22:16:02 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

May 10, 2021 21:54:58 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

It depends how soon and bad the cicadas and mosquitos get, but the bulk of the outdoor entertaining we had planned would have been in April and May.  My husband is very bug-phobic so as soon as it's mosquito weather he is done with the outdoors.  :-P

Gotcha. I can't fault him for that; I've always been a mosquito magnet and growing up it led me to avoid being outdoors, too.  I'm sorry you didn't get to experiment with your patio though and see if you'd enjoy it! 

That is super frustrating.  Do they even offer you a remedy?  Like a discount or just a cancellation?

Let me put in a plug for Thermacell.  I am also a mosquito magnet.  One time I had bug spray on and got 23 bites.  DH was sitting next to me and  got 1 bite, and he did not have bug spray on.  Jerk!  Anyway, he got me this thing called a Thermacell.  It is amazing.  It does a great job keeping mosquitoes away when I'm camping.  My BIL also has the mosquito magnetism.  I bought him a system that is meant for outside, like on your patio or deck.  He hasn't used it yet, but I'm hoping it works for him as well as it does for me.  It might be worth trying for you!

[dr.girlfriend]

May 11, 2021 11:48:41 GMT -5 CrazyLucky said:

May 10, 2021 22:16:02 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

Gotcha. I can't fault him for that; I've always been a mosquito magnet and growing up it led me to avoid being outdoors, too.  I'm sorry you didn't get to experiment with your patio though and see if you'd enjoy it! 

Let me put in a plug for Thermacell.  I am also a mosquito magnet.  One time I had bug spray on and got 23 bites.  DH was sitting next to me and  got 1 bite, and he did not have bug spray on.  Jerk!  Anyway, he got me this thing called a Thermacell.  It is amazing.  It does a great job keeping mosquitoes away when I'm camping.  My BIL also has the mosquito magnetism.  I bought him a system that is meant for outside, like on your patio or deck.  He hasn't used it yet, but I'm hoping it works for him as well as it does for me.  It might be worth trying for you!

Good to know!  I'll check it out.

[dr.girlfriend]

May 11, 2021 11:48:41 GMT -5 CrazyLucky said:

May 10, 2021 22:16:02 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

Gotcha. I can't fault him for that; I've always been a mosquito magnet and growing up it led me to avoid being outdoors, too.  I'm sorry you didn't get to experiment with your patio though and see if you'd enjoy it! 

That is super frustrating.  Do they even offer you a remedy?  Like a discount or just a cancellation?

Nope, the most they said was that they might automatically cancel the order if it is not going to arrive by end of May, which would be several months after I ordered it.  I didn't put in all the details, but what was especially frustrating was that even a few weeks ago they were showing it as in stock on their website, with an arrival date of early May.  So, even though they had yet to fulfill my "in stock" order from six weeks earlier, they were still letting new people order it and promising them delivery dates that are obviously unattainable.  It's frankly just fraudulent at that point.

[dr.girlfriend]

So, the stuff finally arrived, and I was so excited to put it together this weekend. It's missing parts! Two of the connector bars for one of the chairs are missing. It was another long and frustrating call to Home Depot, in which they told me the manual I was using, which clearly had the name and model # of the product printed on it, must have the wrong number because that number was bringing something different up in their system (this is a Home Depot exclusive product from their Hampton Bay line). And the chairs themself have a UPC label with a different model #, which is also apparently wrong. And then even when he looked up the manual for the thing I ordered based on my order number, he said the parts were all lettered differently. It shouldn't have been hard because there are a maximum of 4 of EVERY part of the chairs except this part, which should have 8 (I only got 6), and STILL he couldn't seem to figure out which part it was. And the parts are backordered anyway. The customer service rep said he would call me in 3 - 4 days to "update" me. Aarrrgh.

[RockNVoll]

OMG, I'd totally lose it. I'm so sorry!

[mrsukyankee]

Oh, that's horrible. Yeah, I'd be pissed off.

[marie]

dr.girlfriend, I ordered a patio set from Home Depot back in March and it took a month to come in, but was on time based on their delivery estimate. BUT we were also missing a cross bar for the chair. DH called the maker of the set directly and they said 12 weeks for the replacement part! 12 weeks!

[rooster222]

That is absolutely ridiculous!

If you end up sending it back, I highly recommend checking Target. I ordered a sofa & loveseat 2 weeks ago. Both came early and I had shipping notifications letting me know the exact delivery window. When we went to assemble the sofa, the parts weren't lining up so I called the enclosed number. No hold time, instantly gave me 20% refund (because I told them we could possibly modify it but it may break it). They told me to try it and if it didn't work to call back for a pick up. If was the best customer service experience I've had in a very long time. (And we were able to make it work!)

[karinothing]

Ugh I am sorry. We had issues with a dishwasher from them (it came damaged twice, we returned it and they hadn't refunded us after a few months of weekly calls. Eventually got the money back from our credit card).

[dr.girlfriend]

May 16, 2021 8:30:25 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

 The customer service rep said he would call me in 3 - 4 days to "update" me. Aarrrgh.

I'm sure it will shock and surprise you all to know that it has now been five days and the customer service rep has not called me back.  I'm not going to keep updating you guys because I'm sure this post is getting annoying, but definitely not going to deal with Home Depot again for anything major!

[macmars45]

May 21, 2021 13:21:44 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

May 16, 2021 8:30:25 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

 The customer service rep said he would call me in 3 - 4 days to "update" me. Aarrrgh.

I'm sure it will shock and surprise you all to know that it has now been five days and the customer service rep has not called me back.  I'm not going to keep updating you guys because I'm sure this post is getting annoying, but definitely not going to deal with Home Depot again for anything major!

You can if you like.

Back in Feb/March 2020 H and I bought new flooring for our TH from Home Depot. It was a huge issue to get them to give us our money back when we decided to use a handyman instead of their installers. It took at least 6 weeks and at least 8 phone calls. ALSO they told us we had to do an asbestos test on our flooring before they'd install. In our 18 year old TH that contained no asbestos. It was such a racket. We were not pleased. We don't buy anything big from them anymore either.

[Deleted]

Those fuckers sent a 70 year old man, by himself, in an S-10 pick up truck to deliver our pre-hung custom double french doors once! Thank goodness we were able to pay a neighbor kid $20 to help my husband get it them out of the truck and into our house, because there was no way that guy could. I felt so bad for him but, man, was i pissed!

Keep updating! People should know how badly they suck.