Home Depot - complaint - Am I being unreasonable
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion: Archive July 2007:
Home Depot - complaint - Am I being unreasonable
You know I just said in another thread that I love my LG washer. I guess I jinxed myself. I did a load of laundry last night, and it started leaking water. Of course, it is just over a year old. Dh said not to worry, he got the extended service plan through Home Depot.
What a nightmare this morning has been. I was on the phone with them for over 2 hours, and still don't have an appt. to get my washer fixed. Well, I do, but I am going to have to pay for it. I was so frustrated, I just called the repair place we use, and set up an appt. this afternoon for them to come fix it! First, I called the extended warranty dept. 3 times, and was hung up on each time before I could get help. I finally realized on the 4th call, after the woman took all my information again, put me on hold, and then came back to tell me "they don't know who provides the repair service for my area, so they would call me back in 48 hours with the name of the company, so I could make an appt" that nobody wanted to tell me this, so they just hung up on me while I was on hold. This is just unacceptable, I have to wait 48 hours to even make an appt.!! When I told the woman that it was unacceptable, that I wanted a callback by the end of the day, she transferred me to a manager. The first words out of the managers mouth were "There is nothing I can do for you" After I told him that I worked in customer service, as a manager for 9 yrs, and I was very dissatisfied with this answer. I didn't think it was too much to ask, to have him callback with the name of the service company by the end of the day today, he agreed to transfer me to a department that could help me. He, of course, hung up on me during the transfer, so I called the number he had given me, it was to GE???? So, I decided to call the complaint department to get help. What a joke. The first girl, once again hung up on me after I waited on hold for over 20 minutes. The 2nd girl in the complaint department was very nice. But, after putting me on hold and talking with the extended warranty dept, she told me no one could tell her why it would take 2 days to find out what company serviced my area. She agreed it was ridiculous, but she couldn't do anything to help me. So, I hung up with nothing. I kept getting that extended warranty is a different company, so they couldn't do anything, that is just the wrong answer. I am proud of myself that I remained calm the entire time I was on the phone.
I am just going to pay to have someone fix it. I can't go for several days without it, not in the heat we are having. My boys clothes are dirty and stinky! But, I am going to write an official compaint to Home Depot. Do you think it is unreasonable for me to ask them to cancel my extended warranties(I bought a refrigerator, washer, and dryer a little over a year ago), and just refund my money that I paid for the warranties? I just don't want to deal with them...period. I also will shop at Lowes now. I just can't believe how rude, and unhelpful EVERYONE I talked to was. I guess I just don't understand how they can charge me for a service, but not know who is suppose to service me!
Ugggg....I feel better now. Hopefully, it is just something minor, like a leaky hose. Now, I am going to take a few Aleve, and then wait a few days to write my letter, so I am calm.
Glad you had a good little vent.. hopefully you can get it fixed and it doesn't cost you too much.. Bunch of crud, I agree.. I would right a complaint too.. best of luck and lots of hugs..
Did you pay by credit card? If so, contact them and they should do a chargeback on the warranty you paid.
I hate to tell you, but I have far worse stories I could tell about lowes (that is where we bought ALL our appliances from a few years ago).
Sorry you are having so much difficulty. Have you tried calling the manufacture? I had a lot more service when I called the company directly.
Good luck!
write... not right..
For Audio/Video/TV, Computer Products, Home Appliances
U.S.A. Corporate Headquarters
1000 Sylvan Avenue
Englewood Cliffs, NJ
07632
Toll Free: (800) 243-0000
LG Web site:
http://us.lge.com/products/category/list/home%20appliances_laundry.jhtml
No , I do not think so, I'm such a hot head when I was transferred to the manager , I would have told him also that I wanted to cancel and wanted my money back , but no I would write and and let them know that in light of the service I received in regards to my extended warrenty, I see that it is not beneficital (sp) to me and I would like a refund. they are going to try to offer you this freebie or that to keep it. Nope you had your chance and you blew it.
Debbie, I don't know if you read any of *my* vent posts earlier this year about Home Depot. But I can TOTALLY relate to how you are feeling!!!!!!!!!!!! I HATE that store. The employees are incompetent, rude, unhelpful, dishonest, ignorant, and totally apathetic. We have gone up the food chain to management and D.M. more than once in the last 6 months. Their customer service department is among the worst that I've ever dealt with. They mess things up, refuse to correct them, make promises, lie, NEVER do what they say they are going to do, and they ALWAYS put you on hold, transfer you from one person to another and ALWAYS cut you off/disconnect you/deliberately hang up on you.
I hope I never have to shop there again. Period. I will NEVER buy an appliance from them. I will NEVER buy any major item for my home from them again either. I will pay more money shopping somewhere else to get decent customer service before I step foot into Home Depot again.
It sounds like the store employees in your area are JUST LIKE the ones in my area. I wish I had some great advice for you, but I don't. This is one company who truly is so big, they just do not care if they have unsatisfied customers. I keep hoping Lowes will blow them out of the water. I remember when Sears got so big and full of themselves long ago..........that's a company that never fully recovered.
Karen, I do remember!
You know, I just think that customer service isn't what it used to be. I knew I was in trouble when I asked the girl in complaints for the address to write a formal complaint, and she had to put me on hold to get it! It is just terrible when you talk to 7 people, and every single one of them could care less about helping you.
Yvonne, I did call GE, and they were really nice. But, since my manufactures warranty has expired there is nothing they can do. She said that Home Depot contracts out to service companies, and they have to fax the proper paperwork to them for it to be covered. She doesn't know who they use, so she really can't do anything. We had problems when we first got the washer because the Home Depot delivery guys didn't balance the washer right. I called GE and they had one of their contracted service companies out the very next day. It took just a 10 minute phone call. I am really bummed we just didn't get an extended warranty through them.
Oh well.....
It's fixed, and it was so minor, only cost me $70.00 for the labor charge.
Now, I have to gather my thoughts and write my letter to Home Depot, though I am not expecting much. My neighbor just told me that they had good friends that just had a major ordeal with them about carpet that they purchased and had installed by them.
Debbie, we bought a hot water heater from Home Depot about a year & a half ago. Back in June - right before our vacation, of course, the thing went up and was leaking water everywhere. We called the number on the warranty papers and they said to go ahead and call a plumber that works on those models and so we did. The plumber came out and took a look at the hot water heater and determined that it was going to have to be replaced. So, I called the warranty company and had the plumber talk to them and they said that there were certain things he was going to have to check before they approved a replacement. Of course we were going to have to pay for any labor. So, he did what they asked to the tune of $118.00 and then they finally approved a replacement. My hubby & I went to Home Depot and got the replacement and then we had to have the same guy come out the next day to install it....for $505.00...... It would have almost been cheaper to just buy a new one. Actually, in my case, Home depot was pretty compliant, but when I called them to see if they had a replacement, I got the runaround too; transferred here & there and talking to a bunch of people. The whole mess was a big pain in the rear.
I would write the BBB to complain, as well as Home Depot's headquarters. I'm a CS manager on a cellular account, and I know that when someone complains about an employee(s) it certainly does trickle back down to them, as well as going to a resolution specialist. Our resolution specialist came to me about an account, and explained that right or wrong, she now had to "make the problem go away" by giving the customer what he wanted. (In this case, it was not warranted, he was abusing escalation procedure, but the point is the squeaky wheel got the grease.) So, complain, calmly, in writing until you get the results you need.
That's it. No appliances from Home Depot! We'll stick with our local appliance store, even if they cost more. It's always been easy to get things fixed!
Ditto, Dawn! I HATE Home Depot, too. I went shopping for a new dishwasher earlier this year. I have to have the portable type that you hook up to the sink because my kitchen is so tiny, I have no room to build on in. Anyway, I didn't see any at Home Depot, though I saw them on the Home Depot web site. The woman in the appliance department told me that if I ordered it on line, it would come to the store, and I would have to pick it up. However, she didn't "believe" that they were available.
I called my local "Mom and Pop" appliance store. Not only did they have two brands on the floor, but they told me that they can get any brand I want. They deliver for free, haul away the old one, and are always there for service.
My DD and her hubby had carpeting intalled by HD. After a few months, it started to stretch and ripple.
I, too, wonder where the "helpful" HD employees are that are advertised on TV. I can never find anyone in there, and when I do, they don't know anything. I'd rather deal with our local lumber yard, appliance store, and home improvement store.
BTW, Debbie, the guy in our appliance store said that "LG" stands for "life is good" and they are made in Korea.
I agree, no Home Depot appliances for me either. I have been generally dissatisfied with Home Depot for the past few years, because of poor customer service and not being able to find what I need (and what they used to carry). This thread only confirms my distrust of spending any major money with Home Depot.
Scott has been working for his dad on some major plumbing stuff and other kinds of tasks, and they have found that half the time Home Depot doesn't have what are ordinary plumbing fixtures and other things, and are instead going to the local old-fashioned hardware store where if they don't have it on the shelf they will go look in the back room and usually have it there.
Extended warranties - Consumer Reports recommends against them in general. Stores make about a 50% profit on extended warranties and, as Sandy experienced, it is often very difficult to get them honored. Often if you do need a repair, the repair costs about as much as the extended warranty did, or the cost of replacing the item is not much more than the cost of the extended warranty.
Ginny, this is the first time we have ever gotten extended warranties, and I will never do it again. The repairman was really nice, we have used this company before. He said that Lowes, Home Depot, Sears, are all the same. They usually make you wait about 2 weeks for someone to come out. I have decided after the treatment I received yesterday, and from what he said, that they want you to get frustrated, or tired of waiting, and call someone else, just like I did.
I am really curious, as I sit here doing laundry, how long it will really take them to call me back with the repair company information. If they even call me back at all.
Crystal, I got all the name of the people I talked to. But, to be honest, I am not expecting much from them. I worked for SBC as a manager in customer service for 9 yrs. before I had kids. It just made it more appauling talking to everyone, especially the manager, and complaint department. They obviously don't have the proper leadership at Home Depot. Not one single person, even came close with an apology, for the service I received. This would have been totally unaceptable when I was working. And, if someone mentioned formal complaint, we would have bent over backwards to turn them around, and make sure they were satisfied.
I haven't commented yet because I haven't had any such experiences with Home Depot.
I have, however, had wonderful experience with extended warranties from Circuit City and Best Buy, and wouldn't buy any home electronic appliance without one.
Two years ago we purchased a replacement guarantee on a VCR from Circuit City, and had to have the VCR replaced 8 months later when it quit rewinding tapes.
Three years ago we purchased a service contract with Circuit City with our Sony Wega TV, and then a year later had to have a repair man come out and fix the audio/video jacks in the front panel.
We purchased a repair/replace guarantee on our printer from Best Buy and one year later had the printer replaced.
We purchased a repair/replace guarantee on our son's XBox 360, which just 2 weeks ago quit playing 360 games. Because I had the guarantee and the unit was within the one-year manufacturer's warranty, I was able to have it replaced right at the store's customer service desk and didn't have to send it in to Microsoft and wait 4-6 weeks to get it back.
So, *we* have found the store extended warranties very useful. 
Lisa, Consumer Reports does say that for some electronics, the extended warranty is worthwhile, but even then, you have to balance the replacement cost against the cost of the warranty.
Yes, I understand that there is probably a big difference between an extended contract for a household appliance and one for a home electronic appliance. I just don't want anyone to assume that all extended warranties are unnecessary.
I don't recall that I have ever paid more than $50 for one, usually they run around $30, for what I have paid for, and are always less than the cost of a new one.
I have been fortunate in that I haven't needed to replace any major appliances in a few years. However, my 27-year-old clothes washer has just died. So, I am looking for a good sale. Appliances always go on sale on holiday weekends.
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