Say Linda, we've heard Home Depot in California has been hiring Illegal aliens to do some of their home modeling work. How about you investigate if that's happening here in Washington State?

I am not surprised. I had to manhandle a contractor hired thru Home Depot to have a simple security door installed. Took almost an entire month to get a simple job done. Problems ranged from parts missing when the security door was delivered to contractors leaving the site after they claimed they did not have the necessary materials to complete the work. After days of phone calls to get them moving, they finally had their best person sent to us to complete the work. But it was insulting to know that I had to apply aggressive pressure. That's why I will never use Home Depot for future remodels.

You might, at least, make an effort to provide correct information. As I understand it, HD requires a deposit of 25% upon order, not payment-in-full. Also, your suggestion that homeowners are protected with other contractors by the presumed right to withhold payment is absolutely untrue. State law permits a contractor - any contractor - to collect full payment upon "substantial completion", a term that is not specifically defined by the law. Attorneys familiar with case law suggest that 90-95% is generally accepted as "substantial completion". With the law on their side, a contractor could successfully lien a property when they have not received payment and the property owner could be liable for the costs of that action as well as interest on the unpaid balance. Your advice could cause serious problems for anyone who believed it to be accurate.

I would expect better.

During fall 2006 we received Home Depot bids for a complete re-roofing for either 30, 40, or 50 year material guarantees. They wanted us to purchase a Home Depot credit card, and put 25% down on our choice of roof, all work guaranteed and professionally done with "total project management." Now that we have seen the King5 tv investigations episode on Home Depot "home improvement," we are shocked and disappointed that Home Depot may not be what it claims to be. Thus, we are now very leary of accepting a roof contract with them. Maybe the "other" big home improvement store in this area deserves a shot.

I haven't done business w/ Home Depot in more than 5 years. Their corporate pandering to illegal aliens by building and financing day labor centers, allowing them to loiter in their parking lots and failure to do anything about thefts occurring right in their parking lots was enough to end my association w/ them.
I am not surprised by these developments...WA builders laws seem so lax that anyone can hang out a shingle and call themselves a contractor, sub-contractor or building "professional".
I hope more people will turn away from the "big box" and start really considering their choices when it comes to contracting work on the single most important and expensive investment in their lives.

i found the coverage interesting.... and was wondering did any of the people having problems with installs receive financial compensation ? what was the customer service paper they asked people to sign? what was its purpose ? did the home depot give out a phone number of someone to call when things or if things go wrong? i was reading the home depot statement... and i did like the background checks they do... and in a way can see why they would have to hire out projects... did you find any happy customers? on average how long does a kitchen remodel take? what were some of the issues that were faced other than the broken pipe? i have herd of things like mold in walls in this area just from the rain we have here.... can you tell or is there a test to find that before a remodel?

I am a home-owner that has also recieved unworthy service from Home Depot. We are in process of filing a complaint for a roofing job done in December.

We thought we were the minority when it came to shoddy work conducted by Home Depot.
We had kitchen and bathroom remodeling done by this company, and they ruined our floors and broke both toilets. The new flooring was never installed correctly and now we have 'squeaks' when we walk on the new flooring.
Besides taking 2 months longer than promised, and many broken parts, it was finally finished and we are both glad to never having to see these clowns in our home ever again.
We lost all respect for this retailer, and never shop in their stores since this incident about 1.5 years ago.
We also try to warn anybody who even mentions Home Depot to do any work on their home or condo.
They mislead us and required full payment in advance and then shook us off when we tried to call to see what the heck was going on with our project..................what a joke.

My husband and I are going through a similar thing with the Home Depot Store in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia. We ordered brand new windows and doors for our 45 year old home. The installor put in the wrong type of window for our siding. My husband approached the store and let them know that they had now created a potential leaky condo effect on our home. Sure enough this year one of the windows allowed water to enter our family room. We approached home depot and they are supposedly sending someone to "fix" the problem. We have not had a chance to speak to them about our doors yet, as they were installed by the same fellow. We can see daylight under the front door and the french doors were not nailed into the wood to hold them in place, it was silicone that was the only thing preventing the door from falling out. We complained to the store initially and they insisted they had to send the same installer back. We refused to have "Dave" return to our home to repair his shoddy work. Hopefully home depot follows through and allows us some customer satisfaction.

We contracted with the Home Depot to install our granite countertops. We were aware that they would be sending subcontractors to our home to complete the installation. However, the subcontractors sent subcontractors. While in our home during the installation, one of the three subcontractors committed burglarly and took the spare set of keys to our vehicles. A few weeks later, our car was stolen. We're still waiting for the Home Depot to resolve our complaint. To this day they have shown no interest in doing so. If you're going to have their installers in your home, be AWARE!

That ain't the half of it. I am a carpet installer and worked for home depot for years and more reciently for lowes and they are constantly selling people way more carpet than they need. Sometimes as much as twice the ammount they need to do the job properly. Things are so unorganized in the mornings i have had to go to a whole different lowes store just so i can get enough material to get the jobs done. Supervisors at more than one lowes have encouraged me to do the job incorrectly just so the job got done and they didn't have to deal with it any more. That was usualy because the customer was staying on top of things for each step so nothing goes wrong and that irritated them.

HELLO EVERYONE

I SAW THE KING5 THIS EVENING ABOUT THE ORDEAL ABOUT HOME DEPOT NOT TAKING CARE OF THEIR CUSTOMERS....I HOPE THAT HOME DEPOT SEE'S THIS STORY AND MAKE SURES THINGS GET TAKEN CARE OF

My mom had a similar saga with Lowes. They had her money for several months to install a new front door on her house, she never heard from them again until she started demanding to speak to managers and threatening contacting the State Attorney General only to have them say that her door was an "unusual size" and a custom door would have to be made and it would cost a fortune more. She did eventually get a refund, but will never go with box store contractors again.

Our home remodel begins with the reverse of the Home Depot folks. We went with a small company who used an elderly woman as the initial contact, a friendly salesman who took his time on 2 visits answering all our questions and there were no complaints listed against them with the state licensing office. Our 2 bath remodel and total flooring remodel for 1600 sq ft was supposed to take 7-10 days if we moved everything out of the house and allowed them to tackle the entire job at once. We removed everything from our home and ended up staying in a hotel for 17 days. Because of the expense, we told them we needed at least one bathroom functional and we would sleep on sleeping bags in our home until they were done. The job took 2-1/2 months total. Along the way, we kept pointing out shoddy work and unacceptable workmanship. The company "fired" three of the workers and sent their "top guy" to fix everything. The shower inserts were so small (19" wide to include the towel bar inside the shower) that our middle school boys didn't even fit inside without being squeezed between the shower wall and the towel bar. So, the company offered to "fix" the bathrooms one at a time and recommended beadboard for the shower walls. The finished product was a hybrid of the shower/tub insert base and a "firred out" beadboard wall that looked as if a kindergartner pieced it together. We asked them not to touch the upstairs bath as their "fix" looked shabby and there was no more room than when they started. After using the shower for a couple of weeks the beadboard began to swell. We called the foreman who came out and recommended the tub and shower be ripped out a third time and this time they were going to get a "specialist" in to fix the problem. He recommended tile, the salesman recommended formica. We went with tile but were told we had to pay an additional amount over the $19,000 we financed for the job (1/2 the cost of the tile.) We chose to buy a full sized tub and dispense with the shower doors and go back to shower curtain & rod. The "specialist" was not able to repair the curved walls from the previous builds, nor was he able to center the toilet on the floor. He did, however, fix the leak we had in the upstairs bath where the pipes had not been properly soddered and had leaked into the garage for over a month. (The three previous plumbers were were unable to accomplish that.) Today, we still have a gouge in the upstairs bath floor that has been promised to be repaired for MONTHS!! The craftsman ship in the bathrooms is unbelievably poor as well as the downstairs bathtub #3 does not drain water well, the fixtures were not properly installed, the toilet is on crooked...what's this company's name? Approved Construction in Kent, Washington. We intend to draft a letter to the owner and copy the state licensing office. Beyond that, we are angry and want satisfaction but need some advice about what else we can do.

Home Depot should yank all NBC affiliate advertising. This is rediculous!

As someone who hired Home Depot to remodel her kitchen, 2 bathrooms, refinish my hardwood floors, and lay tile in my formal living and dining rooms, I must say that these instances are extreme and KING 5 doesn't seem interested in pointing out the other side of the coin.

If people would take the time to read what they are signing, they would see the fine print. I contracted my services out of a Pierce County Home Depot and NEVER had a problem with quality or timeliness. How dare KING 5 try and pin point all the blame on Home Depot. How about pointing out consumers who don't care about who comes into their home and works on it? How about consumers who are all too willing to place blame on others due to lack of their own accountability. Laziness is a word that comes to mind. Consumers need to be held accountable and that's all there is to it. It's your home, your investment, know what you're getting into!

As far as that Home Depot "employee" who wanted to keep her identity a secret...she should be FIRED! I hope her home store finds out who she is and sends her packing. If Home Depot signs her paychecks, there should be some sense of loyalty. Shame on her!

I'm shocked that the news station I once counted on for reporting both sides could launch such a story without truly looking deeper into the picture. You've lost a loyal viewer and I will take my news watching to KIRO TV from now on.

P.S. Correction to my own spelling "soddered" should be spelled "soldered"

Home Depot is just about as typically greedy and money hungry as any big corp in the US. They aren't looking for good workers or human beings to work for them or do sub contractor work...they want robots!!! I worked as a sub-contractor for 3 1/2 years for them and had dozens and dozens of happy customer ranting about how good of job I did for them and Home Crepo...opps, I mean Home Depot! Then one day I did a job for a lady who was absolutely crazy. She seemed like she was on drugs and/or had some sort of mental problem or was having some weird sort of anxiety attacks. She hovered over me for three continuous straight hours and when I politely but firmer requested she leave the room so that I may do my job she went postal on me! What an experience!!! I walked outside and instantly called the problem in and the Home Depot Management instantly believed the customer and I was eventually fired! The point is: They had good contractors working for them and they fired most of them over minor or non-existing issues because they were looking for more “perfect employees” (Robots) Now they're finding out that their is a limited amount of good, dependable, conscientious people out there to be hire...in other words, they're finding out what all experience businesses already know..."good help is hard to find" and when you do find them, you better treat them right. I was treated with total disrespect and contempt from people who weren't even alive when I first started doing sub contract work. So now, they’re realizing nobody is perfect and they’ve burnt a lot of bridges with good solid contractors over trivial matters. Today, their own attitude are coming back to them in the form of sub-contractors with poor work ethics and little pride in their work. I never had one insurance or a bond claim on my coverage in 35 year career and was treated like I was worse than the plague! I wanted to cry because I really gave a damn about my work and really wanted people (Home Depot's customers) to be pleased with my work. I always believe that nobody would try harder to make the job the best it could look than I would! I suppose it's kind of like the same feelings a woman has after they've been raped!!! Talked about feeling USED!!! When you’re in a trade for 35 years, you naturally gain a sense of who you are and how good your work is by seeing other contractor’s quality of work and their many and often major screw-ups. I’ve seen all lot of really terrible work. I'm not a religious man but I am spiritual and I sincerely believe Home Depot is domed to some really bad luck or Karma or "bad will" in the next couple years. It's that ugly corporate, take-no-prisoners, suck-everyone-penny-you-can-out-of-the-customer attitude that Home Depot possesses that's going to be the undoing of this country and the principles it was founded on. I say SCREW Home Depot and all their greedy, over-paid-pompous, corporate officers and mindless, obsequious managers, and shareholders. You know who you are!!! All your money won’t do you any good if you don’t have a sole or conscience!!! Good Luck to you Home Depot!!!!

Home Depot, The names of contractors should be clearly posted. Before any conversation for installed purchases begin. It should be a Home Depot requirement to inform customers who will be doing the work and entering thier property.

I just pray the courts do not allow the contractors to drag the taxpaying homeowners through the legal grind. Experience has taught me. The innocent will be forced to suffer three plus years of litigation. The attorneys in the end will state "You will get your money back through equity." Meanwhile, the homeowner savings is plundered, forced second morgages to pay an attorney. The homeowner will be stuck waiting for a court date. To learn the Judge decides to go to a convention or on vacation. Then there is another six month wait.
For a repete preformance. The attorneys do not mind. A little kitchen job could net an attorney about $25,000.00.

Oh yeah there is always the BBB. Good luck!
Remember with the BBB you purchase your status.

Shall we applaud higher edcuation.

In response to the Watson's comments: You have no idea what you're talking about until you work for a corporation like Home Depot for several years minimum. Bottom Line, You've been lucky! Screw ups at Home Depot are a dime a dozen!! A business, no matter what their intentions are, cannot be "all things to all men" But Depot is trying like hell. Depot would like to own the world...Period!!! They want all the business and I mean ALL THE BUSINESS! Don't you believe in the First Amendment...Freedom of Expression??? You want that employee to be fired to speaking her mind and stating her feelings! Heck we should just shoot every wistle blower in the country and see how fast the environment and citizens really get screwed!!!! Shame on you! I can guarantee she's see a lot more of the inside working for Home Depot than you have. True, King5 didn't mention the other side of the coin but there are many many complaint being filed and the only way most people can get any justice to blow the horn on them to the news media because Depot WILL respond to that kind of exposure! Sears tried to do what Home Depot is doing today 40 years ago and failed because it is just logistically impossible!!!!!!!! Too many people, too many products, too many breakdowns of communications, too much hype!! If we just learn to take care of our own business and not get too greedy. the world would be a hell of a lot better place to live...no wonder the Iraqis hate our western guts!!!

In response to Tyron Mack’s comments: You’re right. They should post but they won’t because they don’t want the customer to know that they don’t have “control” over the independently licensed contractors entering their homes as much as they want you to think they do. Home Depot does not want to make a full disclosure like that (partially due to good lobbying with our honest congress!) because it would scare a lot of customers away. Depot wants to give the impression everyone is an employee but they don’t want the responsibilities that come with having “employees” like having to match social security benefits, workman’s comp insurance coverage, withholding Federal taxes and general liability directly with the customers. They want their contractors and subs to pay for all of that!!! In other words, Depot is trying to get the best of both worlds. They want to have the image that they have control over their “employees” but they don’t want to have financial burden of labor typically associated with employees. I admire you knowledge and attitude but the last time I worked as an independent sub-contractor, we had to sign a waver of lien, on each and every job BEFORE we could turn in our labor bills to get paid. It prevented any contractor or sub contractor from filing a lien and jerking the customer around whether he got paid or not. Hence your concerns about “dragging the customer” thru a long, costly protracted court procedure is not entirely accurate. But like the guy who wrote the book about the “Natural Cures They don’t want you to know about!” All of this is just my opinion!!! Keep an eye on these Turkeys…they love their money a little bid tooooooo much!!!
Ps. You’re right about the BBB and higher education! That cracked me up!!!

That sounds very unfortunate for the people who experienced those problems but it seems Home Depot is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that the customer is satisfied and happy with the final product. It seems we always hear about the bad situations and never the good. I was very satisfied with the one major home project I hired Home Depot to do for me a few years back. They installed a new roof for me and were very competitive in pricing and did an excellent job. They were in constant contact with me and kept me informed through every step of the process. I have not experience one problem since with the install and have referred their services out to many neighbors, co-workers and friends.

Linda,
When coming upon your segment late last night, I just knew you were talking about Lowes. Of course then you mentioned Home Depot severals times...
Now I'll elaborate a little more on my story in reguards to Lowes. While my story is not half as bad as the ladies in your story, I too had difficulties with having a shed built that we had purchased from Lowes. To begin with the first scheduled time was not met, the placement of where we wanted the shed built was wrong, not once but also the second time and the craftmanship was poor. The contractors were at my home three or four times to correct things and "Make us happy!". Yet, I still have issues, minor, in relation the ladies in your story, but never the less...I write hoping your veiwers don't just run across the street to Lowes from Home Depot thinking they're going to get a better deal!!!
If your interested in the full and rest of the story, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

ReBecca Faircloth

The people at Home Depot definately are not the only ones to subcontract. We were totally mystified when we hired 'Sears' over 15 years ago to re-face our cabinets. The prices were very high, but we felt we could trust a name like 'Sears'. Shoddy isn't a strong enough word to explain the lack of quality: hinges were not strong enough to support the cabinet doors, screws backed out of holes, paint on hinges started chipping immediately and the laminate began to lift in several places. The worst part of all of this was the MANY different groups of men coming in and out to do the work: not any one group knew what the other was doing and we gave up on complaining. We were fooled by the 'dependable' Sears name. We cancelled our Sears credit line and continue to tell everyone about our story. Why has this method of selling been allowed to continue? It's all about making money off of a mislead public.

I was a kitchen designer with Home Depot for nearly 3 years. We were constantly pushed to make the intalled sale even though we complained mightily because invariably it (the install) would come back to haunt us. Another designer in the Wenatchee store had an install go on for over a year and I don't know if they ever did get it right. Another of her sales (to the former Douglas County Sheriff) threatened a lawsuit over quality.

The problem lies in the need for a profit center while escaping liability. Home Depot tacks on a margin to the install then farms it out to a general contractor who has their margin who in turn farms it out to a sub-contractor. Since the price of the install is set by Home Depot at time of product sale and collected in it's entirity up front, at least in kitchen installs, there is little left over for the person actually doing the work. Since the good craftsmen are swamped with business this leaves only the inexperienced workers available.

Home Depot has some good products and prices, just don't trust the people know what they are doing and get your installation contractors from the yellow pages, referrals,and local home builder associations.

We purchased a kitchen island thru Home Depot that was scheduled for a 10 day delivery. When it did not come we called and discovered that it had been cancelled. I rescheduled and now we are still waiting for the island with really no response to get it. I will never do business with these people again.

I have been working with Home Depot since August on a entertainment center and remodeling of my bathroom. The subcontracter they assign me can never be reached and the project that I was told would take 3-5 days is still not finished.

Hello - Yes this is proof that big boxes are not better. The issue is supply and demand. Building remodeling is at or near record highs. Sub contractors generally work for box stores when they do not have their own available work. Because it is busy some of the great contractors workers decide that they want to be on their own and go get a licence and go to the boxes for work when they fail being on their own. Boxes do not know how to say We don't have quality subs right now because that effects their bottom line as they have to meet sales projections so they hire anyone just so there is a body on site and the result is it gives good contractors a bad name as it taints the whole contracting business. Boxes need to stick to selling product and stay out of the contracting business. I'm not a contractor just someone that understands the business. People also need to understand that boxes are not the best value just because they say they are and spend millions and millions on advertising that says they are.

None of this surprises me... In this state there is no penalty or motivation for contractors to follow through. I have been down this road myself with a contractor who misrepresented himself as licensed, bonded & insured when in fact he his license was suspended, he was being sued, had numerous complaints & did a lot of damage here & left us without a working kitchen. He never was prosecuted for any of this even though I was told he would be, was not even fined by L & I even though he did should of been. He is out there working again. This kind of thing goes on all the time.

In all situations that I am aware of, there are two sides to every story. It is too bad that King5 had to do such a one-sided piece on Home Depot. I would assume a good reporter would take the time to do a thorough and complete investigation. Had the time been taken to do this, I am sure you could have easily found a few of the more than 98% of happy and satisfied homeowners who would have been willing to comment on what an outstanding job from start to finish Home Depot did on their projects. It would also have been nice if some of the incorrect facts that were written had been followed up on with the appropriate personnel at Home Depot and not just going off of what the customers say i.e requiring payment in full before the project is even started. Also implying that Home Depot just pulls people off the streets to perform services for them. I believe there are policies and procedures in place that all subcontractors have to adhere to in order to provide work for Home Depot as they are a representative of Home Depot. One other thing to point out would be the opportunity that Home Depot provides to many homeowners by offering a Home Depot credit card to get their services done. This may be the only way that homeowners would be able to do such major projects.

Home Depot Sales Consultants say that 2% of the problems (issues) take up 80% of the time, thats in most industries, when working with consumers. I must say in defence of the company they really strife to make things RIGHT! However, one solution is to have the same policy that THD has and that is 50% down balance upon completion,Management REQUIRES 100% this is because Home Depot Northwest REGION requires it.Also have the AG check out Oregon its my understanding it Law Suit is pending on this issue.Go directly to Atlanta and let the folks know what is going on.I am certain when they get
the news heads will roll.

I am another victim of HD poor workmanship. It has been 8 months since I hired HD to install siding on my home. It is still not done. (It's a 4 day job) There was a property damage claim as well that is still pending and no end in sight. I agree that there are probably many happy customers of HD, But I think the reason for the king5 coverage is that HD is NOT DOING ANYTHING TO FIX THE BAD STUFF IN A TIMELY MANNER. I bet if HD would make an effort to make things right for people instead of playing the ignore and keep them waiting game the unhappy customers would not feel the need to report them. Thank you King5 for exposing a problem that needs to be fixed. HD can tell anybody that they are going to fix the problem. Now they should walk the walk!!! Not just talk the talk...Still waiting...

Thank you for the opportunity to also let me voice the tremendous frustrations I had with Home Depot of Puyallup, WA stemming back to October 17, 2006.

I had purchased two sets of storm doors to put up against two sets of french doors I have my home in Buckley, WA--The purchases were paid in full with my check--My order had to be special ordered to fit the measurements of my door openings and I prepaid their sub-contractor (Construction Services)$35.00 for them to send one of their people out to do the measurements--

Now, my nitemare begins:

1. They lost my check and delayed my work--
2. Home Depot falsely accused me of taking my
check back from the cashier and walking away--
They maintained their cameras showed this to
be the case--this was a flagrant and blatant
accusation--I told them let me view the video
in the presence of an authorized employee(s)--
They absolutely refused, brushed off their
reckless accusation and requested I come in and
write another check(which I did)--Needless to
say this was very disturbing to me and created
tremendous stress for me--and was unwarranted--
They claimed further in their dizzy explanation
that their cashier was new and inexperienced--

3. I stated from the very beginning that I had to
have the work done on a weekend and could not
be at the house during the week since I work
in Seattle, WA--they agreed to a Saturday
about 2 weeks from 10/17/06--they further
stated that someone from Construction Services
would call me to set up the time in advance--
Well, the time came and went and nobody from
either Construction Services let alone Home
Depot ever called me--

4. So, the work was never performed that first
Saturday--Home Depot did say that the storm
doors and kits were at the Puyallup store--I
went down and picked up the entire order--All
this was done well in advance of the first Sat
the work had been scheduled--the order came in
fairly fast after the 10/17/06 purchase date--
the measure guy came out about a week from
that first Saturday 11/4/06 and everything was
set to go--Construction Services never called
me and flagrantly ignored several voice mails
I had left with them--

5. I made so many calls to Puyallup Home Depot
asking them to intercede on my behalf and see
if they could "light the fire" on Construction
Services and try to get some communications
going--this failed repeatedly so many times and
I got absolutely nowhere--I spoke with 2 or 3
Managers on duty, plus the person that wrote
my order at Puyallup Home Depot, plus the
regional manager--and it all "fell on deaf
ears"--despite all their statements that they
were sympathetic and would get on top of it
and get the job done for me--

6. I battled with so many frustrations and the
problem got worse--HD told me CS would call me
again and set up a Sat appt on 11/11/06--HD
managers told me they got a hold of the "head
honcho" at CS and somebody would call and set
up the appt once again--again, CS never con-
tacted me and repeatedly ignored my voice
mails--the times that CS called me was to spin
me more by telling me to call them--when I did
they only let the voice mail answer--this went
on and on and on--
7. The one time I got ahold of CS, the measure
person answered and told me somebody would call
me and set up yet another Sat appt for
11/18/06, and then 11/25/06, and then 12/02/06
Each and every single time nobody called and
HD and CS spun me around endlessly--very bad
communications and work was still not done and
to this date is not done--
8. If my memory is correct, I finally got a call
from CS and they told me a man would be out to
do the job on 12/9/06--He showed up alright,
but, it got even worse--
9. The CS man showed up at my front door--about an
hour late--and when I opened the door, he
thought he was going to do the front door--do
it fast, and then on to the next job--their man
only whined repeatedly and was extremely
unprofessional--when I told him he needed to
do the doors on the backside (upstairs and
downstairs), he complained loudly that his
boss told him he was only going to have to
to one set of doors and that he was going to
be late for his next appt--
10. He proceeded to take the doors to the back,
opened up everything--seem to desparately be
looking for the instructions on "how to"--sat
down for a half hour whining that the
instructions were confusing (even in
english)--after so much complaining he
measured numerous times where he needed to
cut the top metal template I believe it is
called--cut it way too short--then had the
audacity to ask me what do I want him to do
now--I told him put everything back like he
found it and to get out--IT WAS PERFECTLY
CLEAR HE DID NOT KNOW HOW TO DO THE JOB AND
RUINED A STORM DOOR KIT--(which HD did re-
place--
11. All my frustrations and communications
problems were duely voice to HD--but in total
vain--I learned about a week ago that HD
finally found the long lost check they said
they could not find--after all this time!
12. The storm doors are still not installed and
even tho I am in the process of finding an
independent or another installer, I want to
state that I feel future customers avoid
using HD sub-contractors and avoid especially
the services of CONSTRUCTION SERVICES, INC.--
HD never stated their sub-contractors were
employees of HOME DEPOT--I sincerely question
the stats HD layed out to LB of KING NEWS
that they have 98% satisfied customers.
Everything I have detailed in this blog is as
accurate as possible and everything HD failed
to deliver on--was communicated to them
precisely--Thank you for adding me to the
list of unsatisfied customers--HD has great
mdse, but sub-contractors--caveat emptor!

Not only do you have to worry about shoddy or unfinished work with Home Depot you should also worry about being grossly overcharged! I wanted my sliding glass door replaced with french doors.A gentleman was sent to my home to do the estimate. Even though the door itself would only cost $400 the labor charge was going to be almost $2500! He told me due to the size of the opening they would have to cut drywll, move framing, and replace drywall. Luckily I work in real estate and had some friends that were contractors. One of them came over and said he could install the door for $300. I went and bought the door and he installed it. That was four years ago. The door works great and no framing had to be moved or drywall work done. Get multiple estimates! Talk to your friends, neighbors, your real estate agent(many deal w/contractors frequently), and get names and feedback about different contractors.Alsc, shop around for materials. I went to Lowes and got estimates for kitchen cabinets(not for them to install them just the cabinets) For what I wanted they gave me an estimate of $26,000! I found a local custom cabinet maker who made me gorgeous cabinets, all wood, full extension drawers, wine rack, the works for $12,500. The other bonus he was onsite for the install. If you order cabinets if one comes damaged or the wrong size you can wait 6-8 weeks for the replacement. My kitchen remodel was done in 5 weeks because I hired all of my own subcontractors, scheduled them myself, and used the local "little guy" On another note, a friend of mine used Home Depot to replace her roof and it is a disaster! The 800 number Home Depot implemented last year is a joke. They don't get anything taken care of. She's still waiting to get repairs to her roof that is leaking and damaging her home!

I had windows replaced last spring by HD, and the estimate included some extra "padding" because they knew that there was a leakage problem. They insisted that all flashing and any rot would be removed. First rains of the fall, and one of the windows leaked. The PM would not return calls, the 1800homedepot line was a JOKE (answered by a woman who barely spoke English, could not find my job number, and promised to call back the next day-you guessed it, she didn't), and the local store kept giving me the line that they had no other number that I could call. Eventually, I found another number, and was told that another crew would come take a look at the window. Well, he insisted that the windows were not fogging (they are, but not at that moment he saw them), and he sent yet another person out the next day to caulk around the window. More rain that night, and guess what? Still leaked. Cannot get anyone to return my calls, and the year same as cash just expired so I had to pay the bill off completely. I still need the other half of the house windowed, and am hesitant to return to HD, but obviously I need the windows to match the ones they put in. HD: whatever the situation is with subcontractors, your customer service sucks. Period. If you are concerned about customer opinion of your reputation, you are not reflecting that in your contacts with customers that are having problems. Don't give me the line about how busy your at home services are. Just fix the damn windows.

I also had Home Depot do some kitchen work for me. I have to comment on what one of your readers said. With Home Depot it is full payment due before service. The work was sloppy and messy. And Home Depot never once called to see if I was happy. Two months passed and I contacted them to say I was not happy, thier workers chopped up my kitchen cabnet while installing counter tops. They sent someone out right a way and mended the problems. I say mended, beacuse it could not be fixed. But they did respond quickly. But I will go elsewhere next time.

Thank you for your article about Home Depot installation problems. About 4 years ago I bought a slider door from them and agreed to have them install it during the dry summer weather we were having. The installation went smooth until later in the year when I was removing my Christmas tree from the corner of the room where the slider was installed I noticed that the carpet next to the slider was soaked. The ceiling below the slider in the downstairs area showed signs of mold and water damage. The wallboard eventally fell out of the ceiling and exposed the joists that have a severe dry rot problem. Part of the joist is completely gone. I have tried to repair it myself however the water damage keeps occurring. The installer had failed to correctly apply enough caulking to the surface between the bottom of the slider and that part of the surface it was resting on. When I called Home Depot about the problem they offered to supply the materials for me to fix it myself. The two foot by three foot hole in the ceiling is still visible while I try to stop the water leak that has caused the damage. They have never called to see if the damage has been repaired. I will never have them install anything and intend to tell anyone who will listen about their so-called installation service.No wonder their stock hasn't met analysts expectations recently with service like this. I have a feeling that there are numerous other stories out there like mine and the others posted here however it hasn't been collectively exposed until your investigation was broadcast. Hopefully a law firm with expertise in class action law suits will see this.

I have been listening to my kids complain about Home Depot for the past two years. They contracted a lot of work from them when they were building their house. The latest episode about did them in. The subcontractors who showed up to redo the kitchen floors were so bad that they finally gave up and said forget it. They would show up late or not at all, stay two hours, come back for two hours and just were awful.

Home Depot has many problems and they do not treat their customers with respect when they send out shady subcontractors.

Well, Lynda, it appears the story prompted some interest among the home-remodeling public. I only had Home Depot install something once - about a year and a half ago: carpeting. It wasn't done to my expectations - there's one very obvious 'patch' of carpet that the contractors couldn't get right, even on a second go-round. I just through my hands up because it wasn't worth dealing with. . .

I'm more reticent about going to HD for most anything now. Recently I had a couple of toilets replaced and a new diswasher installed by Lowe's. Way better customer service. A year or so ago I had an independent plumber replace another toilet for a ridiculous sum of money. Wouldn't go back to him either.

I guess somewhere there has to be a balance between workmanship and price point. Home Depot has reasonable prices, but they need to do some serious quality control with their subs before I'd go back to them for anything.

I should note that I have a neighbor who had an equally - if not worse - experience with HD in installing new flooring. He had to get the subcontractor changed and added several weeks onto the job because of poor performance by the first one.

Live and learn. . . or go out of business.

Having inside information, I can tell you that Home Depot hires substandard contractors because they pay the absolute lowest rates. The Project Managers have so many jobs they can't keep up with them and they're the ones who are acountable for the poor workmanship, even though Home Depot gives them no control over it. They promise on-site project management, yet the average PM has over 70 jobs, thus making it impossible to be out at every job.

We had HD install both our new bathroom and kithen tile floors. It was to take two days and ended up taking two weeks. They sent out a person with no experience to do the work and he made one mistake after the other. After we complained they sent out another worker and he ended up removing the cement they had poured over the existing floor in the bathroom and sanding it to try to level it out. Our entire home was covered with this awful dust. They did nothing to clean it up. Then when some of the tiles were laid they were the wrong ones and had to be chipped back up. More dust. They made me take the wrong tiles that they delivered back to the store and replace them. The kithen floor was grouted wrong and all the grout had to be taken up. Again more dust. Both floors are uneven now. When our livingroom carpet was to be pulled to meet the new kitchen tile it was done incorrectly and now is fraying and needs to be replaced. We had the manager of the Everett HD out to look at this mess during the work and he told me it was the worse botched job he had seen and would compensate us. After the job was over he would not return my calls and after three weeks I findly spoke to him and there was no compensation. He told me if our carpet got worse HD would replace it. I have called several times about the carpet and still no returned calls. And yes we payed on our Visa before the job was started. Big mistake. We will not buy anything from HD again.

Hey now every one needs to be quiet, King 5 blew it for us!!
We figured out a long time ago that going to Home Depot is the best way to save money! Everytime they screw up, which is on almost every job we do, we get a discount or the items for FREE!

We have remodeled our home over the last 9 years with 90% HD. (we have done everythign from complete and total kitchen,cabinets for every area of house, bathrooms, floors, garage, all appliances, and plumbing, to landscaping, and outdoor areas).
Example, we ordered a carpet for a kids room.
Took them 8 weeks to get it installed (all after being given the 7 day speal). The carpet they sold us was no longer available, then they sent in the wrong color, and finally when it came in, it took weeks to get someone to do it!
We finally ended up with a FREE $800 dollar carpet for a 12X10 bedroom, very nice carpet! (we originally bought a cheap $200 carpet with padding) but they kept upgrading and bringing down the price, so we said Hey sounds good.

That is one TINY example of how we learned that hey let them screw up, we go back complain and get either a huge discount or free purchases. We finaly just had to get over the time and inconvenience issue. See there is always a sunny side to all this!!! (that was sarcasm).
seriously though, screwing up is one thing, but if you compensate me, i might just go away still happy. Of course their is somethign to be said for getting a job done right the first time, that is why we did all the other work ourselves, no contractors, but we don't do carpets, we just bought the items from the HD, and they manage to screw that up every single time, every order.

The problem with Home Depot is not new. Over 10 years ago, my husband & I went to the Tukwila location to purchase a deck package that was on sale. They were so busy we never got any help, so I called to place the order & have the package delivered. I asked for the manager because I wanted to complain about not getting any on site help. The manager not only did not know there was a sale going on, but put the wrong address on our order. I can not remember how this came to my attention--possibly the delivery reminder went to one of my neighbors, and luckily I was able to contact them & correct the address,but come on--the manager???? did not know about sales in her own store & then put an incorrect address on my order??? I paid in full up front and found this inexcusable. I still make minor purchases there, but they could not pay me enough to actually allow them to work on my home & will never make a large purchase there again.

We too had problems when dealing with Home Depot. We we're contacted by one of the carpet installers whom did not speak English and was trying to get directions to our home. He got so frustrated that he and his crew didn't even bother to show up. We also had problems with and over order on the carpet and still have extra rolled carpet stored in our basement. The wood floors that we had installed our beginning to squeak and the carpet has begun to come up in some places. This work was just done over the past summer. I was hoping the quality of it all would have lasted much longer. I felt as though there is a huge communication within the company that stems to everyone involved...from ordering, and delivering materials, measuring, and lining up decent contractors.

Well...I had to see your story this evening to get the full scoop. In January of 2006, I went to Issaquah HD and met with a designer to install a new kitchen. Everything, from the beginning went wrong. I have a file almost 2" thick of e-mails, mailings, problems, designs, etc. that truly were upsetting. It took me until Aug. of '06 to come to a 'somewhat satisfied state' as I was exhausted from all my attempts of resolution.
1.) I was charged for dismanteling/removing my kitchen when I told them many times I would do it!
2.) The install, once I demolished my kitchen, took almost 2 months to do 'because all our installers are swamped right now'. I was without any semblance of a kitchen for the entire period!
3.) The cabinets were installed but the countertops were then delays because 'they were too busy'. This added another 3-4 weeks!
4.) Cabinets completed, but designed failed to add in 'finishing/polished' touches (such as 3/4 round, molding, etc. to hide edges/sides) and it took me yet another 2 weeks to receive the material (no charge to me) and then call to set up install appointment.
5.) Now it's time for countertops....they arrived to install......they are 'rounded' and not 'beveled' as my contract stated.

At this point, I am frustrated and WANT IT OVER. One of many Mgrs. called me and I agreed to accept the rounded for a mere $300 gift card (no credit would be given).

Please keep in mind that during this entire duration, I am contacting Mgr. after Mgr. I am promised many things and returned phone calls never happened (from them). It took me until late in '06 to get Curtis.....the ONLY Issaquah HD Mgr. to treat me with a semblance of respect to truly understand and try to get to the bottom.

All said, I received a mere $1K in HD gift cards...again, no credit offered nor acknowledged when I brought it up. If I were a wealthy person, I would have hired an attorney and would now be living with a kitchen from Home Depot, and paid for BY Home Depot. Unfortunately, I am one of the viewers that has little to no extra monies to spend.

REFER HD TO DO ANY SORT OF DESIGN/INSTALLATION? N-O W-A-Y!!!!!

Joan

Last summer we hired HD to do a upstairs deck and stairs down to the patio. We had to make several phone calls to even get the $12,000 project started - although we did not pay anything up front. We were told the project would take 4-5 days. Months later we finally got a deck that was acceptable, not perfect but at least safe. The had to tear down the thing twice. During the time the repeatedly left equipment and nails all over the place. The left the gate open and our dogs were missing for many hours even after we had asked them a dozen times to keep one set of gates closed so they couldn't get out. We asked for compensation and were told we could recieve $500. We didn't feel that was acceptable but after making dozens of calls, and recieving no response, we simply gave up....which was probably the plan of HD all along. As with many others we will never hire HD again for anything and I now do my shopping at Lowes.

I'd skip Lowes if I was you too. Not as bad as HD but almost. I've had bad experiences with both.
I bought a house last September that we have been remodeling. I went to E&E Lumber in Marysville to pick up a couple of things at the start of the remodel. Their customer service was unbelievable! Mark is a God! Some projects we did ourselves, others we had contractors do. To save money, our contractor for the small addition gave us a materials list and we picked up the materials. I went into E&E Lumber and found Mark. I gave him my list and he gathered up everything we needed and lo and behold some items were less expensive than HD, some were more expensive so it was a wash. Let me tell you it was a long list!I spent the same amount of money but I got service and was in and out in a tenth of the time it would have taken me to find and load up everything at HD. On top of that they loaded everything for me. Also, I watched one of their employees picking out the 2x6's for my job. He would pick them up look at them and if he didn't like it, he would put is aside and look at another.
When I went in for all of the trim work, Mark was once again right there for me. Time and time again I went in there and even if Mark wasn't there someone was right there to help me. A big plus the crown molding there was half the price of HD's.Maybe it's time we all went back to the "little guys", our local stores, who know the only the way they can compete with HD & Lowes is to provide great customer service & who really care about their customers. Thanks again to Mark & E&E Lumber & Hardware for making my life so easy!!!
One other note, it was wonderful to have people who knew what they were talking about. When the person who worked in the plumbing dept a couple of years ago at HD didn't know what a wax ring for my toilet was I got scared!This was their plumbing expert!

NICE JOB LINDA BYRON! WHAT A SHAMELESS ATTACK ON THE NUMBER ONE HOME IMPROVEMENT WAREHOUSE! YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF. LIKE HOME DEPOT IS THE ONLY RETAILER THAT HAS PROBLEMS THAT ARISE. OF COURSE WE ARE GOING TO HAVE MORE ISSUES BECAUSE WE ARE BIGGER AND DO MORE IN SALES THAN LOWES OR MENARDS OR ANY CONTRACTOR. HD INSTALLERS ARE HUMAN AND DO MAKE MISTAKES JUST LIKE YOU DID BY PUTTING THIS STORY ON YOUR NEWS CAST. I HOPE YOU FEEL BETTER ABOUT YOURSELF!!

I find it amazing that King 5 has this story captioned under Investigators. Making a phone call to the better business bureau is not what I consider to be an investigation. But since that is what your investigation consists of than lets evaluate your findings. You found 200 complaints since 2002 against Home Depot as your investigative reporter Linda Byron clearly stated on todays news. While you were doing that research did you follow through and ask how many other complaints were filed against other contractors? I would say no because if you did you would have had to change your story. It would have read IF YOU WANT THE SECURITY OF KNOWING YOUR REMODEL WILL GET DONE WITHOUT YOUR CONTRACTOR RUNNING OFF WITH YOUR MONEY AND NOT COMPLETING YOUR PROJECT THAN YOU SHOULD USE HOME DEPOT! I have run a company that has provided a in home installation service for Depot in 5 different states for almost 20 years and take great pride in being there partner. There are many areas of AT HOME SERVICES involving multiple trades and I can guarentee you that the only companies providing services for them are recognized as the best in the area in there trade. To read the comments stating that we are illegal aliens that can't speak english couldn't be further than the truth. The companies providing services go thru every type of background check and our financials are an open book to investigation. The companies that provide services for them are the strongest companies in the market with a commitment to service and customer service. We are the companies that staff the best people in the industry and are commited financially to handle growth to ensure that the service side of the business does not suffer as new construction and home remodels are booming accross the nation and fly by night contractors are stealing peoples money every minute of every day and leave the customer holding the bag. Our company installs an average of 75 jobs per week for Depot which translates into 19,500 installs since 2002. Your report stated that there has been 200 complaints filed since 2002. That would be 1% of the projects we have handled in that time frame and we are a fraction of the services they provide. If you want to do a real investigative report than call your sources back and find out how many complaints have been filed against other contractors in that same time frame. I'm sure your next report will be an appology to Depot and all there vendors that provide exceptional overall service and commitment to all Depot customers. We deal with customers like Rosemary who scolds you in her comment for ruining her gig on having US remodel her home for free by complaining about having to wake up today. She is a thief and should be prosecuted for theft. If she thinks Depot is funding her free project she is sadly mistaken! It comes out of a combination of all of our pockets including each and every tax payer. When people steal from stores they have to raise prices to compensate for it and when they steal from contractors and service providers another consumer will pay for it down the road. We choose to live in a cultural melting pot which makes Seattle one of the most diverse cities in America and some of the guests we share our space with are some of the best craftsman in the Industry not illegal aliens. I would want the best installer available to work on my home so that may require an open mind rather than an assumption. We solicit customer feedback on every job we do and use it as a tool to improve every aspect of our business. Home Depot also solicits customer feedback which is reviewed monthly by there corporate office in Atlanta and than sent to there vendors. They are called VOC ratings which stands for the Voice Of The Customer. This is the driving force of there at home services program and it is part of our contract to maintain score levels which are difficult to maintain but if they are not maintained your contract will be terminated but I am sure you were aware of these things because of your investigative report. I will appologize to my staff on your behalf and we won't hold it against you when it becomes your lucky day and you are blessed to have the BEST people in the industry providing you with the BEST service available from the BEST companies in the market! I THOUGHT THE ONLY EMPLOYEES AT THE NEWS STATION THAT WERE NOT REQUIRED TO PROVIDE FACTS WHEN THEY WERE REPORTING WERE THE WEATHER FORECASTERS BUT YOU HAVE PROVED THAT NONE OF YOU HAVE A REQUIREMENT TO REPORT FACTS!

Home Depot is NOT currently licensed with Labor and Industries in the state of Washington to work on roofs. I hope that King 5 will investigate with WA L&I to see if they are still offering this service to HD customers.

I'm wondering something. If Home Depot uses subcontractors, and the sub contrators screws up..Home Depot takes care of the warranty. Is the home owner better if he deals DIRECTLY with the contractor??? ummmm, NO!! Then the homewoner has NO recourse. At least Home Depot eventually takes care of the customer.

Guess I'm glad it's been over a week since I called them to quote a job for me. I think I'll ignore them when they finally have time to contact me. Thanks for letting me know I was about to make a HUGE mistake!! I can't afford to wait till they are ready and then have mistakes made!

Two or three years ago, I purchased carpeting from Home Depot in Redmond for my stair case only, having installed Pergo ourselves throughout the rest of the house. They insisted on charging a $50 fee for a man to come to estimate the amount of coverage I would need, even though I gave them very specific measurements. They assured me the $50 would be credited to my order if I placed one with them, so I agreed. The estimator insisted that I need to purchase twice as much carpet than I had estimated. He assured me that this was necessary for the proper lay of the carpet on the stairs. I reluctantly agreed, only to find out when a subcontracted installer came with the carpet, I did indeed have twice as much carpet as I needed--enough to do another flight of stairs. Of course, their price also includes the same yardage of padding, and only about 1/4 of what I had paid for was used because it was only installed on the horizontal steps, and not on the vertical parts. The subcontracted installer was the only one who was honest with me, and now I'm stuck with a large piece of carpeting that I would hate to just throw away. This dishonesty doubled the cost of this small job from $400 to $800. I called after installation and complained to the manager who seemed disinterested in my complaint. I will never contract with Home Depot again.

My husband and I have been going round and round with the Home Depot for over a year now. In October 2005 we had a $10,000.00 roof put on our home. We had to pay all up front before materials were even ordered so we put in on the Home Depot card. Less than 2 week after the roof was put on we had a leak and it was like pulling teeth to get the project manager out to service us. When he finally showed he was rude and seemed very bothered that he had to waste his time to come to our home. Long story short, we are still leaking in the same spot and the project manager/installers have been out at least 10 times to fix and they can't seem to stop the leak. When the installers were here they cracked some of our sidiing and thought that they would just caulk it but obviously that didn't work. They have replaced that piece of siding but we are still leaking. There are at least 10 other issues with the roof aside from the leak but no on from the Home Depot seems to care. We even called the corporate office and spoke to the assistant to the president of the company with no results. Do not buy from the Home Depot, buyer beware!

The bottom line here people is "You get what you pay for". If you aren't willing to pay what it really costs to redo a kitchen or bathroom (anywhere between 35,000 and above for kitchen 15,000 and above for bathroom depending on size) you are going to get shoddy work. Plain and simple. One needs to hire a designer and EXPERT on kitchen and bath remodeling. If you go through home depot, you are going to get subcontractors of subcontractors...research is half the battle of remodeling. My husband and I had our house resided by NW Homepros in 2005. They sold us a bill of goods bigtime. We got the siding done at a very low cost. They promised to have their "TEAM" come out and put our siding on in a week. Three weeks after putting half down, we had to call the siding company and ask them where our siding was...another week later the "team" (an asian grandfather who couldn't speak English and his grandson) came out to do the house. After they were done with the siding, we noticed that there were little drywall nail holes that popped out where they had hammered from outside. We asked them to repair these holes. The contractor put grout in the holes. When they dried, they dried clear. Part of our contract was to write letters recommending Northwest Home Pros. When they called us up for our recommendations, we told them to take a flying leap. What was supposed to take one week, took 4 weeks and the job that they did was okay on the outside, but they never came back to repair the damage they caused on the inside. Almost two years later, we received a call asking about the job and we told them we refuse to write anything about them positive until they come out and fix the holes in our walls. They still have not. A Note: All of the research in the world does not guarantee a good job. We went through several siding companies before we picked NW Homepros. And we still got screwed. The siding looks nice, but our formal living room (which has cathedral ceilings) does not.

I agree with Kristine Tibbs and her comments, I run a kitchen remodel company in Bellevue and I get customers all the time that state our price for service seems high compared to the bid they got from home depot. My consistent reply is " if you want quality materials, lifetime warranties, skilled labor, and schedule gaurantee's, you have to pay the market rate.I would reccomend to anyone wanting to know what a kitchen remodel should cost to look at remodel magazine's annual cost vs. value report.We install about 350 kitchens a year and recieve an average of 2 complaints to the BBB.I sympathize with anyone in customer service that has to take those phone calls. Any company will have some amount of people you cannot please simply because it is their nature to not be pleased. We are very successful at what we do for these reasons, we only book as many jobs as we have installers to do them, we stage the projects well in advance of the installation, and most importantly we support our employees and customers by being accessible, responding in a timely manner and NEVER making promises we cannot keep. It is true you get what you pay for and unlike a tv or a couch, you cannot simply return your kitchen to the store, it is your responsibility as a consumer making a major investment to do your research and make an informed decision, you want people you can trust in your house,you want the support of a company that is wiiling to correct issues as they come up and they will come up , that is the nature of remodeling.One of my customers once told me that " only rich people can afford to spend cheaply"

The coment above from the Home Depot sub contractor saying HD gives the BEST customer service, and uses the BEST companies in the market is a downright lie. If he does work for HD he knows it to be a lie. Why would the BEST work for the lowest rates in the market place? Did you notice all the other sub contractors loading material? Did any of them understand english? Common sense will tell you "you get what you pay for"

I have a beautiful new kitchen installed by the Home Depot. My designer was awesome and gave me great ideas on configuring my cabinets. He was also upfront with me from the beginning about the fact that subcontractors would be doing the install (if I chose to go with theirs); which seemed abundantly obvious to me....why would they have installers on staff for work that is seasonal? My project manager stopped by almost every day during the install to answer questions (incidently, he was one of the people that worked with one of the complainers from the story) and address issues. The installers were very professional and were skilled not only in installation but in electrical and plumbing. My kitchen is almost complete (backsplash went in today) and it's beautiful. Also, my flooring, which I decided to install myself, was cheaper at HD than anywhere else I was able to find it....significantly cheaper. During my initial consultation with them, they definitely told me that I could hire my own contractors for ANY part of the job, they detailed what they would charge for each piece of thw work. They said I should definitely do that if I wanted to compare prices.

I don't doubt some of the comments here about problems that people have had with HD, but I also find the story very one-sided, especially since HD, like most large companies, is not going to allow the individuals involved to defend themselves. This is not balanced reporting and it's really disappointing. Maybe a slow news day?

We purchased new carpeting from Home Depot for our entire house 4 years ago. We left while they did the work and when we arrived back home we were shocked at what we found.

In the bedrooms, the carpet did not even come up to the walls. It looked like it was cut too short. In the closets, there were 3" chunks missing in the corners. The seams were terrible. They looked like they were ready to come apart. They left a terrible mess too.

We called Home Depot the next morning and they refused to send someone out to inspect it. It took me over a week of threats of going to the media, court system, etc before they finally sent someone out only to say it was fine. The salesman that sold us the carpet lied to the manager and told him that we rushed him to get the carpet in our house and that is why there were problems. This was a flat out lie!

After weeks of fighting with the store manager and district manager, they finally sent the crew back to "somewhat" fix the shotty work. It was never totally fixed we but we got tired of fighing with them.

In the last 4 years, whenever our friends, neighbors, family, etc., mentions that they are getting new carpet or home improvements done, we tell them to STAY AWAY FROM HOME DEPOT!

Not that they will care, but after reading the article and comments, our investment club sold our shares of Home Depot. We would prefer not to own stock in such a shoddy company.

I laughed at the lady that who said she got her Home Depot work done perfectly and Home Depot should "Fire" the employee who shared her views. I think maybe she works for Home Depot herself! My husband and I bought carpet and special order laminate from Home Depot 2 years ago. What we were told would be a two week process waiting for the special order, took two months. Always something we did or didn't do right. When the laminate was installed, they ran short and were not able to do the two bathrooms and front doorway. The paterned carpet was installed the wrong way around and the carpet was too short. They put holes in the walls in the bathrooms during installation and attempted to fix white walls with brown paint. There were cut marks left in the laminate and the bathroom floor was all crooked with a 6 inch gap. Needless to say we complained. I was there for the entire process, not showing up on the right days, etc. I was on top of what was going on, having many converstations with so called managers throughout the day's of install. No one really seemed to want to listen. Home Depot kept giving me the run around and the installer people didn't care, they pointed the finger at each other. After many months of arguing and complaining with these "IDIOTS" my husband and I refused to let them back into our house to "Fix" the mess. They finally got the floor ordered and put that in. They said it was our fault the floor was measured wrong. Lucky for us we took a photocopy of the initial estimate. In the meantime we were given a "New" copy of the estimate we supposedly signed. We were able to prove we didn't sign it by producing the original copy. They even went so far as to photocopy my husbands signature on to the false estimate. He never signed an estimate to begin with. So no only did we experience the shoddy work, we also experienced the lies and fraud of Home Depot. Now we are two years later and all of a sudden the flooring in the kitchen is buckling and swelling upwards. Do you think anyone is going to do anything about that for us? Highly doubt that one. When is someone going to wake up and do something about Home Depot? There are more than a few issues here on this Blog that could take Home Depot to court, why isn't someone doing something? Like maybe a class action law suit? Not like many of us little people will have much luck making a dent in a huge company like this when we are a voice of one.

This is starting to get fun now! I am the subcontractor that Perry has called a liar so let me help you all understand how business is done in the world of construction. This relates to all categories such as commercial, multi unit, residential or remodel. The subcontractors that are doing Depots work are the same subcontractors that are doing the install for the Kitchen and Bath design centers in your local neighborhood. They are the same subcontractors that are doing the installs in the new Track Home developements that are in your neighborhood. They are the same subcontractors that are doing the installs in those million dollar high rise condominiums that are popping up everywhere. They are the same subcontractors that are installing the high end work in those 5 star hotels and casinos that you vacation at. They are the same subcontractors that are remodeling all those Princess cruise ships that have been in dry dock for the winter that you will enjoy this summer. If we are going to pick on companies that use subcontractors to do business than you need to think about this. Every commercial project ever built in the world along with 95% of the housing in the world were built by subcontractors. I am not aware of any General Contractor or Builder in the World that staffs all trades. We all specialize in particular areas. Even your Custom Home Builders subcontract specialized areas of there projects. Perry wants to know why we would do the work for the lowest price in the market place? It's for the same reason that we are awarded th 20 million dollar contracts for the most visible projects in the world and the new home developements popping up everyday. We have the financial capabilities to build the biggest most state of the art production facilities in the business which allow us to produce and manufacture for 25% of the cost that the small competitors produce for. We have the financial power to negotiate pricing from suppliers, along with purchase supplies in quantities that we get them for half the price that the small competitors get them for. We have the financial capabilities to be able to work with suppliers overseas and purchase product direct from its country of origin. If companies like ours were not doing the work and it was all local small businesses than none of us would be able to afford a home(thats already getting tough enough). I can't remember the last time I heard about someone getting awarded a project because they were the HIGHEST BIDDER. There is something you are all missing in your mission to point fingers. Depot sells brand name products. They don't have the say in which companies can purchase or service those product lines. The manufacturer of those products dictate who can represent them in a Market not Home Depot. So long before Home Depot disects our companies we have already been under the microscope of the manufacturer. These manufacturers don't stock our floors with product to sell and service the market with on there dime! When we order it we pay for it. If it doesn't sell we eat it. We are the financial force that drives the markets and economies region by region and fund all major new construction and remodels. We don't get paid until the company that contracted us is satisfied and that includes Home Depot. If the customer does not sign off an acceptance form than we don't see a penny. I will leave you with this thought! The current number one home builder in America is Centex Homes and some of you may live in one of there homes. If you have never been in one of there homes than take a few minutes to look at the models next time you drive by one of there developements and I think you will be pleased with what you see. How did they become number 1? On any given day you can stop at the site while they are building and ask for a Centex employee. What you will find is that there is typically two Centex employees on site. The project Manager and the person that does the walk thru with the buyer. A centex employee has nothing to do with the actual physical construction on that site. They don't drive bulldozers, the don't hammer nails, they don't pay for the supplies to build the homes. THEY ARE BUILT AND FUNDED 100% BY SUBCONTRACTORS! satisfaction

Here's how to not get screwed.

Hire your own contractor, get a written quote (not estimate!) on a job and any change orders in writing!! Get references from friends,(big box is not your friend), let your contractor pick up materials (they get them at a discount, bonus!). Do reviews online on the products you want to purchase, you'd be surprised on how much word flooring has problems. Try epinions.com for any major purchase including cars, appliances.... or type the brand name and reviews in a search. Use a credit card that warranties products as part of their service and purchase products with it. Have a pay plan with your contractor that withholds partial payment until inspected and approved by you (have a signed agreement saying so).
Happy building!!

My sister's kitchen and bath remodel in Tarzana, CA, went 12 months past the scheduled completion date of October 2004. In that time project managers were switched on her, and the subcontractors workmanship and attitude was poor at best. Her undercounter $1000 stainless steel kitchen sink was used as a mop sink by a worker to clean his equipment. Whatever chemicals were in his equipment ruined the sink. The expensive material used for the countertop had been discontinued in that color. So, back to square one. Another delay because the sink and countertop were special orders. Her sad story goes on forever, literally, but haven't you sufferred enough?
The remodel isn't going well when the PRESIDENT of Home Depot has to step in. Even so, he had little effect on the outcome. The project made her so physically and emotionally sick, she just wanted Home Depot to go away. It's now almost 18 months after "completion" and my sister still hasn't "signed off" on the project.

I was victimized by Home Depot nearly 2 years ago. Home Depot took one-and-a-half years to complete a kitchen reface job they had promised in 3 days. The first job was undoubtly below minimum professional standards. I had to hire an attorney, and in all, the whole experience robbed me of my time, mental well being, and of course, money while other renovations contingent upon the completion of my cabinets were delayed. I encourage all of you to formulate a class action suit. Although it fails to exonerate them, the root of the problem may not be Home Depot, but rather WA State. To the best of my knowledge, your 92-year-old grandmother could obtain a certified contractor's license from this state by simply filling out an application form and submitting a fee. There is no knowledge or skill required; no tests are given, and licensing is free of any gov'nt regulation. Any skilled craftsman is very very busy as is any contractor worth his salt. Home Depot would have a very poor pool of workers to draw from evidenced by the resulting shoddy work. My nightmare is over with Home Depot, and I no longer frequent their store even if I have to pay a little more elsewhere.

I'm now in week 2 of trying to get a garage door opener installed, which was purchased through Home Depot. Well, it was installed, but w/out the required vault release, and the door has been inoperable since they installed the opener. I can't get in or out of the garage. Luckily, my car is OUT of the garage.

I had a roof job done and they failed to cover it with the Tarps that they had brought with them. I woke up to water coming through the ceiling. damage estimated at $30,000. When confronting them they denied the claim. After continually contacting them.They conceded to pay the claim,which payed for the roof and the damage clean up.I am left with the work to restore the interior of the House.Their hiring of contractors leaves the consumer vulnerable to poor workmanship.If I had to do it again I would not pick this company. All the workers did not speak english except for the Foreman.I am wondering if they were illegal aliens.

In response to chris the subcontractor, firstly I am not the one who posted the comment stating that the hd sub was a liar, the names of the authors are positioned at the bottom of the posting not the top, pay attention.Secondly it is true that all construction companies use subs in some manner,I have about 30 crews installing kitchens that are all my in house employees however I do sub out the plumbing and electrical to SPECIFIC companies who hold the correct licenses and bonds. The big difference here being that my subs are people that have proven themselves and they are not the lowest bidders,nor are they the same guys that would work for the least amount of pay. I have been told on several occasions that "my bid was the highest,but we are going with you because we want quality and we trust you" I am as picky about my subs as my customers are about me, I pay for quality and so do my customers

I had carpet installed in January of '07. I started the project in mid December and was assured that since it was a slow time of the year that I could have the carpet installed while I was on Christmas break from my employer. It took until the first week in January to even get someone out to measure the carpet. We played phone tag for a week or more. I do understand it was the holiday season, but it only takes 5 minutes to make a phone call. Finally I got the call and we were good to go. The next week my son picked up the carpet (I wasn't going to pay $50 for them to deliver it 2 miles down the street.)
It took another week for the installation company to call and make arrangements for it to be installed, but the young man that did it showed up on time, ready to go. This was during the really cold snap we had in January. When he tried to nail the tack strips down on the cement, the floor chipped away underneath because the cold had made the floor brittle. He knew what needed to be done and went back to Home Depot and got the adhesive he needed to use. He was back within 30 minutes and was done applying the adhesive a short time later. Needless to say, the adhesive had to dry over the weekend, so I had to wait. The room was small and I asked him if he could come back Monday afternoon to finish the install. He wasn't sure if his company (Mason carpets, I think) had him busy elsewhere, but he would if he could. Monday afternoon came and he showed up on my doorstep ready to go. The job was done in short order and it was done correctly. I'm happy with the work and if that same subcontractor was going to do my next install, I would certainly agree to it.

On another note, I have a friend who works for a dual pane window manufacturer. She has stated that they no longer allow Home Depot to sell or install their product because of the high number of warranty problems.

I guess it goes both ways. I do exercise caution when I go there, but I have some experience with the construction industry as my father remodeled our home when I was a youngster and I have worked for a builder for a short while. Sometimes the clerks at Home Depot are surprised by my knowledge because I'm a woman, but it keeps me from being ripped off.

I am a worker at a home depot store in Washington. I think this story is a big joke. How many installs do we do a day a week a month etc. We do a lot more than you guys showed on the tv of bad ones. I think you guys just need to get a real job or see about getting something installed in your own home and see how it goes. I know first hand that home depot will do whatever it takes to fix the issue. I am one of the people for my store that goes out and picks up or takes out an item that was delivered wrong or not delivered on time. So we pick up the slack and take care of it. I think that king5 needs to do a little research on the jobs we got done right and show that on the tv. I believe that the lady that reported on this has it out for the big box stores. Her husband is probably a contractor that does just as bad of a job as she reported we did at the home depot. I feel that if there are people out there that had a good install they need to enter that in here so that people know that we do not just do bad work. Thank you ahead of time for doing this for the home depot and all of the people that work inside all of the big stores. Thank you
Darren

98% of installs go smoothly...that's probably a lot better than the handyman you get out of the phone book. Also, you have a company that is going to be around for a while rather than someone who could go out of business the day after your install. I'd like to see a similar story about the installation services offer by Lowe's or any given installer. They will probably have the same kinds of problems and likely more of them. The difference between them and Home Depot is that Home Depot is the 2nd largest retailer in the country, making a negative "investigative" "news" story about them much sexier

WOW! A lot of people have made a lot of strong comments about this report. Obviously if you've gotten screwed you're upset. I don't blame you. There has been some remarkable and some really stupid comments by many different viewers. I've been a contractor/subcontrator for 36 plus years and still learn something new everyday. I'll try to cut to the chase. Home Depot is a typical big corporation that will attempt to do anything and everything to gain more market share ($$$$) They clearly want to dominate this home improvement/home center/big box market...make no mistake about it!!!! They are very very competitive and very ruthless. We as consumers really need to be a little more skeptical and caucious when dealing with and believing all this raw advertising hype we are constantly bombarded with on TV, radios, newpapers, etc. Whether it's the drug companies pushing prescription drugs, or one of the oil companies trying to convince us their gasoline is the best (sounds like religions), we really need to do a little research on our own and not believe all this crap they are constantly pushing down our throats. Whether Home Depot is screwing up or not is really not the whole issue here. It's mostly that we, the consumer(s) are enabling them to do so!!! So start to ask more questions, get quotes and the facts on paper and understand a little how the law and the real word works. Don't become a victom because you've gotten too trusting with these "big brother" type businesses. Be careful. Document your conversations with specific dates, times and names and create a paper trail. Then when and if they do screw up...you've got a real case and not just another "he said, she said, they said, flip-flopping disaster where no body wins because you can't prove your case. I think Home Depot is trying to bite off way way too much and it's absolutely logistically impossible for them to attempt to do everything they claim they can and will do and get read consistent professional results...ain't gonna happen! Read these comments again and you'll get some good ideas! And by the way...Home Depot really does suck! (my opinion!)

Not surprising. I hired Home Depot to install an underground sprinkler system. They arrived in the middle of winter to install, and they destroyed what little yard I had left. They destroyed the grass where the lines went. They obliterated a raised flowerbed, and made it level with the grass. A rock drainaige area between me and the nieghboor all but disappeared. They left all the dirt, rock, and debris. And then told me I was to clean that up, not them. They would not replace the beauty bark that was removed. They 'replanted' some bushes in the wrong spot. They buried over 7 other small ground covering plants. Altered the configuration of our water feature that took me another day to get back close to it's original shape. And then took another 3 months to get things back to some normalcy. They also failed to install the rain guage until I threatened non-payment until everything was done and back to normal. They did, but it was an insane hassle. I still have to re-seed pretty much the front yard and some of the back yard. and to top it all off, I had a friend do the same thing for 1/2 of what we were charged, and these folks re-seeded and replaced anything that was damaged, including plants. Thier yard didn't even look like anything was done, while mine became a war zone. My advice, never use home depot for anything, the nieghborhood kids with no experience would do better!

Hi Linda, I have been in the flooring industy for over 19 years now. I have heard hundreds of horor storys about their installation crews. But when we herd that they were coming to our area and that they were going to be hiring local journy men to do there installation we submitted all our info even paid to apply at there store. Just to find out that they only use flooring installers from a Company 75 miles out of town called Cover All. The bad storys continue on poor installation and poor sales man tips. They bring their big store to our town claiming to help our economy with new jobs. But they only hiring work crews by the hour from big citys. How is that help the local economy?

Hey Linda, You've been involved in a couple of investigations about "bad" contractors. Have you ever had your own home remodeled? If so . . . what was your experience?

And finally: Do you know any "good" contractors? ;-)

HI, I SPENT ONLY 1 MONTH INSTALLING WINDOWS FOR HD, AND QUIT. I HAVE BEEN AN HONEST, TRUSTWORTHY CONTRACTOR FOR 20 YEARS, AND THE WORK HD WANTED ME TO DO WAS COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE. THEY WANTED SPEED, SO YOU COULD INSTALL MORE WINDOWS EVERY DAY. THEY DID NOT CARE IF THE WINDOWS WERE INSTALLED CORRECTLY, AND WHEN I COMPLAINED, THEY BASICALLY SAID SHUT UP, AND GET THE HOMEOWNER TO SIGN OFF ON THE JOB, NO MATTER WHAT. THIS WAS IN THE RENTON, WA AREA. VERY SHADY.

I would rather have the issue with the Home Depot who does background check their contractors and carries liability insurance for issues than any sub-contractor who may or may not stand behind their work. I will point out that I am writing from Canada and do not know whether the service and the attitude of the WA Home Depots is the same as it is in Canada, but i believe in the statement made by the company that they will do everything in their power to help out the home owner. How often have you tried to enforce work completion when dealing with an independent contractor? I applaud Home Depot for dealing with the problems that their sub-contractors cause and offering me a voice for potential issues. There is a commitment to look after the customer and as a home owner if I hire a contractor for service I have no recourse nor do I even expect that contractor to be in business next year to warranty the work they do. I have dealt with the hidden costs that independent contractors surprise you with and the multitude of costs associated with independents. I remind consumers that Home Depot ABSORBS these costs as they have guaranteed customers a compeleted job for the single fee and if there are charges associated with the job after the fact they pay when they make a mistake. The 25% withholding that i am offered from the independents is not near enough to cover me if there are issues and for the most part any contractor that i have dealt with in the past is equal to or sub-par to the contractors that Home Depot hires. I think in all the rantings of previous comments people are not considering the fact that Home Depot at least tries to hold the sub-contractors accountable to completing the work and offers the customer a place to voice their concerns and a way of receiving satisfaction. i will continue to work with Home Depot dispite the 1% of issues that people seem to be stuck on. Ask those customers in the story a year from now whether Home Depot looked after them in the long run and gave them the satisfaction of a warrantied, completed renovation, then go and speak to customers who are still suing the contractors that they hired on their own and dealing with issues multiple years from their original install date.

So, My questions are these...
For the homes that you showed on the newscast, did you bother to get information from ALL the owners? If so why did you leave the information out?

Secondly, did you bother to find out if the "employee" who requested anonymity was still employed at the time of the interview? Or even within the three months prior to the interview?
If wo why did you leave THAT information out?

Thirdly, did you bother to find out what steps the Home Depot has/is taking to satisfy their customers? Once again the question... why did you leave that information out?

I guess all these questions really boil down to..."why did you leave so much information out?"
I guess if you put all the information into the newscast, it wouldn't be news would it?
It would simply be life as it really is. People make mistakes, Good companies take care of these mistakes.
My guess would be that Home Depot has taken care of all these customers. How can they afford not to?

In Home depot's defense, my husband and I purchased a dishwasher which Home Depot Installed. They took the old one and installed the new one. They did a great job and were out to our house on time. I think everyone needs to consider that there are hundreds of Home Depots...each one is going to have different contractors. I would suggest that if you are considering going with HD or Lowe's or any of these kinds of stores, check out their chosen contractor with the better business bureau. If you don't like what you see, don't go with them.
Again I say, you get what you pay for...you want cheap, that's what you are gonna get.

I have had a similar problem and after a huge ordeal initally and fight with home depot, here it is three years later and now my countertops are falling off. I think we should file a class action lawsuit then they would be forced to correct and refund.

I work for the Home Depot, and from my experience and first hand knowledge Home Depot, Lowes and other large home centers all use virtually the same contractors for installs. It's no surprise that it is a private contractor it says so in the customer agreement.

In the market in which I live there have never been any of the complaints or problems that are described above. When issues do arrise we do everything within our power to make the issue right.

I'm sorry for any of the experiences that may have left you a little sour for the Home Depot. Know that all stores are not the same. Most associates want to see the customer satisfied and coming back. YOU ARE THE REASON WE ALL HAVE JOBS AT THE HOME DEPOT!!!!

Let me assure you the Home Depot is working hard at resolving issues in the At Home Services and contractors. My goal as a Millworks Specialist is to see you have an outstanding experience in my store. . . and to fall more in love with your home.

I'm not making any excusses, but, there are many of us out there who really do care!

I recently purchased and had HD install carpeting. As odd as it sounds they told me they require 10% more than is measured out by their representative. The carpet was out of stock and had to be ordered but it did come in a week earlier than they said, and was promptly installed. Although only one of the 2 workers was fluent in English, they did a good job and left everything very neat and tidy.
Now the weird part---I have a PO Box, did give the "billing" address, as well as the install address, and had to call the store 3 times because I never received a copy of the invoice (it was charged to my non-HD credit card in full over the phone when the order was placed). By contacting them thru the HD web site a Natalie Slade 770-433-8211 ext 76557 called me and had the store FAX it to