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Expo Kitchen Remodeling Projects

Expo Design Center • Bathroom remodeling • Kitchen remodeling • Other remodeling • Flooring • Installation foul-ups • An installer's view • Refunds & exchanges • Customer service • Returns/refunds • Low-price "guarantee" • Contractors' advice • Insider's view --- News • Home Depot to Close Expo Chain

Robyn of Lafayette CA (10/26/03):
My friends were getting their kitchen remodeled. The wife was dying of Lou Gehrig's disease, but wanted to get the kitchen done, hoping to have it done before she died. Since she was wheelchair bound, they felt Expo was the best place because it was one stop shopping.

The experience was a nightmare. My friend died before the kitchen was done due to the many problems caused by Expo. To name a few: The wrong color cabinets were shipped ending up in a 1-month delay (a month is a long time when you're dying). The overhang of the kitchen counter prevents you from putting a pot on the back burner. The water faucet was installed too close to the back splash and you can't turn the hot water on to its full position. The cabinet that was to house the refrigerator extended 8 inches into the doorway.

If we had let them install the cabinets and counters as designed, there would have be a 2 foot walkway from the front door past the kitchen into the family room. There were multiple other disaster regarding plumbing fixtures, etc. When I tried to call Atlanta to complain, all they would say was that "We can't really do anything about this until the project is done." They also said things like, "All remodel jobs have some problems."

I had just finished adding a new kitchen and didn't have a single problem like these. Actually, almost nothing went right with their remodel. Expo should be ashamed of saying they offer services when they don't.

My friend died and never got to see her kitchen completed.

Jeanette of Highland Mills NY (10/27/03):
I contracted for a Kitchen Remodelling Project in 8/02. To date (11/03), the project is still incomplete. In the middle of my project, my designer, Cynthia, quit. However, no one at the Expo told me or reassigned a new designer. After not receiving any email or telephone calls back from my designer, I called to finally learn she had quit. I was referred to the Project Design Supervisor, Yolanda, who informed me that my design was done and I needed only to work through the project with the Project Superintendent, Howard.

However, the design did not work, it was not to code. Several cabinetry items had to be returned (since they didn't fit). At this point the person in charge of the Design Dept, Allison, went to my home to redesign my kitchen. She sent me a fax the next day, which I signed off on in order to get the job done. She never got back to me on any of my questions regarding the design and I have not heard from her since.

My floor was supposedly levelled, but the cabinetry clearly is not aligned. The refrigerator came with damaged drawers and an interior scratch. The decorative wood pieces are damaged. My hood has been ordered three separate times and I still don't have one. My outdoor lights and GFI outlets do not work ever since the electrician came to install the recessed lighting, some of the doors were not hung evenly, base molding was never ordered, my tile had to be reordered because some of it was missing, $500 pair of earrings are missing from my jewelry box, and the list goes on. NO ONE FROM THE EXPO has addressed any of my issues. I am currently seeking counsel.

My kitchen was considered high-end ($65,000). I thought Expo was one of the better places to go, only to have a very expensive job completed by either mediocre or worse contractors. I have had to eat all of my meals out. After the theft of my earrings, I am now nervous about thieves returning to my home and breaking in. It has been difficult getting up all the stairs that lead to my townhouse door without lighting; without GFI in my bathroom, I am forced to use outlets in other parts of the house to do my hair. The delivery men always called me (interrupting me at work), when the Project was supposed to be run by The Expo. In fact, without being assigned a new designer, I was often greatly inconvenienced and misinformed.

Tom of Sonoma CA (12/11/03):
During planning for our kitchen remodel we decided to go with Silestone countertops. They look like real stone (at 30% less), are heat and stain resistant, and do not require seasonal sealing. Problem (big problem as it turns out) is that Home Depot and Expo are the only authorized reps of this product.

The person we were forced to deal with was (to put it bluntly) a complete idiot. She complained about her sore back, was rude, easily distracted, and was constantly correcting mistakes on the order form. While we were there she had to leave us to deal with a disgruntled customer. Turns out that Expo's quote was off by over $1,500 (low) of the installer's actual cost after taking measurements. She was demanding a refund and was obviously hot about this situation. We made a mental note of this encounter.

After repeated phone calls our counters were finally scheduled for measurement. We were told that someone from Expo would be contacting us if there was an additional amount due. We were also told that this is not uncommon because people are not always accurate (themselves) in estimating square footage, and Expo center's staff are poorly trained and consistently make mistakes in this regard. Several weeks went by and no one ever called us. In retrospect we probably should have been on the phone ourselves the very next day. After 10 phone calls to installers and Expo (who had lost our paperwork) we finally found out that there was a balance due of $642.00. Not a big deal and certainly well within our budget.

The problem is that countertops are the key and cornerstone to our remodel. Since there was a balance due (that we did not know about) nothing more was done on their end. Nothing was cut and installation was not on their schedule. This will delay our project completion by almost a month. All other work has stopped and we will be without a functioning kitchen well past the first of the year. Besides the obvious inconvenience we have had to cancel our planned vacation to accommodate the completion of this project.

Matt of Mount Prospect IL (11/28/03):
It has been over 3 months of attempting to rectify granite countertops that were installed in my kitchen. To date, I have paid in full and to date, I still have a failed seam line and a nick in a cabinet. I have placed over 10 calls with no return calls. The last straw was an additional charge, unauthorized by me, of $85.00 on my Visa.

Lalitha of Burr Ridge IL (9/6/03):
We decided to redo our kitchen countertop through expo design. We chose a quite expensive variety (Silestone). We had no problem with the salesperson. However all the problem started with the cheap subcontractors they employed to perform the expensive work. The countertop was measured three different times by three different persons. A tremendous amount of delay and inconvenience was encountered due to this. Other associated work had to be repeatedly rescheduled.

The people who came to do the work were all very rude and were not good at their work. The plumbing subcontractor used four letter words on several occasions as he was unable to perform the job he was supposedly qualified for. Our phone calls went unswered on most occasions. Even the supervisors of the kitchen countertop section were totally unreliable and lied fluently through their teeth. On the whole we were entirely unhappy with the customer service and poor quality subcontractors they employed.

Despite having to measure several times nobody called to apologise about all this mess. In fact one of the section supervisors from Carrara Marble Company was very rude when I called him about the delay and the way these people were conducting business. He in fact asked why should I apologise to you? They were also equally bad in returning phone calls. Carrara Marble is subcontractor to Expo design, which in turn employs subcontractors to do its below-standard work.

Robert of Bon Aqua TN (6/10/02):
They did a horrible job installing and following thru on our kitchen/bathroom cabinets ... arrived late and broken, then late again, only to find out when after they were installed that they did not fit the kitchen walls and were not aligned right. THEN we realized the "kitchen designer expert" did not tell us that the counters we ordered for the kitchen were really intended for the bathroom, which means they scratch REALLY easily ... like if you set a pan or a cup on the counters. Now our counters are totally scratched up in the kitchen from normal use.

AND, the doors on our cabinets were not up to par either, they sent replacements but the man that was suppose to install them never showed up. Now we are forever on their endless mailing lists of JUNK Mail from them (homedepot/expo design center) and any other business that they have sold our names/address to. I have written all the appropriate letters to direct mail services/stop junk mail organization, and called homedepot's corp. offices several times to get off their list ... to no avail. They screwed us on our $2,700 cabinets and now we have to get ALL their Junk mail too.

Our house could not be finished on time because the kitchen and bathrooms had to wait on homedepot's people and mistakes, which caused our delay in moving into the home (being constructed) and we had to pay more rent where we were living to wait for the home being built ... which also delayed all the bank transactions being closed which delayed our contractor from finishing our home ... it was a vicious circle. This did not help our marital harmony at all, either.

Paola of Brooklyn NY (4/22/02):
In April 2001, we first contacted Home Depot to design a large, upscale kitchen (total price over $75,000). We went to them specifically because they provided one-stop shopping: our kitchen needed to be completely remodeled and they sold everything, from design services to tile to the kitchen sink. We signed the contract in June 2001, with the understanding that the kitchen would be installed in September.

In September, the cabinets came, but they said the installer was busy and they put off the installation. On November 29, they delivered the cabinets (which had sat in their warehouse for over 2 months) to our house. At that point, we heard that the designer for our project was leaving. We had a meeting with lots of HD people at our house to plan the project, at which point for the first time we were told that special chrome roll outs that we expressly ordered for the cabinets were not actually available for that line of cabinets.

It soon transpired that the designer -- who promptly left HD -- had messed up the design so badly that HD eventually took back the entire $30,000 worth of custom-made cabinets. However, they did not check the cabinets before they ripped out our kitchen (although they had indications that the designer had caused problems for approximately 15-20 other customers). We were left without a kitchen whatsoever for over two months--right in the middle of the Christmas season!

At that point, we made another crucial mistake (other than going to HD in the first place!) -- we were persuaded by their argument that they'll make it all right, that they could get us new cabinets in an 8-10 week frame, which we thought would be the quickest way to get a kitchen. Of course, the other persuading factor is that they were holding over $70,000 of our money, as they insist on being paid upfront for everything, including installation (this is unique in the business); to make it even worse, they claimed their computer system couldn't perform the simple operation of refunding everything we had paid and re-charging only what we actually had installed.

To make a long story short, it has now been more than 3 months since our new order was placed (having wasted an additional month chasing after the new designer and store manager to get them to finalize a new design so that cabinets could be ordered). The cabinets were supposed to have arrived at the store last Friday, according to the invoice. I called the construction manager (who treats me like a pesky teen-ager, never letting me finish a sentence, and telling me that 13 weeks is "close enough to 10 anyway"). He doesn't know, hasn't checked, etc. The store manager will not return my calls.

We want to rescind the contract, and we want to sue -- we are interested in hearing from other people with the same experience and would consider a class action suit. We (I am an attorney) feel that HD's practices are deceptive, and that they force people to accept their terms based largely on the company's size and the false promise that "HD will not leave your house until you're satisfied." Their service, however, is no batter that that provided by some fly-by-night.

We lived without any kitchen whatsoever for over two months. HD then installed a small temporary kitchen for us, but that's all it is--a barely functioning kitchen. We have serious questions about the contractor's ability to do the job well (on the basis of what he's done so far) and do not believe our concerns are being taken seriously. We have a stately home, we love to cook and entertain, which we have not been able to do since December.

John of Dedham MA (3/8/02):
I went to the EXPO center because I need to completely renovate my kitchen. The room is currently stripped of walls and ceiling (at studs). I was told that they require a $750 retainer to develop a room plan with their kitchen planner. This fee would be put towards the materials I bought for the kitchen. I signed up and we created a kitchen.

They were very helpful in creating the floor plan that included lighting, outlets, flooring, cabinets, heating, counters and appliances. The real reason I went with them is they told me they had subcontractors that do the entire kitchen remodel from the plan and I didn�t want to do it myself. They then sent a person out to bid the job according to the plan that was created.

The bid came it at $39,000.00 to do the renovation. This price is not negotiable. I have a written estimate for the plumbing from another source at $2300.00. The bid included $5100.00 for plumbing. I have a verbal estimate for the electrical at $4000.00 and they have $11,000.00 for electrical. The other numbers all look high also. I asked for the floor plans so I can get my own bids. I am told that they don�t release the plans. I did sign a form that stated that they do not release the plans, but I did not read it and I don�t remember them telling me.

I understand that I made a mistake and this is my fault. I really don�t want to go get my own bids, but I don�t want to over pay. They now are not returning my calls and I am getting very frustrated. I paid $750.00 and I have no kitchen plan and a very high estimate to complete my kitchen.

My kitchen has nothing in it because I was expecting them to start working after I got the bid. I now have to find someone else to do the job and recreate the floor plan. I need to start over in the process of selecting materials and appliances. This is creating a prolonged instability in my house and an a minimum economic loss of the $750.

Michelle of Massapequa NY writes (10/30/01):
Our project is the kitchen. We signed a waiver on February 3, 2001. The work started over eight weeks ago and is still going on. Our story is extremely long, but I just wanted to state that never, never should you go with a remodeling project with Home Depot Expo. We've been involved in two separate stores, Commack and Westbury (both have screwed up royally) and with countless people, including some in the Executive Offices in Atlanta.

As stated in so many other stores on the web, HDE requires you pay them in full before the project. Right there should have been a red flag. We've done three other large projects on our home (NOT w/HD) and never have we paid in full BEFORE a project began. They should think of another name for the project manager, because his management skills are few if none.

Of the many, many obstacles we've been through, one was that they gave our granite away to another customer. This project has been a joke since the very beginning, I've wasted countless hours at home and during work, trying to get some kind of help. In all this time, not once has anyone ever offered any form of compensation. We were never asking for any, but considering the numerous screw-ups that've occurred, you would think a simple gesture like that would have been offered.

If you plan on taking on a kitchen or bathroom project, I suggest you do many hours of homework and thoroughly research your contractor and any other sources involved in the project.

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