I purchased a kitchen remodel in 2006. Everything went fine, no problems, no confusion. That was for a kitchen in a double we own. We went back to Depot to get the kitchen in the other unit done. We brought all the layouts, paper work, etc., from the first kitchen. The house was built as a double, it is a flat, the kitchens are dimensionally the same, in fact they sit right on top of each other and were built that way when the house was first erected. The cost to have the same countertops, cabinets, faucets, handles, hinges, etc., done in kitchen number 2 was approximately $3500.00 more than the cost previously.
They had "no record" on file of our kitchen from late in 2006. No problem, I brought my copies of the layouts including floor plan, layouts, estimated cost, actual cost and part numbers for all of the items. This time, it cost us more money and we had nothing but trouble. The Home Depot contractor was at our house, calling my cell phone to ask me where the items were he was installing. Then he got fed up and told me he couldn't do any more work, and left for the day. A call was placed to Home Depot. They said they would, "take care of it".
The next day, the contractor showed up with no materials. He had already put in the cupboards but had no sink, faucet, knobs for cupboards, dishwasher, microwave/fan, etc. So, I went to Home Depot, print out in hand of what we had purchased. The next person I talked to was clueless. She had no record of this project. I told her that her contractor was at our house waiting to do the work. She assisted me with my list of items. We walked to the store together as I pointed out the countertops, sink, faucet, knobs, etc., that I had purchased 4-5 weeks prior to that day.
Yes, 4-6 weeks ago I paid for the items. The cabinets were delivered to my home. Therefore, Home Depot had 4-6 weeks to pull the items off their shelves and see to it that the contractor had the items so he could do his work. We got all items together. In the meantime, Home Depot's contractor kept calling my cell phone to check in and see how long it would be. He was at a stand still and decided it would be best if he came back next week when we get everything together. Okay, so his argument is that he scheduled this time to work on our house and has other jobs going on so he needs to leave.
Meanwhile I am at Home Depot pulling the items off the shelves using my print out from their store to gather my purchases from 4-6 weeks earlier. Then we are told, "Oh there is no dishwasher on this order." Well, there certainly was, and guess what, it was the same model we purchased a little over 2 years ago for the other kitchen. Then we got this, "Oh, I'm sorry those are out of stock." So, I walk my store representative back to the dishwasher section, walk over to the dishwasher, place my hand on top of it and say, "This is out of stock?" Oh, of course, we can purchase the floor model, but I am like, "But nothing, you had them 4-6 weeks ago when I walked around the store when I purchased this entire $7000.00 kitchen from you!
So, we agreed to buy the dishwasher. At this point we seriously want to get all of the items back to the house so Home Depot's contractor has everything he needs to do his job. Well, that is when he has time to come back since he spent his time waiting for us to do Home Depot's job. Did I mention that this is an income property? That means that every day, week, 4-6 weeks, etc., that we don't have a kitchen, we are losing money! Okay, now we are doing one last check of all the items on the list. We are at the front of the store. The Home Depot representative now says to us, "Okay, if you just back your truck up, we'll have someone load everything for you and you can take it home." Okay, two problems: We have no truck! And if we did, are you seriously suggesting we have the means to unload a dishwasher, sink, hood fan/microwave and all the other miscellaneous items like knobs, etc.
Now I am fuming. We are being asked to deliver all of our own materials, days after their contractor stood around and called my cell phone complaining because he didn't have what he needed to do his job at our house that Home Depot was paying him to do with the money that we paid Home Depot. Yes, you will need to read that again to understand it. The following week, the contractor came back. He did the knobs on the cabinets and tried to install the dishwasher. I got a call on my cell phone. He tells me that the hose that came with the dishwasher is not the right one. I, of course, don't want him to leave for a week, so I came home, take a look at the bag with the brochure and all the attachments in it and match the part number to the model number on the back of the dishwasher. Yup, he's right, it is not right.
So, I drove to Home Depot, go directly to the department where we bought the dishwasher off the floor, the man says, "Yeah, I see, that one must go with this one over here. That means we probably don't have the hook up for yours, you may want to call the manufacturer." Well, I don't think so. I take it upon myself to get down on the floor and look behind the remaining floor models so I can locate the bag with brochure and hook-ups for the dishwasher that is sitting back at our house. Yup, found it. I matched it to the model number that I had written on the paper. I took it home with me, then called the contractor. Well, guess what, he has other jobs going on. So once again, we waited. He came back, put in the dishwasher.
Next up, the countertops. The contractor says to me, "When is the guy coming to do the countertops so I can put the sink in." I said, "You are putting them in." He said, "I don't do countertops." I said, "I bought these off the rack at Home Depot and you are doing the install." He said, "No, I'm not. You need to call Home Depot and see who is putting these in so I can schedule a day/time to come back to do the sink." I called Home Depot. No one knows what is going on. "What countertops?" is basically the response. So we ** around with a three-way conversation for about a week discussing who will do final measurements, who will do the install, and then, I'm sorry I thought that I paid for the countertops with installation of the entire kitchen "4-6 weeks" ago.
According to the contractor, he doesn't install countertops. I reminded him that he put in the same 8 feet and 6 feet section in the other apartment a little over two years ago. In fact, I brought him into the apartment and showed him how he cut a sink hole out of the 8 feet section and trimmed a couple of inches off the end, then took the 6 feet section and cut two 37" sections out of it for the other side. His reply, "Well, I'll need to get back to you because I was unaware that I was going to be doing this work.
Next up, final measurements. After 3 days of back and forth between Home Depot, the contractor and myself, we came to an agreement. Home Depot's contractor would measure, Home Depot would cut them and Home Depot's contractor would install them. It is now rapidly approaching the end of October. We originally wanted the apartment ready to rent for October 1st. If we are lucky, we'll be able to show it and rent if for November 1st if Home Depot can cut the countertops. Surprise. Friday morning at 8:30AM, my cell phone rings. It is the contractor, "Where are the countertops? I am here and there are no countertops. Were they cut?"
So, I called Home Depot and found out that they were not cut. The manager tells me that he is going to cut them over the weekend. I called back the contractor, Home Depot's contractor, and let him know that they won't be cut until over the weekend. He tells me he has other work and cannot come back until next Wednesday. Poof, there goes renting the apartment in November. Now we are looking at December 1st. Not likely. The chances of anyone moving right before the holidays and during winter in Buffalo, NY are slim, to say the least. We now have a bill from Home Depot that is about 30% higher than the same kitchen cost a little over two years prior. The argument was that labor went up. I find it interesting that it took much less time to do the other kitchen, less involvement on our part, at a lower cost.
We were unable to rent the apartment through December and January. Thanks to Home Depot we lost about $2800.00 in rental income. And here is the icing on the cake and the catalyst that prompted me to rehash the events outlined in this note. Our new tenants moved in a little before February 1st with the agreement that their lease would start February 1, 2010. Today is February 25th. They, the tenants called me on Sunday, February 21st, to tell me that water was coming from under the sink. I went upstairs, looked, and while I was in their apartment, called the plumber (a contractor who works through Home Depot). They had no one on-call since it was Sunday, but would have someone come over first thing Monday morning. My husband stayed home from work so he could follow-up on the situation. We anticipated an issue because of what we went through before.
Here is how it played out. No one came on Monday. The tenants could not use the kitchen sink (yes, the new sink/faucet that had been used for about 3 weeks). Tuesday, no one showed up. I called. They sent someone over to look at it around 4:00. He says, "The faucet is defective, you'll need to turn the water off so you don't ruin your cupboards. Then you'll need to call Home Depot and let them know that the faucet is defective. They will probably want you to bring it back. When you get the new one, let us know and we'll install it." I said, "Wait a minute. Didn't you install it the first time?" I talked to Home Depot, explained the situation, with my receipt and list of items in hand.
The person I talked to told me that I never bought a faucet from them. I told her that she was the one who walked around with me in the store and actually drove the Home Depot truck to my house. Oh, yes, she remembered, and what do you know, found the line item on her copy of the receipt. No problem, she will get it taken care of. About 30 minutes later, the contractor called. They will be there tomorrow morning (Wednesday) between 11:00AM - 12:00PM to install the faucet. I read him the exact part number of the Moen faucet that I had purchased previously so there would be no problems.
Wednesday, February 24th 2:40 PM, I got a call from the contractor. He says, "We are on our way over to take care of the sink. We should be there in about half an hour. Did you pick up the new faucet from Home Depot?" I spoke with our tenant last night. They installed the replacement faucet last night around 4:00. No work order for signing, nothing. Just left without even saying goodbye.