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Home Depot Special Orders

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Sally of Redwood City CA writes (1/7/02):
On October 29,2001 I purchased from Home Depot a set of shutters for one window. On 11/5/01 I purchased from Home Depot carpet for my home. In each case I was told I needed to prepay in full for each special order purchase. A deposit was not an option.

I paid $484.25 for the shutter and $4735.80 for the carpet. In the case of the carpet I was told arrival in two weeks, on the shutters I was told arrival in about 4 weeks. That includes remeasure and production.

In both cases the order was botched. My carpet arrived in four weeks and to date I have not received my shutters. The first time my carpet arrived they shorted me so the installer only installed 3 out of 5 rooms. I then had to reorder and wait an additional 2-3 weeks. When the second order arrived one of the rolls of carpet was completely wet so they were once again unable to install it.

It was right before Christmas, one week to be exact, and I had postponed furniture delivery twice because of the carpet fiasco. The remedy offered by the assistant manager Matthew at the Home Depot store was to first comp me what I had paid for the carpet and shutters, expedite the shutter order and take me to a local carpet warehouse and purchase in-stock carpet for me so I could have carpet and furniture for christmas. Since it was now going to be free I agreed.

The carpet color was slightly different but i was desperate. After it was installed I called the assistant manager to ask when my shutters would be installed, it was now Dec. 29, 2001. He told me he did not even order them. I then asked about the refund check for the carpet and he denied ever making that offer. To date I have no shutters, Home Depot has my money and I have a carpet not of my choice and no refund. Is it legal to make customers prepay for merchandise in full and then not deliver?

The short answer to Sally's question, of course, is no. On the other hand, Home Depot is not obligated to write off the entire order, since at least some of the correct carpeting was delivered. And, to be fair, Home Depot did purchase replacement carpet at its own expense, even though it may not be a perfect match. We doubt Home Depot will make any additional concessions so Sally is probably headed for Small Claims Court.

Anthony of Upper Marlboro MD writes (12/20/01):
I and my husband experienced a 1 1/2 hour ordeal in our attempts to pick up a special order (merchandise) from the Home Depot store in Hampton Park MD, this in light of the fact that we had all the paperwork and receipts to show that we had paid for the merchandise.

My husband left the merchandise at the store door and went to get our car, and was followed by a white store manager to our vehicle. The store worker apparently thought he was trying to steal the merchandise which was still in the store. He made the following comment, "See you tomorrow while standing at the car door". My husband said what do you mean see you tomorrow. He said he was going to pull the truck around and pickup our merchandise. He then walked behind the truck following my husband to the store exit where the merchandise was sitting. When my husband got out of the truck to enter the store Mr. H said "sorry" and then left.

I have an extensive account of the entire incident (almost three pages of in depth detail). The cashier was slow, unknowledgeable, the process of picking up a special order is flawed and no sales person even checked my order to ensure all of the merchandise was accounted for. I was due a $50 refund for what I still don't know and I had to bring that to the attention of the cashier. She couldn't even explain to me what the refund was for.

My husband and I both are extremely upset about the incident. Especially since we feel the store requirements are those imposed on us because the store is in a black location. We felt like thieves just trying to pick up merchandise we had already paid for. In addition, our children were with us. They couldn't understand the white store worker following my husband to the car and then following the car. The damage we have sustained has been emotional. We felt like we were second class citizens that apparently we as African Americans can't afford anything in Home Depot and would only be there to steal.

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