I'll start this out by saying, I let this all happen. I shouldn't have, but I did.
Hometown sent me a salesman in Fall '23 to sell me a patio door. It was a unique size and specific to fit my needs. The price tag was obscene but I figured since it was custom that the price made sense. The salesman appeared to even call the manufacturer while in my presence to confirm they could do it. I signed and agreed to be approved for their credit card for a term of no-interest financing. Due to the special ordering, it would take a long time to come in. We agreed late spring '24 for install.
The door arrived in May and the workers scheduled with me for June. Upon arrival, the installer had me come look at the door before he brought it in the house. It was not what I had ordered. It was a standard sized door. He pulled out the paperwork to confirm. He apologized and said the salesman would be in touch and they left.
I got an email from the salesman the next day that said your door is in! As if I didn't already know that? He went on to offer me a tiny discount to allow them to install the door that came in. What happened to the door I ordered? The manufacturer couldn't do it. Was the call even real? They can make a different sized door but not the one I wanted.
Obviously this is the point where I should've pulled the plug. I can tell you about my state of mind, the long wait and necessity of having what this door offered but none of that really matters. I should have canceled the deal but I continued on.
The next day I spoke to a manager and the salesman. They didn't seem to be on the same page at all and cannot or will not answer why I was sold a door that didn't exist. I asked to see a breakdown of the cost. They did not provide. I looked up what this door costs on google. It's 5x less than what I was being charged. The salesman employed high pressure tactics to get me to accept the door as is. He gave me a sob story about how he and the company are losing money with the piddly discount offered. He raved about the quality of the door. He asked me what I needed to move forward. I said I needed a significant discount to which he scoffed and said he could not do it. I gave another number and he again told me about how much money he was losing. He offered me another minimal amount, slightly more than the original discount. I said I would have to talk it over with my partner, which it was very obvious he didn't want me to do, so then he went a little higher on the discount and said If I give you this discount, can we come install it today? I'll never know why I said yes. It was very dumb of me. I still paid 4x the cost of the door had I just gone to a local store.
They came and installed the door. It seemed fine, but they had to come back out several times over the next week to fix things.
Back to the financing: I applied for and was approved for their financing with a term of no interest. However, that credit company had a 6-month purchase window. We knew when we signed this deal back in the fall that it would be over 6 months. The salesman either didn't know or didn't care about this window. He called me after the door was installed and said we have to reapply. That means another hard inquiry on my credit score. He gave me the credit company's number to call and see if I can get them to reopen my account. I did, and they won't. I called the salesman back to let him know. He says they aren't even working with that company anymore and that I have to now apply through another one, and I have to do it right now, giving my personal information over the phone and allowing another hard inquiry.
While this is absolutely a case of a series of bad decision making on my part, I also feel I was duped, preyed upon, taken advantage of, and pressured.
I will say all of the workers were lovely humans. I was happy to have them working on my home.
But Hometown and their salesman Mark Condit is not someone I hope to ever have contact with again. read more
