We recently purchased a refrigerator here. Our salesperson, Al, was wonderful. He was professional, helpful, and went above and beyond to meet our needs. Although it was not any fault of his, I should have known something was wrong when we purchased the fridge on 6/23 and it could not be delivered until the week of July 11th at the earliest. Also, why would a company in a predominantly blue-collar town, with a high amount of vacationers, who visit seasonally and mostly on weekends, not offer weekend delivery? We reside in Chicago, but have a vacation home in Ludington. Even though our current refrigerator was leaking, we had to schedule delivery for August 9th because that was the next time we could be up there during a week. Plans changed and we were able to manage an earlier visit, so the date was changed via the toll-free number to July 22nd.
That's when things took a drastic turn. First, the delivery paperwork indicated the delivery company would call with a four hour window the night before, When it was close to 9 PM the night before and we still hadn't received a call, I called and was given a four hour window of 1-5 PM. I think a four hour delivery window is excessive. That would be fine if a clearer delivery time could be given the next day., but that was;t an option The day of the 22nd was extremely frustrating. The delivery paperwork also promised we would receive a call 30 minutes prior to the delivery. We waited around all day on a beautiful afternoon with no updates. We had our food in coolers throughout the house. We called the toll free number repeatedly and could not get a live person. We were almost convinced they forgot our delivery and we had made a 4 hour trip ffrom Chicago for nothing. Finally, at 4:17, we called the Home Depot in Ludington. My dad spoke to someone named Becky who said she would check on the delivery status and call us back. At 4:50, we still had not heard back from Becky. Then, the delivery men called and said we were going to be at the end of the delivery time frame, which was obvious. The call did not come 30 minutes, as promised. Instead, he said they would be there is 8 minutes, according to his GPS. At 5:04, as the delivery truck pulled up. Becky finally called back and asked if the delivery men were there. It took her more than 45 minutes to return our call, which was also frustrating. I was very unhappy and tried to explain to her that the delivery was late. With a four hour delivery window, pulling up 4 minutes late is not acceptable. Becky disagreed with me and said they were not late. I told her I would be complaining to someone else. Obviously, this is just poor customer service from Home Depot, all around. Finally, we specifically asked for the handle to be moved to the right side of the fridge. I even saw the note on the work order. The handle was not moved upon arrival, and the delivery men had to do it right in the middle of the street. I guess they didn't bother to read the delivery instructions. Finally, when taking out or old fridge, they did not notice it was leaking some sort of brownish fluid, as they continued to drag over our kitchen floor and living room floor. Why don't they use a tarp? Why is it $15 to haul away the old refrigerator? Shouldn't that be included with the purchase of a major appliance?
As I told Becky, who did not seem concerned, I will never shop at Home Depot again. I might pay a higher price at a "mom and pop" appliance shop, but it would be worth it. We are extremely disappointed at the lack of professionalism, timeliness, and common courtesy. read more
