Home Services at The Home Depot

Purchased a water heater got it home dented really bad, brought it back and exchanged it for the last one they had, once got it home to found out had to completely cut all plumbing out due to newer models are 2 inches wider. So once all this was done 2 hours later with all new CPVC lines and new flex tubing installed, turned on water to find out this new hot water heater had a leak, so I thought I may have over tightened flex line, so I have to completely drain hot water heater, go purchase another new line and install, once finished to my surprise it leaks also! So started checking and find the bottom of water supply pipe in the hot water heater is damaged causing new flex line O ring to not seal properly so have to drain hot water heater yet again! Drain heater and call store to speak with someone and finally get a manager he says to bring hot water heater back so I then explain that I will have to completely re-plumb it again due to I can’t remove the hot water heater through the opening in my wall and that I will have to cut all new CPVC lines just to remove it and start over. So he ask me to send pics and he will see what he can do, so 45 minutes later I get tired of waiting and I drive up to store and I wait at service counter for 20 minutes very patiently while 3 different people help one customer, so after waiting and the other customer has been helped I wait again for another 10 minutes while 2 of the 3 people totally ignore me. So finally Chris the assistant manager ask me what do I need, I start trying to explain to him the issue and that I had already spoken with a manager but I didn’t get his name and he rudely looks at me and say so what are you wanting me to do about it, so I bit my tongue and wasn’t smart back and said politely that I had a plumber on the way to see if he could fix all I was asking for is for them to cover the cost of fixing the second damaged water heater they had sold me. Then he stated he would have to check with the manager I had spoken too. So I wait again while he goes to find him, well that manager that was supposed to be checking on my issue is sitting in break room on his break, however he does get up comes out and says he can get me a new pipe to install into the new $400 Rheem hot water heater I had just purchased but he can’t do anything else. So I take the pipe home to find out that the new pipe is 3 inches shorter than the one in water heater so I took the parts back and give it to manager and ask if there was anything they could do to help since I just purchased it that morning, well I can possibly give you a store credit however I can’t cover the plumbers fee. So I said I would let him know, left and met plumber and he fixed pipe and finished installing water heater and tested to make sure all is correct and was very fair as he only charged me $75 to fix. Now all this being said I had just spent over $500 in the last two days at this store and I have spent over $10,000 in this Home Depot over the last 9 years and I have always had great service, however after dealing with the two assistant managers I had to deal with and seeing them not care or try to fix or solve a issue with a customer that wasn’t fussing, wasn’t being rude and has been a returning customer since it opened! No thank you I felt instead of asking them for their $75 store credit it would be more valuable to let people know just how sorry their customer service is! I would rather cost myself the $75 store credit and save others the headache of such sorry customer service! I will never spend one penny in this Home Depot again if at all possible! The people at Lowe’s in Cornelia will get my business from now on even though it’s a 45 minutes drive there and back! At least they act like they care about their customers and for a side note this isn’t just someone who wants to complain, I have been a retail manager for 12 years and the customer service I received is by far the worst experience ever with a retail store!