The Home Depot

This review is of my experience with purchasing carpeting and installation through the Home Depot. The problems were not with the in-​store salesperson, who was very nice, but with the quality of installers used by Home Depot.
After a pleasant experience with the in-​store salesperson, our experience with the installer and the company that sent the installer was horrific.
Two men showed up in a dirty, rusted out van. Before I could get to the door, they simply opened it and walked into my home uninvited. The personal hygiene of the primary man was atrocious (smelly, dirty, and reeked of cigarette smoke). Then during the process he constantly was dismissive of my wife and refused to speak in any manner that approached respectfulness toward her.
The installers left a mess. There was bits of carpet all over the floor of the hallway outside the rooms where carpet was installed. Trim pieces that were removed and clearly communicated to be trashed were piled inside the front door of our home unless it was pieces that were thrown in the bathroom (all with small nails sticking out of them). When my wife asked the installer to finish cleaning up after himself, he threw a tantrum before huffing up the stairs to clean up the mess he left behind.
After this, he completed the experience by shouting and throwing things around — the last of which was a business card for American Carpet South, the company he was contracted through by Home Depot. Then, he slammed the door to the house on his way out.
The phone number on the card led my wife to speak to his supervisor at that company’s office in Syracuse who simply responded with more rudeness. He said it was her fault that the man acted like an aggressive, spoiled child. And insinuated that he «could see by the way she was on the phone» that she was the problem. Then, the representative on the supervisor became defensive and proclaimed that they were the biggest carpet installers around (which makes absolutely no sense in light of the present complaint).
These contracted installers are horrible. If this is how American Carpet South does business and judging from the experience we had as well as the company’s defense of that experience, I have to believe that is exactly how they are comfortable operating their business. I would hope that Home Depot does not deem this experience as acceptable or appropriate. I’m sure there are plenty of contractors that would eagerly take any business Home Depot would divert to them by not doing business with this despicable company again.
As of now, I would recommend getting carpet or other flooring installed by a shop where you actually see the people who will be entering your home. I would never suggest anyone I know to schedule an installation through Home Depot.

The tool rental and people working there are GREAT! They are very knowledgeable and will help you out with advice very pleasantly. They told me what exactly was wrong with my lawnmower and were very nice about renting a chainsaw to me as well as informing me of the proper use. Also, about a year back, I bought a new sump pump and the guy working there in plumbing really knew his stuff (after some bad advice at other places and buying the wrong equipment). I now switched my store loyalty to them for these reasons.

I tend to avoid box stores, but I like this Home Depot. I go there when I can’t find stuff I need at Agway.
Let me try a comparative analysis between Home Depot and Lowe’s (in Ithaca). I like Home Depot better. I just feel as though people who work there know their stuff better. I’ve always had good luck there finding things I need. At Lowe’s — for me, it’s been hit and miss. Sometimes I go there and I feel as though people shirk me around (and other customers, likely) and I’m thinking that’s probably because they are afraid of questions? I also feel as though Lowe’s are staffed by younger (and probably less experienced) people (with house maintenance). On a positive, Lowe’s does have longer store hours. Also they have this phone thing in isles where you can pick up and have someone come over. Well, if only the person who come has really good ideas about what you need. Well, in any case, because of the longer store hours, in a pinch, I go to Lowe’s.
But overall I’m giving it to Home Depot. I tend to find help easily there and I also feel as though people at Home Depot tend to be genuinely helpful, and not touting around this pushy-​and-​unnatural-​flash-​smiles that show –I’m-doing-this-only-because-it-gets-me-paychecks – am-​glad-​when-​done-​helping-​you sort of friendliness, if you know what I mean. I just think there are more of the latter than the former at Lowe’s and the ratio is reversed at Home Depot.
But that’s just my observation. Hope it helps.

We went through Home Depot for our roofing and siding project, and had their install team do the work. What a mistake. We are still dealing with this nightmare, and they started the projects in the first week of June. First, during the roofing project the team did not tarp anything over when they left for the day, and we got a downpour that had not been anticipated in the forcast. Water poured into our attic and right down into our living room through the opening at the ceiling fan. Our laptop happened to be on the coffee table under that ceiling fan, and was completely destroyed. The flood also left another unsightly yellow/​brown stain on my living room ceiling. The siding project has been even worse! The work on the siding was sub-​par to say the least. It looked like the contractors had never heard of the phrase «measure twice… cut once» as there are several areas all over the house where edges do not line up/​pieces don’t fit in right etc. Also, even something as simple as caulk was gobbed on and sloppy. Not to mention that the projects took about two weeks longer than originally stated. During all of this mess the Home Depot install team has had horrible communication with us, as in they did not call to inform of of any status’/plans…we always have to call them to find out where things are at. Home Depot had someone come to inspect the work and he stated that he was disgusted with the work, and was going to make things right for us, and was going to have a new crew come out and start from scratch. It was about a month before we heard any word about when a crew may be available, or if the materials had been ordered. We have not heard anything definitive about when the job will be done, or what kind of compensation might be given for our hardship. I don’t know how they can run their business in this way. It is aweful to be wronged and let down as a customer, but it is all the more disappointing to still be getting jerked around after a problem occured. I would expect if something was done poorly, the company would want to make the extra effort to ensure communication, deadlines, and work quality were done well the second time around… I guess not!

We purchased new kitchen cabinets (all wood construction with all of the bells and whistles you may expect from semi-​custom brands) and also hired Home Depot to install the cabinets.
The kitchen designer at Home Depot (Kim) was excellent. She helped us tremendously and was knowledgeable and patient while we thought about our kitchen wish-​list. She also helped us with practical suggestions that we hadn’t thought of – and her suggestions were really helpful. We enjoyed working with Kim — you can tell she enjoys her job and likes to help people.
Home Depot also had a project manager who called us to insure that we were satisfied during the course of the project. He made sure everything was on schedule and that we were happy.
The Home Depot-​contracted local installer was excellent. His work is impeccable and he was on-​time and easy to work with. He made our kitchen look exactly how we hoped it would look.
We tried to hire local, small businesses but had one horrendous, disaster and then a couple of people who just didn’t follow through. We hesitated to go to a big box store for our new kitchen, but our cabinets are made in the USA and Home Depot uses a very capable carpenter to install cabinets. We have no regrets using Home Depot and our kitchen is very pretty now.