More Run Around

It seemed that they couldn’t figure out what to reorder to fix my problem and it took days for it to be resolved. I hate to say it but this is not rocket science. I was able to figure what needed to be done to fix this problem and kitchen design is not my business. I finally receive word that the replacement corner cabinet was ordered around 5/20/08 along with the replacement doors for my pantry with the correct glass. Finally arrange for pick-up of incorrect cabinets (27 days after it was delivered). Is waiting 27 days for the pick up of an incorrect cabinet acceptable and almost a month to reorder an incorrect cabinet acceptable? This is absolutely absurd. I left countless voicemails and had numerous phone conversations to finally get this to the point where they reordered this cabinet and finally came to pick up the old one.

The Run Around

I contacted customer care number listed on the web site to try and enlist some assistance in getting my situation resolved. My contact at customer care was Jessica. Anecdotally Jessica had an much trouble dealing with the store as I did. She never was able to speak with the designer Scott. He never returned her calls and would not accept her calls when they came. It is amazing that he was never in the store when she called. She kept calling me apologizing for all the delays and the fact that it seemed impossible to obtain resolution and action on any of the problems I was having.

About One Month Later)

Two new cabinets are delivered. Corner cabinet is wrong again. They sent a 36 in long cabinet. This does not allow for the vent in the corner. They should have sent a 30 in. cabinet. I called the store on the 24th to tell them the corner cabinet was wrong. Spoke with Rhonda who said she would need to speak with the designer and get back to me. I had many conversations back and forth with Gerry and Rhonda trying to get someone to come and look at the cabinet and come up with a plan for resolution. Of note they can’t reorder a new cabinet or send someone to pick up the incorrect cabinets until a zone manager comes to verify that what is an error is an error. This is fine if it doesn’t take over two weeks fore someone to finally show up. Long story short is that the zone manger finally came to assess this situation on 5/9/08 (16 days after initial call). Do you consider a 16 day turn around good customer service? I also forgot to mention that I was charged for the remake of the corner cabinet. I would like to emphasis that this cabinet had to be remade because of an error in judgment and design made by one of your design specialists. Why should I have to pay for your employees mistakes?

Reorder

Incorrect cabinets are returned ( 4 total) on 3/27 and a new corner cabinet and side cabinet are ordered.

Maybe this will all work out...maybe not

We reconcile initial kitchen design with new floor plans that Lupi has. Discover that an extra cabinet has been sent. Also over the course of 48 hours it is determined how to make the cabinets that I was sent work. These kitchen design works on paper but practically speaking it is problematic for several reasons. If you ever required access to the corner vent in the future you would have to take a cabinet down to get to it. Because the corner was designed at a 90 degree angle when you open the doors on one of the cabinets it hits the cabinet on the other wall. There is simply not enough clearance and Scott indicated that spacers could have been used to fix this except there was not room for any spacers. I also suppose that corner cabinets were invented to overcome the problem of having cabinets on perpendicular walls installed at a 90 degree angle.

Can I get some help?

Lupi one pf the zone mangers finally comes to look at the cabinet order. We discover that the floor plans I have are not the same as the ones she has. I was never given a copy of the final floor plans. Nor was a provided the list of names and numbers that I was to use to contact people if I had problems or needed assistance once my order arrived. I also indicated that my pantry doors were incorrect and did not contain the glass I had ordered.

The Order is Wrong

Cabinets delivered 3/3/08 and I opened the boxes on 3/16/08. Immediately determine that there is something wrong with the order and call Home Depot twice on the 17th. Left messages with Fred Spath who returns some of my calls but never really addresses the content of my messages and keeps telling me that the floor plans they have in the store are correct. Implying that there could not be anything wrong with the order. Frankly I am not really sure what the floor plans have to do with me explaining that the cabinets that were sent can not possible fit in my kitchen. Finally my dad and I go to the store in person to try and get someone to address our problems and take action. This is when we spoke with Gerry Thomas and he got involved in the process.
The fact that my calls were basically dismissed and that my dad and I had to go to the store in person for someone to take action is really indicative of great follow through and great customer service isn’t it?