I contracted with Home Depot out of Middletown, RI in December 2014, for installation of about s.fof engineered hardwood (click-lock) flooring above concrete slab on my first floor condo I experienced SUBSTANTIAL delays, inaccuracies, lies, avoidance, unqualified personnel, and overall apathy from both Home Depot and its designated subcontractor, U.SInstallation Group Suffice to say that USIG is filled with workers and managers who are not fully educated on the products they are installing, nor is there any reliable, consistent professionalism to deal with consumer concerns or issues caused by USIG's negligence and inept service My floor was left partially done two days before Christmas, because the installer claimed I didn't have the correct transition strips or enough material to finish the job Home Depot and USIG went back and forth, but no one returned to finish the floor for a month Worse, after I complained to [redacted] , a senior executive at Home Depot corporate HQ in Georgia, a regional service manager was dispatched to my home in Rhode Island, and he confirmed in my presence that the flooring installation had been completely done incorrectly (specifically, the underlayment materials were installed against proper procedure and without the moisture barrier protection as intended for those products) The whole floor had to be ripped up and redone with partially new and reused materials All during this ordeal, I had virtually no interest or help from anyone at the local Middletown, RI store Awfully friendly, nice people there, but none of them wanted to take the lead to resolve my problem, nor did any of them brief other personnel when going off duty for two or three days My problem was with me hours a day; my problem, however, was only a 9-5, Monday to Friday consideration for the store personnel Eventually, I began dealing only with Home Depot corporate and the regional service manager They were more helpful and seemed genuinely interested in resolving the problem The regional service manager, in the presence of USIG managers and sub-sub-contracted installers, witnessed many of the concerns I had raised: untrained workers installing flooring (the USIG manager himself told a Home Depot repthat he didn't "know the proper way to install the underlayment," yet he was assigned as the project supervisor for my job), a USIG manager who was supposed to be on-site at my home at all times during re-installation (yet he left for hours at a time and was apathetic while on-site- on his cell phone, not observing the workers, etc.), failure to provide me with a mandated inventory of any unused materials (despite that there was more than $1,in leftover- much of it unopened- material, USIG told Home Depot that there was minimal remaining product, and it is unclear if that product made its way back to the local store or was disposed of some other way) The day of re-installation, I raised a concern about one area in the living room, where the floor was dipping when stepped on USIG reassured me that it would "settle" over time, so I agreed to give it a chance to do so Once re-installation was done, Home Depot's regional service manager told me I would receive a full refund for my ongoing trouble and shoddy original installation When I heard from Home Depot corporate, however, the reality was that they wanted me to sign a cookie-cutter legal release before awarding me a "settlement" equal to my purchase price The regional manager had never explained that I would need to sign any release in exchange for what he had misleadingly called a "refund." I went back and forth for a week with Home Depot re: the language on the release, as it had been written completely in the favor of Home Depot, including a clause that I agreed to completely release Home Depot for ANY and ALL claims (not just related to my installation) for anything at all, into the future Once I informed Home Depot that I would not sign any release unless the wording was significantly changed (to also include my ability to share my experience with others- originally they wanted me to agree to a "gag order" to disclose nothing about my experience), I was FedEx shipped the document overnight I signed it and received a check two weeks later for my purchase price plus an additional $2, I believe Home Depot then expected I would go away, but the lingering floor dip area in my living room didn't The regional manager (again, an awfully nice guy who had given me a real feeling of investment and professional understanding while he was directing the rand re-installation of the flooring), seemed to pass off my inquiry to USIG, sending that same USIG manager out (alone) to survey my floor He agreed there was a noticeable dip but suggested it was within "acceptable" standards Still, he assured me he would contact the worker who had done the re-installation, to ask what he might be able to do to fix the dipping area He said he would follow up with me by phone After four weeks, I still hadn't heard from him or Home Depot's regional service manager, who had promised to follow up with me himself after USIG's visit When I emailed him (four weeks after USIG's last visit), he didn't respond to me but rather had USIG email me to tell me a very different version of our visit, as well as his intent that there was nothing to be fixed on my floor I took this as Home Depot's decision not to honor the extended warranty it had provided in my signed release, so I emailed both USIG and Home Depot to let them know of my dissatisfaction I also informed corporate Home Depot Once I did that, the regional manager was back in contact with me, saying that he would fix the floor As I stated, there has been no consistency in action, and I've learned that ANY CONSUMER who does not get satisfactory action from local Home Depot or a regional manager, NEEDS TO CONTACT HOME DEPOT CORPORATE HQ I started with [redacted] and was then put in touch with [redacted] who identified himself as the supervisor of all regional service managers for a vast portion of Home Depot's national team I have more than pages of copious notes about this drawn-out experience, and I am willing to share with anyone upon request The log includes direct quotes from conversations, emails, documents, etc., as well as day-by-day event chronologies My legal release allows me to share this, as long as I present my experience truthfully and fairly, and also disclose that Home Depot worked to resolve it and provided monetary compensation If I can offer any advice to other consumers, here it is: CONSIDER VERY CAREFULLY any thought about having Home Depot install your flooring Sales personnel are great and friendly, but your order is not filled by them Instead, Home Depot assigns USIG to install, and this is where things went terribly wrong with my order USIG personnel, in my experience and personal opinion, were unprofessional, untrained, apathetic, apparently dishonest, and disorganized during the entire process When it was confirmed that the original worker who had installed the floor to begin with (he was a subcontractor hired by the subcontractor USIG), all of a sudden he disappeared, and a new two-person team conducted the rand re-installation That team was much more qualified, but again, they are NOT USIG staff: they're subcontractors for USIG and are only paid if the customer signs off on a document following installation, agreeing that the job has been done satisfactorily USIG presents this document to the customer immediately after the job is done, demanding signature, without giving the customer even a few hours to make sure the job is satisfactory Ask A LOT of questions of Home Depot before you sign anything Ask for names of store managers, regional service managers, and any USIG managers who might be assigned to your case Again, I am NOT recommending you allow USIG into your home, but if you feel you must, thoroughly investigate beforehand I found interesting online articles about a chief USIG executive convicted of a felony and reportedly "stepping down" from his official post Apparently, however, the corruption trickle-down may still be in full force with that firm TRUST YOUR INSTINCT When you don't get timely alert calls from USIG (and it will happen), and USIG says things that don't seem to be correct or make sense to you (and it will happen), raise a red flag immediately, and contact Home Depot corporate headquarters (again, I contacted [redacted] and [redacted] and demand assistance Your installation contract will be with Home Depot (only) and NOT with USIG Home Depot should remain accountable to you and not try to pass anything off to USIG (and this will happen when you hit obstacles in your installation) Prepare for a potentially long road ahead If you think you're going to have perfectly done new floors for a special event, don't count on it Give yourself plenty of time to deal with all the delays, inconsistencies, errors, communication lapses, etc You will experience them Consider shopping around for alternative installers (there are many, and if you ask if they can match or come close to Home Depot's quoted pricing, you might be surprised to find some willing to do so) You'll may also benefit from smaller, more customer-oriented service that is aimed at providing a genuinely professional, satisfactory product
I contracted with Home Depot out of Middletown, RI in December 2014, for installation of about s.fof engineered hardwood (click-lock) flooring above concrete slab on my first floor condo I experienced SUBSTANTIAL delays, inaccuracies, lies, avoidance, unqualified personnel, and overall apathy from both Home Depot and its designated subcontractor, U.SInstallation Group Suffice to say that USIG is filled with workers and managers who are not fully educated on the products they are installing, nor is there any reliable, consistent professionalism to deal with consumer concerns or issues caused by USIG's negligence and inept service My floor was left partially done two days before Christmas, because the installer claimed I didn't have the correct transition strips or enough material to finish the job Home Depot and USIG went back and forth, but no one returned to finish the floor for a month Worse, after I complained to [redacted] , a senior executive at Home Depot corporate HQ in Georgia, a regional service manager was dispatched to my home in Rhode Island, and he confirmed in my presence that the flooring installation had been completely done incorrectly (specifically, the underlayment materials were installed against proper procedure and without the moisture barrier protection as intended for those products) The whole floor had to be ripped up and redone with partially new and reused materials All during this ordeal, I had virtually no interest or help from anyone at the local Middletown, RI store Awfully friendly, nice people there, but none of them wanted to take the lead to resolve my problem, nor did any of them brief other personnel when going off duty for two or three days My problem was with me hours a day; my problem, however, was only a 9-5, Monday to Friday consideration for the store personnel Eventually, I began dealing only with Home Depot corporate and the regional service manager They were more helpful and seemed genuinely interested in resolving the problem The regional service manager, in the presence of USIG managers and sub-sub-contracted installers, witnessed many of the concerns I had raised: untrained workers installing flooring (the USIG manager himself told a Home Depot repthat he didn't "know the proper way to install the underlayment," yet he was assigned as the project supervisor for my job), a USIG manager who was supposed to be on-site at my home at all times during re-installation (yet he left for hours at a time and was apathetic while on-site- on his cell phone, not observing the workers, etc.), failure to provide me with a mandated inventory of any unused materials (despite that there was more than $1,in leftover- much of it unopened- material, USIG told Home Depot that there was minimal remaining product, and it is unclear if that product made its way back to the local store or was disposed of some other way) The day of re-installation, I raised a concern about one area in the living room, where the floor was dipping when stepped on USIG reassured me that it would "settle" over time, so I agreed to give it a chance to do so Once re-installation was done, Home Depot's regional service manager told me I would receive a full refund for my ongoing trouble and shoddy original installation When I heard from Home Depot corporate, however, the reality was that they wanted me to sign a cookie-cutter legal release before awarding me a "settlement" equal to my purchase price The regional manager had never explained that I would need to sign any release in exchange for what he had misleadingly called a "refund." I went back and forth for a week with Home Depot re: the language on the release, as it had been written completely in the favor of Home Depot, including a clause that I agreed to completely release Home Depot for ANY and ALL claims (not just related to my installation) for anything at all, into the future Once I informed Home Depot that I would not sign any release unless the wording was significantly changed (to also include my ability to share my experience with others- originally they wanted me to agree to a "gag order" to disclose nothing about my experience), I was FedEx shipped the document overnight I signed it and received a check two weeks later for my purchase price plus an additional $2, I believe Home Depot then expected I would go away, but the lingering floor dip area in my living room didn't The regional manager (again, an awfully nice guy who had given me a real feeling of investment and professional understanding while he was directing the rand re-installation of the flooring), seemed to pass off my inquiry to USIG, sending that same USIG manager out (alone) to survey my floor He agreed there was a noticeable dip but suggested it was within "acceptable" standards Still, he assured me he would contact the worker who had done the re-installation, to ask what he might be able to do to fix the dipping area He said he would follow up with me by phone After four weeks, I still hadn't heard from him or Home Depot's regional service manager, who had promised to follow up with me himself after USIG's visit When I emailed him (four weeks after USIG's last visit), he didn't respond to me but rather had USIG email me to tell me a very different version of our visit, as well as his intent that there was nothing to be fixed on my floor I took this as Home Depot's decision not to honor the extended warranty it had provided in my signed release, so I emailed both USIG and Home Depot to let them know of my dissatisfaction I also informed corporate Home Depot Once I did that, the regional manager was back in contact with me, saying that he would fix the floor As I stated, there has been no consistency in action, and I've learned that ANY CONSUMER who does not get satisfactory action from local Home Depot or a regional manager, NEEDS TO CONTACT HOME DEPOT CORPORATE HQ I started with [redacted] and was then put in touch with [redacted] who identified himself as the supervisor of all regional service managers for a vast portion of Home Depot's national team I have more than pages of copious notes about this drawn-out experience, and I am willing to share with anyone upon request The log includes direct quotes from conversations, emails, documents, etc., as well as day-by-day event chronologies My legal release allows me to share this, as long as I present my experience truthfully and fairly, and also disclose that Home Depot worked to resolve it and provided monetary compensation If I can offer any advice to other consumers, here it is: CONSIDER VERY CAREFULLY any thought about having Home Depot install your flooring Sales personnel are great and friendly, but your order is not filled by them Instead, Home Depot assigns USIG to install, and this is where things went terribly wrong with my order USIG personnel, in my experience and personal opinion, were unprofessional, untrained, apathetic, apparently dishonest, and disorganized during the entire process When it was confirmed that the original worker who had installed the floor to begin with (he was a subcontractor hired by the subcontractor USIG), all of a sudden he disappeared, and a new two-person team conducted the rand re-installation That team was much more qualified, but again, they are NOT USIG staff: they're subcontractors for USIG and are only paid if the customer signs off on a document following installation, agreeing that the job has been done satisfactorily USIG presents this document to the customer immediately after the job is done, demanding signature, without giving the customer even a few hours to make sure the job is satisfactory Ask A LOT of questions of Home Depot before you sign anything Ask for names of store managers, regional service managers, and any USIG managers who might be assigned to your case Again, I am NOT recommending you allow USIG into your home, but if you feel you must, thoroughly investigate beforehand I found interesting online articles about a chief USIG executive convicted of a felony and reportedly "stepping down" from his official post Apparently, however, the corruption trickle-down may still be in full force with that firm TRUST YOUR INSTINCT When you don't get timely alert calls from USIG (and it will happen), and USIG says things that don't seem to be correct or make sense to you (and it will happen), raise a red flag immediately, and contact Home Depot corporate headquarters (again, I contacted [redacted] and [redacted] and demand assistance Your installation contract will be with Home Depot (only) and NOT with USIG Home Depot should remain accountable to you and not try to pass anything off to USIG (and this will happen when you hit obstacles in your installation) Prepare for a potentially long road ahead If you think you're going to have perfectly done new floors for a special event, don't count on it Give yourself plenty of time to deal with all the delays, inconsistencies, errors, communication lapses, etc You will experience them Consider shopping around for alternative installers (there are many, and if you ask if they can match or come close to Home Depot's quoted pricing, you might be surprised to find some willing to do so) You'll may also benefit from smaller, more customer-oriented service that is aimed at providing a genuinely professional, satisfactory product