Home Depot /Kraftmaid Horror Story
I hope my experience can help someone. I ordered a Kraftmaid kitchen from Home Depot and boy do I rue the day. In every way, this has been a disaster. The kitchen was shipped in 10 separate shipments, in a totally unexplained process. Supposedly there would be 1 shipment from a shipping company, but cabinets…
I hope my experience can help someone. I ordered a Kraftmaid kitchen from Home Depot and boy do I rue the day. In every way, this has been a disaster. The kitchen was shipped in 10 separate shipments, in a totally unexplained process. Supposedly there would be 1 shipment from a shipping company, but cabinets were shipped once (41 boxes) and then in unauthorized, no-signature required “drive-by” deliveries by FEDEX over the course of a month — stuff left outside in rain, piled up with my garbage, stacked on my stoop, scattered around my front yard while I was at work- in Fort Greene Brooklyn!!. My contractor installed cabinets (boxes) which looked OK and then the doors came. Glazed mullion windows and molded doors which I fished out of the trash which came with dings, dents, glaze applied and shipped before dry, with stringing, globs, dents, bubbles, drips, dings. Drawers had hunks of wood missing, panel doors with molding had mitered joints — not a one cut with a perfect 45 degree angle, all gaping open. The molding had hairline splits. I received several doors with different colors than the one ordered. The design was a wonder to behold. The measurer had provided measurements of the walls and floors but not of the ceiling. Cabinets covered highhats and cabinet doors couldn’t open because of a soffit blocking the door. Enter into the mix, a Kafka-esque torture experience at the Hamilton Avenue Home Depot, which is a good test of how you might react if kidnapped and tortured by terrorists – “customer care” people at Home Depot and Kraftmaid, all of whom flatly refused to take back the kitchen because the boxes had been “installed”. I am in total Xena, Warrior princess mode and managed to eake a little money out of Home Depot with Kraftmaid offering to fix the problem — supposedly will be done 3 1/2 months after the first delivery received. It has been a nightmare – I am trying to decide if I want to go to court. Anyway, I hope my experience can help someone. Stay away from Home Depot! Stay away from Kraftmaid! The Housing Boom has been too good to them!
I contracted the Home Depot to install a roof in September 2005 and here we are 10 months later and still have problems. Home Depot has now installed three roofs on my house and did over $1,000.00 in damages. You can see pictures and read my journal at http://www.freewebs.com/myroof
Thank you
Don Wenzel
Oh, and Michelle, the last recourse and the worst, but certainly open to the both of us is going to court.
I went berserk when I saw this kitchen and like you I find it astounding that they treat the cabinets as the product, when they are only 30% of the value of the product, the doors being the other 70%. Because my contractor nailed in the cabinets, Home Depot said that I couldn’t return them. The Brooklyn Hamilton avenue Home Depot is a nightmare and I couldn’t get people on the phone and I started showing up at the store. After multiple visits (had to take off from
work) I finally wangled the Store Manager to meet with the district manager who agreed to give me a partial refund. They then insisted that I follow up with the Kraftmaid rep who then determined that I would need all new windows, drawers, and panel doors. I am waiting for that now. If they are not perfect, I am going to raise hell again and try to get them to take
them back and get all my money back.
Actually, I decided that I was going to replace this kitchen and go to a custom cabinet maker, no matter what happens but I would like to get all my money back. If not, I will donate the cabinets for a full sales price income tax deduction.
As for you, I believe that Home Depot’s policy (at least this is what they keep telling me) is that they will take back the cabinets (less a restocking fee) if you want to return the cabinets as long as you have not installed them. If you are willing to start over,
I think you should be able to get your money back.
You can escalate the issue a couple of ways:
1) Report the incident to your credit card company, even if it is Home Depot. They will agitate for you.
2) Report the incident to Home Depot Customer Care (not the best).
3) Report them to your local consumer affairs.
4) Escalate the issue within Home Depot beyond the kitchen people to the store and district manager.
I think in your case you could get your money back if you want. Good luck to you (us).
Pick up a book called Shocked, Appalled, and Dismayed! How to Write Letters of Complaint That Get Results, by Ellen Phillips. It’s one of the most useful books I’ve ever bought. It’s helped me get thousands of dollars back from various companies over the years–quickly and with apologies. Email me if you want more specifics.
I ordered Kraftmaid cabinets through Lowes. Everything came in one shipment which needed to be signed for. The delivery company was very good. They called me to schedule the delivery and arrived on time. My cabinets were all in good shape. They took back two cabinets that I had decided to change, and had the replacements sent to Lowes for me to pick up. Strange how the same company could behave so differently with their deliveries.
Home Expo does brand itself as the higher end design arm of Home Depot; I am glad you have had good experiences. Home Depot is really different as a store and the Hamilton Avenue Home Depot is a zoo, a horror show, a preview of hell.
Another fact that can help someone is that if you hate the cabinets you ordered, in my case I detest the glaze, they are required to take back the whole thing (there is a restocking fee) but you can’t have started installation.
Hah! I just realized that I left a typo in the last sentence of my post. Must be some kind of Freudian slip. Was I really thinking “Home Exploit?” 🙂
Tinarina,
I’m not surprised that you got great service from Home EXPO, Long Island. I’ve had similarly good experiences with Home EXPOs in Paramus and Queens (Queeens is now closed). But even though they are owned by the same parent company, Home Depot and Home Expo are two totally different businesses. The latter markets itself as a decorator/design empire that is accessible to the general public. As such, it strives to reach a more “upscale” clientele than is Home Depot’s customer base. Home Expoit certainly makes that demarcation clear with its product selections,servicing plans, and pricing schemes.
I ordered a Kraftmaid kitchen from Home Depot EXPO on Long Island, and used their staff for measuring. Everything went really well–delivered exactly on time, in one shipment by truck. There was one cabinet that was either measured or ordered wrong, and it was promptly fixed.