Complaint Review: Home Depot

We purchased a Tuff Shed from Home Depot in December 2007. We submitted all of the documents to meet the paint rebate requirements in accordance with the instructions provided by Home Depot.

In Feb. 2008 we received a form letter from Home Depot informing us that The shed that you purchased does not qualify for this rebate." The rebate title was the "Home Depot Tuff Shed Paint up to $500 Mail-In Rebate.

There was no explanation given in the letter to indicate why our shed did not meet the qualifications for the rebate or what the qualifications actually were for the rebate.

We believe Home Depot is engaging in misleading advertising with the Tuff Shed Paint up to $500 Mail-In-Rebate scheme.We believe the misleading advertising is intentional for the following reasons:

Our understanding was that the shed we purchased did qualify for a $450 rebate. The Area Sales Manager for Tuff Shed calculated the rebate amount.

In addition, the Customer Service representative at the Home Depot store helped us with the additional copies of the paperwork required for the rebate processing. The implication to us was that she also believed that we were entitled to the rebate.

If the requirements to qualify for the rebate are so complex and vague that their own experienced employees do not understand it, then it is not reasonable to believe that any of their customers would understand it either and would be mislead as easily as we were.

The qualifications for the rebate were not explained, nor was any written information provided to us by either Home Depot or the Tuff Shed employee.

The fact that the form letter we received has the statement The shed that you purchased does not qualify for this rebate as the first rebate problem issue is, in our opinion, further proof of intent to mislead customers. It also indicates that this is not an isolated problem, it is an ongoing problem.

When I called the Customer Service 800 number, I was told to submit another copy of the sales invoice because they do not have access to the copies that I originally submitted. That is a sad way to do business and a major inconvenience to their customers.

We submitted all of the required documents again, by U.S. Postal Service Certified Mail Receipt, over 30 days ago and we have not received a rebate, nor has Home Depot or Tuff Shed contacted us about the issue.

We believe their goal is to create enough hoops for us to jump through that we will get frustrated and give up on getting the rebate.

Steve
N. Richland Hills, Texas
U.S.A.